Crytek Closes All But Two Studios In Major Cutbacks

Crytek have had a rough few years, going through financial troubles and a major restructuring back in 2014, which saw Koch Media rescue their UK studio and reform them as Dambuster. Two years later and they’re having to make difficult decisions once more as they face further difficulties.

Outlined in a short press release, only their Frankfurt and Kiev studios will remain, with a focus on continuing to develop CryEngine and other premium IPs. All other studios – in Sofia, Budapest, Istanbul, Seoul and Shanghai – will be closed, with plans being put into action to try and secure their jobs and potentially transition those studios to other companies.

Co-Founder and Managing Director, Avni Yerli, gave the following statement:

Undergoing such transitions is far from easy, and we’d like to sincerely thank each and every staff member – past and present – for their hard work and commitment to Crytek. These changes are part of the essential steps we are taking to ensure Crytek is a healthy and sustainable business moving forward that can continue to attract and nurture our industry’s top talent. The reasons for this have been communicated internally along the way. Our focus now lies entirely on the core strengths that have always defined Crytek – world-class developers, state-of-the-art technology and innovative game development, and we believe that going through this challenging process will make us a more agile, viable, and attractive studio, primed for future success.

Eurogamer reports from their own sources that Crytek has been struggling to pay wages since the middle of this year, and that they have once again had to be bailed out by fresh investment. This allegedly comes from Russian company Mail.ru, who will also be taking over Crytek’s free to play online shooter Warface.

Apparently, staff in Germany have already started to leave the company, fearing that it will completely collapse and that their late wages will no longer be covered by the German government – they will cover up to three months’ salary if a company goes under, but staff were last paid in October prior to this latest line of funding.

Our thoughts go out to all those affected, and we hope they land on their feet at other studios soon.

Source: Crytek, Eurogamer

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5 Comments

  1. They sadly don’t make enough good games. Sure, they have a cracking engine on their hands (or at least they did as I haven’t read much about them in a while) but from a portfolio perspective, it’s highly questionable at times.

  2. Blimey, I had to actually think about who Crytek was. Their main issue is that they don’t do excellent games. Good but barely able to get past the border into excellence. Crysis 1, that put their name on the map. 2? Erm…. i think it kept their name on the map. 3? started to expose their shortcomings. Heck, 6 years ago(I think), Crysis was the game that many regarded as unplayable not because of design or any bugs but because you needed a top range PC to run it.

    Kinda not going to miss them if they go under. Blunt, harsh, I know but I honestly wouldn’t miss them. The staff, however, I do hope will be able to come out of this with their owed wages and able to get jobs with another studio.

    Perhap Crytek should just develop engines instead.

  3. I only knew them for graphics. Without quality games, they can’t expect to keep running multiple studios.

  4. The work that stands out most for me in that statement, is “attractive”. Suggests to me their goal is to sell the company.

    As others have said though, their engine is amazing, but their games lacked soul.. Like most celebrities, I guess.

    • “Word”, not “work”, damn autocorrect..

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