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UPDATED: After confirming a number of studio closures at the end of last year, Crytek has now confirmed that it will also be scaling down its Frankfurt office, resulting in a further 15 employees being let go.
In a pre-prepared statement, Crytek said the changes will also affect the publishing team previously responsible for the company’s free-to-play online shooter Warface (which will now be published by My.com in Europe and North America) but most staff will be moved over to new projects internally.
The company also took the opportunity to reiterate its plans to focus on multi-platform game development and the evolution of its CryEngine technology.
Crytek co-founder and managing director Avni Yeril commented: Crytek has always sought to push the boundaries of gaming, and that remains our primary goal as we scale down the business to re-focus on game and technology development first and foremost.
"Unfortunately, one of the inevitable effects of this process has been the redundancies we are announcing today. We are extremely grateful for the hard work and dedication of each and every person at Crytek, and the team members we now have to say goodbye to will receive comprehensive support that reflect that gratitude. We will also be on hand to offer whatever support we can as they seek to find new positions elsewhere that reflect their considerable talents.”
ORIGINAL STORY (December 20th):After a week of rumours concerning unpaid staff, Crytek has finally outlined its future business plans.
The studio will continue working on its "premium IPs", Crytek said in a statement today, but only its Frankfurt and Kiev studios will remain in general operation. All other studios will cease to be a part of Crytek, but the company’s management team has already begun a process of securing jobs to help the transition go as smoothly as possible.
Cryengine will remain a key part of the studio’s overall strategy, and indie developers and enterprise licensees will carry on receiving regular engine updates.
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,” Crytek co-founder and managing director Avni Yerli stated.
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."
Rumours started circulating about Crytek’s financial trouble last week, when a post on Reddit appeared claiming to be from an employee who hadn’t been paid for six months. A different employee even started a crowd-funding campaign to help raise legal fees so they could sue the company for missed wages.
Crytek also ran into financial difficulty back in 2014 during the development of Homefront: The Revolution. Then, the studio also struggled to pay wages regularly, until publisher Deep Silver stepped in and arranged a buyout for the game. Homefront: The Revolution finally came out in May this year to mixed reviews.
