Crytek to close all studios except Frankfurt HQ and Kiev to focus on Cryengine

Crytek has today annoucned that it is going to return to its "Core Competencies" and focus on its premium IPs and its CRYENGINE. 

The crux of this is that all of Crytek’s studios will possibly be closing with the exception of its HQ based in Frankfurt and its office in Kiev. 

This means that Crytek Black Sea in Bulgaria, Crytek Budapest in Hungary, Crytek Istanbul in Turkey, Crytek Seoul in South Korea and Crytek Shanghai, all face closure.

Crytek has said in its press release that "All other development studios will not remain within Crytek and management has put plans into action to secure jobs and to ensure a smooth transition and stable future."

Black Sea Studios is the oldest of these studios having been formed in 2001 but the most recent expansions to Turkey and Shanghai, which were opened 2012, are also under threat.

There has been no word yet on exactly how many staff will be impacted, redistributed or lose employment. There is also no information yet on when these closures will occur, or if any of its properties, both physical and intuellctual, will be put up for sale.

This follows reports earlier in the month that Crytek was struggling to pay staff wages as far back as May 2016. Crytek previously had struggles with wage payments in 2014.

When problems arose previously in 2014, Crytek also sold its UK studios to Deep Silver, along with the Homefront IP and the studio was renamed Dambuster Studios. Even with the sale during that time, the studio lost over a third of its staff and Homefront: The Revolution was eventually launched in mid-2016.

Crytek has recently shifted focus away from game development towards technology and is currently supporting the Cryengine V, which is also used in Amazon’s Lumberyard engine, and were also moving towards VR development. Their most recent release was PSVR title Robinson: The Journey. They are also supporting free-to-play Warface and also produced The Climb for Oculus Rift.

A statement from Crytek Co-Founder and managing director, Avni Yerli, said: "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.”