Crytek, the developers of the Crysis series, have been facing some financial difficulties as of late, with employees reporting that they’ve been receiving their paycheques late. This and other complaints have surfaced on the internet, signalling that all may not be well at Crytek. Today, those signals have proven true as Crytek will be closing of some of its global studios and laying off employees that work there.
In a statement released to the public, Crytek has mentioned that it will be implementing a series of changes to its future business plans in order to “refocus on its core strengths of developing innovative games and game-development technology,” of which CryEngine will be the “core pillar” of the company’s overall strategy. To do so, the company will concentrate development in its Frankfurt and Kiev studios. Crytek has also added that other development studios other than the ones mentioned above “will not remain within Crytek and management has put plans into action to secure jobs and to ensure a smooth transition and stable future.
Simply put, Crytek will be closing down its offices in Hungary, Bulgaria, Seoul, Shanghai and Istanbul, and all of its employees will be laid off. As for the salary conditions, rumours are going around that a Russian internet company called Mail.ru has bought a free-to-play game by Crytek called Warface and its successor Warface 2. This is could probably be the reason why Crytek is now able to pay its Frankfurt staff their October salaries.