Crytek closes multiple studios following financial woes

Crytek has been struggling for many months and today they announced that they are closing all studios apart from Frankfurt and Kiev.

The plan is for the company to focus on their premium IPs and Cryengine. The statement from Crytek reads:

“As part of the changes, Crytek will concentrate on development in its Frankfurt and Kiev studios and continue to develop and work on premium IPs. CRYENGINE will remain a core pillar of Crytek’s overall strategy, with enterprise licensees and indie developers alike continuing to be served by regular engine updates. 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.”

Crytek Co-Founder and Managing Director, Avni Yerli, added:

“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.”

For games such as Star Citizen, which utilises CryEngine, this is at least good news as Crytek will continue supporting CryEngine and they will continue to work on future engine updates.

Studios set to close include Black Sea (Bulgaria), Budapest, Istanbul, South Korea, and Shanghai.

Crytek has not stated how many jobs will be impacted by the decision or how they plan on settling unpaid salaries.

Crytek’s most recent releases include VR titles The Climb and Robinson: The Journey.