Crytek In Deep Trouble

[ShintaiDK]

Crytek seems gone for good. Rumour has it the IP is already being chopped up for buyers, so creditors can get some of their money.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Maybe someone will grab the engine and start using it for their in house titles. It is a pretty good engine after all.

 

[Anteaus]

Never heard that about a software company before!

 

[f1sherman]

Of course they're going to deny it. But if employees aren't being paid, thats pretty telling.

yeah sadly...

1st rumour, then the official denial is is EXACTLY how most companies go down

 

[smackababy]

Realistically, it seems their terms for the CryEngine are a bit unrealistic to promote growth. Doesn't Unreal give away their license to indie devs under a "if you sell less than 50,000 units, it is free" or something to that effect? That really helps not only promote indie devs to use a decent engine, but it also ensures if they do hit it big, the next game they make will use what they are familiar with (the Unreal engine).

I can't say I am too shocked to hear about Crytek being in trouble though. The devs seem very good at technical ability, but lacking on making good games. They are like John Carmack, without Romero. While, I hope they (or someone with as much interest and ability) can continue to develop the engine, their model of "release mediocre shooter using amazing engine" isn't going to pan out. Especially, when mediocre shooter market is dominated by a game with an old engine and tons of curb appeal.

 

[werepossum]

Realistically, it seems their terms for the CryEngine are a bit unrealistic to promote growth. Doesn't Unreal give away their license to indie devs under a "if you sell less than 50,000 units, it is free" or something to that effect? That really helps not only promote indie devs to use a decent engine, but it also ensures if they do hit it big, the next game they make will use what they are familiar with (the Unreal engine).

I can't say I am too shocked to hear about Crytek being in trouble though. The devs seem very good at technical ability, but lacking on making good games. They are like John Carmack, without Romero. While, I hope they (or someone with as much interest and ability) can continue to develop the engine, their model of "release mediocre shooter using amazing engine" isn't going to pan out. Especially, when mediocre shooter market is dominated by a game with an old engine and tons of curb appeal.

Very astute post, sir. From what's happening, looks like the Crytek bunch is not too sharp on smart business practices either.

 

[Paul98]

http://kotaku.com/sources-crytek-no..._source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

Guess we will see some of top talent from crytek moving else where which will be a good thing.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Realistically, it seems their terms for the CryEngine are a bit unrealistic to promote growth. Doesn't Unreal give away their license to indie devs under a "if you sell less than 50,000 units, it is free" or something to that effect? That really helps not only promote indie devs to use a decent engine, but it also ensures if they do hit it big, the next game they make will use what they are familiar with (the Unreal engine).

I believe it is $20/mo or something to get access to the UE4 assets for development and if you don't sell over a certain amount you don't owe royalties. So you get it really cheap and there's no restrictions to the developer.

I'd have to look it up but I'm not able to find exactly where I read this.

 

[smackababy]

I believe it is $20/mo or something to get access to the UE4 assets for development and if you don't sell over a certain amount you don't owe royalties. So you get it really cheap and there's no restrictions to the developer.

I'd have to look it up but I'm not able to find exactly where I read this.

I knew it was something like like that. It is pretty much super low cost and low risk for developers and Unreal likely gains a customer. Plus, I've heard it was pretty easy to use, so that helps them a lot.

 

[Topweasel]

All that proves is that there were numerous mismanaged and/or badly thought out projects that contributed to the fall of Crytek. In spite of that, they would have made enough to keep the lights on had they been leaner and focused. I digress though. You are likely right about the downfall.

It's not a about being leaner, or more focused, or being better managed.

EA has about 9.3K in employees. 8K of them work for EA sports. That means for the half a dozen titles that EA releases per year that are not sports they do it with 1.3k people. Crytek is like MGM they are major studio with little labels under them but not a full blown distributor. They aren't the little company that could like id or even Valve. They aren't like Blizzard before the merger a company that even though they were making Billions a year in subscriptions still wasn't as big as them. So compared to the 1.3k their 800 is smaller but they haven't even sold one of their 7 games in 10 years for as much as even one of EA's disappointment. Think of the worst EA launch in 10 years. Nothing Crytech has done has equaled that.

Quite frankly I am baffled on how they maintained it for this long. They probably drowning in some serious debt.

 

[Grooveriding]

Hopefully Cryengine and the Crysis IP get purchased. They've got value in them. Probably EA picks over the carcass and takes what is worth salvaging.

 

[exar333]

Hopefully Cryengine and the Crysis IP get purchased. They've got value in them. Probably EA picks over the carcass and takes what is worth salvaging.

This. Add Homefront to your list as well.

 

[Bateluer]

Hopefully Cryengine and the Crysis IP get purchased. They've got value in them. Probably EA picks over the carcass and takes what is worth salvaging.

Lol . . . you have confidence in EA to salvage anything? Better they open source CryEngine.

 

[Paul98]

I believe it is $20/mo or something to get access to the UE4 assets for development and if you don't sell over a certain amount you don't owe royalties. So you get it really cheap and there's no restrictions to the developer.

I'd have to look it up but I'm not able to find exactly where I read this.

You still have access to the tools if you drop subscription also. You just won't get the updates. That gives full access to source code also

I am using UE4 myself, I tried many other engines when trying to figure out which one I wanted to use. I found UE4 the best for my uses, it's just so easy to use and such great support. It's only going to get better, and is at a quick pace.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I see a lot of hate for Crytek on neogaf thread, it's like people still haven't forgiven Crysis for crushing their rigs 7 years ago.

I did see this coming and posted about it a few months ago. Gameplay wise, Far Cry was their best game, followed closely by Crysis but it's all downhill from there. They failed to establish a biannual or even a annual franchise (meanwhile FC4 is in the making), made a clumsy transition to old gen consoles, bombed with Warface and Ryse, they hung on til now. Crytek's agenda from the Far Cry to Crysis era, was aligned with PC enthusiasts until Crysis sale figures rolled in.

They danced with both Ubi and EA, giving up their most "franchisable" IP to the former and both times declined to become a Naughty Dog type of studio.
Funny how they gave up on an IP they shouldn't have (Far Cry) and are now fighting for one (Ryse) they shouldn't fight for.

If they go down, it will be a sad day because Crytek helped push the PC forward and had a noble agenda in it's early days. Crytek wouldn't be in this situation if they had focused on having a few good IP's instead of betting the house on Crysis and F2P.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Seems 25% of the employees at the UK office got fired yesterday.

 

[Stringjam]

Hate to see this happen, honestly. I've probably spent more hours having fun in CryEngine SDK than than I did actually playing the games. I remember when the community was really active - coming out with all kinds of exciting stuff.

I think UE4 is a fine engine, but I don't think there is anything good about it not having any other real competition.

This is all conjecture for now, though....who actually knows what the final results will be yet. I personally would have been happy had Crytek remained their original studio and continued to put out games more in line with their original fanbase.

If I recall correctly, they developed CryEngine 2 AND Crysis for about $22m. That's pocket change by today's standards, and I still enjoyed that game more than any other they have developed since.

 

[werepossum]

It's not a about being leaner, or more focused, or being better managed.

EA has about 9.3K in employees. 8K of them work for EA sports. That means for the half a dozen titles that EA releases per year that are not sports they do it with 1.3k people. Crytek is like MGM they are major studio with little labels under them but not a full blown distributor. They aren't the little company that could like id or even Valve. They aren't like Blizzard before the merger a company that even though they were making Billions a year in subscriptions still wasn't as big as them. So compared to the 1.3k their 800 is smaller but they haven't even sold one of their 7 games in 10 years for as much as even one of EA's disappointment. Think of the worst EA launch in 10 years. Nothing Crytech has done has equaled that.

Quite frankly I am baffled on how they maintained it for this long. They probably drowning in some serious debt.

That really puts things in perspective.

Perhaps the next stop is a Crytech Kickstarter ad: We need to raise $50k to buy a clue.

 

[Squeetard]

I think UE4 is a fine engine, but I don't think there is anything good about it not having any other real competition.

I disagree. The world needs less engines and more people spending time making good games instead of good game engines.

 

[Revolution 11]

I disagree. The world needs less engines and more people spending time making good games instead of good game engines.

There is nothing wrong with creating game engines. The problem arises when you have 800 game developers and staff not producing any games and letting existing IPs decay.

 

[PowerYoga]

There is nothing wrong with creating game engines. The problem arises when you have 800 game developers and staff not producing any games and letting existing IPs decay.

That's not related to creating game engines, but the company's business model. Nobody starts out saying "oh lets make and sell game engines", they generally create one for their game and then say "oh lets see if we can license it out to people."

At some point it may become more profitable for them to crank out engine updates instead of games, but crytek looks like its mismanaged all around.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Sucks to hear.

I think Crytek is a good company with their heart in the tech. Maybe tried growing too fast too soon.

From the Kotaku article posted earlier

Crytek employees told me that the company was reluctant to lay people off, so their solution was to delay paychecks until they could find another solution..

Sounds to me like the company is trying to hold onto people but is struggling. This makes me think there's no malicious intent in the situation just some previous mistakes coming home to roost.

 

[Pheran]

Sounds like Crytek is imploding. Too bad, I loved Far Cry and Crysis.

 

[clok1966]

Bloat and Greed are what destroy companies. .

The wiki explains it all

"Crytek has partnerships with Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Microsoft Studios"

EA runs all it owns into the ground, Ubisoft while makes some great games i quickly becoming EA Jr. and MS.. well unless you drank the kool aid is millions in red in the entertainment division (good thing they have more money then god) . The losses it took in the old Xbox days and when the early 360 burnt out in weeks where NEVER even close to being covered by the profits made when the 360 was a success (the total budget over 15 years is still RED as it comes). Sure the last few years are profit.. but a couple years 3-400 million profit don't cover 6-7 years of 3-400 million losses. (those number are just figures, google the exact numbers if you want (or get some shares))


the latest Buzz is SONY buying them.. not A fan of that idea either.

 

[Squeetard]

Do the xbox 360 losses include the revenue from microsofts cut of every game sold for the xbox?