Crytek, developer of both the Crysis and Far Cry franchises, seems to be facing difficulties, if reports prove to be believed. According to Kotaku’s unnamed individuals within several of Crytek’s studios, the company has been bleeding staff and failing to meet salary arrangements since March. Not only that, but several unannounced games – including the rumored followup to arguably one of this generation’s best launch-titles, and one of the prettiest games I’ve ever played, Ryse: Son of Rome – have been canceled altogether without ever making it into or past the pre-production stages.
Speaking to Kotaku, one Crytek employee said,
“Trying to confine the problem rather than tackling it is not the way to go about this anymore; it’s too big now… Honest communication, inclusion, and a work environment based on trust could have gone a long way, and may have stopped people from leaving.”
Another employee of the firm was quoted saying,
“Instead of focusing on the core strengths of the company, which would be [CryENGINE] and innovative PC titles, we simply jumped at every next big thing in the industry. Except that each time we did, it was a little too late and we were running after our competitors. There’s no sense of identity at this point and I think that frustrates both employees and fans.”
Regarding Ryse 2′s cancelation, which apparently took place in March, Crytek’s work on the game was cancelled because of disputes with Microsoft over who would own rights to the franchise. When asked about this, Ryse publisher Microsoft responded with a statement saying that they have “nothing to announce about the future of the franchise at this time.” Whether or not this suggests that Microsoft can or will make a Ryse sequel with another developer is not clear.
Naturally, when ask about the legitimacy of these allegations, Crytek itself labelled both of the reports regarding the studio’s financial situation as “rumour and speculation.” Officially, Crytek is currently working on Homefront: The Revolution for publisher Deep Silver and the free-to-play MOGA Arena of Fate. As for Ryse 2? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see for now.
