Crytek may go bankrupt

Gears says you're wrong (as a recent example). And it handily shut up the Xbox1.5 launch noise as a showcase of what the system could do. Ryse is the same for Xbox One, but it launched not in a competitive landscape but something obvious to many but denied by most.

There is a big difference in “your scenario”… XB360 was released in 11/2005 and Gears of War was released 11/2006 – a full year later. Meaning, XB360 had an established userbase on securing great sales for Gears of War. Ryse did not have that luxury...
 
Gears says you're wrong (as a recent example).
As Shortbread says, Gears was launching on a platform that had a year's headstart to accrue 10 million gamers wanting a next-gen experience. Ryse released to an audience of zero. One can also argue that whatever examples you might finding of being an exclusive launch title, those titles were just lucky. You don't go platform exclusive unless the benefits outweigh the potential losses (see why Insomniac turned multiplatform). Clearly some of those benefits are taken on faith, which is questionable business strategy. Instead of gambling on being a big hit, a company with 800 mouths to feed should have much better grasp of where its income, enough to cover expenses, is going to come from. A hugely expensive platform exclusive releasing to a virgin market is, and was, a huge risk. One that didn't pay off, it seems.
 
They probably thought that Ryse would sell much more than the honorable ~1 million it sold after 6 months.

Maybe they thought that the Xbox One would easily lead the next gen race like X360 did and they planned that they would sell ~3 millions in 10 weeks like Gears of War did with X360? Even if Gears of War wasn't a launch title.

What I find odd is that Cevat Yerli, the CEO of such a big company, Crytek, is one of the 2 co-directors of some games, notably Ryse. That means that he can make emotional but economically unreasonable choices during the development of a game because, you know, he is the boss.

development of Ryse was catastrophic for the studio financially. Just mere months before its release, the game was severely behind and was lacking in development. Luckily Crytek was able to complete it with some additional manpower (costing them dearly)

And indeed he was probably the one that took that decision.

But maybe Ryse limited success hadn't really such an impact on the company's current troubles.
 
I almost want to just say good riddance to them for not respecting their fanbase (PC gamers) by giving them Crysis 2 instead of the true Crysis sequel we should have gotten. It wasn't a bad game, but it's cliche drivel did nothing special console gamers had already seen and PC gamers were just slapped in the face with an inferior sequel. Ryse is just another slap in the face by being Xbox One exclusive.

Ironic how their original and arguably most iconic creation (Far Cry) lives on as a game series developed by someone else. I wish there was a book about Crytek's inception, the development of X-Isle and CryEngine, Far Cry, the split from Ubisoft, CE2 & Crysis development and beyond......It would make for some good reading.
 
As Shortbread says, Gears was launching on a platform that had a year's headstart to accrue 10 million gamers wanting a next-gen experience. Ryse released to an audience of zero. One can also argue that whatever examples you might finding of being an exclusive launch title, those titles were just lucky. You don't go platform exclusive unless the benefits outweigh the potential losses (see why Insomniac turned multiplatform). Clearly some of those benefits are taken on faith, which is questionable business strategy. Instead of gambling on being a big hit, a company with 800 mouths to feed should have much better grasp of where its income, enough to cover expenses, is going to come from. A hugely expensive platform exclusive releasing to a virgin market is, and was, a huge risk. One that didn't pay off, it seems.


Going platform exclusive is a dangerous bet but I am sure the decision was made very long time ago and they like most probably felt MS would wipe the floor with Sony prior to E3 2013.

Granted its a risky bet but if I'm already over extended and I think I have a great IP for the biggest platform I might take that bet which in hindsight was poor judgement.

The other angle here is the growth of indies and the viability of traditional license models moving forward. Are flat monthly fees in exchange for a piece of the profit a better model than high upfront cost that many indies can't afford.
 
Blaming this on Ryse is really stupid. Being that it is a Xbox One exclusive Im sure Ms funded the majority of development and marketing. The real reason they are in trouble has more to do with having multiple studios all over the world that have yet to release anything of any real importance. Also there engine isnt really being used by anyone except their own studios. Turtle Rock is the only other studio I can think of at the moment. Then they bought the Ip for Homefront. Blaming the problems on one game that sold decently and was most likely funded by the publisher is really silly.
I for one enjoy Crytek's games and hope that they can turn things around or at least be purchased by someone else. They need to close the branches of their studios that arent carrying any weight.
 
Blaming this on Ryse is really stupid. Being that it is a Xbox One exclusive Im sure Ms funded the majority of development and marketing. The real reason they are in trouble has more to do with having multiple studios all over the world that have yet to release anything of any real importance. Also there engine isnt really being used by anyone except their own studios. Turtle Rock is the only other studio I can think of at the moment. Then they bought the Ip for Homefront. Blaming the problems on one game that sold decently and was most likely funded by the publisher is really silly.
I for one enjoy Crytek's games and hope that they can turn things around or at least be purchased by someone else. They need to close the branches of their studios that arent carrying any weight.

Star Citizen is on CRYENGINE, Arkane Studio (Bethesda/Zenimax) is also using it on their next game (Dishonored 2 or Prey 2).
 
HUNT is also using Cryengine and it's coming out later this year. It looks interesting kinda like a mix of Left 4 Dead and The Order 1886...but more like cowboys vs zombies...could be fun.

http://www.huntthegame.com/

 
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So it sounds like a simple matter of growing beyond their revenue and totally misjudging the market for their engine. And that really doesn't surprise me.
 
So it sounds like a simple matter of growing beyond their revenue and totally misjudging the market for their engine. And that really doesn't surprise me.

Pretty much. When you consider that they employ a similar number of staff as, say, Rockstar or SCEA, over (apparently) nine studios - you really have to wonder where their resources are actually going?

They have risk written all over them. Game dev' is risky enough without placing huge bets on building high cost, FTP mobile and social games/platforms. Especially when it clearly isn't the studio's historical financial bread and butter. Do we know if Warface been a success? The market for 'AAA' FTP console games hasn't proven itself in my opinion so I'd be surprised if it had, yet they are trying again with HUNT so you'd at least hope so...

One thing I also find curios was the rather dramatic, yet unceremonious release of cryengine as a subscription engine (without source). I wonder if it was a knee-jerk reaction to ue4 opening up.


...

I don't know how accurate this is, but reports from employees are not good:
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Crytek-Reviews-E347451.htm

It strikes me that several of these reviews mention pay bring delayed..... That's a pretty huge red flag right there
 
Ouch! F***! :(

Around here, pay being delayed pretty much means the unions will force bankruptcy proceedings on you... Crap!

Why is it a stupid idiot app like "Yo!" manages to find venture capital, while a game studio like Crytek gets to falter like this? Damn, damn, damn!
 
I suppose Crytek's past record is pretty poor such that investors aren't attracted to them. Indie startups have no negative past record so it's easier for investors to imagine them a golden goose and throw money at them.
 
Rumor is Epic basically gave away UE3 for free to prevent CryEngine adoption last cycle...
If it's true it probably didn't help.
Second problem is that Crytek is good with tech but not with games...
 
Crytek haven't made a good game since Crysis (including Warhead). And even it's story was horrible, no matter if we compare it to the other games in same genre or scifi in general.

They make pretty tech demos. Too bad for them there's plenty of free or very cheap game engines. I don't think they have chance to survive for long.
 
They make pretty tech demos. Too bad for them there's plenty of free or very cheap game engines. I don't think they have chance to survive for long.
They proabbly have the option to drop all the game making studios and focus on the engine. It's a working, viable product, although I don't know how competitive. Then if they grow they can get back to making games with it, although you run the risk of tailoring the engine to your game instead of your users' games.
 
Crytek supposedly used to have some lucrative gov contracts for "serious games" type of products. My guess is that this is what kept them afloat. It doesn't seem to me that Crytek's games were profitable, ever. Except for, maybe, the original Far Cry.
 
It also doesn't help on the PC side they are published by EA and hence their own games (after Crysis 2) aren't even available on the most used digital delivery system on the planet. I and many others I know haven't bought any of their followup games on PC because we buy all of our games on Steam.

Shame.

Traction for their engine is actually starting to pick up as well. A lot of Chinese and Korean developers are using it in the MMO space. Some mid-tier almost but not quite AAA games are using it as well as some upcoming AAA games.

It's really a shame they didn't stick with UBISoft and got saddled with crappy EA instead.

Regards,
SB
 
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