Crytek Announces Massive Layoffs

 

Almost two weeks ago, rumours surfaced of financial difficulties at Crytek, the makers of CryEngine.  Due to being rumours I decided not to report on it at the time.  Sadly, employee disputes at Crytek are nothing new as it was reported back in 2014 that wages were being unpaid.  In fact, that financial hardship led directly to Crytek licensing CryEngine to Amazon for the creation of the Lumberyard game engine, a direct fork of CryEngine 3.4.  Rumour however sadly turned to fact as Crytek announced massive layoffs across the entire company.

Crytek Co-Founder Avni Yerli released the following statement:

“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,” Crytek cofounder and managing director Avni Yerli said in a statement.

“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.”

 

As a direct result a number of studios have been closed including Crytek offices in Bulgaria, Budapest, Istanbul, Seoul and Shanghai are all being closed.  The only remaining office is the Frankfurt headquarters and it’s offices in Kiev.  I have trouble understanding how Crytek hopes to compete and make money in the game engine market with two major competitors already dominating the space, while also haven’t to compete against your twin in the form of Lumberyard.

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