Yesterday, rumors began swirling that Crytek was in the midst of some financial troubles and hadn’t paid many of their employees in over a month. Today, Kotaku has published a report suggesting that the situation is much worse than we all thought.
Citing anonymous tips from Crytek employees, Kotaku has learned that the developer has canceled multiple projects over the last few weeks, including a sequel to Ryse: Son of Rome and several original prototypes. In addition to canceled titles, employees describe a toxic working environment within Crytek’s many international studios:
Current and former Crytek employees describe a tense, unstable environment, plagued by poor communication and a number of high-level staff departures at the company’s biggest studios in Germany and Britain. In extensive conversations over the past few weeks, developers have described a company in turmoil, where staff openly talk about leaving or looking for new jobs. One employee estimates that some 100 people have left over the past three months.
This turmoil has spilled over into Crytek’s currently announced projects as well. The company has seemingly shifted from high-gloss shooters like Crysis 3 to free-to-play games like Warface, Arena of Fate, and Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age. And yet, Homefront: The Revolution was just announced, leading to more confusion and worry within Crytek.
Crytek continues to deny the financial problems and will not discuss the missed paychecks claimed by many of the employees. In fact, those employees were told not to discuss the problem with each other, for fear that it would eventually be leaked to the media.
It looks like that’s happened and now the future of one of the biggest independent developers in the world is up in the air.
