Crytek

Crytek GmbH is a German video game developer and software developer based in Frankfurt. Founded by the Yerli brothers in Coburg in 1999 and moved to Frankfurt in 2006, Crytek also operates further studios in Kyiv, Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey.[3] Its former studios included Crytek Black Sea in Sofia, Bulgaria, Crytek UK in Nottingham, and Crytek USA in Austin, Texas. Crytek is best known for developing the first instalment of the Far Cry series (subsequent sequels and spin-offs being developed by Ubisoft Montreal) and the Crysis series, the open world nature of their games which showcase the company's CryEngine, and for pushing the limits on PC specifications to achieve advanced graphics and gameplay.

Crytek GmbH
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FoundedSeptember 1999 (1999-09) in Coburg, Germany
Founders
Headquarters
Frankfurt
,
Germany
Key people
  • Avni Yerli (co-CEO)
  • Faruk Yerli (co-CEO)
Products
OwnerYerli family[1]
Number of employees
290[2] (2020)
SubsidiariesList of Crytek subsidiaries
Websitecrytek.com

History
Crytek's previous logo, used until 2018

1999–2004: CryEngine and Far Cry
The E3 2000 Crytek demo disk.

Crytek was founded by the Turkish-German brothers Cevat, Avni and Faruk Yerli in September 1999 in Coburg, Germany.[4] One of their first projects was a tech demo of a game called X-Isle: Dinosaur Island, which showcased their game engine technology that allowed for larger viewing distances than other game engines could do at that time. They met with Nvidia during the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) where their tech demo caught the attention of Nvidia and various media groups. Crytek later signed on with Nvidia to distribute X-Isle as benchmarking software for Nvidia cards.[4]

Crytek's first major game project was Engalus, a first-person shooter with a cyberpunk theme and role-playing elements, which was first privately shown at E3 2000. The project first attracted publicity for the company at the 2000 ECTS with their tech demo at the Nvidia booth, but was subsequently cancelled.[5] Crytek was approached by Ubisoft to develop X-Isle into a full AAA game. This evolved into Far Cry, which was released in March 2004. Alongside this, Crytek announced their licensable game engine, CryEngine, that was used for X-Isle and Far Cry.[4]

In February 2004, German police carried out a morning raid on Crytek offices, acting on an ex-intern's claim that Crytek was using software illegally. The police investigated for more software copies than licences purchased, but no charges were pressed.[6] That same month, Crytek and Electronic Arts (EA) announced a strategic partnership to develop a new gaming franchise based on the CryEngine, which would eventually be the Crysis series. Crytek opted in this direction to showcase that the CryEngine was not limited to just what Far Cry had shown.[4] Due to this partnership, Ubisoft acquired the full rights to the Far Cry franchise by 2006 as well as a perpetual licence to the first CryEngine, which they have since adapted into their own Dunia Engine.[7] In December 2004, Crytek and ATI created a special cinematic machinima[8] to demonstrate the future of PC gaming.

2004–2014: Company expansion, CryEngine 2 and 3, and later games

In January 2006, Crytek announced the development of Crysis, promising that it would be an original first-person shooter with a new kind of gameplay challenge requiring "adaptive tactics".[9] The game later won several Best PC Game awards from E3 and Games Convention. In April 2006, Crytek moved to new offices in Frankfurt. The first public demonstration of Crytek's CryEngine 2 was in January 2007, one year after Crysis was announced. It has been licensed by many companies such as Avatar Reality, WeMade Entertainment, Entropia Universe, XLGames, Reloaded Studios.

On 11 May 2006, Crytek announced that their satellite studio in Kyiv, Ukraine, had been upgraded to a full development studio, giving the company its second development studio. About a week after the upgrade of the Kyiv studio, Crytek announced a new studio in Budapest, Hungary.

Crysis was released in November 2007. In September 2008, an expansion to Crysis entitled Crysis Warhead was released as a PC-exclusive game. In October 2011, Crysis was released on some consoles, allowing play of the original game via Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.

On 14 July 2008, Crytek bought Black Sea Studios and renamed it to Crytek Black Sea.[10] On 17 November 2008, Crytek opened an office in South Korea named Crytek, Ltd.[11] On 3 February 2009, Crytek purchased Free Radical Design, a British video game company known for the TimeSplitters series, and renamed the company to Crytek UK.[12]

In March 2009, Crytek announced on the company's website that it would introduce CryEngine 3 at the 2009 Game Developers Conference. This new engine was developed for use on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PCs.[13] In October 2009, CryEngine 3 became available in trade flow for game developers.[14] In March 2010, CryEngine 3 was made compatible with stereoscopic 3D technology.[15] Crytek released Crysis 2, a direct sequel to the original game, in March 2011.

At E3 2011, Crytek exhibited several new projects, including the action game Ryse: Son of Rome. In September 2011, THQ and Crytek announced a partnership to develop Homefront 2.[16] After THQ filed for bankruptcy, Crytek acquired the Homefront franchise from THQ entirely in January 2013.[17] In February 2012, Crytek announced a new cloud based social gaming network called Gface.[18] The service is designed to help users meet people and play multiplayer video games with friends.[19] Crytek began researching a cloud gaming system in 2005 for Crysis, but paused development in 2007.[20][21]

In April 2012, Crytek released the CryEngine 3.4 SDK which brought full DirectX 11 support to the CryEngine SDK.[22] Crytek released Crysis 3 in February 2013[23] and Ryse: Son of Rome in November 2013 as an Xbox One launch title.[24] The PC version of Ryse was released in October 2014.[25]

On 17 January 2013, Crytek officially opened an office in Istanbul, Turkey.[26] On 28 January 2013, Crytek opened a new studio, Crytek USA, in Austin, Texas, consisting primarily of former Vigil Games employees.[27]

Since 2014: Restructuring, new leadership, CryEngine 4 and V, and latest games

In June 2014, reports surfaced that Crytek had missed wage payments and withheld bonuses for Crytek UK and Crytek USA employees, and the company responded that it was in a "transitional phase" as it secured capital for future projects, with a particular emphasis on online gaming. In July 2014, Crytek announced a strategic deal where the rights to Homefront including Homefront: The Revolution and the Crytek UK staff were transferred to Koch Media. The team continued its work on the game as the new Deep Silver Dambuster Studios. Crytek USA was restructured to remain an engine support team while development of Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age was transferred to Crytek.

On 20 December 2016, Crytek announced that their studios in Hungary, Bulgaria, South Korea and China would be shut down.[28] On 7 March 2017, Crytek sold Crytek Black Sea to Sega and The Creative Assembly.[29] On 28 February 2018, Crytek announced that Cevat Yerli was stepping down as chief executive officer (CEO) of Crytek, with his brothers, Avni and Faruk Yerli, taking over the company's leadership as joint CEOs. Cevat continues to support the company as an advisor and major shareholder.[30] The development of CryEngine 4 was followed by CryEngine V.

Crytek released Hunt: Showdown (utilizing the fifth generation of the CryEngine) in 2019–20. The company has also worked on three virtual reality projects, namely The Climb for the Oculus Rift, The Climb 2 for the Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest 2, and Robinson: The Journey for the PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and SteamVR. Arena of Fate was cancelled after Crytek's restructuring which saw the game's developer Crytek Black Sea sold.[28]

Subsidiaries
  • Crytek Kiev in Kyiv, Ukraine — founded in 2006.
  • Crytek Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey — founded in 2012.

Former
  • Crytek Black Sea in Sofia, Bulgaria — founded in 2001 as Black Sea Studios; acquired and renamed in 2008; sold to Sega in 2017.
  • Crytek Budapest in Budapest, Hungary — founded in 2007, closed in 2016.
  • Crytek Seoul in Seoul, South Korea — founded in 2008, closed in 2016.
  • Crytek Shanghai in Shanghai, China — founded in 2012, closed in 2016.
  • Crytek UK in Nottingham, England — founded in 1999 as Free Radical Design; acquired and renamed in 2009; sold to Deep Silver in 2014.
  • Crytek USA in Austin, Texas, U.S. — founded in 2013, closed in 2014.

Games developed
Year Title Publisher(s) Platform(s) Studio(s)
2004 Far Cry Ubisoft Microsoft Windows Crytek
2007 Crysis Electronic Arts Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
2008 Crysis Warhead Microsoft Windows Crytek Budapest
2011 Crysis 2 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Crytek, Crytek UK
2012 Fibble: Flick 'n' Roll Crytek Android, iOS Crytek Budapest
2013 Crysis 3 Electronic Arts Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Crytek, Crytek UK
Warface Microsoft Studios, Crytek Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch Crytek Kiev
Ryse: Son of Rome Microsoft Windows, Xbox One Crytek
2014 The Collectables DeNA iOS Crytek Budapest
2016 The Climb Crytek Microsoft Windows, Oculus Quest (2019) Crytek
Robinson: The Journey Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4
2019 Hunt: Showdown Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2020 Crysis Remastered Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
The Climb 2 Oculus Quest

Cancelled games

References
  1. ""The transformation was painful. We paid the price"". eurogamer.net.
  2. Fröhlich, Petra (10 January 2020). "Die größten Spiele-Entwickler in Deutschland 2020" [The largest game developers in Germany 2020]. GamesWirtschaft (in German).
  3. "Crytek closes five studios after rough year".
  4. Hall, Charlie (11 July 2013). "THE STORY OF CRYTEK: FROM X-ISLE THROUGH REDEMPTION". Polygon. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  5. Corriea, Alexa Ray (7 February 2013). "Crytek's canceled FPS was a cyberpunk adventure of 'Half-Life meets Metal Gear Solid'". Polygon. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  6. "Crytek Raided".
  7. Steel, Wade (30 March 2006). "UBISOFT ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO FAR CRY". IGN. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  8. "Crytek and ATI Demo". Archived from the original on 4 November 2007.
  9. "Crysis Announced". Archived from the original on 6 April 2006.
  10. Crytek bought Black Sea Studios Archived 18 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Crytek Opens South Korean Office". Shacknews. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  12. "Crytek Buys TimeSplitters Dev. Free Radical". Shacknews. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  13. "Crytek Announces CryENGINE 3". Crytek. 11 March 2009. Archived from the original on 23 March 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  14. "Crytek CryENGINE 3 trade begins". Hardwired. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  15. "CryTek Adds Stereoscopic 3D To Its Game Engine". ApertureGames. 14 October 2009. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  16. Kietzmann, Ludwig (20 September 2011). "Crytek developing Homefront sequel with THQ". Joystiq. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  17. "THQ Dissolved, Saints Row, Company of Heroes Devs Acquired". IGN. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  18. "Gface, Crytek-backed streaming game network, goes into beta". Joystiq. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  19. Fletcher, JC (5 February 2012). "Gface, Crytek-backed streaming game network, goes into beta". Joystiq. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  20. Sandberg, Adam (2 April 2009). "Crytek was way ahead of OnLive". That VideoGame Blog. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  21. Dobra, Andrei (27 April 2009). "Crytek Attempted Cloud Gaming Way Before OnLive". Softpedia. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  22. "CryEngine 3.4 SDK, Crytek today announced the arrival of a feature-filled update to its award-winning game development solution, CryENGINE 3". Crytek. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  23. "Crysis 3 Release Date Announced". GameSpy.
  24. "Xbox One to Launch on 22 November 2013 in 13 Markets". Xbox.
  25. "Ryse PC release date and system requirements revealed". PC Gamer.
  26. "Crytek". Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  27. "How Crytek hired the ex-Vigil team (and formed a new studio) based on one meeting". VentureBeat. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  28. "Crytek Outlines Future Plans and Focuses on Return to Core Competencies". 15 June 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  29. "Crytek sells Black Sea studio in Bulgaria to Sega and The Creative Assembly".
  30. "The CEO of Crytek has stepped down". 28 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
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