Crytek Halts Crysis 4, Lays Off Up to 60 Employees

Crytek, the renowned developer behind the Crysis and Hunt: Showdown franchises, has announced significant layoffs, impacting 60 of its 400 employees, which equates to 15% of its workforce. This difficult decision comes in response to challenging market conditions within the gaming industry.

In a tweet, Crytek acknowledged the growth of Hunt: Showdown but stated that the company could no longer "continue as before and remain financially sustainable." Despite efforts to shift staff from the now on-hold Crysis 4 project to Hunt: Showdown and reduce operational costs, layoffs became unavoidable.

The layoffs have affected various teams, including development and shared services. Crytek has committed to providing severance packages to those impacted. Avni Yerli, the founder of Crytek, shared the following statement:

Like so many of our peers, we aren’t immune to the complex, unfavorable market dynamics that have hit our industry these past several years. It pains me greatly to share today that we must lay off an estimated 15% of our around 400 employees. The layoffs affect development teams and shared services.

This has not been an easy decision to make, as we deeply appreciate the hard work of our talented teams. After putting the development of the next Crysis game on hold in Q3 2024, we have been trying to shift developers over to Hunt: Showdown 1896.

While Hunt: Showdown 1896 is still growing, Crytek cannot continue as before and remain financially sustainable. Even after ongoing efforts to reduce costs and cut operating expenses, we have determined that layoffs are inevitable to move forward. Crytek will offer affected employees severance packages and career assistance services.

We firmly believe in the future of Crytek. With Hunt: Showdown 1896, we have a very strong gaming service and remain fully committed to its operation. We will continue to expand and evolve Hunt: Showdown 1896 with great content and drive our strategy for our engine CRYENGINE.

Last year, it was revealed that Crytek had been working on a battle royale-inspired project called Crysis Next, which was showcased in early gameplay footage on YouTube. The footage depicted third-person shooting in a basic arena, incorporating Crysis's distinctive abilities and sound effects. However, Crysis Next was never officially announced and was ultimately canceled in favor of Crysis 4, which was announced in January 2022.

The Crysis series, known for its stunning visuals, innovative nanosuit powers, and open-ended gameplay, began with the first game released in 2007. This game was so demanding on hardware that it became a benchmark for PC performance, leading to the popular phrase, "But can it run Crysis?" The last mainline entry, Crysis 3, was released in February 2013. Since then, Crytek has released remasters of the original games, but fans have been eagerly awaiting news on Crysis 4 since its announcement and teaser three years ago.