Crytek Halts Crysis 4, Lays Off Up to 60 Employees

Crytek, a renowned game developer, has announced layoffs affecting 60 of its 400 employees, which equates to 15% of its workforce. In a tweet, the company acknowledged that despite the growth of their popular game, Hunt: Showdown, they could not "continue as before and remain financially sustainable." This decision follows Crytek's choice to put Crysis 4 "on hold" in late 2024, and efforts to shift staff to Hunt: Showdown in an attempt to reduce costs and operating expenses. However, these measures were insufficient, leading to what the company described as "inevitable" layoffs across its development teams and shared services. Crytek has committed to providing severance packages to the affected employees.

In a comprehensive statement, Crytek founder Avni Yerli elaborated on the situation:

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, leaks surfaced about a battle royale-inspired Crysis project, codenamed Crysis Next, which featured early gameplay footage on YouTube. This footage showcased third-person shooting in a basic warm-up arena, infused with Crysis' signature abilities and sound effects. Despite this, 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 first-person sci-fi shooter gameplay, stunning visuals, and unique nanosuit powers, has been a benchmark for PC performance since the release of the first game in 2007. The iconic phrase, "But can it run Crysis?" became a popular measure of a computer's capabilities. The last mainline installment, Crysis 3, was released in February 2013. While Crytek has released remasters of the original games in recent years, there has been little news about Crysis 4 since its announcement and teaser three years ago.