 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | September 1999; 26 years ago (1999-09), inCoburg, Germany |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | , Germany |
Key people |
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| Products | |
| Owner | Yerli family[1] |
Number of employees | 405 (2024) |
| Subsidiaries | List of Crytek subsidiaries |
| Website | crytek.com |
Crytek GmbH is a Germanvideo game developer andsoftware developer based inFrankfurt. Founded by the Yerli brothers inCoburg in 1999 and moved to Frankfurt in 2006, it operates additional studio inKyiv, Ukraine andIstanbul, Turkey. Crytek is best known for developingthe first entry of theFar Cry series, theCrysis series, and theopen world nature of their games which showcase the company'sCryEngine.
Crytek formerly had studios includedCrytek Black Sea inSofia, Bulgaria,Crytek UK inNottingham, andCrytek USA inAustin, Texas.[2] As of August 2024, Crytek is the largest game developer in Germany with 405 employees.[3]
Crytek was founded by theTurkish-German brothersCevat, Avni and Faruk Yerli in September 1999 inCoburg, Germany.[4] One of their first projects was a tech demo of a game calledX-Isle: Dinosaur Island, which showcased their game engine technology that offered larger viewing distances than other game engines could at that time. They met withNvidia during the 1999Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) where theirtech demo caught the attention of Nvidia and various media groups. Crytek later signed on with Nvidia to distributeX-Isle as benchmarking software for Nvidia cards.[4]
Crytek's first major game project wasEngalus, afirst-person shooter with acyberpunk theme androle-playing elements, which was first privately shown at E3 2000. The project first attracted publicity for the company at the 2000ECTS with their tech demo at the Nvidia booth, but was subsequently cancelled.[5] Crytek was approached byUbisoft to developX-Isle into a fullAAA game. This evolved intoFar Cry, which was released in March 2004. Concurrently, Crytek announced their licensable game engine,CryEngine, that was used forX-Isle andFar 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 software copies greater than licences purchased, but no charges were pressed.[6] That same month, Crytek andElectronic Arts (EA) announced a strategic partnership to develop a new gaming franchise based on the CryEngine, which would eventually be theCrysis series. Crytek chose this path to highlight that the CryEngine was not limited to just whatFar Cry had shown.[4] Due to this partnership, Ubisoft acquired the full rights to theFar Cry franchise by 2006 as well as a perpetual licence to the first CryEngine, which they have since adapted into their ownDunia Engine.[7] In December 2004, Crytek andATI created a special cinematicmachinima[8] to demonstrate the future of PC gaming.
In January 2006, Crytek announced the development ofCrysis, 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 fromE3 andGames 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 afterCrysis was announced. It has been licensed by many companies such asAvatar Reality,WeMade Entertainment,Entropia Universe, XLGames, Reloaded Studios.
On 11 May 2006, Crytek announced that their satellite studio inKyiv, 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 inBudapest, Hungary.
Crysis was released in November 2007. In September 2008, an expansion toCrysis entitledCrysis Warhead was released as a PC-exclusive game. In October 2011,Crysis was released on PS3 and Xbox 360, allowing play of the original game viaXbox Live and thePlayStation Network.
On 14 July 2008, Crytek bought Black Sea Studios and renamed it toCrytek Black Sea.[10] On 17 November 2008, Crytek opened an office in South Korea named Crytek, Ltd.[11] On 3 February 2009, Crytek purchasedFree Radical Design, a British video game company known for theTimeSplitters series, and renamed the company toCrytek UK.[12]
In March 2009, Crytek announced on the company's website that it would introduce CryEngine 3 at the 2009Game Developers Conference. This new engine was developed for use onPlayStation 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 withstereoscopic 3D technology.[15] Crytek releasedCrysis 2, a direct sequel to the original game, in March 2011.
AtE3 2011, Crytek exhibited several new projects, including the action gameRyse: Son of Rome. In September 2011,THQ and Crytek announced a partnership to developHomefront 2.[16] After THQ filed for bankruptcy, Crytek acquired theHomefront 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 forCrysis, 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 releasedCrysis 3 in February 2013[23] andRyse: Son of Rome in November 2013 as anXbox One launch title.[24] The PC version ofRyse 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 formerVigil Games employees.[27]
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 toHomefront includingHomefront: The Revolution and the Crytek UK staff were transferred toKoch 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 ofHunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age was transferred to Crytek.
Crytek announced the next iteration of the engine branded CRYENGINE V on 22 March 2016.[28]
On 20 December 2016, Crytek announced that their studios in Hungary, Bulgaria, South Korea, Turkey and China would be shut down.[29][30] However, Crytek sold Crytek Black Sea toSega andThe Creative Assembly in March 2017 and stated to retained offices in Istanbul to operateWarface in Turkey in 2018.[31][32] In December 2017, Crytek announced a partnership with newcryptocurrency CryCash for use in rewarding gamers andesports betting; aninitial coin offering was planned that month.[33] On 28 February 2018, Crytek announced that Cevat Yerli was stepping down aschief 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.[34]
Crytek releasedHunt: Showdown (utilising the fifth generation of theCryEngine) in 2019–20. The company has also worked on threevirtual reality projects, namelyThe Climb for theOculus Rift,The Climb 2 for theOculus Rift and Oculus Quest 2, andRobinson: The Journey for thePlayStation VR,Oculus Rift andSteamVR.Arena of Fate was cancelled after Crytek's restructuring which saw the game's developer Crytek Black Sea sold.[30] In February 2019,Warface's development team split from Crytek Kiev and formed Blackwood Games to continue working on the game.[35]
In July 2021, German tabloid BILD reported that the Chinese Internet companyTencent was attempting to buy Crytek for over €300 million via a European subsidiary.[36]
In 2021, the Creative Services team responsible for creating trailers won a Gold MUSE Award for The Dark Sight Trailer that promotedHunt: Showdown.[37]
On 26 January 2022 Crytek announced the fourth entry of the Crysis franchise,[38] but the game was put on hold in 2025 followed by anotherround of layoffs.[39]
| 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,Oculus Quest 2 | |||
| 2021 | Crysis 2 Remastered | Microsoft Windows,Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | ||
| Crysis 3 Remastered | ||||
| TBA | Crysis 4 | N/a |
With headquarters in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) and studios in Kiev (Ukraine), and Istanbul (Turkey) [...]
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