All future Crytek games will be free-to-play

All upcoming Crytek projects will consist exclusively of AAA free-to-play games, company CEO Cevat Yerli told Videogamer. This will take effect after the company's current projects--which include Crysis 3 and Homefront 2--see release.

"As we were developing console games we knew very clearly that the future is online and free-to-play," Yerli said. "Right now we are in the transitional phase of our company, transitioning from packaged goods games into an entirely free-to-play experience."

Yerli did not explicitly say what the impetus for this change was, but he lamented some of the money-making strategies currently being employed by other companies.

"If you look at what kind of games are done in the packaged goods market, with DLCs and premium services and whatnot, it's literally milking the customers to death," he said.

Crytek has not named any of its future free-to-play titles, but Yerli said the company's aim is to "ensure the best quality, console game quality." This entails game budgets of between $10 million and $30 million, he said. Additionally, future titles will be supported by the company's new social gaming platform, Gface, which is currently in closed beta.

Crytek's first free-to-play game--Warface--is in development at the company's Kiev outfit and runs on the CryEngine 3. A military shooter set in the near future, the game claims to offer a cinematic experience with next-gen visuals, artificial intelligence, and physics. It is expected to be released in 2012.