Crytek eyes PSP development

When Crytek announced in May 2007 that it would be opening a new studio in Budapest, Hungary, company founder and CEO Cevat Yerli said that the operation's primary purpose would be to "leverage its CryEngine 2 technology and expand the number of gaming genres for which it is developing new products." Most took this statement to mean that the Crysis developer was looking to extend its reach beyond the PC and into the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 console space.

Although console development is most definitely on their minds, the technical wunderkinds at Crytek now appear to be eyeing handhelds as well. As per a job req recently posted to the Germany-based developer's Web site, Crytek is hiring a "PSP Programmer" with at least one year of experience working on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, or Nintendo DS. The ideal candidate would have experience with low-level, network, physics, and audio programming, as well as familiarity with multiplatform development.

Shoehorning Crytek's recent efforts such as Crysis onto Sony's portable seems like a dubious proposition at best. However, as one possible explanation for the job listing in lieu of a new, full game for the PSP, Crytek may be exploring the handheld's remote-play functionality for integration with a future PlayStation 3 game. Lamenting the piracy rates that plague the PC, Yerli said in April that new properties created by his company would no longer be PC-exclusive, indicating that future endeavors would appear on consoles such as the PS3 and Xbox 360.