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Crytek Shuts Down Five Studios Amid Financial Difficulties

Only two Crytek studios to remain open.

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Crytek, the company behind the Crysis games, has announced the closure of five of its international studios. Its development houses in Budapest, Sofia, Istanbul, Seoul, and Shanghai will all either be shut down or sold off, with only the Kiev studio and the company's headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany remaining.

In a press release, the publisher said, "Crytek will concentrate on development in its Frankfurt and Kiev studios and continue to develop and work on premium IPs.

"All other development studios will not remain within Crytek and management has put plans into action to secure jobs and to ensure a smooth transition and stable future."

The company's co-founder and managing director, Avni Yerli, continued: "Undergoing such transitions is far from easy, and we'd like to sincerely thank each and every staff member--past and present--for their hard work and commitment to Crytek. These changes are part of the essential steps we are taking to ensure Crytek is a healthy and sustainable business moving forward that can continue to attract and nurture our industry's top talent. The reasons for this have been communicated internally along the way. Our focus now lies entirely on the core strengths that have always defined Crytek--world-class developers, state-of-the-art technology, and innovative game development, and we believe that going through this challenging process will make us a more agile, viable, and attractive studio, primed for future success."

The news comes shortly after it was reported that Crytek had not paid some employees for six months. Reports at the time also stated that Crytek Black Sea (the company's studio in Sofia, Bulgaria) was up for sale.

Crytek also owned studios in the UK and US, until recently. Crytek USA was closed in 2014 following a batch of lay-offs. It was reported at the time that many staff had quit following months of unpaid wages.

Crytek UK, meanwhile, closed down at the same time as Crytek sold the rights to the Homefront series to Deep Silver. Many Crytek UK staff continued to work on Homefront: The Revolution at the then-newly formed Deep Silver Dambuster Studios, also situated in Nottingham, UK.

GameSpot wishes the best of luck to any Crytek employees losing their jobs as part of the restructuring.

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