Crytek Halts Crysis 4, Lays Off Up to 60 Employees

Crytek, the renowned game developer behind the iconic Crysis series, has announced a significant round of layoffs, impacting 60 of its 400 employees. This decision comes as the company grapples with the need to remain financially sustainable amidst challenging market conditions.

In a tweet, Crytek acknowledged the growth of their popular game Hunt: Showdown but stated that the company could not "continue as before and remain financially sustainable." The layoffs, affecting 15% of the workforce, were deemed "inevitable" despite efforts to reduce costs and operating expenses. Crytek had previously put Crysis 4 "on hold" in late 2024 and attempted to shift staff to work on Hunt: Showdown.

The layoffs have affected staff across Crytek's development teams and shared services. The company has committed to providing severance packages to those impacted.

Here is the full statement from Crytek founder Avni Yerli:

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, it was revealed that Crytek had been working on a battle royale-inspired Crysis project codenamed Crysis Next. Early gameplay footage surfaced on YouTube, showcasing third-person shooting in a basic warm-up arena with the series' trademark abilities and sound effects. However, Crysis Next was never officially announced and was eventually canceled in favor of Crysis 4, which was announced in January 2022.

The Crysis series is celebrated for its first-person sci-fi shooter gameplay, stunning visuals, and innovative nanosuit powers. The original Crysis, released in 2007, became a benchmark for PC performance due to its high system requirements, leading to the popular phrase, "But can it run Crysis?" This catchphrase became a standard for evaluating PC specifications in the years following the game's release.

The most recent mainline entry, 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.