Crytek, the studio behind Xbox One title Ryse: Son of Rome and the Crysis series, has denied reports from a German magazine that suggest the company is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Gaming magazine Gamestar.de claims that poor sales of the company’s CryEngine, combined with an expensive and “catastrophic” development cycle for Ryse: Son of Rome, has lead to the financial trouble.
The Gamestar site is hidden behind a paywall, but website DSO Gaming has translated the basics of their article into English. According to the report employee salaries have been paid late, leading staff members to send applications to various other development studios. You can read the translation here.
As you might expect, Crytek were quick to deny the reports. Here’s an official statement, sent to VG247 yesterday:
“Regardless of what some media are reporting, mostly based on a recent article published by GameStar, the information in those reports and in the Gamestar article itself are rumours which Crytek deny. We continue to focus on the development and publishing of our upcoming titles Homefront: The Revolution, Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age, Arena of Fate, and Warface, as well as providing ongoing support for our CryEngine and its licensees.
“We have received a lot of positive feedback during and after E3 from both gaming press and gamers, and would like to thank our loyal employees, fans and business partners for their continuous support.”
It would be a grand shame for a company with around 800 employees to close, so fingers crossed Crytek is actually fine - or if it isn’t that it finds a buyer sharpish. We’ll keep you updated with any further information on this story.
