Crytek has made its game engine development technology CryEngine available through Steam. Used to power titles as diverse as Ryse: Son of Rome and Star Citizen, the CryEngine can be purchased via a subscription model for $9 a month.
Crytek want to broaden the access to their powerful software, giving smaller teams a chance to use big-budget tools. “This is a hell of a thing to undertake,” said Carl Jones, business development director at Crytek, in an interview with GamesBeat. “It’s been a dream of our cofounder Cevat Yerli for a long time to enable anybody to create games. It took us longer than anticipated to get it out. Now the time is right.”
So what do you get for that monthly fee? A FAQ section of the engine’s Steam page explains. ”Getting in with our EaaS program has a number of benefits: first of all, you will always have access to the latest build of our CRYENGINE, and be the first to hear about any upcoming updates. You have instant access to all graphic features and tools, including the powerful renderer behind our Xbox One title Ryse: Son of Rome, C++ and Lua API interfaces along with a full game implementation written in C++, and demo levels and assets for different types of games.”
Developers will also have access to full programme documentation and the CryEngine forums, where they can get help for any issues that crop up, or seek advice on getting the best out of the engine.
Will we now start seeing a raft of smaller budget titles with big budget looks? Time will tell.
