In a recent announcement, developer Crytek, best known for creating the "Crysis" series, closes 5 studios in different locations around the world. Those included in the closure are the offices in Seoul, Shanghai, Istanbul, Budapest, and Sofia.
While no details have been reported on what will happen to these locations, many employees are now looking for other work and only two studios remain as part of Crytek. The company has been having problems since 2014, when it was reported that they were withholding paychecks to keep the company alive. The recent closure came with controversies that Crytek employees were being paid irregularly in the past six months. The complaints drew a lot of attention as they scattered through social media and websites such as Reddit.
According to managing director Avni Yerli, the company hopes to focus on its core strengths and build towards future successes. Their now focusing on several video game projects as well as the CryEngine technology which has been used by numerous developers in the past. In the past, Crytek has done major job cuts, removing as much as 200 jobs from their workforce. They also shut down their operations in the United States and the United Kingdom. Another move they did to keep the company alive was selling the rights to "Homefront: The Revolution". In recent months, the company has been focusing on various virtual reality projects.
One such project is "Robinson: the Journey", which was released last November for the PlayStation VR. The game is being sold physically and digitally at a price of $59.99. The game released earlier than announced and promises to have around 3 to 5 hours playing time in the first playthrough. The developers also promise that there are many things to discover past the 5th hour of playing. The game uses the CryEngine for its graphics and is continuing to improve the technology for the up and coming virtual reality technology.