Crytek bankruptcy watch thread

[A horse of course]

Objectively speaking you have the absolute worst taste on the face of the earth.

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

http://imgur.com/gallery/5S2ZX

CRYTEK hasn't paid me (or my coworkers) for almost 6 months. HELP!
by CrytekThrowaway1d

CRYTEK hasn't paid me (or my coworkers) for almost 6 months. HELP!
I'm not sure where else to turn at this point. This has happened in the past a few times, but never for this long. Management never gives anyone a heads up, and it isn’t clear to me if they are getting paid or even informed from the owners. The last time this happened we were told it would be the last time and yet it is happening again. Many of my co-workers moved from out of the country to work here and are unable to leave because they cannot afford to get back home due to their wages being withheld for so long. People are afraid to speak out because we are continuously told “Thank you for your continued efforts through this difficult time” and “You don’t understand because you don’t see the whole picture like we do— wages are coming soon.” The brothers had a meeting a few months ago and assured everyone that the issue was finally fixed and there should be no more problems. That is not the case. People are still working without pay. This isn’t just here in Germany, this is in all of our offices as far as I can tell. Upper management refuses to speak to any of us and our managers have no answers. We have never been apologized to, and they refuse to talk to us. I am posting on imgur as a last resort with hopes that this post goes viral and forces those on top to address the issues.

Interesting avenue of communication have to say.

 

[Perkel]

find other job and sue crytek. You are welcome.

 

[Abu Antar]

I don't know why you would stay for six months? I'd gotten the fuck out of there.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

http://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matth...s-are-unpaid-talent-leaving-on-a-daily-basis/

Source: Crytek is sinking, wages are unpaid, talent leaving on a daily basis

Overnight word began spreading that perhaps Crytek was in a spot of financial trouble once again, after an anonymous post appeared online from someone claiming to be an employee who had not been paid properly for six months. After publishing our original coverage of this story, a Crytek employee at the company’s Frankfurt office got in touch with KitGuru to better explain what is going on behind the scenes at the company right now. It’s certainly not a pretty picture.

We will be keeping our source on this anonymous but do be assured that we privately verified who they were and their employment at Crytek. With that out of the way, let’s tackle issue number one- the lack of pay.

According to our source, things had been relatively stable financially up until around June of this year, at which time, employees at the Crytek Frankfurt office discovered they were not going to be paid on time. At the time, Crytek’s upper management assured employees that all financial problems would be worked out by August and that there would be enough money to remain stable for at least 18 months.

Payroll was two weeks late for July and August. September came around and payroll was five weeks late. Wages for October and November have actually yet to be paid at all and with December’s pay due in three weeks time, things aren’t looking particularly bright. Our source told us that up until June, there had been no indication that financial issues were on the horizon.

As you can imagine, morale amongst employees at Crytek is low and apparently resignations are being handed in on a near daily basis. The company is said to have lost some irreplaceable talent over the last few months and many more are seeking employment elsewhere. Those who remain at the Frankfurt studio have submitted a legal letter to management informing them that if wages for October, November and December aren’t paid in full by the end of next week, then they will stop working. Those at the Budapest studio have apparently already stopped turning up to work.

So where have all of these financial problems come from? Well it turns out that Crytek may have expanded too fast. The company has around 700 employees spread out across its six studios and next to no revenue coming in. The licensing money from Crytek’s 2015 deal with Amazon has been spent and the company has made some poor investments in new projects. Rather than building on stronger IP like Crysis, Timesplitters or Ryse, Crytek has tried its luck with VR and free to play projects, which aren’t paying the bills.

Over the last couple of years, Crytek has been working on two free to play titles: ‘The Hunt’ and ‘Arena of Fate’. While neither of these have been publicly cancelled, our source tells us that these are failed projects and won’t see release any time soon. In an effort to recoup some money, Crytek’s Shanghai studio as well as the company’s Sofia based studio (also known as Black Sea Studio) are potentially going to be sold off.

According to our source, Crytek co-founder, Cevat Yerli has not shown up at company headquarters for months and is said to be focussing on other business ventures, effectively leaving Crytek to its fate without a solid business plan. The other two Yerli brothers still show up at Crytek HQ but they have not been taking advice from other members of management on how to move forward and communication has been lacking.

We have contacted Crytek to see if they are aware of these claims and get their side of the story. I will update if/when I hear back with an official statement.

 

[Infinitron]

What an utterly bizarre situation. What's the plan, wait until everybody quits so you can shut down operations without having to suffer the indignity of a formal bankruptcy?

 

[Abu Antar]

Wow. 700 freaking employees? They not only shot themselves in the foot. They chopped of their toes and flayed all the skin.

 

[Gord]

It does sound a bit like they had only some pretty vague ideas about their whole f2p business plan, considering the size of the studio and certainly no plan B.

 

[vortex]

Why are they not making Crysis 4? Who made that decision?

 

[StrongBelwas]

Why are they not making Crysis 4? Who made that decision?

EA owns the IP, and Crysis 3 did not meet their expectations.

 

[flyingjohn]

And just a reminder, these are the guys that own the timesplitters ip.
I guess there is no hope for a timesplitters hd trilogy release now.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

More confirmation from a disgruntled Frankfurt employee:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-12-13-crytek-once-again-in-crisis

Crytek once again in crisis

Crytek is in trouble once again, with staff saying they have suffered delayed wages for months.

Rumours of Crytek's financial trouble emerged online last week, with an anonymous report on Reddit indicating the German company had failed to pay staff since May.

Eurogamer was contacted by a current employee of Crytek's main office in Frankfurt, who said staff there had not been paid for two months, and pay over the previous five months had been delayed by up to four weeks.

The source accused Crytek's embattled founders, brothers Cevat and Avni Yerli of failing to communicate properly with the company's increasingly angry workforce.

Eurogamer has since verified the reports with a separate source at the Frankfurt office, who painted a dim picture of the once superstar video game and engine maker.

The source said the current belief is that Crytek has simply run out of cash, and while management are working on new deals, a rescue plan is taking longer than expected.

Morale, as you'd expect, is low, with much of the anger directed at Cevat Yerli. I interviewed Cevat Yerli back in 2014 and quizzed him on unpaid wages, poor communication and the cancellation of Ryse 2. His answers did not go down well.

One source told Eurogamer staff aren't even sure if Cevat's still with the company, as he hasn't been seen in employee update meetings for months. His brother, Avni, has been the primary point of contact.

Crytek PR people have so far failed to respond to Eurogamer's request for comment.

After its recent financial crisis, which saw the studio sell off Homefront developer Crytek UK to Deep Silver and sign a company-saving deal with Amazon for the use of CryEngine, Crytek switched focus to virtual reality titles.

It recently released Robinson: The Journey and The Climb - both well received VR games but neither money-making projects.

The future of Crytek's other in-development games has been cast into doubt, with reports that the Bulgarian studio behind free-to-play MOBA Arena of Fate, Black Sea, is up for sale.

What next for Crytek? Staff hope for a sale that would secure their futures. Many have already left for other jobs (Star Citizen maker Cloud Imperium Games already has a number of ex-Crytek staff).

As one source inside Crytek put it, management has told staff a deal is on the verge of being done. But the question is, can it be signed in time?

As one source inside Crytek put it, management has told staff a deal is on the verge of being done.

 

[vonAchdorf]

All future Crytek games will be free-to-play!

This behavior, if the reports are true, seems to be a case for the state attorney for not filing for insolvency.

 

[Infinitron]

Crytek nationalized by Turkey, all future games are F2P Kurd-killing simulators.

 

[vonAchdorf]

If they need money, they can sell their Ferraris to inXile / Brian Fargo.

 

[Infinitron]

Ex-Crytek Artist Looks To Sue Over Unpaid Salary

A former Crytek artist wants to sue the company for not paying its staff—and he’s crowdfunding a lawyer to make it happen.

Ludvig Lindqvist, an FX artist who worked at Crytek’s main studio in Frankfurt, Germany, launched a GoFundMe campaign today in hopes of paying his legal fees against the studio. Crytek, he says, has not paid him in two months. He quit on December 8.

“Crytek has failed to pay salaries on time starting May 2016,” Lindqvist writes. “Ever since May this year, salaries have been delayed. Today as I’m creating this GoFundMe campaign, 14th December 2016, it was 58 days since Crytek paid me my September salary. Two whole months have failed to make it to my account. The last salary I got was one month late.”

Earlier this week we reported on Crytek’s recent financial woes. A number of Crytek employees have contacted Kotaku and other media outlets to say they haven’t been paid in months, and that salaries have been late all year.

In 2014, the game developer went through a similar crisis, failing to pay staff for several months before finally recovering thanks to a licensing deal with Amazon.

Meanwhile, we hear that Crytek’s staff are abandoning the company in droves. According to one Crytek employee in Germany, the reason people hadn’t left earlier is that Germany’s labor laws allow the government to cover up to three full salaries for each employee when a company enters insolvency.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Wonder who's gonna step in to cannibalize the Cryengine.

Probably some Chinese investment giant. "Investing" in German firms is right now the Chinks favorite hobby.

 

[I ASK INANE QUESTIONS]

Wonder who's gonna step in to cannibalize the Cryengine.

Probably some Chinese investment giant. "Investing" in German firms is right now the Chinks favorite hobby.

Epic Games already copied most of the features worth giving a damn about from CryEngine, so nothing of value will be lost.
And if you are insistent on being a purist, Amazon Lumberyard is a cannibalized CryEngine.
So yes, they already sold it. In a way.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I know that. But you still don't let such a nice piece of engineering craft go to dust.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Vavra to the rescue. A Warhorse / RSI consortium will buy the engine

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Most likely candidat would be My.com, to keep Armored Warfare up to date.

 

[vortex]

Vavra to the rescue. A Warhorse / RSI consortium will buy the engine

How much the Cryengine costs ?

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Vavra to the rescue. A Warhorse / RSI consortium will buy the engine

How much the Cryengine costs ?

Pennies when the company's net worth plummets.

 

[Perkel]

Vavra to the rescue. A Warhorse / RSI consortium will buy the engine

I think RSI doesn't even care at this point. In one of interviews they said that they completely split from updates to their engine and at some point they started to change so much that it shouldn't be considered Cryengine anymore. I don't think they even use that name internally, they have their own naming of sorts tho i don't remember what name it is.

Warhorse is in worse situation. They build A LOT of technology on top of Cryengine but i believe it is still CE at core thus when Crytek will fall which at this point is 90% sure they will have to rework shitload of stuff and move either on their own engine or some new one in future for their next game.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Warhorse is in worse situation. They build A LOT of technology on top of Cryengine but i believe it is still CE at core thus when Crytek will fall which at this point is 90% sure they will have to rework shitload of stuff and move either on their own engine or some new one in future for their next game.

They have the source code, and the current game should be fine, all systems they require should be working by now and I don't think they'll do an engine upgrade between now and release. But I agree, that they depend much more on Crytek than RSI.