Developer
Crytek
has
today
announced
that
the
long-awaited
Crysis
4
has
been
put
“on
hold”
as
it
lays
off
roughly
60
staff
members.
Crysis
4
was
announced
back
in
January
of
2022,
almost
a
decade
after
Crysis
3
was
released.
The
announcement
was
made
via
the
company’s
X
page
where
it
claimed
that
Crytek
was
not
immune
to
“complex,
unfavourable
market
dynamics.”
“It
pains
us
greatly
to
share
today
that
we
must
lay
off
an
estimated
15%
of
our
around
400
employees,”
says
the
post.
“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.”
—
Crytek
(@Crytek)
February
12,
2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
I
was
actually
quite
shocked
to
learn
that
Crytek
was
employing
so
many
people.
According
to
Crytek,
they
have
been
working
on
“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,”
continues
the
statement.
“Even
after
ongoing
efforts
to
reduce
costs
and
cut
operating
expenses,
we
have
determined
that
lays
are
inevitable
to
move
forward.”
Crytek
are
promising
to
aid
affected
employees
with
severance
packages
and
career
assistance
services.
Crytek
seems
to
be
focusing
heavily
on
Hunt:
Showdown
1896
as
it
appears
to
be
the
only
thing
currently
supporting
the
entire
studio
and
its
now
340
employees.
The
company
states
that
it
still
“firmly
believes
in
the
future
of
Crytek”
and
that
“With
Hunt:
Showdown
1896,
we
have
a
very
strong
gaming
service.”
They
say
they
intend
on
expanding
the
game
further
with
more
content.
To
put
the
game
into
more
context,
Hunt:
Showdown
1896
has
benefited
from
a
small
resurgence
since
December
of
2024
when
Post
Malone’s
Murder
Circus
was
added.
Since
then
the
game
has
consistently
been
bringing
in
20,000
concurrent
players
on
Steam
every
day.
While
those
numbers
are
good,
I
do
find
it
hard
to
believe
it’s
enough
to
continue
supporting
Crytek’s
employee
count.
Arrowhead
Game
Studios,
who
built
and
run
Helldivers
2,
for
example,
has
around
100+
employees
and
much
higher
player
counts.
Having
said
that,
Helldivers
2
is
something
of
an
unusual
case.
To
Crytek’s
credit,
Hunt:
Showdown
1896
has
continued
on
a
slow,
steady
upward
trajectory
since
releasing
in
2019
where
it
typically
only
saw
player
counts
in
the
low
thousands.
Looking
at
the
charts,
it
appears
to
have
hit
its
stride
in
2021,
and
even
managed
to
hit
60,000+
concurrent
players
in
August
of
2024.
Since
2021
though,
the
overall
growth
has
remained
roughly
static.
If
that’s
the
case,
will
the
game
ever
grow
enough
to
let
Crytek
do
anything
else,
or
will
they
now
be
stuck
working
on
Hunt:
Showdown
for
the
foreseeable
future,
unable
to
grow
enough
to
give
them
space
to
work
on
other
projects?
If
there’s
any
good
news
it’s
that
Crysis
4
has
not
be
cancelled.
The
wording
“on
hold’
provides
at
least
some
small
hope
that
the
game
might
still
be
revived
and
come
to
market.
