Crytek and Sega have struck a deal, as the house of Sonic will absorb Crytek’s Bulgari studio into the Creative Assembly family.
Formerly known as Crytek Black Sea – Sofia, the studio will now hold the moniker of Creative Assembly Sofia, in a deal announced in the early hours this morning.
”In the past few weeks, we have worked closely with Creative Assembly and the team in Sofia to ensure that the talented staff at Crytek Black Sea would be well taken care of. We are delighted to be able to announce that SEGA’s acquisition of Crytek Black Sea has been finalized along with the studio’s transition from Crytek to Creative Assembly,” says Managing Director of Crytek, Avni Yerli in a press release. “This change is a part of the essential steps we are taking to re-focus on our core competencies and ensure Crytek is a healthy and sustainable business moving forward.”
Crytek Black Sea was founded in 2001, and most recently worked on a new MOBA titled Arena of Fate. As a studio that’s worked on many major games with Crytek, it seems like the quietly rebranded Sega will be a good home, especially under the Creative Assembly brand.
Creative Assembly has become one of Sega’s most trusted hands, originally working on the Total War franchise, the developer has since worked on many of Sega’s biggest, and most well-received titles like Alien: Isolation, Total War: Warhammer, and most recently on Halo Wars 2.
Recently, Sega has been on an upward trend since their acquisition of Atlus in 2013, finalizing the sale in April 2016, while Crytek seems to be the opposite. This move comes just three months after Crytek announced the closure of five studios — Hungary, China, Turkey, South Korea and Bulgaria. Amidst those closures, one alleged Crytek employee took to Reddit to say that some workers have gone unpaid for months.
