On Wednesday, Crytek made the unfortunate announcement that the developer will be laying off 15% of its staff, and Crysis 4 is now on the shelf.
Layoffs have unfortunately become common news in the game industry since 2022. Thousands and thousands of layoffs have occurred, and even bigger companies such as Microsoft and Sony have made cuts to their staff after business ‘restructuring’ sees employees ‘made redundant.’ On Wednesday, Crysis franchise developer Crytek announced the unfortunate decision to layoff 15% of staff in an official message posted to X (formerly Twitter), and the upcoming fourth entry in the Crysis franchise (dubbed Crysis 4) will be put “on hold”. The announcement from X can be seen below.
The Crytek announcement starts with, “Like so many of our peers, we aren’t immune to the complex, unfavourable market dynamics that have hit our industry these past several years. It pains us greatly to share that we must lay off an estimated 15% of our around 400 employees,” which places the number affected at 60 total staffers to be let go from the company. The posting continues with, “Crytek cannot continue as before and remain financially sustainable. Even after ongoing efforts to reduce costs and cut operating expenses, we have determined that layoffs are inevitable to move forward.”
Crytek promises the affected employees will receive severance and career assistance services following unfortunate budget cuts. Crytek also said, “After putting the development of the next Crysis game on hold in Q3 2024, we have been trying to shift developers over to Hunt: Showdown 1896,” meaning Hunt: Showdown 1896 is still in production amid studio layoffs, but the fourth Crysis title has been shelved in the meantime.
Back in November 2024, it appears Game Director Mattias Engström left the Crysis developer to rejoin his former team at IO Interactive as principal Game Designer, according to the Director’s LinkedIn. Back in 2021, the brief teaser for Crysis 4 was revealed, and it was also revealed that Hitman 3’s director Mattias Engström would lead the project, but as the next Crysis was put on hold in Q3 2024, it appears the Director silently walked away from the project.
Crytek will likely make more announcements regarding Crysis 4 in the future, but Hunt: Showdown 1896‘s development has not been affected as of this posting.
