Hunt: Showdown and Crysis developers Crytek are dismissing an estimated 15 percent of their workforce – around 60 people out of 400 – in the face of “the complex, unfavourable market dynamics that have hit our industry these past several years”. This comes after they paused development of mechsuit FPS sequel Crysis 4 last year, with staff shifting over to Showdown’s live service reboot Hunt: Showdown 1896. Crytek now say they need to cut back in order to remain “financially sustainable”.
“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,” reads a statement posted on social media. “It pains us greatly to share today that we must lay off an estimated 15 percent of our around 400 employees. 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,” it continues. “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.
“While Hunt: Showdown 1896 is still growing, 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 will offer affected employees severance packages and career assistance services.”
You might be wondering what “the complex, unfavourable market dynamics that have hit our industry these past several years” actually refers to. I could do with a bit more exposition myself. Are they talking about companies expanding too fast, amid optimistic predictions of post-lockdown growth? Betting too much on the success of VR? Rising interest rates and cost of living? It’s going back 10 years, but Crytek don’t exactly have a great track record for being upfront about layoffs.
A cursory glance at Hunt: Showdown’s SteamDB concurrency figures suggests that the game is doing well, but remains far from a GTA 5-level money-spinner. It spiked to around 60,000 concurrent players in August 2024 with the release of the 1896 update. Games aside, Crytek have their CryEngine business, which dates back to the noughties.
As for Crysis 4, it was announced in 2022 in a way that suggested we wouldn’t see anything concrete for a while, and so it has proven: this is only our second news story about the game. I’m not hugely optimistic for the project’s future. Best of luck to everybody affected by Crytek’s reductions.