Crytek

Crytek

Type	GmbH
Industry	Video game industry
Founded	1999
Headquarters	Frankfurt, Germany
Key people	Cevat Yerli, Avni Yerli, Faruk Yerli
Products	Game engines CryEngine CryEngine 2 CryEngine 3 Games Far Cry Crysis Crysis Warhead Crysis 2 Ryse Homefront 2
Employees	600+
Subsidiaries	Crytek UK, Crytek Ukraine, Crytek Black Sea, Crytek Budapest, Crytek South Korea
Website	Crytek.com

Crytek is a German video game company founded in 1999 by three Turkish brothers: Cevat, Avni and Faruk Yerli. Crytek's main headquarters are in Frankfurt, Germany, with five other studios in Kiev, Budapest, Nottingham, Sofia and Seoul.^[1] The company is best known for developing the game Far Cry and the CryEngine that the game uses, and later Crysis and CryEngine 2. Their most recent major product is Crysis 2 and its supporting CryEngine 3. Crytek has partnerships with Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, FMOD, Scaleform, Xoreax Software, Sparkasse Coburg, and Rating Services. Crytek's 629-member development team is composed of game professionals from over 36 nations.

History

Crytek was founded by the Turkish Yerli brothers in 1999 in Coburg, Germany. Crytek first attracted publicity at the 2000 ECTS with their tech demo at the NVIDIA booth. For several years thereafter, they released numerous demos of a game called X-Isle, which ultimately evolved into Far Cry. On May 2, 2002, Crytek announced the game engine CryEngine.

In 2003, Crytek attended the Game Developers Conference, where they showcased their new engine and its technology. "We've got awesome demonstrations planned which will showcase the very latest CryEngine technology, including Tools (CryEDIT, Exporters), Visuals (Polybump, Lighting & Shadows), Audio (Dynamic Music with full Dolby Digital 5.1 support), A.I. (Easy to Script) and Physics (Rope, Rag Doll, Liquid) plus the uniquely [sic] rendering power of the CryEngine."^[2]

Also in 2003, Crytek was at ECTS again, where Far Cry was awarded "Best PC Game". In the same month, Crytek modified CryEngine to be optimized for AMD64.

In February 2004, German police carried out a morning raid on Crytek offices, acting on an ex-intern's claim that Crytek was using software illegally. The police investigated for more software copies than licenses purchased but ultimately found nothing.^[3]

That same month, Crytek and Electronic Arts announced a strategic partnership. In December 2004, Crytek and ATI created a special cinematic machinima^[4] to demonstrate the future of PC gaming.

On January 23, 2006, Crytek announced the development of Crysis, promising that it would be an original first person shooter with a new kind of gameplay challenge requiring "adaptive tactics".^[5] The game later won several Best PC Game awards from E3 and Games Convention.

In April 2006, Crytek moved to new offices in Frankfurt.

The first public demonstration of Crytek's CryEngine 2 was on January 23, 2007, one year after Crysis was announced. It has been licensed by many companies such as Avatar Reality, WeMade Entertainment, Entropia Universe, XLGames, Reloaded Studios, 1st Educational Institution, and Games Academy GmbH.

On May 11, 2007, Crytek announced that their satellite studio in Kyiv, Ukraine, had been upgraded to a full development studio, giving the company its second development studio. The second studio is currently working on a game based on Crytek's new intellectual property.

About a week after the upgrade of the Kyiv studio, Crytek announced a new studio in Budapest, Hungary. Like the Kiev studio, the Budapest studio focused heavily on development with the CryEngine 2.^[6]

Crytek attended The G*STAR Game and Trade Show in Seoul, South Korea from November 8–11, 2007.

On July 14, 2008, Crytek bought Black Sea Studios and renamed it to Crytek Black Sea.^[7]

On November 17, 2008, Crytek opened an office in South Korea named Crytek, Ltd. The office is headed by Young Mok Park and focused on CryEngine 2 licensing to Korean clients.^[8]

On September 12, 2008, an expansion of Crysis entitled Crysis Warhead was released as a PC-exclusive game.

On February 3, 2009, Crytek purchased Free Radical Design, a British video game company known for the TimeSplitters series, and renamed the company to Crytek UK.^[9]

On March 11, 2009, Crytek announced on the company's website that it would introduce CryEngine 3 at the 2009 Game Developers Conference, from March 25–27. This new engine was developed for use on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PCs.^[10]

On October 14, 2009, the CryEngine 3 engine became available in trade flow for game developers.^[11]

On March 3, 2010, CryEngine 3 was made compatible with stereoscopic 3D technology.^[12]

On March 22, 2011, Crytek released Crysis 2, a direct sequel to the original game, in North America. The game was subsequently release in the European Union on March 24, and in Australia on March 25.

At E3 2011, Crytek exhibited several new projects, including the Kinect-based action game Ryse.

On September 20, 2011, THQ and Crytek announced a partnership in which Homefront 2 will be developed by Crytek's Nottingham studio using the latest CryEngine technology.^[13]

Games developed

Year	Title	Platform	Branch
2004	Far Cry	Microsoft Windows	Crytek
2007	Crysis	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade	Crytek Frankfurt
2008	Crysis Warhead	Microsoft Windows	Crytek Budapest
2011	Crysis 2	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	Crytek Frankfurt/Crytek UK
TBA	Ryse	Xbox 360	Crytek Frankfurt
TBA	Warface	Microsoft Windows	Crytek Seoul[14][15]
TBA	TimeSplitters 4	TBA	Crytek UK
TBA	Homefront 2[16]	TBA	Crytek UK[17]

See also

• CryEngine
• CryEngine 2
• CryEngine 3

References

1. ^ "Crytek to Feature Cross Platform CryEngine(R)2 at GDC". Reuters. January 29, 2008. http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS215263+29-Jan-2008+PRN20080129. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
2. ^ "Crytek: History". Serving History. http://www.servinghistory.com/topics/Crytek::sub::History. Retrieved 2010-08-19. 
3. ^ "Crytek Raided". http://www.megagames.com/news/html/pc/crytekraidofficialcomments.shtml. 
4. ^ "Crytek and ATI Demo". http://ati.amd.com/gitg/promotions/crytek/index.html. 
5. ^ "Crysis Announced". http://www.crytek.com/news/news/browse/4/article/9/crytek-and-e/download//13f72ff44c.html. 
6. ^ "Budapest Studio". http://www.mmoabc.com/a_8a8a8ae412aec2760112afdcfe830009.htm. 
7. ^ Crytek bought Black Sea Studios
8. ^ Crytek Opens South Korean Office
9. ^ Crytek Buys TimeSplitters Dev. Free Radical
10. ^ "Crytek Announces CryENGINE 3". Crytek. March 11, 2009. http://www.crytek.com/news/news/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=143. Retrieved March 12, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
11. ^ "Crytek CryENGINE 3 trade begins". Hardwired. October 14, 2009. http://hardwired.hu/index.php#news_23321. Retrieved October 14, 2009. 
12. ^ "CryTek Adds Stereoscopic 3D To Its Game Engine". ApertureGames. October 14, 2009. http://aperturegames.com/listnews.php?story=crytek-adds-stereoscopic-3d-to-its-game-engine. Retrieved Marc 03, 2010. 
13. ^ Kietzmann, Ludwig (September 20, 2011). "Crytek developing Homefront sequel with THQ". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/20/homefront-2-developed-by-crytek/. Retrieved September 21, 2011. 
14. ^ "Crytek’s new game revealed to be Warface". http://www.el33tonline.com/past/2010/11/26/cryteks_new_game_revealed_to. 
15. ^ "Please welcome Crytek’s latest PC exclusive: Warface". http://www.lazygamer.net/please-welcome-cryteks-latest-pc-exclusive-warface. 
16. ^ http://www.thq.com/uk/news/show/15994
17. ^ Kietzmann, Ludwig (September 20, 2011). "Crytek developing Homefront sequel with THQ". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/20/homefront-2-developed-by-crytek/. Retrieved September 21, 2011. 

External links

• Official website