Cloud Imperium Games' Erin Roberts has stated that should Crytek go under, development of the CryEngine 3-powered Star Citizen would not be affected.
Answering a question about the possible impact of Crytek folding on Star Citizen's development, Roberts commented:
"We did an outright buyout of the engine last year and have the source code, so while we hope all the noise about Crytek blows over, as they are great partners and friends to the project, if the worse happened we would be ok, as we’ve already branched the engine and have a large team that is adding features and supporting it every day here at CIG. So even in the worst case scenario we should be fine, but obviously we hope it does not come to that."
Recent reports have suggested that Crytek staffers have not been paid on time or have not been paid at all leading to a mass exodus from the studio's UK arm, which is currently developing Homefront: The Revolution.
Additionally, it has been reported that Crytek has cancelled development of Ryse 2, the sequel to the Xbox One launch title which was released last November. The cancellation of Ryse 2 is said to have stemmed from arguments over rights to the sequel with Microsoft and poor sales.
Rumours of Crytek's difficulties first surfaced in German magazine Gamestar and the reports have been collaborated by unnamed developers who spoke to Kotaku.
While Star Citizen will not be affected should the worst happen, it's unclear whether the closure of Crytek would affect other CryEngine titles such as Turtle Rock Studios' upcoming shooter Evolve.
