Avni Yerli knows that recent events have hurt Crytek’s reputation, and he says that they intend to fix that by making quality products.
Within this year, the company lost many employees over financial difficulties. No less than Crytek UK, formerly known as Free Radical, closed in dramatic fashion. Employees just stopped showing up for work after months without pay, or explanation for why they were unpaid. Similar concerns sprung up in other Crytek-owned studios, and when the dust had settled, Crytek was forced to sell the Homefront IP to Koch Media, where some of its developers are now employed.
Yerli insists that the issues stemmed mainly the company’s transition to an online gaming company. He also states that they now have a framework for where the company is moving forward for 2014 and 2015.
This is what Yerli has to say about fixing Crytek’s reputation:
I am sure it has damaged our reputation, but for Crytek it is about focusing on our core competency, which is making really high quality games. When we deliver those games we will hopefully be back on track, and people will see Crytek in the way that it deserves to be seen.
I think this statement is an encouraging sign from Yerli, but still is not indicative of any remorse for what his developers had to go through. It also does not address concerns regarding the future of CryEngine, which is still in use for several games, including the much anticipated Star Citizen. Crytek has stayed quiet for too long, and they need to talk more to get gamers, if not the industry, to trust them 100 % again.
Stay tuned to GameRanx for the latest new onHomefront and Crytek. Image is from Crysis 3.
