Sources: Crytek UK's Staff No Longer Going To Work

There's still trouble at Crytek, the independent game developer behind games like Crysis and Ryse. And as of yesterday, the bulk of employees at Crytek's UK office are no longer going to work, according to people familiar with the situation.

This comes in the wake of numerous reports that Crytek, which has studios across the world, has had trouble paying staff on time. Though Crytek has publicly denied facing financial difficulties, I've heard from close to 20 current and former employees stating that, as we reported last week, paychecks have been late and a Ryse sequel was cancelled following a dispute with Microsoft over who would own the rights to the franchise. 

New developments point to more trouble ahead. Over the past two days, I've spoken with four people connected to Crytek's UK studio, which is currently developing Homefront: The Revolution. According to those people, Crytek's UK staff have still not been paid the full amounts they are owed, and this week, according to two sources, the staff at Crytek's UK office handed in formal grievance letters and went home.  

One person familiar with the studio estimates that around 100 people have left, though it's unclear how many people plan to leave permanently and how many would like to stay with Crytek UK, which has been consistently losing staff for the past few months. 

Rumor around the studio is that Crytek and Homefront publisher Deep Silver are currently negotiating over what will happen next. Employees at Crytek UK, which is based in Nottingham, are hoping that Deep Silver will purchase the studio and continue funding development of Homefront: The Revolution, according to two people connected to the company.

"They have invested a lot in Homefront and will want to protect their investment," said one source.

For now, however, Crytek UK is in stasis as employees wait to see what will happen next.

Representatives for Crytek and Deep Silver did not respond to requests for comment.

Source: http://kotaku.com/sources-crytek-uks-staff-are-currently-on-leave-1599923133

Lazy devs

Crytek are Idiots they should have just gave MS the IP, Is keeping it worth losing work and a paycheck? Hell they already cancelled Redemption. I still hope that Homefront will be saved but in order for that to happen someone would need to buy the Entire Company and layoff and shut down some studios.

It will be funny to see Microsoft buying RYSE IP from cryteck when they take the route of THQ.

That's what i hope happens, I was a little annoyed when MS didn't jump at the the opportunity to grab some of those THQ IP's really dumb move IMO because that was a great chance to expand their game portfolio and they really need it.

This time Microsoft will act faster.

Honest to god Crytek, your a genius at creating engines and rendering techniques yet your slower than you think in business department as it was simply a better idea to let go of the Ryse IP than keeping it and now you've fallen low that your not able to keep your employees fed. I will remember your achievements but I'll also remember that you were losers in the end.

You deserve to go out of business, Crytek ... I had tons of respect for you much like AMD and the one thing you guys had in common was getting my disdain although the differences are I'm more disgusted about it for you rather than being more pitying of it since you've become completely obscene.

I don't think they will.  I think they're going to invest mostly on third party cause they don't consider xbox a long term investment anymore.  Plus i think they are losing tons of money with xbones and in general with all their consumer products, so most of Microsoft big investment are going to shift towards business segments. Plus is not like ryse is an iconic franchise.  They could use their rare franchises which are bigger. 

It seems so. Plus the amount of profit generated from Xbox division is small compared to rest of Microsoft's business. On the contrary other big players like Nintendo and Sony holds a special place for gaming division.

Cryteck is stubborn. They over expanded. Now they will do down. Ownership of RYSE isnt a significant thing. But it shows how Cryteck is acting in this situation.

The Xbox division has profited the past 4 years.  The Xbox brand is being integrated into all Windows Phones and Windows 8 which is a good indication that its not a short term investment.

Also buying the Gears of War and Halo IPs, setting up separate studios for each and starting a Halo live action series with Stephen Speilberg shows long term commitment.

Its hard for a franchise to become iconic when theres only been one game.