Studios in a crisis - Crytek, what else?

[Ecster]

Starting off with Crytek. They had their best moments, so to say. Right now, they're more of a tech studio offering cutting-edge game-engine solutions than inspiring game developers. Crytek has changed.

Exploring why Crytek changes its perspective. Because of gamer taste changes? You don't surprise people with a bad-ass GFX and Physics FPS set in a no-name future where mankind it at its worst. Crysis 3 was exactly that. Almost no new functionality, just high-res textures, high-poly 3D models, quality FP animations, and a sub-par plot. Plus, a no-name-no-character Multiplayer. Nobody wants that.

Crytek CEO already complained about C3 being a financial loss.

Then Crytek develops a sci-fi online FPS Warface. Sub-par name, sub-par concept, excellent technical execution, good visuals and performance. Yet, no soul or inspiration found.

As of today, Warface is no longer functional on X360. Yet, nobody knew it was there. Nobody cares, truthfully.

Honestly, Crytek must step out of its comfort zone and stop being overly focused on tech. Perhaps, it's not too late if they can develop a good RPG or a solid FPS/RPG with a grappling story that cannot be explained in 15 seconds to a newcomer.

Crytek CEO had plans to go fully F2P. That's such a desperate move that IMMA think Crytek, as a studio, is a subject to heart failure.

Opinions? Solutions to Crytek's problems?

And what are other studios that suffer from unthoughtful decisions today? Who's fault is that? Ours or theirs?

Questions, questions everywhere.

 

[Mezahmay]

Last I heard 38 Studios is still being talked about in the Rhode Island legal scene for its massive loan debt. That whole mess started by the state gambling on 38 Studios revitalizing the capitol as a software development scene or something, then loaning them millions of dollars for developing an MMO somehow related to their only full released product Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning code named "Project Copernicus". They ran out of funds, couldn't make their loan payments, declared bankruptcy, sold off their assets for...what was it, half a million dollars total or so, and now I think the former governor or comptroller that approved the loan is under investigation for making such a thoughtless decision that cost the already financially shaky state a ton of money.

There's also Team Bondi, the studio that worked on LA Noire before Rockstar stepped in, that spent years and millions of dollars and only produced one game. The devs were overworked and treated poorly to the point that devs that left were excluded from the end credits, their manager was a tyrant, perhaps the team was not adequately skilled to pull off the scope of LA Noire, etc.

 

[stroopwafel]

I enjoyed all 3 Crysis games. The gameplay was great with a cool mix of stealth and shoot-outs and the story wasn't even all that bad just the way it was delivered was fairly poor. Level design was also good with nice graphics and attention to detail. All were competently made FPS games that were only lacking in story presentation. Maybe the games have also been a little too sterile and void of personality, which is a shame given the quality of their mechanics and assets. So maybe they should hire some designers with a clear artistic vision.

I think the marketing behind the Crysis games have also been lacking. So better marketing, a clearer artistic direction and slicker trailers with a story that is more on the forefront will atleast probably help this game from appearing on people's radar. People have to know your game exists which I think Crytek also has a problem getting their game 'out there'(not that EA was of any help here). Also Crysis 3 probably has the coolest bow in any game like ever.

Maybe not in 'crisis' but definitely one whose glory days are over are Squeenix and Capcom. I wish Square would sell their stock to Enix and start over independently, same with Capcom whose bloated overhead stifles all creativity. Attract new talent, create new IPs, start over. These companies always made the coolest shit when they had nothing to lose. Makes me sad that all they produce now is uninspired crap.

 

[endtherapture]

Crytek needs to go back to making games like the original Crysis game. That was the best shooter from the last gen and it's a shame other games didn't follow suit in it's directed-sandbox style of gameplay.

Sadly they went down the COD route and the next Crysis game was awful.

 

[Flammablezeus]

I feel like playing Crysis again now. That game is still incredible to this day. While I'm at it, I should uninstall Crysis 2. I got probably 20 or 30 minutes into the game until my frustration with the game caused me to exit it. I couldn't stand how much control had been taken away from the player. Plus, on top of that, the things you could do had a lot less impact than the first game (except for the stealth which they buffed up a lot for some weird reason, even though it was already fairly overpowered in the first game.)

Heck, the game world even seemed a lot more static, instead of the interactive environment of the first game.

Oh my gosh, I just realised why the Crysis games got worse and had less in it as they progressed. It's because they released them in reverse order by mistake!

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

I enjoyed all 3 Crysis games. The gameplay was great with a cool mix of stealth and shoot-outs and the story wasn't even all that bad just the way it was delivered was fairly poor. Level design was also good with nice graphics and attention to detail. All were competently made FPS games that were only lacking in story presentation. Maybe the games have also been a little too sterile and void of personality, which is a shame given the quality of their mechanics and assets. So maybe they should hire some designers with a clear artistic vision.

I think the marketing behind the Crysis games have also been lacking. So better marketing, a clearer artistic direction and slicker trailers with a story that is more on the forefront will atleast probably help this game from appearing on people's radar. People have to know your game exists which I think Crytek also has a problem getting their game 'out there'(not that EA was of any help here). Also Crysis 3 probably has the coolest bow in any game like ever.

Maybe not in 'crisis' but definitely one whose glory days are over are Squeenix and Capcom. I wish Square would sell their stock to Enix and start over independently, same with Capcom whose bloated overhead stifles all creativity. Attract new talent, create new IPs, start over. These companies always made the coolest shit when they had nothing to lose. Makes me sad that all they produce now is uninspired crap.

Easier said than done for Capcom. I know I have given Capcom crap but can the native dev team of their franchises decide which is better. Experimenting with more new ideas to keep juices flowing or another game tgat keeps the small but old guard happy as clams

 

[Mattk50]

Would be easy to salvage crytek if with proper planning and understanding of the market. Make a crysis game that takes place between crysis 1 and 2, return to the open world, focus on polished expanded gameplay(so many features were removed in crysis 2 it's insane) instead of shrunk gameplay, in pretty island setting with awesome mod support. Have another crysis wars for the multiplayer mode, aka have actual awesome multiplayer with factories, territory capture, vehicles. not a shit cod ripoff. Then maybe we get another full conversion mod or 3 like MWLL which was revolutionary in itself.

It really would not be hard. They just need to recapture the core gamer's attention, vying to compete for CoD casuals was idiotic anyways, they don't care about games enough to buy something other than something with the CoD name on the box.

 

[grandpasmurfette]

I never loved any crytek game.
They always felt soulless to me, yes they had pretty graphics but even Crysis 1 was pretty "boring"
Guns felt weak, headshots were unsatisfying, story was meh, characters were meh.

The graphics however still stand up today.

 

[grandpasmurfette]

And none of the Crytek games had great MP.
Crysis 1's MP was atrocious and every other Crysis game had meh MP without staying power

 

[MysticSlayer]

So you make a thread title with both "crisis" and "Crytek" in the name, but you didn't think to change "crisis" to "crysis"? Oh, man, I cannot even begin to describe my disappointment!

Joking aside, I don't know a lot of people who enjoyed Crytek games for anything but their technology. OK, both Far Cry and Crysis had their loyal followers, but outside of that rather dedicated group, most of the discussion I've heard surrounding those games came from the technology they put on display. Sure, I'm among the people who found their games entertaining, and I even found Crysis 2 to be one of the best games on the Xbox 360, but it isn't hard to see why they started focusing almost solely on technology: That's what most people talked about when discussing their games.