Indie Dev Licenses CryENGINE 2 for FPS

San Diego-based independent developer Paleo Entertainment announced today that it has licensed Crytek's CryENGINE 2 technology to power its upcoming PC first person shooter Merchants of Brooklyn. Today's announcement makes Paleo only the second third-party developer to publicly reveal its usage of the advanced engine, which is being used by several Crytek projects including the anticipated upcoming PC shooter Crysis. Set in the year 3100, Merchants of Brooklyn follows the path of Brooklyn-born Dr. Matteo Savio, apparently spanning multiple planets in its depiction of far future mob life. Few gameplay details are currently available, though Paleo has released some concept artwork. "Before licensing the CryENGINE 2 for our new project, we looked carefully at all our options, and concluded no other engine could produce the kind of AAA quality game we were aiming to develop, nor were any other toolsets as advanced or user friendly as the ones delivered with the CryENGINE 2," said studio president Troy Latimer. "With this agreement in place, we can immediately begin to move forward with prototyping our game, secure in the knowledge the engine will be able to handle everything we need, while the tools will give us the creative freedom to build the kind of next generation game no one has been able to make until now." Founded in 2006, Paleo Entertainment is borne out of the mod team that created the Half-Life 2 multiplayer mod Paleolithic Revolution. The company has not announced any publisher relationships for Merchants of Brooklyn. Currently, the only other third party company to have announced a CryENGINE 2-powered product is Avatar Reality, which plans to use the engine in its upcoming Mars-set massively multiplayer game. No release projection has been given for Merchants of Brooklyn.