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Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age transferred to Crytek Frankfurt

Less than two years after it was set up from the rubble of Vigil, Crytek USA will no longer focus on games and has suffered massive layoffs.

Ozzie Mejia

July 30, 2014 1:50 PM

The bad news contiunes to pile up for any and all things related to Crytek. That includes the recently-established Austin branch, which first opened in 2013 from the remnants of defunct Darksiders developer Vigil. In the wake of Homefront: The Revolution rights bring transferred to Deep Silver, Hunt: Horros of the Gilded Age is undergoing a similar transition to Crytek Frankfurt, with the Austin studio suffering massive layoffs, as a result.

The report comes courtesy of Gamasutra. Hunt was originally set to be Crytek USA's debut effort. Austin studio employees are being encouraged to re-apply for jobs with Crytek Frankfurt, though Kotaku added that a number of key developers at the studio have already departed after Crytek had failed to pay them.

This news comes days after Crytek announced that they would be focusing on free-to-play titles, with Hunt among the games that survived a wave of cancellations.

Thanks to Chatty's drhazard for the tip.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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Shacknews

 reply
July 30, 2014 1:50 PM

Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age transferred to Crytek Frankfurt.

Less than two years after it was set up from the rubble of Vigil, Crytek USA will no longer focus on games and has suffered massive layoffs.
- Wisp!
  
   reply
  July 30, 2014 1:58 PM
  
  Wasn't there a Shacker working on this in Austin? This has to be a huge disappointment.
  - whippedcracker
    
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    July 30, 2014 2:10 PM
    
    I left a few weeks ago!
    - marmite
      
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      July 30, 2014 2:43 PM
      
      to somewhere good I hope!
      - whippedcracker
        
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        July 30, 2014 3:40 PM
        
        Of course!
    - Dr Proton
      
       reply
      July 30, 2014 3:14 PM
      
      Wish you all the best!
- Dr Proton
  
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  July 30, 2014 3:13 PM
  
  Those poor Vigil guys can't catch a break.
  
  It's sad how Crytek's public statements evolved from "we're in no financial trouble" to "we're selling Homefront and shutting down two studios."
- ThomW
  
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  July 30, 2014 3:21 PM
  
  Apply for a job with Crytek Frankfurt? lol
- bouxdag
  
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  July 30, 2014 3:36 PM
  
  I'm not exactly an expert on these things, but Crytek seemed like a horribly mismanaged company. I don't understand how they went from basically only making Crysis to having something like 5 studios simultaneously making AAA games. I guess at some point they must have been making a lot on CryEngine, and overly banked on that revenue?
  - Wisp!
    
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    July 30, 2014 4:15 PM
    
    I don't think they were ever making a lot on CryEngine. Unity and Unreal have both done much better business.
- Sophistimacated
  
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  July 30, 2014 6:08 PM
  
  Sucks for all those getting laid off.
  
  Purely selfish question, does this make it more or less likely that we see a Darksiders 3?
  - Sephiras
    
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    July 30, 2014 7:23 PM
    
    Or more likely that we will now see a kick starter for a spiritual successor of Darksiders?
- Professer12
  
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  July 30, 2014 6:37 PM
  
  Been hearing rumors about this for a week or so. Bioware Austin is hiring for anyone impacted by this. Sad to see but hopefully the local community can absorb anyone who wants to stay in Austin.