Crytek Speaks on Free Radical Purchase
Two weeks ago, Crytek signed a deal to acquire Nottingham, UK-based developer Free Radical. Since then, we've heard rampant speculation about what this will mean for the recently-troubled team, so we went to Crytek managing director Anvi Yerli, one of three brothers who run the Crysis developer, to find out more about the acquisition and why he considers Free Radical a "more than perfect" fit for his team.
Previously a PC only game development company, Crytek announced plans last year to go multi-platform, citing increasing PC game piracy as one of the reasons. Recently, it has been advertising for console programmers, especially those with PlayStation 3 experience. Yerli admits that one of the attractions of Free Radical, which produced PS3-exclusive shooter Haze, was its track record in this area. "Our console plans are no secret -- they happened long before we thought of the acquisition of Free Radical. But in the end, the fact that Free Radical is very experienced with console shooters made the deal even more valuable."
The takeover means that, along with the studio, Crytek now owns the rights to all the major intellectual property that previously belonged to Free Radical -- including the popular TimeSplitters franchise, for which Free Radical had plans before their recent troubles -- but Yerli doesn't have any word on what might become of that just yet. "At this early stage we're looking into all possibilities, but it's just too early to say," he says, adding that Crytek will be taking a close look at the projects which were underway at the studio before the changes happened, and then making decisions together with the development team.
Whether the team continues with an old project or begins a new one, it seems Crytek is not looking to use them in one specific way. "Our internal focus is not linked to bringing Crysis to consoles," says Yerli.
He also confirms that the company -- now re-named Crytek UK -- plans to rehire an unknown number of the 185 staff made redundant on December 31. "To bring the studio to full production capacity in the near future, we intend to employ further staff and some of the staff made redundant did apply," he says.
Finally, Yerli says Crytek has no plans for additional acquisitions in the near future: "We currently have a very strong network with our studios in Frankfurt, Kiev, Budapest, Sofia, Seoul and now also Nottingham, after the acquisition. Our priority is to grow healthy."
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