The Climb Studio Crytek Lays Off 15 Percent Of Its Staff
The Climb series developer Crytek is laying off 15 percent of its workforce.
Veteran developer Crytek is laying off 15 percent of its workforce.
Best known in VR for 2016's The Climb and Robinson: The Journey, German developer Crytek confirmed that roughly 60 members of its 400 employees are being laid off across its development teams and shared services. “Like so many of our peers, we aren't immune to the complex, unfavorable market dynamics that have hit our industry these past several years,” stated the studio.
With its current projects, Crytek revealed that Crysis 4 was put on hold in Q3 2024. Developers were then shifted to its ongoing game, Hunt: Showdown 1896, though the studio states it “cannot continue as before and remain financially sustainable.” It also confirmed affected staff members will be offered severance packages and career assistance services.
Here's the full statement:
While Crytek was one of the earliest studios to embrace modern VR, recent years have been quiet from the German studio beyond Hunt: Showdown. Alongside flatscreen remasters of the Crysis trilogy, the first entry of which recently received a VR mod for the original version, the studio's last VR game was 2021's The Climb 2 on Quest. Robinson: The Journey remains one of six PS4 games incompatible with PS5 consoles, too.
We're continuing to witness how the shifting landscape across the games industry continues impacting studios, with VR studios also facing difficulties. Fast Travel Games is undergoing layoffs that affect 60% of its staff, Soul Assembly made 15% of its team redundant, while nDreams closed two internal studios and formed a new one as part of its ongoing restructuring program. 
Don Hopper
