Crytek to make full transition to free-to-play games

Game developer Crytek has revealed that it plans to transition into a fully free-to-play company.

The studio behind games such as Far Cry and Crysis will finish work on currently contracted packaged games – Crysis 3, Homefront 2 and Ryse – before making the switch.

Co-founder and CEO of Crytek, Cevat Yerli, told Videogamer, “[a]s we were developing console games we knew, very clearly, that the future is online and free-to-play.

“Right now we are in the transitional phase of our company, transitioning from packaged goods games into an entirely free-to-play experience.

“What this entails is that our future, all the new games that we’re working on, as well new projects, new platforms and technologies, are designed around free-to-play and online, with the highest quality development."

The first free-to-play game to come from Crytek will be multiplayer first-person shooter, Warface.

Yerli added: “As is evident in Warface, our approach is to ensure the best quality, console game quality. That implies budgets of between $10m USD to $30m USD – so no compromise there – but at the price-point of $0 USD entry.

“I think this is a new breed of games that has to happen to change the landscape, and be the most user-friendly business model.”