The Downside of Game Studio Acquisitions

TheRealTedCruz11h ago(Edited 11h ago)

There’s a lot more to that story.
I was doing the journo thing at the time. Microsoft took a huge leap for Crytek bringing them on to make Ryse as one as a flagship title for the Xbox One.
Crytek promised a lot that they didn’t deliver.
The PR at the time were literally coming to small guys like me with game code, and even tours of the studio, for coverage. Good or bad.

MS saw a lot of potential in the IP, but not in Crytek after the original release. Offering them even a second chance, in hope they would do better, just to obtain the IP yet fund them and let them continue on it, is better than many could ask for.

Crytek denied the offer. Long story short Crytek would have been offered an acquisition deal had they delivered with the second game.
That tells me they didn’t have faith in themselves to deliver. They haven’t released another game in the series as a third party after all these years.
You can say that that is bad on MS’ side, if you want to paint it in that light, but Crytek has struggled as a studio from game to game their entire existence. They’re talented, but they really need someone in the back bankrolling them.
The fact MS were willing to give them a second go, fund an entirely new game, and then bring them on 1st party if they made that second chance happen, says they were putting in more effort than you think.

The Downside of Game Studio Acquisitions
Source: Balita Araw Araw