‘More than a third’ of Crytek staff left during 2014 money troubles

Former Crytek developer Hasit Zala has revealed the extent of the impact that the studio’s financial struggle two years ago had.

Zala was at the outlet for five years, heading up multiplayer development for both Crysis 2 and 3, as well as the creation of the Warface franchise and the initial production of Homefront 2 – now known as Homefront: The Revolution.

When Homefront was sold to Deep Silver under the control of newly-formed developer Dambuster, Zala remained game director, leading the firm as studio head.

He revealed that Crytek’s money issues saw more than a third of employees quit the company, with several having gone unpaid for weeks.

"In the summer of 2014, Crytek ran into financial trouble," he recalled while speaking to The Guardian.

“As time went on, promises went back and forth, and we got to the stage where the staff hadn’t been paid for quite some time. I was busy trying to hold the studio together, and I needed to look at its long-term future.

“In 2014, we were a studio of 150-odd people, quite a few of whom hadn’t been paid for weeks; they had mortgages, wives and families – so over a third of the team left at that stage.

“Deep Silver stepped in, saying they believed in the game, believed in the team, and were really concerned with the way things were going, because it looked like the team might completely dissolve, and the game may never see the light of day. So it approached Crytek, and a buyout ensued."

He added: "We’re still the team that started working on this game back in 2011.

“When we started Dambuster, there was a bit of rebuilding that had to be done. But it’s the same studio: I sit in the same place, and it’s the same code base."