Things really aren't looking good for Crytek these days, what with alleged reports of employees not getting paid and some walking out in frustration. This latest news isn't going to help things.
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Deep Silver has just announced that it has acquired the Homefront brand and all coherent assets from Crytek, including Homefront: The Revolution. In doing so they have taken the game from its current developer Crytek UK and given it to a brand new studio- Nottingham-based Deep Silver Dambuster Studios.
"We are thrilled to see another great IP joining the Deep Silver universe," says Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media Group, owners of publishing label Deep Silver. "We strongly believe in the potential of Homefront: The Revolution and trust in the new team to continue the path they have been walking in the last years."
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It certainly shows good faith in the potential of the game, but that doesn't leave a lot of trust in the future of Crytek. This comes shortly after the news that the director of Homefront, Hasit Zala, resigned from his position, which itself came right after reports of employees going weeks without seeing a paycheck. These payment issues happened at their studios all over the world and although the issue was apparently fixed, this news of Deep Silver buying the game from them is a really scary indication.
Crytek has a very strong showing at this year's E3 with Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age and Arena of Fate, which are being developed at Crytek USA and Crytek Black Sea studios, respectively. Hopefully the folks at these studios aren't in danger because of this purchase and that it helps the studio instead- it's never fun to see studios have to close and employees left without jobs.
Deep Silver Dambuster Studios is the third development studio within the Koch Media Group, joining Deep Silver Volition and Deep Silver Fishlabs.
