Crytek's Future Is 'AAA Free-To-Play Games'

[SHARKGUN]

Crytek banking on free-to-play explosion. - Published on Oct 3, 2011

Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli believes the company will ultimately concentrate on making cutting-edge free-to-play titles, and is meanwhile set to announce its first foray into cloud gaming.
 
"[What] we’re really trying to do now – as an initiative going forward – is to try and increase the quality of the free-to-play market," Yerli told NowGamer, adding "We want to release triple-A free-to-play games, going forward."

Crytek's Korean studio is currently working on free-to-play shooter Warface (pictured). Yerli confirmed that he envisions Crytek's F2P games being supported by micropayments.
 
"It’s a win-win for everybody. I mean, we’re saying we’re going to offer you high-quality entertainment for free. And that means you can play the game forever for free, but then you can pay for transactions to speed up certain things."

Discussing the recent UK launch of OnLive, Yerli added that Crytek will announce its own titles on a cloud-gaming service soon, but "not necessarily OnLive".

"If cloud gaming changes to support the free-to-play model, then I think that is going to be very interesting for gamers around the world," added Yerli. "So for those companies who are trying to replace the retail models, they are doing the first steps on this, to pave the way for next-generation cloud gaming and I think that should be applauded."

Hit the link to check out the full Crytek interview with Cevat Yerli for more on the company, Crysis and loads more.

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1077676/cryteks_future_is_aaa_freetoplay_games.html


Crysis Is Crytek's Last PC Spec-Buster. Crytek CEO keen on more inclusive high-end games. - Published on Oct 3, 2011

Crysis, originally a technically demanding PC-exclusive that could run on only the highest-end rigs at launch, is likely to be the last such title from Crytek, company boss Cevat Yerli has told NowGamer.

"The PC market is going to be strongly growing in the free-to-play market. But then again free-to-play requires huge community, so it means accessibility," Yerli said in an exclusive NowGamer interview. "It’s kind of contradictory to running a high-tier game where the community will be very small, but [that] community will be paying for the retail game and not for a free-to-play experience."

If the future of PC is free-to-play then you have to play the numbers, added Yerli.

"You’re trying to target millions of users so you get a percentage of them to pay for something. In the high-end space, those players are already investing a lot of money into their PC specs, so for them to buy a game it’s not going to be a problem, but at the same time the retail market is going down – so the expected sales are very low."

Yerli concluded that Crytek will continue to "push the technology boundaries" but that to make commercially viable games, projects are unlikely to be as technically demanding as Crysis was back in 2007.

Crysis has been squeezed onto consoles and hits PS3 and Xbox 360 this week.

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1077433/crysis_is_cryteks_last_pc_specbuster.html

[chrismafuchris]

I want to laugh at the notion of free to play gaming being the future, but given the success of titles like Age of Empires: Online and Quake Live, I suppose he's really not all that wrong. However, for every success story, there's another game that didn't make it, like CrimeCraft. If they can find a way to make this game fun and monetizeable, then more power to them.

Wait, do they say if this is an avenue they will continue down in the future, or just a one time thing? Or will we just see?

[Jolteon]

Front paged, as this may or may not ultimately affect TimeSplitters franchise, depending on how soon / serious they decide to take Free2Play games.

[Drifting]

Wait, do they say if this is an avenue they will continue down in the future, or just a one time thing? Or will we just see?

It probably depends on how successful Warface is.

[BobTheJoeBob]

Would TimeSplitters 4 free to play be a good thing.......

[Jolteon]

Would TimeSplitters 4 free to play be a good thing.......

If it was free to play, that'd mean they'd be shitloads of ingame things, buy this, buy that, do a dance, etc.

[hungoverontues]

Timesplitters Free to Play might be the perfect answer..  So many people that never heard of it will be exposed to Timesplitters

[ZachNinjaMonkey]

Would TimeSplitters 4 free to play be a good thing.......

Just shows how much they value the game. Not very much if they are giving it away for free. I would rather pay for it.

[chrismafuchris]

Free to Play and Free are not the same thing.

[(insert name here)]

Would TimeSplitters 4 free to play be a good thing.......

If it was free to play, that'd mean they'd be shitloads of ingame things, buy this, buy that, do a dance, etc.

I'd say that means a free-to-play TS would be a bad thing.  Still, I thought that main purpose of the UK studio was for all of Crytek's console projects.  Why would they be involved in any of the free-to-play stuff?

[Jestem TS]

Crytek are toying with us too much.

[PostwarOrphan]

I doubt this has anything to do with TimeSplitters. I don't think they'd make that game free-to-play (buy specific characters, guns, etc...).

The story about PS2 games coming to PSN, though...

[Drifting]

If it was free to play, that'd mean they'd be shitloads of ingame things, buy this, buy that, do a dance, etc.


I'd say that means a free-to-play TS would be a bad thing.  Still, I thought that main purpose of the UK studio was for all of Crytek's console projects.  Why would they be involved in any of the free-to-play stuff?

Because free-to-play is really, really profitable. Just look at how much money Valve rakes in from selling hats and guns in TF2. A lot of players actually end up spending more on a F2P game via microtransactions than they will on a regular retail game.

[DrkSnpr14]

Crytek are toying with us too much.

They've got more eggs int heir basket besides TimeSplitters

It seems almost like Crytek wants to go out of their way to innovate things in the industry, ha ha.

[Harry Splitter]

However, for every success story, there's another game that didn't make it, like CrimeCraft. If they can find a way to make this game fun and monetizeable, then more power to them.

CrimeCraft Bleedout is a total failure. The physics sucks, the third-person camera is crap, and the customization options are dull.

Anyway, If Crytek decides to make a F2P TimeSplitters, I hope they don't overdo with shitloads of real-cash stuff. A normal TS game with an online mode is good enough for me, thank you very much.