Top German Games Studio Crytek Lays Off 15% of Its Workforce

Crytek, another top studio in Germany, has announced layoffs. Around 60 of the 400 employees will be affected. Efforts to find other solutions failed, according to co-founder and CEO Avni Yerli.

The wave of redundancies in the games industry has hit another German studio. Crytek announced layoffs today that will affect around 15% of its 400 employees, or about 60 people. "Like so many of our peers, we aren’t immune to the complex, unfavorable market dynamics that have hit our industry these past several years. It pains me greatly to share today that we must lay off an estimated 15% of our around 400 employees. The layoffs affect development teams and shared services", says Avni Yerli, Co-founder and CEO of Crytek. "This has not been an easy decision to make, as we deeply appreciate the hard work of our talented teams."

Apparently, all efforts to avoid redundancies had previously failed. The starting point was the decision to put work on the next Crysis game on hold, which was taken in Q3 2024. Crytek tried to shift the freed-up resources to Hunt: Showdown 1896. "While Hunt: Showdown 1896 is still growing, Crytek cannot continue as before and remain financially sustainable. Even after ongoing efforts to reduce costs and cut operating expenses, we have determined that layoffs are inevitable to move forward," Avni explains. "Crytek will offer affected employees severance packages and career assistance services."

The CEO also said that he still believes in the future of Crytek. "We will continue to expand and evolve Hunt: Showdown 1896 with great content and drive our strategy for our engine Cryengine," he promised.