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Crytek Wants A Piece Of Epic's Pie

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by Adam Biessener on October 16, 2009 at 02:19 PM
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German developer Crytek (Crysis, Far Cry) is making a push to license its latest rendering technology, dubbed CryEngine 3, to other developers. Most gamers will recognize the lush jungle vistas the technology is known for, but Crytek president/CEO Cevat Yerli points toward his product's more workflow-oriented advantages.

" [CryEngine 3] is the only game engine solution that enables real-time development and can ensure teams are able to maximise their own creativity, save budget and create greater gaming experiences," boasts Yerli. "Even producers, project managers, and suits will love CryEngine 3!"

Crytek has its work cut out for it in the middleware market, where Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 has dominated the current generation of development. Crytek is touting its promises of support and training for the technology, as that is one area that Epic has caught some flak in the past. However, the fact is that if there's one suite of tools that a programmer, artist, or producer is familiar with, it's Unreal Engine 3. Overcoming that kind of entrenched knowledge base is a daunting task. NCsoft's recently released MMO Aion is one of only a few non-Crytek game on the market that uses any version of CryEngine, though Ubisoft has a perpetual license to use the version used in the original Far Cry.

Nonetheless, it's good to see more competition entering the middleware arena. Previous gaming epochs have seen healthy competition between id Software's tech (dropped off the face of the market due to the Doom 3 engine's quirky limitations and technical difficulty), Criterion's RenderWare (bought by EA and no longer sold to third parties), and Valve's renderers (the Source engine, which powers Half-Life 2, has gotten some traction but is very much Apple to Epic's Microsoft). Perhaps Crytek can inject some new blood into the technical development scene.

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  • by Friday, October 16, 2009 at 03:21 PM

    Well Cryengine 3, being able to run on consoles. Will probably bring in more developers, because they know. That their game will be able to run on low-end systems, with out people skipping to buy. Because they can not afford a new system to run the game.

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    by Friday, October 16, 2009 at 03:25 PM

    If it works so well for consoles, why haven't they ported Crysis?

    I don't want to spend thousands on a new Gaming PC for one title.

  • by Friday, October 16, 2009 at 03:58 PM

    @MrBloog yes it will work on consoles just look at the trailer theu=y released and it shows it running on PS3 and X-Box 360

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    by Friday, October 16, 2009 at 05:13 PM

    It looks amazing simply put.

  • by Friday, October 16, 2009 at 05:45 PM

    Purty graphics.

    Sidenote: FARCRY 2 was immensely disappointing.

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    by Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 11:19 AM

    I would really like to play a game on this engine, besides Far Cry games. I liked the look of Far Cry 2 a lot, and would have bought Crysis if it had been put on consoles.

    I will not game on PC, and I will not spend $1000+ to play it on anything. It's just not worth the money, and I just don't like gaming with a mouse.

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    by Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 06:07 PM

    Yes its great to see another developer like Crytek get in on the console engines... We need competition in this industry..and be patient they is some great console stuff on the way from crytek im sure these guys have something going on.

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    by Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 07:07 PM

    Now that they have a working cry engine on the 360 and PS3 it wouldn't make much sense if they didn't make a crysis for the 360 and PS3! The crysis for the consoles will most likely be a side or different storyline of the main Crysis story, but they could if they want to release Crysis 2 on all consoles.

  •
    by Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 05:08 PM

    Good to hear the Crytek Engine is being released to other developers.

  • by Wednesday, December 09, 2009 at 09:01 PM

    Has anyone heard anything of Crysis 2? Or has Crytek just been spending all their time trying to sell Cryengine 3?

  •
    by Saturday, January 09, 2010 at 11:45 AM

    If only Crysis was on console it would be a hit...

  •
    by Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 08:55 AM

    i think the reason crysis wasnt ported was for the same reason stalker wasnt ported. they were good games for their respective system (PC). Also even if it did port they would sell it cheaper to bring people in so its financially smarter to hold fast for the second one and see how its received rather than than just jump in the pool and sell stuff.