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Crytek Pulls Plug On Xbox 360 Version Of Warface After Less Than A Year
Well, that didn’t last very long. Crytek is putting its free-to-play military shooter out to pasture on Xbox 360 after less than a year.
The developer announced via its Facebook page today that service will cease on February 1, 2015. The game was released from beta on Xbox 360 on April 22, 2014.
Crytek says that no new players will be able to join the game from this point forward and no “kredits” will be sold to those already playing. The developer says this does not impact the PC game, but has not specified any compensation to those that have spent money in the game’s seven months of operation.
Earlier this year, Crytek was accused of not paying its employees. It eventually shuttered most of its Austin, Texas operations and the remainder of staff was transitioned to a CryEngine support role. The developer also sold the Homefront IP to Deep Silver (after acquiring it from the first THQ asset auction).
We’ve reached out to Crytek for more information. We’ll update should we receive a response.
[Source: Crytek on Facebook]
Our Take
This isn’t a good look for Crytek, which has already experienced significant financial problems during 2014. This move will erode consumer faith in the company. Crytek has been pushing toward a free-to-play, service-based business. I understand the need to cut short a losing proposition, but there are goodwill costs related to an early demise like this.
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