Crytek Claims It's Doing Fine, But Rumors Say Otherwise

Crytek are doing great. They're walking on sunshine, turning invisible, sneaking up behind the sunshine, and using their nano-powered cybersuit to fling the sunshine 30 feet in the air. Also they're making a surprisingly decent-looking Homefront sequel, co-op monster mash Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age, and fairytale MOBA Arena of Fate. All of that would seem to bode well, except that goings-on behind-the-scenes are - according to a series of rumors - not so rosy. Crytek have categorically denied them, but questions still remain.

Kotaku and German publication GameStar provided the bulk of the rumours, each with anonymous sources declaring that different portions of the sky are falling. Crucially, employees from Crytek's UK offices have allegedly contacted publications with reports of payment troubles - missing bonuses, some employees not getting paid for a month - since March. Before E3 a Eurogamer source also claimed similar, alleging that Crytek's Sofia office in Bulgaria hadn't received salaries for two months. A GameStar source went so far as to claim they'd been close to declaring bankruptcy but had secured more funding.

Crytek, meanwhile, released an official statement denying it all:

"Regardless of what some media are reporting, mostly based on a recent article published by GameStar, the information in those reports and in the GameStar article itself are rumors which Crytek deny.

"We continue to focus on the development and publishing of our upcoming titles Homefront: The Revolution, Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age, Arena of Fate, and Warface, as well as providing ongoing support for our CryEngine and its licensees.

"We have received a lot of positive feedback during and after E3 from both gaming press and gamers, and would like to thank our loyal employees, fans and business partners for their continuous support."

There are further rumblings that Crytek might be looking to strike a deal with World of Tanks creator Wargaming or an unnamed Chinese company, but again nothing whatsoever is confirmed. It would be exceedingly odd, though, for this all to be coming from nowhere. Where there's smoke, etc.

Does anybody among RPS' nanoreading ranks know anything? If so feel free to get in touch. Anonymity is guaranteed, as is a fresh-made cookie and a complimentary beverage of your choosing.