Crytek taking their Warface... off

Crytek's hilariously-named free-to-play FPS Warface is taking off, its development team splintering up to set up their own independent studio and taking the game with them. Blackwood Games is their name, and continuing Warface is their game. Crytek say it'll be better for the game to be independent, and that this will also let Crytek focus on other plans. Updates already announced for Warface are still in the works at Blackwood, and who knows what else they might do with it? Should they make a sequel, I'd like to humbly suggest a name: Wa2face.

"To go independent so as to enable a closer partnership with the game's publisher is a strategic move, and as we all agree, it is in the game's best interests," Crytek CEO Avni Yerli said in today's announcement. "At the same time, this reorganisation will allow us to focus on our own core IPs and long-term plans."

I wouldn't mind hearing more about those core properties and plans. As decent as early access PvPvE FPS Hunt: Showdown is, is that it? They're best known for Far Cry (which Ubisoft own and are busy making endless sequels to), their follow-up series Crysis (which hasn't seen a new game since 2013), and their shiny CryEngine technology (an also-run in the great game engine wars). What else are they doing? They've been in big financial trouble over recent years, ending up closing or selling several studios and fighting in court with the makers of Star Citizen, and... ah, I just hope this isn't Warface taking off ahead of another wave of woes crashing down upon the company.

"It was a tough decision to leave Crytek after all these years, but sometimes you need to change to continue to evolve. For us, it is very important to focus on developing Warface in a way that lives up to player expectations," Blackwood Games creative director Michael Khaimzon added. "We have kept the development team intact and their expertise will allow us to move forward with our plans and ideas."

Wa2face. Do it.