Actually Crytek has been very clear that they cannot fit crysis in a console without massive changes. If you recall Crytek sold the rights to Far Cry a few years and then EA made a horrible bastardized version of the game for XBOX. It looked pretty but the enemy AI was unusually hilariously bad. It wouldnt move at all until you triggered it by moving to a certain physical point on the map and then a whole group of enemies would react the exact same way (i.e. run toward you). We can expect something similar to happen with Crysis on the current consoles. Crytek isnt dumb -- they will sell the rights to 'Crysis' for a few million and then create their own new game.

I don't get this. How could the Xbox360 and/or PS3 possibly run Crysis as well as today's top-of-the-line PC hardware?

It can't but how many people have or are willing to spend dollars on top of the line PC hardware? That is the real issue, how many people will spend the money to play your game?

With console users you know that everyone with a console can play your game with all the bells and whistles. Unless you make a game designed for a 7600 video card and onboard audio I wouldn't think you could even come close to this on the PC market.

I think the variety of hardware that people run PC games on makes trying to constantly push the graphical edge a losing battle. I think we've gotten to the point now where it's more cost effective to make a console game because at least everyone will be able to consider buying it. If you make a high end graphical game on the PC I'm guessing it may be attractive to 25% of the PC game market (maybe more like 10%?)

That is what's causing all this movement. If you look at all the PC's out there and try to design a game that will run on all of them, or most, you're going to end up with a game that won't draw much attention because the graphics will be dated.

PC hardware costs are a huge barrier both for entry and for developers to deal with. All that time you spend making your game run well on all those cards can be spent improving the game itself, or more likely just shortening development time so you can produce your game faster for less money which would mean more profit.

They are likely moving to consoles (along with other companies) because to PC market is probably not going to be ready for a game of this graphical quality for a long time. 1-2 years at least if my personal spending has any bearing on it. I don't see myself even being able to run Crysis to it's full potential until I upgrade my system again to an 8800 video card and probably a much faster processor. And DX 10 or 11?

By comparison they can use the console hardware today and market this game now rather than waiting for the PC gamers to buy the new fancy hardware to make their game attractive enough.

I don't get this. How could the Xbox360 and/or PS3 possibly run Crysis as well as today's top-of-the-line PC hardware? You say that the 8800 is required to run Crysis at its "full potential" - well the 8800 is out now, and it is a lot more powerful than any console graphics processor. So PCs are already potentially ahead of consoles graphically (it depends on the PC's graphics card).

The real question is when are consoles going to be capable of running Crysis at its full potential? By the time we get the next console generation, most PC gamers will be more than capable of running Crysis at full settings.

I don't think this has anything to do with Crytek focusing on consoles in the future. It's all about the increased revenue console releases would bring.

This comment was edited on May 5, 14:52.

Your closing remarks demonstrate that you are either incredibly naive (perhaps you are quite young?), or you genuinely have strong communist ideals. And no, I'm not using that as an insult, it's simply the ideology implied by your own words.

I think his original comment was hinting at Crytek needing to be happy with what they have rather than focused on what someone else has. Being profitable is important and if you can achieve that you should at least be greatful for that.

They are likely moving to consoles (along with other companies) because to PC market is probably not going to be ready for a game of this graphical quality for a long time. 1-2 years at least if my personal spending has any bearing on it. I don't see myself even being able to run Crysis to it's full potential until I upgrade my system again to an 8800 video card and probably a much faster processor. And DX 10 or 11?

By comparison they can use the console hardware today and market this game now rather than waiting for the PC gamers to buy the new fancy hardware to make their game attractive enough.

It's kind of obvious when you think about it. The game industry in general thrives on selling games on bigger better graphics each year and if the PC game industries hardware is moving forward slower (and in my opinion it is, it's crawling atm) than consoles it makes more sense to make your big shiny new game on the consoles because you'll have more potential customers there. You can make the most amazing game anyone has ever seen but if it requires you to spend $1000-$2000 to get the expected experience you're going to lose out on a lot of sales.

Consoles, are neck and neck, graphically speaking, with the majority of PC's at the moment (in my opinion). I think most PC gamers have equal or less powerful systems than the current consoles offer and game companies saw this coming. Sales are what drive them and if you have more consumers able to buy your game in group A then that is where you build your game.

Piracy...pshh. It's simple numbers. Less people are upgrading their computers because it's a better value to buy a console if you want simple entertainment. (And A LOT of people do).

Amen Tin.

I don't recall ever seeing a "non-profit" developer or publisher.

That being said, Crytek needs to deal with what the industry and market presents. It's part of being "in business".

D-Rock

Jerykk wrote:

To Crytek, I ask this: Was Crysis profitable enough for you to work on your next project? If so, the only reason you are switching to consoles is greed.

I'm staggered... you think you have the right to tell a company how much money it can make? The people who put all the money and effort into a game, at huge risk, are allowed to earn nothing more than a break-even salary?

When did running a business become an evil pursuit, and running it well become "greedy"? Enterprise, initiative, and hard work should not be rewarded?

This has nothing to do with the quality of their game. I tried the demo and didn't like it. By all means, don't buy their game if you don't like it. Vote with your wallet.

But if there are people who like the game, and are willing to buy it, you think that Crytek should have their sales limited to some point of your choosing?

Your closing remarks demonstrate that you are either incredibly naive (perhaps you are quite young?), or you genuinely have strong communist ideals. And no, I'm not using that as an insult, it's simply the ideology implied by your own words.


edit: to fix quoting.

This comment was edited on May 3, 23:25.

_Console_ game piracy is pervasive, especially with the 360, so game companies running to that platform will be frowning and whining quite soon. There's some deeply short-sighted folks in the game industry and their doors will close if they dont shake themselves out of their current business model of over-charging for shorter length, buggier games.

This comment was edited on May 2, 12:45.

(Speculation) Crysis demo/beta probably had the largest effect on the sales. People were pumped for the game...until they ran it at 10fps on their $2000 computer they bought a year prior.

The beta is what did it for me. The demo just nailed the coffin shut. I was looking forward to this game, despite the high system requirements, but after playing the beta and seeing the multiplayer game in action it was clear this was nothing special.

I'd read all kinds of stuff hyping the multiplayer side, comparing it to BF2 only better, with bases to defend, points to capture and better graphics all around.

Wow, sounds great, then you play it and...uh...no seriously guys, show me crysis...this is it...? Oh. Well...it's really pretty, did I tell you how pretty it was? OOOO look at those big mushroom clouds, so pretty. So I'll see you at launch, yeah yeah, totally buying it, yep, uh hunh, good bye.

It's kind of like betraying a friend because Crytek is a company I wanted to see go a long way. I really liked Farcry but when comes down to dropping your money that is where the truth comes out.

This comment was edited on May 2, 12:34.

No, because it's an indie game - different development costs and different expectations. It's also largely distributed online as it doesn't even have retail distribution in the UK. Oblivion was a better example... it didn't have any copy protection, only a simple disc check.

That's really not a good argument. Sins received great reviews, great word-of-mouth support, and was available on torrent sites immediately after it was released. Regardless of whether it's indie or not, if piracy was as big a problem as they claim, it should have suffered at least as much, if not more than other games. Instead it sold in huge numbers, being at or near the top of the NPD charts, which don't even include online sales or Wal-Mart, and even though it was only available in North America at the time. That's great numbers by any standard, let alone indie standards.

Oblivion sold TONS with no copy protection at all. Crytek's argument is all wet. Cevat is making excuses for poor sales of course. The game was disappointing for gameplay reasons and not just the high tech requirements.

I loved Far Cry -- played that game over and over again.

in agreement with D-Rock. In Business ingeneral, there is all kinds of piracy going on. It is a way/fact of life in the Bisiness world. Sadly it is to be expected. But to come out and fire off in their 1st sentence about Piracy.... and then adding the ol "consoles are selling 5 to 1 compared to PC? It is obvious the move is about money. Always is really. Money talks. If anything is gonna kill PC gaming it will be the Devs themselves. And they will ultimately do it..... for money. And of course blame it all on Piracy.

This is another reason why it was so sad to see the Indie Devs all join the bigger Dev houses. We used to see shelves full of coolness games. Games done with inspiration and integrity. No the visuals were not all that great, but man they rocked.

Now we get mostly mediocrity cause that sells say by golly.... 4 or 5 to 1 consoles to PC. I have Crysis btw. For some reason it just didn`t hold my interest like Far Cry did. *shrugs* I think it didn`t because of the built in hacksuit .... erm Nanosuit. Or Cheatsuit.

I`d love to see a Nam milcombat game done with the engine tho.

I'm guessing that most of the naysayers on this topic are American. Many of you just have different values and expectations to us Euros/Brits, i.e. you behave like spoiled little children, relentlessly making statement after STATEMENT and insulting one another. Crysis is still selling well here and has been almost universally loved by the press and the market/players.

Your manner/s and whole approach to the subject of Crysis stink, but that's the price we all have to pay for freedom of speech and a worldwide forum I suppose. Me, I loved it, but you don't have to, so just realx and do some breathing exercises or something.

I find the irony of your post quite entertaining.

Being euro or brit does not make one immune to immaturity and fanatacism.

Sure, there are biases based on culture / location, but that happens with many things in life.

The game was a disappointment to many and did not make the money that was expected. Some PC gamers are insulted by the fact that a lame excuse was made to "justify" Crytek's exit from PC development -- we'd have a lot more respect for the organization if they were honest and just stated that they want to make more money.

Yes, logic tells us that piracy hurts developers and there really is no justification for it, but several examples of developers that have produced titles good enough to overcome piracy have already been cited. The piracy excuse does not convince anyone as a result. Either make something the people want, change your strategy, or get out of the business. The "sour grapes" exit is not a classy way to go...

D-Rock

This comment was edited on May 1, 21:08.

PC gamers are too brutal and over critical and this website draws the worst of them for sure, I've seen it for years.

Spare us the drama. There are better places for us to spend our money, and because of that, we chose not to spend it on Crysis. Expect gamers to become even MORE discriminating in the following months as gas and food prices continue to go up.

Personally, I'm glad that there are fewer PC developers out there -- as a consumer, I'm not interested in supporting a PC developer "charity" just to keep things popular. I like to save my pennies -- I apologize if you think I'm not "nice" enough to the folks who are trying to run a business. Perhaps if I had tons of extra money to throw around it would be different. I even have the hardware to run Crysis -- I just have no interest in spending time playing a FPS that feels like every other mainstream FPS. I felt the same way about Far Cry. The gimmicks just weren't interesting enough to draw me in.

The way I see it, quality of PC games can only improve with fewer players in the industry. They will HAVE TO make worthy products to stay in the game.

D-Rock

This is ridiculous.

Sins of a Solar Empire has debunked piracy as the main cause for the decline of PC gaming--the game has sold phenomenally and had 'no' cd protection.

No, because it's an indie game - different development costs and different expectations. It's also largely distributed online as it doesn't even have retail distribution in the UK. Oblivion was a better example... it didn't have any copy protection, only a simple disc check.

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This comment was deleted on May 9, 2011, 08:04.

"Can you go to a restaurant and order a steak and eat half of it before you decide to buy it?"

Actually, most restaurants that serve steak don't charge you until the end of the meal.
If the food sucks you can usually get a refund.

Not to mention the little difference between physical goods and "intellectual property". There is a significant difference between shoplifting a copy of a game and downloading a copy. The latter doesn't deprive them of a physical item that could be sold to someone else.

That said, you can't help but feel little pity for a company that was raided for using pirated copies of development software to make their last game.

I wonder how common this is among smaller developers? Development software can be pretty expensive, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if more than a few smaller companies took the risk (assuming they wouldn't be audited due to their size).

MusixMon-

"Can you go to a restaurant and order a steak and eat half of it before you decide to buy it?"

Actually, most restaurants that serve steak don't charge you until the end of the meal.
If the food sucks you can usually get a refund.

Good luck getting a refund on crappy software. You can't even get rentals(man I miss those days) thanks to cd keys and Steam-like distribution models(which is one of only a handful of minor complaints I have with their system).

I'm not saying anyone has a right to piracy, but I can see why people do it. At least with console titles you can rent the game before you spend $50-$60 on it.

Pirating is bad for the PC gaming industry for sure.

That said, you can't help but feel little pity for a company that was raided for using pirated copies of development software to make their last game.

Crysis needed better optimizations to play on older systems and much more time spent on making the last half of the game like the first half.

I appreciate the effort there bubba ray, there's a good 5 phrases there to provoke further entertainment debate but the Euro's vs Americans arguments rarely have legs around here, it's a little old hat I'm afraid.

You're MUCH better off trying that on a more American-dominated board. People sitting comfortably on home turf take much more umbrage to an affront, and wave the flag with far greater zeal when they know they have the crowd backing them.