Ryse: Son of Rome developer Crytek to close 5 studios

"This challenging process will make us a more agile, viable, and attractive studio."

Crysis and Rise: Son of Rome developer Crytek is to close down five studios as it refocuses on games development and it's own CryEngine.

The developer will continue to work out of Frankfurt and Kiev, but studios in Istanbul, Budapest, Sofia, Seoul and Shanghai will no longer be part of the business.

"Undergoing such transitions is far from easy, and we’d like to sincerely thank each and every staff member – past and present – for their hard work and commitment to Crytek," said MD Avni Yerli.

The company said it will continue to support those developer using its CryEngine technology.

"These changes are part of the essential steps we are taking to ensure Crytek is a healthy and sustainable business moving forward that can continue to attract and nurture our industry’s top talent.

"The reasons for this have been communicated internally along the way. Our focus now lies entirely on the core strengths that have always defined Crytek – world-class developers, state-of-the-art technology and innovative game development, and we believe that going through this challenging process will make us a more agile, viable, and attractive studio, primed for future success."

Talk of making the business an "attractive studio" from it's co-founder and managing director makes it sound like the company is considering selling the business after making it a leaner proposition.

Crytek most recently released Robinson: The Journey and The Climb for VR, and it has also strayed into mobile with The Collectibles, free-to-play with Warface and MOBAs with Arena of Fate. It originally built the business' reputation on high-end PC games Crysis and Far Cry.