Ryse developer: "we are not 100% happy with Xbox One sales"

News by Matt Martin Former Editor-in-Chief

Published on Aug. 8, 2014

A sequel to Xbox One launch title Ryse: Son of Rome isn't impossible, but developer Crytek is waiting for sales of the console to pick up before anything can be confirmed.

"For Ryse 2, we aren't saying it's cancelled. It just has to wait for the right timing. And the right timing means higher installed base across next-gen."

In a new interview with Eurogamer, Crytek boss Cervat Yerli has said that Ryse is the studio's own IP, and that means it's free to approach a different publisher and other platforms - including PlayStation - should it wish to follow up the first game.

"Ryse is our IP. We do what we want to do with the future of Ryse. This is important," he said.

"We are not 100 percent happy with Xbox One sales right now. So we want to wait till the current gen and next gen catches up."

Sales of the PS4 are outpacing sales of the Xbox One, as are some significant multiformat game releases such as Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes.

Any sequel to Ryse would have to wait until consoles sales across the board are up, according to Yerli. "For Ryse 2, we aren't saying it's cancelled. It's our IP. It just has to wait for the right timing. And the right timing means higher installed base across next-gen," he added.

Yesterday Crytek announced a PC version of Ryse following a bad year where it has been forced to lay off staff and sell its UK studio - along with the Homefront IP - to Koch Media.

Yerli also addressed rumours that Crytek was forced to push out the original Ryse in time for the launch of the Xbox One, calling such talk "bullshit".

"There were rumours saying, hey, there were penalties if you don't release. This was all bullshit.

"We had agreed with Microsoft to put it out on time. In fact, we had conversations from Microsoft to us, telling us, guys, do you want to push out the game? We wouldn't be offended by that. But when we let the team choose - not the management - when we asked, guys, do you want to try to get it done by Christmas or do you want to take a few more months time, unanimously they team decided to go for the launch window of a console because that's something emotional to be a part of.

"To be part of an event like that, you do it once every five to 10 years. So everybody was pushing towards that."

The full interview can be read here.