More freedom with EA, says Crysis developer
If you envision "freedom" as clear skies and sparkling oceans, you're probably not a game developer. If you were, you'd think of it as an enormous pile of money meant to fund your DirectX 10 rendering of said clear skies, sparkling oceans and a freak in a cybersuit prancing by. CEO of Crytek, currently hard at work on tropical first-person shooter Crysis, told GamesIndustry.Biz that having the game published by EA has presented several advantages compared to Ubisoft, which handled that other tropical first-person shooter, Far Cry.
"Everything's just bigger. From a business point of view, we have more support from EA and superior distribution and marketing power behind us, more freedom," said Cevat Yerli. "We can dictate more, and at the same time we can ask for more support. [EA delivers] more, because we both want this to be the best game." Yerli admits that even though Far Cry development got a bit weepy ("There were too many emotions involved back then, it was very passionate..."), he's still grateful for Ubisoft's involvement in getting the developer noticed. "But despite the fact it was rough at the end, I would like to say big thanks to Ubisoft and Yves Guillemot for taking the risk with us. If they hadn't done it, we would never have survived."
Who knows? Perhaps Yerli will run into his old pals again if EA keeps on nibbling at Ubisoft.
