Sifting through some salty websites & commentaries over the past 2 days, I found these two bits interesting:
I learned that in addition to Ortwin Freyermuth, CIG also had *another* ex-Crytek lawyer working for them, Carl Jones! https://www.pcgamesn.com/star-citizen/star-citizen-crytek-lawsuit
It's hard to believe that CIG didn't know the ins & outs of the contract they had with Crytek...
There was also a really insightful comment on another website...it was really long, too long to post here. Ok, I'll post it below, the TL;DR is that CIG and Amazon are working in jointly/in-parallel on making Lumberyard kick ass for massive network games, and that Crytek wants that juicy code! Obviously, nobody in their right mind would sue somebody as big as Amazon, so Crytek is going after the smaller fish, CIG.
To the best of my knowledge, based on what I've seen, heard & read about CryTek & Amazon:
1) CryTek was going bankrupt & Amazon effectively bailed them out for the time being.
2) Amazon's Lumberyard contains or is roughly based off of the CryEngine which CryTek does not contend.
3) The majority of things that now contain the CryEngine portions in SC are through the Lumberyard's containment of it.
(Hence all of the Item 2.0 revisions, upgrades & ship updating.)
4) If I'm not mistaken, didn't they place the majority of SQ42 on hold other than the motion capture portions until they finished with Item 2.0?
If all of this is true, then Cry is almost SoL as should they attempt to do more than just get a fair payment for what they have already provided CIG themselves instead of through other sources, then Amazon will most likely get drawn into the fight as well on the side of CIG.
Either way this turns out, it will not look good to any of the potential gaming clients that Cry might have obtained in the future.
This lawsuit that Crytek brought, the news media is handling the situation in a way that makes CIG look like that bad guy here. So... I'd really like to see a counter-lawsuit. Put Crytek into the ground @universe... the owner has proven the type of person he is, putting his company over paying his own employees... employees and their families come first. You are nothing without your clients and your employees.. without them, you're just an idea.
I don't really feel like watching the video again, but he basically just reads the thing out, and then draws a few conclusions.
Most notably, this is basically the minimum required to actually file the lawsuit, and Crytek probably wants to settle out of court. Also, the plea itself is way exaggerated in Crytek's favour, since they're the ones who wrote it.
If someone wants to watch it and write a better one, go ahead :)
I don't really feel like watching the video again, but he basically just reads the thing out, and then draws a few conclusions.
Most notably, this is basically the minimum required to actually file the lawsuit, and Crytek probably wants to settle out of court. Also, the plea itself is way exaggerated in Crytek's favour, since they're the ones who wrote it.
If someone wants to watch it and write a better one, go ahead :slight_smile:
I don't really feel like watching the video again, but he basically just reads the thing out, and then draws a few conclusions.
Most notably, this is basically the minimum required to actually file the lawsuit, and Crytek probably wants to settle out of court. Also, the plea itself is way exaggerated in Crytek's favour, since they're the ones who wrote it.
If someone wants to watch it and write a better one, go ahead :slight_smile:
This lawsuit that Crytek brought, the news media is handling the situation in a way that makes CIG look like that bad guy here. So... I'd really like to see a counter-lawsuit. Put Crytek into the ground @universe... the owner has proven the type of person he is, putting his company over paying his own employees... employees and their families come first. You are nothing without your clients and your employees.. without them, you're just an idea.
Exactly! I was going to post on the other thread (you know, the one we are all shit-posting on...)... one of my (former) favorite sites to go to was Are Technica, but for this and the previous "tempest in a tea pot" they just basically posted the Crytek filings (which are of course just one side of the story & slanted towards what Crytek wants us to believe), added what some bloggers put up, and quoted the usual gang of anti-Star Citizen idiots, and didn't bother doing any digging. Really disappointed, they used to be a fairly reputable & reliable source. Not any more!
If anybody wants any dirt, they should do an expose on Crtek; how they have been repeatedly insolvent (& repeatedly not paid employees), and have made some awfully bad business decisions, and now is stuck with a game engine that hasn't kept up with the times. And now is acting like a copyright/patent troll, filing lawsuits that appear to be cash-grabs they want to settle out of court.
Imo, a judge will likely look at things and realize that Crytek was not able to offer what it alluded to being able to offer in the original contract. Hard to say what will come of it for sure, but I am pretty sure it is not going to go well for Crytek, and CiG will push forward, business as usual.
I've been following this from the moment it was first posted on polygon, and since then everyone sensible has been posting the same thing:
This is purely a cash grab by Crytek cos they're broke as all hell, and they want nothing but to settle out of court for a nice lump some of moniez, and preferably some tech to go with it.
They probably don't have a leg to stand on here, that's why they are going for a jury. They want to melt hearts with their sob story of getting fucked over by the crazy cult of CR. Looking at comments on this, ppl do buy their bullshit wholeheartedly. Anyone even a little bit into PC's will, because they remember Crysis being a reputable name from some time ago. Also ppl are led to believe that CiG backers are nothing but a cult of fanatics, so they are all bad people. Also CIG never deliever anything, it's the biggest scam ever, and poor crytek got scammed along with everyone else...
So ofc outsiders will side with Crytek, and if their lawyers are good enough, they can lie their ways to a win-cos-its-morally-right kinda deal. Which is disgusting, but that's what Leonard and some others have pointed out in their takes on the matter.
If you only look what Crytek's written, it looks as if CIG fucked them over, when they did everything they were supposed to. Ofc, that's totally the opposite of what happened. Throughout the years, there were tons of ATV-s or other older shows where some CIG employee apologises that some feature is not done yet, Because Crytek didn't deliver on their promise!
So basically, there is a very good chance that Crytek broke their contract first, and if there is enough evidence from e-mails or even physical paperwork, that shows that CIG broke up with them because they didn't deliver anything that was promised in the contract, this whole thing will end with Crytek crying in a cornenr. As it should. Maybe CIG even went as far as threatening Crytek with a lawsuit, we just never heard about it.
Anyways, there could be plenty of ways every single one of their claims can be proven false, that we may not know about at all.
I see lots of folks are hoping that CIG counter-sues Crytek, preferrably out of existence. Although it would be awesome to watch, it would be a really unprofessional and maybe even suicidal move for CIG.
As much as you do Not, ever, bite the hand that feeds you, you should never ever shit into the mouth you just fed.
Ok, that came out kinda wrong lol But the point is, you don't badmouth your partners, even when things go wrong. If you publicly shame them, your next potential partner will be hesitant to trust you, and most likely consider you a risk, and a threat. Basic rules of engagement. Anyone who has ever worked, and hopes to work at all in the future, knows this. It's okay to openly shitpost about your first workplace when you are 15, but you learn to never do it again when during that summer, no one hires you again for a year...
Also, do you think Amazon would take kindly to CIG pushing Crytek into the dirt? Do you think they want to be associated with such a "risky" company, after they do something so rash against the unwritten rules of business?
CIG should defend themselves as quietly as possible, and make the whole thing into a "not a thing". That's the best "win" possible.
A little kinda related and also unrelated story: Crytek is dead, and has been mostly dead since around 2012. At least here, they were. That's when I tried to get a job at the Budapest studio, as I live like a 20 minute bus ride from it. They never answered any of my calls or emails, although their website stated that there were lots of open positions.
Later an ex-employee told me they were unofficially closed for over a year by that point. No large-scale jobs were coming in, mostly just mobile and VR garbage, along with a bits and bobs from Ryse and such crap xbone and psvr stuff. Nothing that ever mattered or anyone cared about really. Unprofitable work.
The best of the best was asked to either move to the German studio, or get fired, and the rest who still had an active contract was put on unpaid leave, and later forced to quit. So ofc, eventually everyone left. By 2014, the whole place was like a ghost town, apart form the dozen or so unluckiest bunch, who kept working on some mobile game. Oh, did I forget to mention, that since 2008 when they delivered Crysis:Warhead, which was technically a mission pack, not a new game, Crytek Budapest delivered 2 more games. Both mobile games! Between 2008 and 2016. Two full titles. Of ios crap. That no one ever heard of. From a studio with well over a 100 employees!
And people wonder why went bankrupt...
The following is how things were, according to my source, who shall remain nameless, as I can't for the life of me remember his name lol. I know the story is contradicting itself in some places, but it's what I can remember from our little chat:
People started fleeing this studio as early as 2010 for lack of payment, terrible management, a toxic atmosphere, and lackluster projects. The place was operated in an "American cubicle office" fashion, with tight spaces, and even tighter reigns around ppl's necks, but with none of the oversight, control, or culture associated with it. Also, although it was imagined as a "cubicle" style office, the cubicle walls were never delivered, so they just called it an open studio... It was a huge mess.
The usual workday consisted of coming in to work at 8:30, although officially the day started at 9am. If you were late, you got your head washed for being a lazy no-good asshole and threatened with firing and your pay getting a cut and such... It was like back to school. Ridiculous. Then working your ass off till the 30min lunch break, then work overtime till 9-11pm. Ofc overtime was unpaid, but mandatory.
If you tried to leave, because, I dunno, maybe you had a family, or had to go see the dentist or whatever, you got shouted at and threatened to be fired, with the usual "you will never work in this industry again" added as a bonus. For some actually talented guys, they went as far as threatening them with a lawsuit for causing damages to Crytek by not wanting to work overtime every day of the week for free... Yeah, they were that kind of crazy even back then. Then ofc when you finally decided to leave at 5pm, as your contract stated you should, they couldn't do much about it, except threaten you with not paying you for that day or some other bs. Ofc in the later years, they didn't pay at all, so it didn't matter.
All these things added up to employees being adversarial and racing each other in the hopes of getting paid instead of the "loser in the next cubicle, oh wait, he is right here cos there are no walls dammit". You can imagine how much time and effort was spent with doing fine, artistic, or precise work in a place like this... (none. the answer is simply none. There is a good reason why all crytek projects since the original Crysis, have failed miserably)
People with the required skills were even harder to find back then, and it's not like they grow on trees these days either. So they couldn't just replace you, there was no one standing in the doorway waiting for a position to open. They had to actively hunt ppl, some of them from outside the country, so as people didn't get paid properly, they started not caring. By the end it became a clubhouse instead of a workplace. You went in to have a tea that you brought ofc, with some mates who were still hunting for a job, as work was scarce, the boss was drunk in a corner, or off chasing tail in his Audi S8, and you had no fucking clue when you would get paid, if ever...
And so they finally officially closed in 2016 December. Merry fucking Christmas, you're all fired! And don't expect a paycheck for your last 6 months of work either, cos we just spent it on a new yacht!
All in all, I'm really glad I didn't get the job at Crytek Budapest :D
So yeah, these are the "holy good guy Crytek" suing "bad crazy racist murderer cult CIG"...
This does not surprise me. Activison did something similar with their team. They tried to dig up dirt on West and Zampella who were critical for the success of Call of Duty at infinity ward. In order to get a pretext to fire them because they were sick of them. This resulted in a lawsuit that lasted several years.
