Crytek Outs Secret Military Studio

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Crytek Outs Secret Military Studio



There's a whole world of "serious games" out there, and Crytek has a secret studio set up to tap into it.

With six studios around the world, Crytek is surprisingly large for a company that has only released three games in ten years. That's because not all of its revenue comes from making games, or at least, not the games that end up on shelves for people to buy. Crytek also makes money with what CEO Cevat Yerli refers to as a "secretive engine business," with a lot of military companies as customers.

Yerli says that Crytek actually has seven studios, but that the seventh isn't named Crytek like the others and works solely on non-entertainment projects. Crytek supplies the military with technology, simulations software, training programs and anything else it may want and/or need. As well as its military contracts, Crytek also works with a number of gas and oil companies, and Yerli says that there's an entire industry around making serious games that runs parallel to entertainment software.

Crytek certainly isn't the first games company to provide technology to the military. Games like Full Spectrum Warrior and SWAT 4 have been used as training tools by various forces around the world, and the US Army even produced a game of its own - America's Army - to help with recruitment. All the same, it feels a little strange knowing that while you're playing as a soldier in Crysis 2, somewhere in the world a real solider is training on the game's distant cousin.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6147/the_bleeding_edge_cevat_yerli_on_.php?page=3]


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Simalacrum

Resident Juggler
Apr 17, 2008
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...Actually, as a out-spoken pacifist, this has actually kiiinda made me less impressed by Crytek...

Eh, whatever, so long as they make good games :p
 

UnravThreads

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Aug 10, 2009
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Simalacrum said:
...Actually, as a out-spoken pacifist, this has actually kiiinda made me less impressed by Crytek...

Eh, whatever, so long as they make good games :p
But why? I'm somewhat of a pacifist myself, but I don't think any less of them.

It's not possible for me to, actually. Unless they said they support animal cruelty or something silly.
 

Chrono212

Fluttershy has a mean K:DR
May 19, 2009
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Creeeeeeepy....but at least those military simulators look pretty XD

And at least now those people using those simulators might not think that fun games are all that childish, and if they are being used by people in the military then that's even more respect that Crytek is earning for gaming as a whole
 

WanderingFool

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Apr 9, 2009
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Remember the talk about how violent videogames were "murder-simulators"... Maybe they were closer than we all thought...
 

Blind Sight

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May 16, 2010
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Military guy: Ok, the stimulation you made was excellent, but why can all the Koreans instantly see you from across the map when one does? And what's with the octopus aliens?
Crytek Employee: Um, well you see, ah...hey look, bump mapping and physics!
Military guy: OHHHH SHINY!
 

Simalacrum

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Apr 17, 2008
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coldalarm said:
Simalacrum said:
...Actually, as a out-spoken pacifist, this has actually kiiinda made me less impressed by Crytek...

Eh, whatever, so long as they make good games :p
But why? I'm somewhat of a pacifist myself, but I don't think any less of them.

It's not possible for me to, actually. Unless they said they support animal cruelty or something silly.
I dunno... I guess it just gave me the impression that they provide the army with military technology... knee-jerk reaction I guess :p
 

oranger

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May 27, 2008
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Makes me glad I read "Zero history" recently. Makes this easier to understand.
 

MikailCaboose

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Jun 16, 2009
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How exactly is this really that surprising to anyone? Simulation software is just a much more refined, specified version of a standard game, with the addition that it's a hell of a lot more boring than games. It's (to me) a little bit of a "Duh" statement to say that a video-game company also handles military simulation programs and the like. It's just a question of which company. Doesn't change my views on the games, I still like 'em even if I can't play them on my computer.
 

UberMore

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Sep 7, 2008
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Well, this is a little bit strange, but nothing mind-blowing.
I just hope that now that Crytek have told people about this that their contracts don't get pulled.
Well, I don't "hope", but you get what I mean.
 

Ponchponcho

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Apr 19, 2010
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WanderingFool said:
Remember the talk about how violent videogames were "murder-simulators"... Maybe they were closer than we all thought...
My thoughts as well, all this video games being art talk, seems to slip peoples minds that they are also used by military and police groups as training tools.