Crysis Is Crytek's Last PC Spec-Buster

Crysis, originally a technically demanding PC-exclusive that could run on only the highest-end rigs at launch, is likely to be the last such title from Crytek, company boss Cevat Yerli has told NowGamer.

"The PC market is going to be strongly growing in the free-to-play market. But then again free-to-play requires huge community, so it means accessibility," Yerli said in an exclusive NowGamer interview. "It’s kind of contradictory to running a high-tier game where the community will be very small, but [that] community will be paying for the retail game and not for a free-to-play experience."

If the future of PC is free-to-play then you have to play the numbers, added Yerli.

"You’re trying to target millions of users so you get a percentage of them to pay for something. In the high-end space, those players are already investing a lot of money into their PC specs, so for them to buy a game it’s not going to be a problem, but at the same time the retail market is going down – so the expected sales are very low."

Yerli concluded that Crytek will continue to "push the technology boundaries" but that to make commercially viable games, projects are unlikely to be as technically demanding as Crysis was back in 2007.

Crysis has been squeezed onto consoles and hits PS3 and Xbox 360 this week.