Amazon Reportedly Purchased Crytek’s Engine

[D DoUrden]

Prepare for the Amazon overloards.

No idea what Amazon Game Studios would do with the CryEngine yet, but the fact they have been making moves to buy out former Killer Instinct developer Double Helix and signed deals with Portal lead developer, Kim Swift and well known Far Cry 2 designer, Clint Hocking just means one thing. Amazon Game Studios is planning something big and it may not just be limited to the Amazon Fire TV that they released to some lukewarm gaming appeal. Oh and lets not forget they did buy Twitch so, they really want gamers attention.

http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/amazon-reportedly-purchased-cryteks-engine-for-around-50-million/

 

[Stuka87]

The only thing I can think of is they are going to release a new Fire tablet that doesn't have horrible specs, and they want a game to show it off.

I cannot see them getting into the PC/Console business.

 

[norseamd]

I cannot see them getting into the PC/Console business.

Nope. They already sell games and the egotistical ambition of Bezos is way too much for him to not want to take over the whole digital distribution business and leave Valve in tears and penniless.

 

[Stuka87]

Nope. They already sell games and the egotistical ambition of Bezos is way too much for him to not want to take over the whole digital distribution business and leave Valve in tears and penniless.

I know they sell games, but selling games and making them are two very different things.

 

[norseamd]

I know they sell games, but selling games and making them are two very different things.

True. As for producing their own games not sure about that but I have no reservations for them wanting to outcompete Valve for digital distribution and then also exploit the developers and publishers by ownership of one of the most advanced game engines used in the games industry.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

Amazon has been known to do stuff at a loss to accomplish greater objectives...maybe they would take a risk making shooters and MMORPGs that aren't hypercasualized to drag in every single player.

 

[JSt0rm]

Amazon has a game studio for the fire tv. The one game they made was actually pretty fun. It was the blend of tower defense and fps.

sev zero was the name of the game

http://games.amazon.com/

 

[Red Storm]

Nope. They already sell games and the egotistical ambition of Bezos is way too much for him to not want to take over the whole digital distribution business and leave Valve in tears and penniless.

I don't see that happening.

 

[norseamd]

I don't see that happening.

Neither do I but considering how much money and business politics they are doing in competing with Netflix I am sure they are going to try their dumb crap.

 

[imaheadcase]

What remains to be seen is what they actually plan to do with Twitch anyways. No real changes since they got it..which is strange to buy something like that without at least having a plan in motion.

I suspect that they are going to use Twitch, to promote the games they make..maybe exclusives with streamers..

 

[lupi]

it's an ender's game situation, they need to learn how to operate the drone fleet.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I expect to the Amazon Fire TV 2 to have more gaming muscle- beyond the 360 level. Maybe they are really trying to take on consoles.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I expect to the Amazon Fire TV 2 to have more gaming muscle- beyond the 360 level. Maybe they are really trying to take on consoles.

Imagine if they integrated the engine source into the console's firmware and used asic based processing for many of the components.

 

[norseamd]

Imagine if they integrated the engine source into the console's firmware and used asic based processing for many of the components.

What would you end up getting from this combination?

 

[poofyhairguy]

Imagine if they integrated the engine source into the console's firmware and used asic based processing for many of the components.

That would be VERY interesting. It would be opposite of every console ever! Rather than wait until late in the console's life to have really optimized engines from the hardware, you start with the best engine and build hardware to match that.

I could see it causing problems with Third Party Publishers that will want to use their own engine or another engine, but by enabling such easy development at the high-end maybe you raise up the sophistication of a few of those mobile gaming companies like the Gameloft's to take on the EA's of the world. Plus if we could have PS4-ish level quality for way cheaper because of this method it would be a real competitive advantage.

I just don't know how much you could offload to asic.

 

[SunnyD]

The thread title is rather misleading.

Amazon did nothing more than license CryEngine. They didn't buy it. This is no bigger news than any other software dev acquiring a license to use CryEngine.

Here I was thinking with all the financial issues Crytek was having recently that Amazon just up and bought out Crytek completely, which is not the case by any means whatsoever.

 

[darkewaffle]

The thread title is rather misleading.

Amazon did nothing more than license CryEngine. They didn't buy it. This is no bigger news than any other software dev acquiring a license to use CryEngine.

Here I was thinking with all the financial issues Crytek was having recently that Amazon just up and bought out Crytek completely, which is not the case by any means whatsoever.

Admittedly the source article is misleading as well (the Kotaku one it's based off of though explicitly states a licensing agreement) but this particular subforum has never had a very good grasp on "business" either :awe:

 

[TechBoyJK]

What would you end up getting from this combination?

Possibly better graphics with cheaper hardware. Plus the dev cycle could be minimized since quality control is taken care of at the hardware level instead of having to worry about both the engine and the game itself.

 

[It's Not Lupus]

I don't think that engine is worth 50 million.

 

[SunnyD]

I don't think that engine is worth 50 million.

The engine itself is quite capable and very scalable, and it has a great toolset behind it. It's proven and in some circles more liked than competing engines.

More than likely the license that Amazon got for $50M is a perpetual zero-royalty license, includes full source with rights to modify as they please. One or two AAA hits and they make that money back and then some.

 

[norseamd]

The thread title is rather misleading.

Amazon did nothing more than license CryEngine. They didn't buy it. This is no bigger news than any other software dev acquiring a license to use CryEngine.

Here I was thinking with all the financial issues Crytek was having recently that Amazon just up and bought out Crytek completely, which is not the case by any means whatsoever.

Then how is this made out as Amazon purchasing the Crytek software which would be terrible for everyone?

 

[TechBoyJK]

The thread title is rather misleading.

Amazon did nothing more than license CryEngine. They didn't buy it. This is no bigger news than any other software dev acquiring a license to use CryEngine.

Here I was thinking with all the financial issues Crytek was having recently that Amazon just up and bought out Crytek completely, which is not the case by any means whatsoever.

They did not just 'license it'.

The acquired the rights for the full source code so that they can fork it off and make it their own. It will not longer by 'CryEngine' but maybe something like 'FireEngine'.

Star Citizen did the same and I believe paid over $20M.

 

[norseamd]

Well as long as no one has to deal with Amazon to use the Crytek software then I am not that concerned at all.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Well as long as no one has to deal with Amazon to use the Crytek software then I am not that concerned at all.

Crytek carries on business as usual. If anything, the giant influx of cash sets the company upright again and they can go balls deep in some hot new games.

 

[SunnyD]

The engine itself is quite capable and very scalable, and it has a great toolset behind it. It's proven and in some circles more liked than competing engines.

More than likely the license that Amazon got for $50M is a perpetual zero-royalty license, includes full source with rights to modify as they please. One or two AAA hits and they make that money back and then some.

They did not just 'license it'.

The acquired the rights for the full source code so that they can fork it off and make it their own. It will not longer by 'CryEngine' but maybe something like 'FireEngine'.

Star Citizen did the same and I believe paid over $20M.

They acquired a "license" to do so, as described in my post prior to yours. A license is still a license.

Well as long as no one has to deal with Amazon to use the Crytek software then I am not that concerned at all.

Nope. Crytek will still be a separate entity doing its own thing, and whatever Amazon does with their license is Amazon's business. They are two completely separate things, unless there is some sort of undisclosed terms in the licensing deal that can come to rear its ugly head somewhere down the line.