Post news Report RSS CryENGINE 3 to be announced at GDC

New all-in-one game development solution for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, MMO, DX9/ DX10 and Next-Gen-Ready to be premiered at GDC 2009

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Despite releasing CryENGINE 2 less than 2 years ago in May 2007, Crytek will be introducing CryENGINE 3 at this years GDC. Developers what is your reaction to this announcement? Whilst I'm not a developer I am quite surprized by this, as CryENGINE 2 is still so new (and one of the best next-gen engines available), the tools and development kit is not really there for the mod teams, and already they seem to be ignoring this and pushing on. Here is the official release:

Crytek wrote: Crytek GmbH (“Crytek”) is excited to announce that they will introduce their latest all-in-one game development solution CryENGINE 3, at this year’s GDC Expo (March 25th – 27th) in San Francisco. CryENGINE 3 is the first development platform for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, MMO, DX9/DX10 that also is truly Next-Gen-Ready - with scalable computation and graphics for all major upcoming platforms. It provides the complete game engine to create AAA quality next generation games, and includes the CryENGINE® 3 Sandbox™ level editor, a production-proven, 3rd generation "What you see is what you play" (WYSIWYP) - tool designed by and for professional developers. CryENGINE 3 comes with significant new features specifically designed for console, online, MMO and Next-Gen game development.


"With CryENGINE 3 we are delivering our best game development technology that enables our clients to achieve their vision on current and future platforms to develop games such as MMOs, action games and more. Our complete game engine solution enables realtime development, ensures teams are able to maximise their own creativity, saves budget and creates greater gaming experiences. Also with our solution developers can start working on their next generation games today."
said Cevat Yerli, CEO & President of Crytek.

"CryENGINE 3 is a revolutionary change from our previous PC-only engines – and we're applying a similar revolution to the service we provide to developers using the software to create extraordinary games. CryENGINE 3 will set the benchmark for complete game engine solutions in performance, and services to game engine licensees and their players. We've been preparing a long time for CryENGINE on consoles and weire confident that Crytek will again amaze developers at GDC." added Carl Jones, Director of Business Development CryENGINE.

CryENGINE® is the underlying technology for Crytek's critically acclaimed games Crysis and Crysis Warhead and has already been licensed to a number of major game companies around the globe, including several recent serious games training and simulation projects.


Looks like they are staying true to their word and moving away from a pure PC development focus.

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willy-wilson
willy-wilson

thats one of the stupidest things ive herd in a long time, seeing as how much life they squeezed out of cryengine 1

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geokes
geokes

Yeah CryEngine 2 only just runs on full on modern computers, they really needed to wait longer.

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Daystranger
Daystranger

I think it will be faster.
Its consolish now. Consoles wont match PC in terms of performance.
So they're forced to optimize.

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Cookie_Dough
Cookie_Dough

They need to anounce it now, because games like killzone 2 is equaly as stunning as the CryEngine2. If Crytek wants to be the developer with best engien, then this is perfect timeing in my oppinion

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Mr.QBlack
Mr.QBlack

I think its a bit early
The majority got not an High-End Gaming Pc.

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NinjaWursti
NinjaWursti

I don't think that Cry Engine 3 will really look better than 2. Because consoles can't even run 2 so 3 must be optimised (with worse graphics too. I think this will be the Cry Engine 2 for consoles.

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z33ky
z33ky

More optimizations doesn't mean lesser quality. They're probably just gonna make it more scalable.

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NullSoldier
NullSoldier

I think it's fine that they do this, as long as they don't do something as stupid as Ubisoft and FAIL INCREDIBLY with Farcry 2 since they decided to completely shaft PC gamers with no SDK. Sine so many companies are now moving to cross platform development you always have to wonder whether or not this can actually happen.

"Have fun using our ****** WYSIWYG map editor! LOL!"

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ausbushman
ausbushman

Great! Good to see they're selling their engine properly now.

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willy-wilson
willy-wilson

now that i think about it more i bet this cryengine 3 is a ploy to get cryengine working better with consoles for the most part, im interested in what other people think about this

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Maggintosh
Maggintosh

Erm, the Crysis-SDK is available to modders, remember? The CryEngine2 is still new and exciting, but Crytek announced CryEngine3 for the upcoming next-gen consoles and PCs. Not for this generation, you know? So don't worry, there will be some new cool games with CryEngine2 until then.

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Metafiz
Metafiz

I think he means the Warhead SDK

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CoD511
CoD511

Wars SDK is out tomorrow. There's no Warhead SDK as it's all based on Wars now (Singleplayer element of Wars has been unlocked).

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enablerbr
enablerbr

so is this the reason why the SDK for crysis warhead is taking so long. as they have put all their time into CryEngine 3. maybe CryEngine 3 won't have such huge FPS drops when it does snow/ice scenes.

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Gumbitha
Gumbitha

Any game will have FPS drops with "realistic" weather effects.

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CoD511
CoD511

To my knowledge, they have different 'teams' for both the SDK and CryEngine3, so no, this isn't the reason the SDK was taking so long.

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Mango
Mango

Hmm, I wonder since it will be updated if it won't need as much power if it can run on consoles.

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Toblerone
Toblerone

I'm inclined to think this is a better optimised, better supported version of CryEngine 2. Crytek are trying to compete with Unreal on the middleware front. I think its a good move. Adding in features that will extend its life over to the next generation (after this one!).

I'm very excited, CryEngine 2 is the best out there at the moment in terms of Editor, feature set, and rendering capability. So to see it expanded and opened up to console developers means that hopefully we wont get 1000 Unreal Engine 4 games next generation, like we have with this generation with Unreal Engine 3.

One more thing.. as this seems to be a venture into a fully supported cross platform middleware, the Editor and tools will hopefully be easier to use and work with more programs (i.e maya)

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Arkanj3l
Arkanj3l

Well, I like the logo.

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psykogundam
psykogundam

(buried)

PC gaming is dying. just get a PS3 and a keyboard and mouse and start buying games for that. This makes me sad :(

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MrTambourineMan
MrTambourineMan

That's not true, PC seems to be dying every time a new gen of consoles come out, take a look at how many games were announced for PC 2 years ago, and see how many are in development today (almost all games that are crossplatform are for PC as well - very rarerly PS3/Xbox360 only nowdays). Oh and btw, PS3 has far inferior games lineup than PC atm (Xbox360 being the King of course))

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flamingvipir
flamingvipir

hoah! (360)

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NullSoldier
NullSoldier

If PC gaming is dying why does Germany sell more PC games than console games every year? Look at the numbers. Also PC gaming sales numbers never take into account digital distribution so it's incredibly biased. Open your eyes you close minded console gamer. Everyone always thinks PC sales are going down when NONE of those sales statistics take into account online sales. Steam SOLD OUT of copies of Unreal 3. You think those retards at the biased market numbers even comprehend the idea of digital distribution? Of course not.

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Elementalist
Elementalist

I'm just not sure what they think 'next-gen' is. It irritates me how all these companies talk about 'next-gen' as if it's all about graphics. I mean, yes, we've seen some games with incredibly amazing graphics! And one of those is obviously Crysis.

... I beat Crysis in a day, played about half-way through again once, and was bored. I never actually thought it was that great in the first place, either, but was hoping the science fiction elements of the storyline were good. I was horribly disappointed.

I'd rather see developers concentrating on next-gen as replayability and gameplay/story integration. Which, I guess, in some ways IS last-gen, but hey! Make it BETTER and call it next-gen! I don't care. Give me a good game with decent graphics, not a half-baked game with amazing graphics.

/2 cents

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sbnewsom
sbnewsom

It just means the generation after this one. They aren't wrong when they say it, but when its used on a current gen item, then they are idiots. CryEngine 3 is correct when they mention next gen.

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hushpuppy
hushpuppy

You do realize this will not be as good of a engine as CE2 right? This is a watered down verision and nothing moore. They should have called it "CE2 Consoleized"

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sbnewsom
sbnewsom

Not really. You misread the part where they said it is scalable. You can have crappy graphics in a game when you have everything on low. All they have to do is having a thing called "OPTIONS".

Why is everyone saying this is a consolised version? Where the **** does it say that? Crytek is saying that the engine is getting bigger and bigger, and finally they are supporting (Not changing to) the console market.

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Daystranger
Daystranger

Well, mister.
They haven't ported Crysis on consoles cos they can't handle it.
Now the new engine could be ported. That means its inferior.
State of art graphics falling down to mainstream like UT3 with lots of bloom and blur.

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sbnewsom
sbnewsom

Uh! No! How good a game is, is based on who the developers are. Look at the MOB game. It uses CryEngine 2, and doesn't look all that great. Decent, yes, but not amazing. Your logic in thinking that because its capable of running on Consoles makes it inferior, is 100% wrong.

Sure Crysis doesn't run on consoles. So? What has that got to do with game engines? It doesn't.

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PringleX
PringleX

Didn't Crytek manage to get CryEngine2 running on consoles a few GDC's ago? Anyway, it makes sense for them to develop a console based CryEngine, it's just the term "3". I highly doubt that this is truly a successor to the CryEngine2, they should have just called it the CryEngineC or CryEngine2.5.

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Maggintosh
Maggintosh

Next-Gen simplay means the next generation of consoles, in my eyes. They are already talking about XBOX720 and PS4 (or whatever they will be called). And i think CE3 will add some more graphical features. Why should they call their engine CE3 and not CE2.5? I think its not simply a modified version of CE2. Its far more than a CryEngine2 with the ability to develope games on consoles. But we will see at the end of this month.

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Zooch
Zooch

It's not all about the graphics....

What about the 2 dozen other features that comes packaged with these editors that you guys lump together and call it "graphics".

CryEngine has built in tools to allow you to do things like set physics, assign classes, a unique boid system, facial animator, audio editor, particle editor, etc etc.

It's not just the "pretty graphics" that drive the purpose of an engine. Utility is also part of the whole "next-gen" package.

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Bird_of_Prey
Bird_of_Prey

Still seems to early for me. But I guess it's the thing to do, if they want to get a jump on everyone else in the next console dev cycle. Personally I think that the "next" generation of consoles is going to have a hard time making most people upgrade in anything less then 3 years (from now). Maybe not XBox, since it's been around for the longest. Sony and Nintendo might though.

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sbnewsom
sbnewsom

Does everyone realize that this engine probably won't be used until 3 years into the future? Too early my ***, you should be thankful that such news is made. Else, you'll be stuck in the dark while until 2 months before an actual game is announced that uses this.

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Zooch
Zooch

The engine (Cry2) is being used right now for computer games not sold in the US. I assume Cry3 will be basically the same package, give or take some features. I know a lot of you are worried that Cry3 is actually Cry2 with a bulk of the feature removed, but I personally don't think that's the case. I've been working with CE2 since before its public release and I can say the engine had tons of room for optimization. I was able to replicate the same beauty you see in Crysis and sport double the FPS with only a few minor tweaks.

Given the creative use of Occluders and VisAreas combined with some unique modeling/texturing methods I'm recently discovering, there's no reason why Cry2 couldn't be used in consoles.

I think it was just simpler to do the optimization on Crytek's side instead of trying to train all the teams on how to squeeze every last frame out of their games. Hence, CE3. Although I'm sure it was worth more to Crytek to cut some of the more power-hogging features; there's always ways around it.

Just my opinion of course.

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remeth
remeth

how is anyone going to run that on their computer. Bet nasa's computers would crash

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chubbedup
chubbedup

@psykogundam: PC gaming is far from dying. The only thing that is holding the PC gaming market back right now is piracy, which noone can seem to find a reasonable solution for.

@everyone else: The way this is looking, the CryEngine 3 is simply a way for Crytek to jump into the console market as well as the PC market, because piracy absolutely killed Crysis. If it had sold half as many copies as were pirated, it would have been one of the greatest selling games ever. What exactly does this mean? Well for one, it is now almost a guarantee that all Crytek's major games (basically only Crysis heh) will be multi-platform, as opposed to Crysis and Warhead being PC-only. Second, I really don't think much will change for us PC users. For those with lower-end PCs, you will probably experience better FPS with CE3 titles. Higher-end users really won't notice any difference I don't think. Not many new features are being added other then performance optimizations. Sorry guys, but this isn't a new computer-dominator. It's Cryengine 2 post-diet. The extra weight is gone, so now it's free to run without bringing your computer to its knees, or causing consoles to spontaneously combust.

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NullSoldier
NullSoldier

Yay console gamer propoganda!

Thats funny, I built my computer with $1,800 bucks and I'm running Crysis on MAX with a 280X Overclocked, Intel i7 940, 6 GB of 1600 DDR3 Tri Channel ram, and a 1000 WATT PSU. So why don't you actually use your brain before you start opening your mouth you silly little console gamer.

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Mkilbride
Mkilbride

Seriously, already? CryEngine 2 is still incredibly advanced, with about 70% of the PC market doesn't have Systems that can run it, and they're working on a new, higher demanding version?

Man, CryTek needs to learn from Valve, support your Engine for a long time, as eventually it's hardware requirements will be the norm. Like, if Crysis had been released in 2009 - I imagine it would of received alot higher praise. Why? Because everyones Systems would be two years older and all the bugs they had would of been worked out by then. I'm one of the lucky ones to never have had much trouble with Crysis, but I knew something was wrong when you could watch a video of Crysis frying someones computer by putting to much strain on it. :P

To me, Crysis is right now a good potential Engine for anything. It may not be as popular as Source, or as well documented, but it does have alot of features and things that people could take advantage of, and it is 2009, and most people now have the hardware to play it decently at least.

Crysis still looks sexy. I may not have liked the game that much, but the Engine had alot of crack in it. :P

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Jesternz08
Jesternz08

Yeh, I am definitely hoping for a lot of optimization, be nice to have a flash new engine that will run on most pc's. Also have to wonder about all the MMO talk, I wonder what they are thinking ^^

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SweetPoison42
SweetPoison42

DirectX10 and multi-core CPU/GPU is next gen which CE2 already supports and does very well. So how the hell they going to raise the bar higher?
This is just CryEngine2 updated for consoles, they should call it CryEngine2.5 or it just going to confuse everyone.

And you not need a high end PCs to run Crysis. I built PCs for friends, under $600 that run the game with high detail and 1280x1024 at steady 30fps.

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Mkilbride
Mkilbride

30FPS is not max. It is playable, but regardless, 30FPS is nothing to brag about.

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Daystranger
Daystranger

This is just ok fps for game with motion blur.
And more than average console game could offer(Which usually CAPPED at 30 and always slowes down to 15. Like GTA4).

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Zooch
Zooch

I'm going to a lecture at GDC that talks about what DX11 is going to have in it. The bar can and always will be raised.

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sigvatr
sigvatr

Whats the point of releasing a engine that just WONT run smootly on any pc that didn't cost more then $5000,- +/ €3500,- +.

It rediculous and it goes to rediculous terms. Releasing a game-engine that nobody will or can support.

Crytek go shame on you.

-love

sigvatr

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NullSoldier
NullSoldier

Really? My computer costs $1,800 and I run at MAX with 60+ FPS. Good try though spreading your silly propaganda. You almost fooled someone here.

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Zooch
Zooch

My computer cost me $1700 and it was bought 2 years ago when all the parts were brand new (and way overpriced). I run at 60 FPS while playing a cutscene of two old pirate ships blowing the hell out of each other - cannonballs making holes in the fully destructible vessels and about 30 pirates firing weapons at each other. All sorts of particles, objects, animations, AI and audio is thrown in on top of each other in the pure chaos.

The BS that floats around about how the game engine is way too powerful for an average computer is just that - BS. If you can't achieve a playable game for a decent computer bought in the last few years with this engine then you're simply doing it wrong (or aren't doing it at all, but really just reading what others flame about and regurgitating it).

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Shadowvwem
Shadowvwem

This engine is most likely a highly optimized version of CryEngine 2...same graphics level most likely, but can be put at levels that can be run on consoles.

And i could run Crysis at Medium with a 2.4 processor, single core, and a 7600 GT :D

Some tweaking involved but it was playable. I upgraded since than, 9600 GSO, and a 2.8 Dual core, and i can run pretty much at max with tweaks. Minus Anti-Aliasing.

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FranklyTired
FranklyTired

They really are doing a very risky manouver... the crynengine 2 most of the modern computer still have problems running it. I do understand that CGIs do advance so fast in nowadays that it amaze us even more every second of our lifes, but we must be honest and practical at gaming. This engine do seem very powerful... I won't deny it. I love the screenshots and all the features it can give. But this is a real improvement? If we look into hardware, most people who bought they computers with the lastests crap just two years ago so they can play Crysis and most of the modern games will almost be forced to buy another one even more expensive for only this engine, that will without no doubt "trash" the cryengine 2. I understand making improvements as the Source Engine is doing it or The Unreal Engine always did (best example are the Unreal engine 2.0 and 2.5, which are radically different one from other) but building a next gen engine so soon is ridicoulus! It's like dumping your girl after the third date just because you find another who look a little bit better without using or knowing the full potencial of the first one. And I do doubt that an Xbox 360 could possibly support this engine, I do believe the PS3 will, but with some latency, who knows! But in the end, they are making a brand new engine without even giving a chance the one they created just two years ago! Are they that desperate to have new clients? Or it's just an ITT for Attention *****? Whatever it is... they can be messing greatly with thier own skin.

Goobye for now!

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Nokiaman
Nokiaman

They shouldn't make another **** engine.

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