Crytek Employee Review

Former Employee – worked at Crytek full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – - Great talent and colleagues in the trenches. Especially on programming and art
- Great engine
- One of only two or three AAA developers in continental Europe
- An excellent place to learn what it takes to ship a big, multi-platform title

Cons – - Executive management has consistently shown their lack of business acumen by not having a clear strategy for the company for years. This resulted multiple times in changes in direction, rework, overtime and missed objectives
- Hardcore crunching at Crytek is common currency. It's not just "some overtime" to meet important milestones, it's a terrifying mandated lifestyle and a culture of quantity, not quality. Understandably, this results in a cyclical exodus of inordinate amounts of talent
- Salaries, benefits and perks are significantly below par for a AAA studio in the games industry
- Only a handful of good producers and scores of incompetent managers make development far more difficult than it needs to be

Advice to Senior Management – - Remember that your employees are human beings and your most important asset
- Try to foster a healthy corporate culture by training your employees, being honest with them about issues, investing in leadership development and effective delegation and getting rid of highly disruptive employees
- Don't pay your employees the bare minimum. Try to pay them what they're worth
- Develop a business strategy and try to stick to it
- Try not to alienate your business partners. They have the same goals as you do. Try to work with them, not despite them
- Hold yourselves accountable
- Train yourselves as leaders worth following

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend