Crytek Wants to Take Homefront to "New Heights"

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By Kevin Parrish
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Crysis powerhouse Crytek will resume development of Homefront 2, promising "new heights" with the just-acquired franchise.

On Wednesday in a sad chapter 11 bankruptcy move by THQ, the troubled games publisher sold its Homefront IP (franchise) to Crysis developer Crytek for a mere $500,000 USD. On a whole, THQ generated around $72 million USD from the sale of its many IPs, licenses and wholly owned studios that will be applied to its current debt.

News of Crytek taking the reigns on the Homefront IP isn't surprising given that the studio was working with THQ to produce a sequel to the 2011 first-person shooter developed by Kaos Studios. Crytek placed the highest bid during the auction to secure the rights, and now plans to take the Homefront IP to new heights.

"Since we first reached an agreement to develop Homefront 2, we’ve been firm believers in the IP and its potential to excite and amaze players," said Crytek CEO, Cevat Yerli. "Our cooperation with THQ was always positive and we would like to thank them for all their support over the last two years and express our sympathy to those affected by the recent events at the company."

Development on Homefront 2 will continue on at Crytek's UK studio in Nottingham, the company said. The original Homefront was released on March 15, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC. The game has a Metacritic score of 70 across all three platforms, with GameSpy saying the game "reveals just how badly many first-person shooters are starting to suck," and FiringSquad saying it "generally plays like your standard COD clone, only not as exciting or polished."

The mixed reception and poor sales reportedly contributed to Kaos Studios' demise in June 2011. The only other game released by the studio was Frontlines: Fuel of War for the Xbox 360 and Windows PC in 2008. Crytek reportedly agreed to develop the sequel in autumn 2011.

"From day one, the Homefront 2 team has been committed to creating a game that takes the series to new heights and features the level of quality and innovation associated with Crytek," added Nick Button-Brown, General Manager of Games at Crytek. "Nothing has changed with regards our development of the game, and we look forward to sharing the finished product with players."

Here's hoping for a brighter Homefront future.

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Kevin Parrish
15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • abbadon_34
    Crossing my fingers on this one. So much wasted potential
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    they were going to release a new saints row this year =
    Reply
  • alidan
    eklipz330they were going to release a new saints row this year =
    The studio that makes Saints Row got sold, however the darksiders studio hasn't been sold yet or at least I didn't hear news of it.
    Reply
  • Adroid
    The hype fest begins... Followed by the trash single player experience and horrible AI, then comes the decent multiplayer - yay!
    Reply
  • 25gtt
    Great another potential console port for a potentially good game like what they are doing to the new Crysis.,

    Come on Crytek, give this game the graphics potential Crysis could have had!
    Reply
  • rmpumper
    In order to something to "new" heights it must already be at "old" heights. Homefront is in the bottom of a barrel so you can only pull it out into daylight - the game was crap.
    Reply
  • demonhorde665
    I'm more concerned about the future of saint's row
    Reply
  • demonhorde665
    25gttGreat another potential console port for a potentially good game like what they are doing to the new Crysis.,Come on Crytek, give this game the graphics potential Crysis could have had!

    you mean crysis 2 , and NO F---ing thanks , i don't see why you uber rich geeks think companies should cater only to you. i bought crysis 1 back when it came out , and I still can't get the damn thing to run smooth after upgrading from a dual core to a quad core , and about 4 different video card upgrades later.

    in fact i'm not thrilled at all about crytek wanting to "blow up our pcs" with cyrsis 3 F--- That . i'd rather have a game that runs smooth at max setting than one that arbitrarily makes me go through multiple (main stream) pc upgrades just to run the game half-a--ed
    Reply
  • vrumor
    demonhorde665you mean crysis 2 , and NO F---ing thanks , i don't see why you uber rich geeks think companies should cater only to you. i bought crysis 1 back when it came out , and I still can't get the damn thing to run smooth after upgrading from a dual core to a quad core , and about 4 different video card upgrades later. in fact i'm not thrilled at all about crytek wanting to "blow up our pcs" with cyrsis 3 F--- That . i'd rather have a game that runs smooth at max setting than one that arbitrarily makes me go through multiple (main stream) pc upgrades just to run the game half-a--ed
    Way to take out your inability to either build a decent PC, or afford one, on those who can. These games run smooth when you have the correct hardware. So enjoy your slideshow.

    Reply
  • cats_Paw
    Crytek----> Console Ports----> No thx.

    If they do a PC game, ill check it out.
    Reply