Rumor: Amazon saved Crytek with multi-million dollar investment

Web store Amazon has invested a considerable amount in the German game developer Crytek, website Kotaku has learned from anonymous sources. The studio was in dire straits in mid-2014. In exchange for the investment, Amazon is allowed to use the CryEngine.

Website Kotaku spoke to four anonymous sources who claim Amazon saved Crytek from the abyss last summer by investing millions of dollars in the German studio. The sources do not agree on the amount; estimates range from $50 million to $70 million.

Crytek was in dire straits a year ago, after which the company had to reorganize. After employees had been without salary for several months, the German company decided to close studios in the US and the UK. The fact that the studio did not go under, according to Kotaku’s sources, is due to Amazon’s investment. Details about the deal are lacking, but the same sources claim that Amazon has signed a licensing deal with Crytek. The web store may use the studio’s CryEngine.

What Amazon plans to do with the engine is unknown. However, the deal with Crytek is not Amazon’s first investment in a gaming company. In early 2014, the web store developer Double Helix, which is best known for Killer Instinct, took over. The American company has also been working for some time on a set-top box on which games can also be played. Photos have even surfaced of the controller that can be played on the Android-running console. Amazon has also been marketing casual games for quite some time now.