Crytek will be closing five of its studios in South Korea, China, Bulgaria, Hungary and Turkey.

　　The developer, who is best known for its work on the original Far Cry and Crysis, announced the news via a press release today. The goal is to “refocus on its core strengths of developing innovative games and game-development technology”.

　　Only two studios will be retained – those based in Frankfurt, Germany and in Kiev, Ukraine. The following studios will be affected:

　　Crytek Black Sea in Sofia, Bulgaria, founded in 2001 as Black Sea Studios, acquired and renamed in 2008Crytek Budapest in Budapest, Hungary, founded in 2007Crytek Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey, founded in 2012Crytek Seoul in Seoul, South Korea, founded in 2010Crytek Shanghai in Shanghai, China, founded in 2012“Undergoing such transitions is far from easy, and we’d like to sincerely thank each and every staff member – past and present – for their hard work and commitment to Crytek”, said Co-Founder and Managing Director, Avni Yerli, in a press release.

　　“These changes are part of the essential steps we are taking to ensure Crytek is a healthy and sustainable business moving forward that can continue to attract and nurture our industry’s top talent. The reasons for this have been communicated internally along the way. Our focus now lies entirely on the core strengths that have always defined us – world-class developers, state-of-the-art technology and innovative game development, and we believe that going through this challenging process will make us a more agile, viable, and attractive studio, primed for future success.”

　　Earlier this month we wrote about several employees claiming to haven’t been paid for several months.

　　The company was originally founded in 1999 and has been headquartered in Germany ever since. Two studios (UK and USA) already got closed back in 2014.