In the wake of Crytek's financial troubles, Deep Silver has just acquired the rights to Homefront: The Revolution and will develop the game under a new Nottingham-based studio, the publisher announced today.
Crytek UK, which has been rapidly losing staff over the past few months in the wake of missed paychecks and other financial troubles, will no longer work on the game. A new studio called Deep Silver Dambuster Studios will now helm development on Homefront: The Revolution, which is still expected for next year on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
It's unclear whether this new Dambuster Studios is a renamed version of Crytek UK or just a new studio that employs a number of ex-Crytek UK staff, but I have heard that Homefront: The Revolution director Hasit Zala, who left Crytek UK a few weeks ago, will head up the game.
UPDATE (1:09pm): Some clarification via Crytek press release:
Firstly, Crytek has been in extensive discussions with leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products, Koch Media, regarding the acquisition of rights for the "Homefront" IP. On completion of the proposed acquisition, the Homefront team from Crytek's Nottingham studio would transfer their talents to Koch Media in compliance with English law and continue their hard work on upcoming shooter, "Homefront: The Revolution". Both parties hope to finalize and implement a deal soon.
Deep Silver, best known as the publisher behind Dead Island, was originally co-publishing the game with Crytek, but now will release Homefront: The Revolution on their own.
Last week, Crytek finally received a cash injection and was able to finally pay its staff at various studios after missed paychecks across the board, sources told me. The multinational company has been facing financial issues for the past few months, and cancelled a potential Ryse sequel earlier this year after a dispute with Microsoft over IP rights, sources said.
Last month, as Crytek UK's staff stopped going to work following months of missed and partial paychecks, sources told me that rumors had been swirling about a Deep Silver acquisition of some sort—today it's finalized. More as we hear it.
You can reach the author of this post at jason@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @jasonschreier.