The US developer Cryptic Studios is one of the last MMORPG studios in the West. They are known for online role-playing games like City of Heroes, Champions Online, Star Trek: Online and Neverwinter. However, it doesn’t look like the studio will play a major role in the coming years. They have fallen into the acquisition whirlpool of the Embracer Group. Their MMORPGs are, however, supposed to live on in Berlin.
What kind of studio is this?
- Cryptic Studios is actually located in Los Angeles and has for many years been a studio with around 130 people, developing successful free-to-play MMORPGs into well-known brands: Neverwinter Online into Dungeon and Dragons, Star Trek Online into Star Trek.
- There was always criticism: the games were said to be outdated and a bit too greedy with microtransactions, but generally they were competently made games that had their fans, and it was noticeable that developers were sincere and had respect for the brands behind.
- But they gambled away big time in 2017 on a large project.
The fantasy MMORPG Neverwinter was released in 2013 for PC, 2015 for Xbox One, 2016 for PS4:
MMORPG based on Magic fails
What was the problem? Actually, Cryptic Studios was supposed to develop a new MMORPG based on Magic: The Gathering. In 2017, they announced the game, which caused a lot of commotion: Finally, another big MMORPG from the West.
But then Cryptic Studios totally misstepped.
The MMORPG based on Magic came to nothing and had to be discontinued already in 2021. Magic: Legends didn’t even last until the end of the open beta.
Studio caught in the acquisition whirlpool of the Embracer Group
Where did it go wrong? In December 2021, it became known that the Embracer Group had purchased “Perfect World Entertainment,” the parent company of Cryptic Studios. Perfect World was then dissolved under Gearbox. Cryptic Studios was to continue under Gearbox.
There were reports of layoffs (via gamedeveloper).
In November 2023, it was announced that they would separate Cryptic Studios from Gearbox and operate them under the company “DECA Games.” This is a gaming publisher based in Berlin that has mainly released mobile games so far. MMO players know them as the developers of “Realm of the Mad God.”
“Cryptic Studios will switch to a support role”
Here are the new updates: In a stream yesterday, it has become clear how things are supposed to proceed with Cryptic Studios.
Essentially:
- The MMORPGs Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, and Champions Online are supposed to continue more or less as they have so far – the games will also receive roadmaps. Nothing should change for the players.
- However, development is supposed to switch to DECA. Cryptic Studios is to take on “more of a support role” – the experienced MMORPG developers are now mainly supposed to train DECA employees.
- Cryptic Studios has no new games in development after two were canceled.
It is unclear to what extent Cryptic Studios will remain connected to the games long-term or how things will continue there – at least they are being transparent about it.
How is this being discussed? The news is being received with skepticism on American MMORPG sites. In the comments, it says:
- It sounds like the employees of Cryptic Studios are now supposed to train their own and probably cheaper successors.
- It strongly looks like they are now slowly phasing out Cryptic Studios.
This is what’s behind it: The Embracer Group is the leaky giant company that apparently first bought gaming companies indiscriminately to grow as quickly as possible. But then they lost a major deal and now have to save money everywhere: This leads to job losses and closures of studios.
It looks like they have taken over the valuable assets from Cryptic Studios, namely the running MMORPGs, but have no real interest in keeping the “expensive” employees on.
Generally, such MMORPGs are only minimally developed after an acquisition to monetize existing players – but costs are noticeably cut. For Star Trek Online and Neverwinter, it is now stated that they will continue and also receive content, but whether the development curve will remain constant or decline remains to be seen. The developers are now also talking about a transitional phase in which new employees will be introduced to the projects.
For the studio itself, this is clearly not good news, even though the future is still hanging in the balance.
More on Neverwinter: Neverwinter Review: Is the MMORPG classic still worth it?
