Developer Crytek plans world domination by way of free-to-play PC games. The studio’s Warface first-person shooter already has 10 million players in Russia, and now it is preparing to move into the Japanese market.
Crytek is announcing today that it is partnering with South Korean publisher Nexon to bring Warface to Japan. Nexon, which has its headquarters in Tokyo, will oversee the game on behalf of Crytek.
“Expanding Warface to Japan is a very important step for us,” Crytek chief executive officer Cevat Yerli said in a statement. “Since it’s a global IP, this move perfectly underlines our strategy in sharing the game’s unique action with gamers around the world. Nexon is a very trusted partner; they have shown us tremendous results in South Korea, where Warface just entered open beta after receiving highly positive feedback from gamers during closed beta. We are sure that Nexon will play a key role in ensuring Warface’s success in Japan as well.”
Warface is a modern-military shooter similar to Call of Duty and Battlefield. It runs on Crytek’s proprietary CryEngine graphics technology, which powers stunning triple-A titles like Crysis 3.
Crytek plans on leaving behind most of its retail-game business in favor of the free-to-play Warface model.
“We decided five or six years ago that we want to marry the quality of triple-A games with the business model of free-to-play,” Yerli told GamesBeat in February. “And out of that position, [Warface was] born. We kept pushing the quality bar higher on our console business, which is the main dominating business for the Western world, but we are observing, plainly — and we see this already with Warface — that the free-to-play market is on the rise. I think over the next two to three years, free-to-play is going to rival retail with quality games like Warface.”