According to the Crytek leaks, Crytek have agreed to 12 month timed exclusivity for Crysis 2 Remastered and probably Crysis 3 Remastered. We know it is 12 months because a separate agreement with Electronic Arts says that Crysis 1-3 Remastered will be put on Origin 12 months after their initial PC release date. The agreement is very pedantic that it's 12 months after the PC release, not the Switch release, for example. So Crysis Remastered will come to Origin and Steam and other platforms on the 18th of September, 2021, not July 2o-something, when the Switch port came out.
Crysis 1 and 2 are super firm agreements. There's even a standard EGS minimum guaranteed agreement in place for C1 and C2. Crysis 3 wasn't locked down at the time, probably because its development was a bit staggered. (edit: To be honest, the way C3 is described in some of the contracts is a bit odd. C1 and C2 Remastered are 100% in development. And Epic have the distribution agreement for 3 already. And Crytek paid Denuvo for licences for all three titles. But it's not 100% clear what is going on behind the scenes. In the Saber contract, C3 was pending Crytek approval. The milestones for C3 were a fair bit later. It seems they originally intended to launch C1 and C2 in 2020, and C3 in 2021. Both C2 and C3 have seemingly been pushed back. It seems like they'll be selling a C1/C2 bundle on EGS before C3 comes out.)
Additionally, they are going to put Ryse on the EGS.
Additionally, the proposal document for Crysis Next (which is likely going to be branded Crysis Wars) lists the platforms as Xbox, Playstation, and Epic Games Store. I would not rule out an Epic publishing deal for Crysis Next. Like, the proper publishing deals they do where they fund it, market it, dev keeps the rights, etc.
I'm curious what they're gonna do pricing-wise. Crytek's plan is to release each Crysis remaster at 30 US dollars. After six months, each drops to 20 dollars. After 12 months, drop them to 15 dollars. After all three remasters are released, they are going to release a bundle retailing at 50 US dollars. After 3 months this will drop to 35 dollars, and after 9 months this will drop to 20 dollars.
I would not be surprised if they remove the individual titles from sale eventually, in favor of selling them all as a 20 dollar bundle. I certainly think 15 dollars per game vs 20 dollars for all of them is kinda weird economics that will confuse audiences. I'm just wondering how they're gonna handle Steam pricing. By the time Crysis 1 Remastered comes to Steam, it'll be 15 bucks US on EGS.
It should be interesting to see how the game sells on Steam. The launch on EGS was pretty rough. And we are still waiting for the third PC patch. The last PC patch was about 8 weeks ago. Crytek have said that they're dedicated to fixing the game's issues, and Saber have popped into the official Discord to say they're listening to all the suggestions people have made. If the Crysis Remaster is properly fixed by the time it comes to Steam next September, and it's selling for fifteen bucks, I think that'll move some units.
It definitely doesn't help the "THANKS, EGS BETA TESTERS" perception, though.
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