Cryptic Studios has been developing large MMORPGs in the USA for 24 years. The fantasy MMORPG Neverwinter Online and the SF MMORPG Star Trek Online are currently still active as their last titles. But another studio is now taking care of the games. Now it looks like the studio is now losing almost all of its employees. After the failure of an MMORPG on Magic: The Gathering, the lights go out.
Which MMORPG do you know the course for? Cryptic Studios was responsible for second-tier MMORPGs in the US. In general, these are solid games that serve a niche well, even if they are sometimes criticized for their cash shops.
Free2Play MMORPGs in particular tend to access the cash shop more and more as they get older in order to better monetize the fewer players.
The MMORPG for Magic was supposed to be huge, but failed miserably
What was the problem? The “big next MMORPG” from Cryptic Studios was actually supposed to be Magic: Legends. With the license for Magic: The Gathering they actually had a huge opportunity to develop a significant online role-playing game.
But Magic: Legends died in development, it just never really worked.
Without a new MMORPG and if the old games get older and older, the studio probably no longer has a future.
Cryptic Studios is bought out and excluded
These are the new developments: Cryptic Studios had belonged to the company “Perfect World” since 2011 – but this company was bought by the feared Swedish group Embracer Group in 2021 and Cryptic Studios also found itself in a difficult situation.
The Embracer Group went on a brutal raid, buying up companies everywhere, but then a key investor deal fell through and heads have been rolling ever since. Studios that had previously been snatched up for dear money were suddenly sold, projects were canceled and employees were laid off.
In November 2023 it was announced that there would be layoffs at Cryptic Studios – in March 2024 it was said that the development of Cryptic Studios’ games would be outsourced to other studios. Cryptic Studios should move into a “supporting role” and coach the new employees.
Six months later, this phase is now apparently over. As reported by the US site Massivelyop, almost all employees of Cryptic Studios have now been laid off. The future of the studio is uncertain.
The US side reports that many employees have left. Star Trek Online Twitch streamer CasualSAB reports that the layoffs were widespread and almost all of Cryptic’s remaining employees were laid off. The development became apparent in March: Studio has been making big MMORPGs for Star Trek, Neverwinter for 24 years – now it’s about to end