The German newspaper Die Welt, is reporting that EA is examining the possibility of acquiring the Crysis and Far Cry developer; Crytek. EA snatched Crytek from its previous publisher, Ubisoft and now has distribution rights for Crytek's highly anticipated F.P.S. Crysis. Ubisoft managed to retain the rights for the Far Cry game and is already developing Far Cry titles.
The news of the possibility of EA acquiring Crytek was revealed by EA's executive VP, Gerhard Florin who described Crytek as a very, very interesting candidate (for an acquisition). The second and possibly more significant hint that something is going on came from Crytek co-founder, Faruk Yerli who confirmed that his company is in talks with EA. Mr. Yerli has not confirmed that an acquisition will take place and mentioned that his company is considering a variety of options.
If EA does buy Crytek it will also gain the engine behind Crysis; CryEngine 2, a formidable weapon in any developer's/publisher's arsenal. EA is currently in a buying mood and seems to prefer the German market as the giant publisher announced last week the acquisition of German developer Phenomic, creator of SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars.
Crysis has been pushed back from its original holiday 2006 release date and is currently expected to release in Q1, 2007.