Report: Layoffs at Crytek, Kingdoms a first-person Kinect title

Crytek, developers of the Crysis franchise, will lay off 30-35 staff members from its Budapest studio, a source has told Gamasutra. The studio will shift its focus from an Xbox 360 Kinect title to smaller, tablet games.

Avni Yearli, managing director for Crytek, confirmed to the site that the “Budapest studio is getting a new direction and focus,” though he did not go into specifics.

The Xbox 360 Kinect game mentioned earlier is a first-person melee game, according to the source. You may know it as Codename: Kingdoms, announced by Microsoft at E3 2010. Previously in development at its Budapest studio, it’s now been moved to its Frankfurt headquarters. Nine workers have already been laid off following its move. The studio is preparing it for a presentation at Microsoft’s E3 press conference, next month.

As always, consider this a rumor till proven otherwise. Gamasutra is usually pretty spot on with their sources, though.

Stay tuned.