Epic didn't historically chase those trends though. They were already active in the console market, with an engine and games supporting console platforms years before Crytek even shipped Far Cry. They didn't chase mobile too late either, with Infinity Blade hitting the market as one of the first 'AAA' products, just as…
so they started loosing money right after diving in console development and F2P. Meanwhile CD Projekt RED managed not only survive 2007-2008 but produce their own engine, AAA-rpg with 87 MC rating which was PC exclusive by the way and make money without chasing every trend out there - multiplayer focused games, F2P,…
They've continuously expanded by the last years, recalling acquisition of vigil, opening up new studios like İstanbul that focuses on mobile stuff. I don't think that deliberate downsizing will come any soon other than that obviously a financial crash. Crytek for sure focusing on marketing their engine in the path of epic…
The news is everywhere right now and rumours have been swirling since before GDC - apparently a reasonable number of people didn't get their expected pay cheques this month. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone though - Crytek expanded way too aggressively following Crysis, opening several studios and effectively…
There's no difference between the two. There is no reason an 'AAA' game cannot also have betas (we do also alreayd have Early Access, Battlefield Betas, etc) and do the same. The cost of getting a game into an playable beta state is actually more expensive for a free to play game, as all that expensive back-end server…