EA pulls PlayStation 3 Crysis 2 demo

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 18 March, 2011

Wants final product to be "flawless".

EA has pulled the PlayStation 3 multiplayer demo of upcoming first-person shooter Crysis 2 – two days after it launched.

It wants to resolve issues players have reported so the game enjoys a "flawless" launch.

"Though many gamers have had a great experience playing the demo, we are aware that others have been experiencing server connection delays," reads a statement on EA's website.

"We've identified the root cause and have decided to close the PS3 demo in the next 24 hours to ensure all issues are resolved when the game launches next week. Our priority is to ensure that the final product is flawless at launch."

EA's decision hasn't gone down well with PlayStation 3 owners.

"I get that you had problems but seriously?" wrote angry ecko_warfighter. "This demo took me 6 HOURS to download and after I finally do it I spend the rest of the day trying to get in a game and it wouldn't let me. Now that it does let me it doesn't find anyone. It's like if I was the only person with the demo.

"Honestly, if it wasn't that I already pre-ordered the game and got the money for it I wouldn't buy it. First impressions are incredibly important. And trust me, you probably lost a whole lot of sales because of the demo."

The PlayStation 3 version of Crysis 2 is currently the subject of hot debate among fans.

Yesterday German developer Crytek hit back at those who have criticised the PlayStation 3 version of upcoming first-person shooter, insisting it is exactly the same as the Xbox 360 version.

The PlayStation 3 version reportedly runs at a lower resolution than the Xbox 360 version and suffers from framerate and tearing issues.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MarcusJ #1 1 year ago

    They're making a drama out of a Crysis.

  • mukki #2 1 year ago

    It is crysis of epic proportions.. Ta haaha!
    Well from what I read so far the ps3 version seems to be, how to put this... Not that great... And I doubts things will change with the release date just around the corner, maybe with updates at a later time?

  • hiscore #3 1 year ago

    Even though I like(d) the PS3-demo and appreciated the graphics, I still have some concerns:

    1. Framerate: should be 30 fps all the way, no drops (or very few) and zero screen tearing
    2. Connections: should be flawless out of the box, otherwise multiplay is broken
    3. Although I like the graphics, lighting, textures etc., it is pretty obvious the demo was sub-HD upscaled. Final product should be sharper at the least, 720p is the target.
    4. Support: if Crysis 2 fails at launch, will EA allow Crytek to support the game for a long period?

    I think Crytek has done their best with the PS3-version, but the high motion blur combined with the sub-par HD is obviously not on the same level as their claim that both console versions are similar.

  • PixelPirate #4 1 year ago

    I couldnt even get out of the matchmaking mode, after 20 mins of staring at screens watching the server fill up and then kick us all off. I got bored and uninstalled.

    wont be buying now, too many other games around.

  • Sodding_Gamer #5 1 year ago

    I was going to pre order this, but the first 360 demo left me slightly disappointed. Gave the second demo a chance, still disappointed. Now I'm not sure whether to get it at all now :\

    I mean the cryengine 3 tech demo years ago was running way better on ps3 and somehow after playing the ps3 version of the demo I can safely say connection issues are BAD, and it is by now way exactly the same as the 360 version. Unfortunately :(

    Just praying the final product is much better to be honest!

  • DoctorFouad #6 1 year ago

    so I was right after all : it is very difficult for a multiplatform game (here crysis 2, which its developers claimed it would be the most beautiful game in consoles) to surpass graphically exclusive games (uncharted 2, killzone 3, God of war 3, motor storm....)...

  • Markitron #7 1 year ago

    Tried it yesterday, had no problems. Actual game was only so-so

  • berryl227 #8 1 year ago

    Seems to be a damage limitation exercise, leaving it up was only ever going to cause the problems to be highlighted further thus affecting potential sales. Pulling it this close to retail is all about protecting the bottom line. There just is no time left for the multiple issues re frame rate, sub hd, matchmaking to be fixed.

    Seems the ps3 multiplayer is borked and EA know it. After all crytek came out yesterday to defend the demo, let's hope the single player is better.

    I for one am awaiting the DF guys on this one.

  • solidmgsnake #9 1 year ago

    I cant wait for the Digital Foundry comparison

  • Haloboy #10 1 year ago

    Looks like your game just got leaked on both PS3 and 360 there Crytek. Meanwhile PC gamers have long since deleted it and are waiting for their paid in full pre-orders to arrive.

    Maximum Piracy.

  • bckoda #11 1 year ago

    Come on eurogamer give us Digital foundry face-off already !!!!!

  • xero521 #12 1 year ago

    having played the demo over the last few days,i can say ive enjoyed it and all this shit about its graphics lol its not even that bad i saw a couple of minor issues but nothing which would stop me buying it day one! it jus seems to me people's comments always be negative no matter wot game it is!

  • Seoh #13 1 year ago

    PC multiplayer is just as broken and so is the xbox version come to think of it.

  • evild_edd #14 1 year ago

    The original 360 demo allegedly had loads of issues but 2nd seemed to work fine for me, bar the odd bit of lag.

    Can't say I was blown away by it, but some people are being overly negative about this game. It never ceases to bemuse me how certain games seem to get a ground-swell of fanboy hatred for no apparent reason. I can understand it in something like CoD, where there's massive sales and over-hype to offset, but Crysis.....I just don't get it.

    P.S. The graphics were fine. Get over it!

  • Sodding_Gamer #15 1 year ago

    If I'm honest I think the setting for it (NY) is making it look poop. Much easier to create textures of walls rather than tree bark!! Probs the reason why they did it in NY so the consoles could handle it. But even that is a problem. IMO Killzone 3 looks better and could even argue the latest footage of BF3 looks more impressive :\

    I guess we all had high expectations considering its predecessor!
    Edited by Sodding_Gamer at 18/03/11 @ 09:08

  • Inmediasress #16 1 year ago

    I don't know what's the hype with crysis any way on the PC most people wont have the necessary rigs to play the game at full graphics and if you can't paly it on full graphics it is just another generic shooter with some powers. I understand how on the consoles it was praised that it will be the new eye candy which it seems to fail also badly, at least performance wise. Now two things may happen.
    1.) people buy it and they will be disappointed but the crytec guys will be all over themselves and start to rain dance and watch as money is piling up around them.
    2.) people won't buy it because they see it' s bad and we will get a piracy response from them.
    Either way it will be amusing I guess.

  • menage #17 1 year ago

    @xero

    I get gamers complain a lot but in this case I think it's pretty valid.

    Everybody has a different opinion off course, but i had to check if my glasses weren't smudged when I started playing. Put it next to UC2 and the difference is as clear as day.

    I was so sold on this but I'm going to wait for the reviews at least now. I could buy the 360 version but then I need Live again as well and I refuse to pay for that.

  • Artemis_Matsas #18 1 year ago

    Managed to play a couple of online matches before it got pulled. The biggest problem for me are the floaty controls - nowhere near as precise as Battlefield BC2.
    Also, i have to admit that the graphics were a mixed bag (low resolution and tearing are quite evident).

  • bluemax #19 1 year ago

    Played the demo on PS3 and was surprised after all the negativity over the graphics, thought it looked good certainly not mind blowing killzone 3 looks better imo can`t compare it to 360 version. My concern with the game is that I find it just incredibly boring in regards of story and atmosphere its just generic and not interesting at all. This and the fact that I loathe multiplayer will mean no buy for me.

  • Bearillusion #20 1 year ago

    Why do some devs not care about locked framerates? Crysis 2 is a joke on PS3. Sub HD blurry stuttering mess.

  • davisorle #21 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • Retro_ #22 1 year ago

    The reports from friends is that the PS3 demo is actually not bad at all. Will wait for the final product though. I look forward to the DF faceoff but to be honest, it's all nitpicking really.

  • pantherjag #23 1 year ago

    Well iv been playing it a lot over the last 24 hours and whilst iv had the odd connection issue iv generally had no probs getting into a game, just for the record iv not been playing at peak times so that probably helps.

    As fot the game its actually pretty good, takes a bit off getting used too and learning how to exploit the nanosuits features but once you get a few games and kills under your belt it works well, certainly kept me coming back for more.

    On to the big talking point......graphics.......im in the camp that cant quite understand the negativity here, the graphics are excellent(no screen tearing and frame rate is solid enough but could be improved), iv never played the 360 version so i cant compare to them but i was quite impressed. I followed some advice and forced the ps3 to operate in 720p so it didnt upscale and their is a noticeable difference in qaulity when you do that...Apparently the ps3 version operates at native 1024*720 and the 360 is 1154*720 but the PS3 is said to have better effects. That was me playing it on a 4 year old sharp 32 inch hdtv.........iv yet to try it on my 40 inch toshiba which is only 6 months old, games always look much better on that telly.

    Bottom line is that the 360 version may look a little better but its been blown hugely out of proportion about it looking "far superior" than the PS3. You only have to look at some of the comparision vids out their(avoid the laughable lens of truth comparison) that show the games look remarkablely similar on both consoles with the exception of the 360 being darker.

    Crysis 2 on PS3 is just fine

  • Darren #24 1 year ago

    EA might want Crysis 2 to have a flawless launch but I bet it doesn't! What's the betting that the online mode will be plagued with issues that require an emergency patch to resolve them, if not on the Xbox 360 then more than likely on the PS3? ;)

  • xero521 #25 1 year ago

    im playin it now and really not as bad as half the games out there imo, anyways thought it been pulled?

  • MattyD #26 1 year ago

    This is what happens when you try to run cutting-edge PC tech on a machine with a five-year-old video processor...

  • bigtechno #27 1 year ago

    LOL at PS3!

  • drumbaby #28 1 year ago

    So they're pulling a demo so that people can't be put off buying the final product? Too late, I'd have thought. The cat's out of the bag, EA.

  • tiny_Eggy #29 1 year ago

    Crysis 2 already failed when it was developed with the consoles in mind. Both gameplay and graphics suffered.

    The two things Crysis had going for it was the open sandbox feeling and the amazing, never seen anything like it before, graphics. Both are gone in the sequel.
    Edited by tiny_Eggy at 18/03/11 @ 11:18

  • NeverWinter78 #30 1 year ago

    I've been playing the 360 demo for 2 weeks now and can't wait for it's launch. Down loaded the PS3 demo just to see if there was any difference and had the same problems as everyone else. Couldn't find a game. Guess this means the 360 version is better !

  • Feanor #31 1 year ago

    For Crys' sake, there's no crying in Crysis.

  • aidey6 #32 1 year ago

    Come on Crytek, what's going on, EA gave you extra time to get this ready http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/crysis... We all know demos of titles can improve somewhat on shipped product Mass Effect 2 on PS3 is testamount to this.

    But they would surely know that they've got Killzone 3 and Battlefield BC2, COD, Halo, Gears of War, Left for Dead 2 to upsurp, fingers crossed for them that at least one of them gets a decent version whether it's PC, 360 or PS3... hopefully all do

  • Darksjeik #33 1 year ago

    The fact that it took so long to get any PS3 footage at all smelled like trouble long before the demo even showed up.

  • orangpelupa #34 1 year ago

    hey PS3 user is still LUCKY.

    in PC the Crysis 2 is completely broken for some people.
    Like the unlucky me.

    download took 2 days, and when try to play. The server browser seeing 0 server
    after a day later server brower got 4 vacant server but when JOIN it say "SERVER FULL".

    server full my ass crytek... the server browser say only 2 player there...

    now how can i buy original game if the demo is so broken? how can i sure the final product will work and my money not wasted...

  • admj83 #35 1 year ago

    Flawless? How can this happen? The game launches in a week. Sub HD? RENT.

  • JensonJet #36 1 year ago

    Order: cancelled. Thanks for saving me some cash Crytek.

  • onyxbox #37 1 year ago

    After the amount of apathy towards Crysis at E3 last year I don't understand why this game is a big deal anymore. The devs went out on a limb to do some good tech, it's been harder to live up to the talk than they anticipated, the game looks average even on the stronger 360 version.. the online is what?.. 6 v 6 with laggy controls and lots of motion blur.. again I'm not sure why anyone cares about this game.

  • Dannyboy1100 #38 1 year ago

    Not sure if good or bad.

  • kirankara #39 1 year ago

    I wasn't overawed by 360 demo , and ps3 demo got pulled before I got chance to try , so I'm still no clearer about this game overall.

    Someone posted supposed 360 footage of crysis 2 so earlier and looks far too good to be true, but if they've made such drastic improvements from the 360 demo maybe hope yet for ps3. Theres rumours ps3 demo was knocked up as direct port to save time, but will see I guess.
    I'll wait to see reviews and face offs before choosing either.
    Still got kz3 halo reach and mw2 for mp , so in no rush

  • evnewell #40 1 year ago

    Thank god we know we can rely on Digital Foundry to get the facts straight down the road. I feel more than a little put off by Nathan Camarillo's (I can't see the difference between versions) rant. Sounds like a very political statement - a very subjective statement. I feel that with all the boasting and misdirection coming from crytek, if the DF analysis doesn't come back crystal clean, crytek will deserve to lose the sales (which they appear to be losing inevitably anyway).

    I feel misled.

    Hey Crytek! digital foundry is going to chew you the fuck up. And the PC piracy you have suffered, looks like you're underwhelming game isn't going to be saved by console sales. Hope you learned your lesson! In the end, I agree with EA's move. It communicates, we know it's bad. We know we have to fix it. At least EA isn't pretending nothing's wrong. Crytek on the other hand...

  • jack24 #41 1 year ago

    Alot of people making judgements based purely off of a multiplayer demo. Isn't the point of Crysis the single player?

  • kirankara #42 1 year ago

    MaybE jack , but then u gotta wonder why they keep force feeding everyone the mp demo

  • TwitchyMcTwitch #43 1 year ago

    Didn't crytek delay or wanted to delay the ps3 version? I see why now...

  • billy323 #44 1 year ago

    some comparison shots how are they saying ps3 sub hd looks like xbox is sub hd
    [link url=http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/6047/robbazcom2.png
    ]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/6047/ro...[/link]
    [link url=http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9417/robbazcom1.png
    ]http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9417/ro...[/link]
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAvwioAx0...

  • kirankara #45 1 year ago

    Fair point doomed, but come on we'd all like a new shiny game to look at how pretty it is and play well. Never played crysis and would like to see if sp any good on crysis 2. pc gamers reckon it's great, but the mp despite having promise felt a let down, after 5-6 hrs I was looking to go play kz3, or bc2
    If it can deliver on sp front at least I'll give it a blast and get rid quick if mp sucks

  • DRUNK3N-_-DRAGON #46 1 year ago

    seems like crytec are shitting there selfs but i have both consoles so i think the 360 version will be better
    wich is a petty for the ps3...

  • Lucodeath #47 1 year ago

    Cant tell the difference? you can in the demos but hes on about the finished game probably. If the demo was that piss poor why would you showcase it?

  • vizzini #48 1 year ago

    Lucodeath: Cant tell the difference? you can in the demos but hes on about the finished game probably. If the demo was that piss poor why would you showcase it?

    The controversy of the demo's resolution, framerate and visuals have certainly raised the game's
    profile and got people talking about. Even them pulling the demo is more free advertising. I wasn't remotely interested in the game until I read their siggraph paper on the volumetric lighting recently.

    But the siggraph paper strongly implied the Cell was super efficient at running the algorithm @ a proper 720p(like the PCs Nvidia GT260), and that 360 wasn't so good at it, even needing to exploit a api bug (@1154x720). So either the published graphics paper was wrong or they massively overcommitted on the PS3 when actually trying to build real game worlds.

    Assuming the comparison of the console versions is as the siggraph paper implied, then would it not be to EA's advantage to make the 360 game look better at this stage (with a piss poor PSN demo) to ensure it sells on that platform? Relying on PS3 sales for an FPS so close to Killzone 3's release wouldn't be a great sales strategy imo.

    But if indeed the PS3 version is such low resolution, frame-rate and tearing, then maybe they would be better moving the PS3 release date six months back and giving the dev team a few weeks holiday to comeback and do the job refreshed. The addition of Move support is really needed now(post KZ3) and getting the resolution at a proper 720p vsynched @ 30fps is mandatory at this midpoint stage in the ps3's life.