Crytek has discussed some of the ideas it has for future games in its Crysis series once the company has transitioned into a purely free-to-play business, and confirmed that Crysis 3 will be the last title set within the current storyline.

"[Crysis 3] is the last Crysis game that you'll see within this story bubble," producer Michael Read told VideoGamer.com during a recent press tour of the upcoming shooter.

"I think we need to really go back and look at the Crysis franchise and the series and build up what we would refer to as the Crysis universe."

The way it hopes to do that, Read suggests, is by building an "alternate timeline".

"[Crysis] was defined as a trilogy originally back in 2007. And we got that far. We got to the end of it.

"But we didn't want to go in [to the next Crysis] and go, 'Yeah, Crysis 3, Crysis 2, this story was originally an FPS so let's do an FPS-RTS hybrid!' It completely detaches from that, and it's just like creating that alternate timeline of going, 'Okay, what can we do over here?'".

But how could a series like Crysis fit into the free-to-play model? Read continues:

"Whether it's some crazy co-op - I think co-op with Nanosuits would be awesome, personally. That's something we've talked about. Whether it's an FPS game, or an RTS game, or a hybrid-game, I don't know. That's really up to our design guys and what they want to end up coming up with and establishing that vision.

"There are so many different directions that we could go in right now and when we have something to talk about we'll get it out there."

Crysis 3, the final game in the Crysis trilogy, is due to release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on Friday, February 22. A next-gen re-release is also a possibility.

Source: The Next-Gen Secret: Crytek Talks Between The Lines