Crytek Black Sea, one of the five studios recently shut down by publisher Crytek, has reformed as a new studio: Black Sea Games.

The company states on its new website that it was formed in November 2016, which predates Crytek's December studio closure announcement, suggesting the shutting of those studios could have occurred earlier than previously thought. The website also confirms that Black Sea Games is currently working on a project, but isn't yet ready to announce anything.

The studio's mission statement reads "Our mission is to create hard-core games that will entertain you over and over again. We believe the best gaming experiences are coming from challenging the players with meaningful choices, while giving them the freedom to create (and share) their own in-game stories."

The new development house is headed up by Vesselin Hanjiev, who was previously managing director when the studio was under the Crytek banner. He served the same role before Crytek purchased the company in 2008, after founding what was then called Black Sea Studios in 2001.

It is unclear how many Crytek staff have remained for the return to independence.