Crytek is seeking to shut down the unofficial photo mode tools for Crysis 2 Remastered and Crysis 3 Remastered on PC, asking popular creator Frans Bouma to stop the proliferation of such mods for the company's most recent games.
Photo mode can be a pleasant addition to most titles, allowing you to spend some extra time with your favorite game, hunting for the best possible shot to show off on socials later, or simply to spice up your desktop a little. However, not every title has such options available or their functionality is pretty limited, which is why modders provide their own tools… unless, of course, the developers take offense.
With Crysis Remastered Trilogy, that seems to be the case. Frans Bouma, who says he "made custom photo mode mods for more games than anyone else on this planet," received a notification from the Crytek PR manager, who requested him to remove such mods from the creator's Patreon page and anywhere else they appear for availability. As the letter stated, the devs reserve all the rights and will hand the matter to the legal department unless the demand is not met in the next seven days.
According to Bouma, he was quite surprised to get such notice, as his tools basically help to promote Crysis Remastered games on social media and other sites with thousands of beautiful screenshots from players. In his words, the modder "always heard enthusiastic responses from game publishers and devs because they love the free advertising."
He also mentioned that he didn't distribute any game assets in his work, as the camera tools only contain binaries compiled from his own code and are not linked to any game resources. Meanwhile, the modder decided to email Crytek back, explaining he hasn't violated the EULA or other rules mentioned. Regardless of the answer, Bouma reveals he will comply and pull his photo mode tools for Crysis Remastered titles from access if he has to, and "will never create a custom photo mode for any Crytek game ever again."
Frans Bouma, known as Otis_Inf, has previously released additional custom tools for photo mode in such popular games as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, and many more.