Hey, remember that very upbeat and positive message that Crytek put out about securing their financial future? Well let’s just say that the happy smiles and positive tone that were in the message might have been hiding some not so good thing. According to new information from Crytek the money to stay afloat has come from selling off an IP that they just purchased not that long ago.

Over the past few months there have been more than a few articles about Crytek and its financial stability. We have heard many rumors including one that claimed they (Crytek) were unable to pay their employees. These rumors have come from multiple sources and appear to be backed up by more than a few key players leaving the company.

Electronic Arts has announced the upcoming open beta for Crysis 3 in a press release. The new beta will be available on all platforms (PC, PS3 and X360). The beta testing will last two weeks and will “ship” with two game modes that focus on team play. The Crash Site mode requires the player to provide a defense at a predetermined location on the map. The longer you maintain control over the point the more points your team will get and thus get closer to victory.

Large developers like Crytek and CCP believe that Sony's support for free-to-play games will ultimately lead to the PlayStation's comeback to the top of the console market. Sony has recently released a free version of SingStar, in which users pay only music and the PS3 will soon have the first big Free2Play (f2p) title from CCP - Dust 514th. “If Sony embraces free-to-play as a major way for PlayStation, that could be the key console” Crytek's Cevat Yerli said. Crytek has also seriously dedicated themselves to the free-to-play model, and are currently working on an interesting FPS named Warface.

Steam is having a sale this weekend on the entire Crysis chronicle knocking 75% off of the cost of the whole group. This means you can get a bundle containing the original Crysis, Crysis Warhead and Crysis 2 for about $17.50. If you do not need the others you can still grab them individually for $5, $5, and $10 respectively. The sale will be going on all weekend ending on Monday September 10th. c

We are hearing that more companies are moving to the “free-to-play” gaming model as a response to piracy and also failing retails sales and subscriptions. Of course if you are a gamer then you will know that free-to-play does not mean free. Sure you can get in the games (usually online only) and play around, but to get anywhere you have to buy add-on packs and equipment packs. This is a nice way for companies to regain their lost revenue from retail packaging and also from the continual battle with new and more elaborate DRM mechanisms.

Looks like there will be a Crysis3 and yup, there is footage EA has released an official game trailer for the long awaited game. From what we are hearing you will go back into the Nanosuit as Profit (I could have sworn he died in the last Crysis though…) and are fighting against the evils of the Cell Corporation once more.