Alongside today’s super-exciting announcement of Crysis: Warhead we wanted to take the chance to bring some clarity to some misunderstandings we have seen in the community after last week’s Crysis Monthly Update.

As you know, it was a very hard decision for us to cancel Patch 1.3, but in the end it was important we shift our focus to some of the new and exciting things we are doing with Crysis Warhead.  We have a lot of great content planned for the community and as we get closer to launch, we’ll be sharing a lot of details of what we are working on behind the scenes.  This was the main reason behind the cancellation of the patch and while piracy was and continues to be an issue with Crysis, it did not have any role in our decision to cancel this patch.

We also want to make sure you all know that we are not ending our support of Crysis.  We still have www.crymod.com, our official modding portal, up and running – a great meeting place not only for modders, but also for all who are interested in playing new, custom content. In addition we have plans to continue updating the CryENGINE2 documentation and video tutorials frequently.

And of course, your dedicated community management teams are still here and active in our official forums and fansite forums.

The important point is that we are not giving up on our current community and we hope that the announcement today pleased you. Stay tuned for more information on Crysis: Warhead… there is a lot more to come!

Crysis: Warhead Press Release

Enjoy the press release of our latest announcement. EA AND CRYTEK ANNOUNCE DEVELOPMENT OF CRYSIS WARHEAD

The Next Installment of One of the Highest Rated Games of 2007

Blasts its way onto PCs this Fall

Redwood City, Calif. – June 5, 2008 – Maximum freedom, maximum explosions and maximum Psycho!  Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and award-winning independent studio Crytek today announced Crysis Warhead® – the parallel story to Crysis, one of the most critically-acclaimed first person shooters and PC games of 2007.  Shipping exclusively for the PC this fall, Crysis Warhead is the first title to be developed at Crytek´s Budapest studio, and is built on a new, enhanced and optimized version of Crytek’s CryENGINE® 2 technology.

“We were very pleased with the reception of Crysis from both gamers and media after our launch last year,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek.  “That being said, one of the key principles of our studio is to always raise the bar.  With Warhead, we are focusing on refining our storytelling and game performance, while also delivering more of the visually stunning graphics and immersive, free-roaming gameplay everyone loved in Crysis.”

“The best result of a partnership that we can ask for in the EA Partners program is when a world class independent studio like Crytek chooses to continue to work with us,” said David DeMartini, Vice President and Global General Manager, EA Partners.  “Crysis was an amazing game and is going to be a blockbuster franchise.  We could not be more excited to be working with Crytek to launch another hit with Crysis Warhead this year.”

In Crysis Warhead, players will don the Nanosuit of Sergeant Sykes, also known as ‘Psycho’, one of the most memorable characters from Crysis.  More brash and aggressive than his Delta Force squadmate Nomad, players will experience Psycho’s parallel story during the events of the original game, finding that life on the other side of the island is even more intense and explosive than they ever could have imagined.  Luckily, Psycho’s Nanosuit is just as capable and he’s equipped with an even bigger arsenal of fully customizable weapons and new vehicles, giving players access to the tools they need to dominate any situation.  Aside from this new, exciting single player campaign, Crysis Warhead will also feature new multiplayer content.  Stay tuned for more details this summer.

Crysis Warhead has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI.  For more information about the game, please visit www.crysisthegame.com.