So there's obviously more to the story. There's also the fact that CIG moved off Cryengine and onto Lumberyard while ago and there was no drama back then. So the extended waiting is highly suspect. Usually breech of contract is handled at the time of the breech.
It depends. Crytek may have gone to CIG initially without filing suit to try and get things back on track. Usually, filing the suit is the last resort as things get a lot less friendly after that.
I have no idea how this will play out. It will all depend on the contracts, the actions taken by both parties that may or may not have breached that contract, and the laws of the jurisdiction where the suit was filed.
Oh, CIG is now actively deleting threads that deal with the lawsuit from spectrum.
Several observations
1) With the push to PTU and the dropping of the NDA, CT has seen just how improved the engine is and they really want the updates to the engine. CIG has really pushed it beyond what was originally thought to be the upper limits of the engine. There may be clauses that require CIG to share those improvements. CT probably wants those changes as they provide a significant value adder to the engine to either attract new investment to continue to the business, or to attract a buyer/developer that either wants to buy up CT whole, or wants to license Cry Engine to develop their games.
2) I don't think CT wants to put CIG out of business. I believe they just want what they see as their cut. A lot of times during a situation like this, an injunction is issued that freezes all development. This could mean possibly even mean no more patches on the PTU if an injunction is issued until this is resolved. However, this is usually a tactic designed to force the defendant to settle things quickly, rather than use delay tactics. However, with about 2-3 months of cash flow being brought in fresh after the anniversary sale, CIG probably has some reserves right now. CT may have waited until after the sale to see if having cash on hand may loosen CIG's wallet come settlement time vs during the leaner months. (thanks to the funding chart, we know how much CIG pulled in over the past few years.)
3) This may impact the planned holiday live stream. One of the issues was Cry Engine being used to develop 2 games instead of one (how much this is true, I don't know). With this suit, CIG may want to play it close to the vest to prevent CT from knowing how close or how far away they are from actually releasing the game. If CIG was "the game is mostly done and is going through internal QC checks and we anticipate release in 2 months" CT might have a different response than if it was "we are looking at an end of 2018 release" (meaning 2019 or 2020.)
4) This may impact CIGs SQ42 status updates they were planning.