Games companies, and likely other industries, sometimes include non-compete clauses in your contract, meaning you can't actively seek employment with other companies while contracted to them. They could easily just be trapped.
Who gives a **** when they're not paying you?
Seriously, what are the other companies going to do? Report you to your employer? Who will then fire you?
How will the company hold up the contract in court when they're not paying their employees in the first place? The reason contact law exists at all is because contracts are not absolute. I know we're cynics around here, but judges have a lot of power, and something that is as open-and-shut as "I didn't get paid for three months" is going to heavily prejudice them in your favor.
If anything, it's likely that Crytek is breaking laws that could get them into serious trouble, and they're hoping that their employees can be tricked into believing that they have no case to keep the con going.