Heh, so you have never worked for a company which over-extended itself then...
Between them, they had at least five projects (one a GAAS) in active development for companies with 270 and 480 people, and yet they took on 2 extra gigs. I may be a glass-half-full-of-holy-shit kind of guy, but these unusual contract projects do not read to me as moves taken by studios in a position of confidence and abundant free time.
(Also, again, Crystal Dynamics has a GAAS to support and ideally save... probably it's hopeless to try, but that's their job until the plug gets pulled.)