@Exciter

The point is we are asking for A7 to allow pre-calculated static soft shadows AND dynamic soft-shadows too, then you as the developer use those techniques seperately or combined as best suits your game or particular scene. FarCry and Gears of war are good examples of this, they do not just use one technique.

As far as the Crytek engine example you are talking about, I think it's pretty clear that this engine has been developed with the intention to alter the environment and lighting dynamically in mind. I.e. knock down trees, destroy buildings, have burst of light from explosions, swinging lamps etc. etc. In both cases the lighting and shadows need to change dynamically, so obviously static shadows would look wrong. Having said that, the engine definitely allows static lighting as well, so this is just a creative choice in the example you picked out. i.e. Their creative decision in this case is having dynamic environment damage and day to night cycles etc. compensates adequately for the dynamic shadows required not looking quite as good as pre-calculated ones.