The first Crysis was tailored directly towards the glorious PC master race. So the fact the sequel pared back the hardware demands in favour of something that would run on a console did not go down well.
The game's reception reflects this, and has perhaps led to a reassessment of the decision, Crytek boss Cevat Yerli telling Gamasutra "Crysis 1's intention was, if I were to play it three years later, it looks great. And it does, actually, it fulfilled that. But it made it difficult for entry-level players. So with Crysis 2, we took a different direction, and it backfired a little bit."
Next week's DX11 upgrade, for instance, is being viewed by Crytek as an olive branch of sorts, Yerli adding "This is much more like a gift to the high-end community. And I think gamers will appreciate that. It lifts up Crysis 2 and gives a sneak peak of how PC gaming will evolve in the future, if you support a high-end preference."
It'll be interesting to see if in the future people are saying "but will it run Crysis 2?" like they said "but will it run Crysis?" Because I've got a feeling they might be saying "but will it run Battlefield 3?" instead.
Crytek's Expensive 'Gift' To Its High-End Players [Gamasutra]