Well, i like to think it's a risk/reward kind of thing. You can risk a flop and bankruptcy or get a good franchise going on. 

I will agree companies focus to make the next CoD or next GTA and bank giant sales make for a rather dull selection of AAAs, but hey, we pretty much gave them the go when we kept buying CoD year after year after year, with minimal effort.

"Ryse did not sell as good as Crytek hoped (especially for a console exclusive)"

Because console exclusives always sell much more?

Crytec never really made any really successful games and their engine isn't nearly as popular as its competitor's so it's not surprising.

I hope this news is not truth... I am currently prototyping a game with the Cryengine... And it is going well son far...
I love their engine, so I hope they will be fine!

Yeah, well.. that's what happens when a games company constantly churns out high budget, run-of-the-mill titles. You lose consumer confidence. And Devs shunning Cryengine at GDC is interesting.. Would like to hear more on that.

Huge bet and they lost.

The thing is, Crytek just give the finger to their PC install base from Crysis/Farcry, they made a name for themsleves because Crysis was a benchmark game for a few years back in 2007. I remember we were all trying to get a build that could handle Crysis.

Thing is, later on, they expended, they shifted focus to consoles, and F2P model ( remember http://www.gamespot.com/articles/all-future-crytek-games-will-be-free-to-play/1100-6382131/ ) to finally bite the dust now.

I think they should go either second party with whatever console, or stick to PC only and do what they did best !

is there any credible sources for this?

More like another studio killed by  dumb descisions and ignoring their original fanbase.

The German magazine called Gamestar is the source. I've never heard of them before. 

Id blame their shift of focus to consoles and "consoley gameplay" mechanics.

Despite PC piracy I believe both Crysis and Crysis Warhead made a decent profit and both are still marketable even today, the gameplay and graphics still hold up well by todays standards. Indie PC exclusive titles like The Forest and Distance show that developers who scale their games appropriately can create beautiful and profitable games on PC and PC alone. Studios like Crytek were lured into the console sales myth (no piracy, guaranteed success, huge profits) and tried way too hard to pander to the cinematic shooter crowd.

It was painfully obvous when playing Crysis 2 for the first time, not just the gameplay but the whole DX9/DX11 controversy. Their initial fanbase has more or less abandoned them after Crysis 3, at least I have. I'm a fan of the franchise but wont even waste my money on that game.

and where did they get their info from?