Nvidia loves proprietary technology. Sure their cores are optimized for ray tracing, but it's all just numbers. GPUs are pretty darn good at computing numbers.
CPUs have been used for a long time to render CGI ray traces scenes. I've done some work with 3DS Max 2011, GPUs were starting to be utilized for rendering, but the results weren't as good. The engines needed more work back then.
It's no surprise to me that Crytek is able to pull this off. RTX isn't a gimmick, but a way of Nvidia trying to control the future of graphics, and Crytek said, no thank you Nvidia, we don't want your proprietary tools here!
This is why open platforms are always better. And AMD has been giving open tech for quite a while now, with Vulkan API, and Freesync just to name a couple.
I'm glad to see that AMD won't be in a cold freeze when it comes to ray tracing in the future. As a gaming enthusiast myself, competition is good and hopefully AMD can compete with Navi to slow down the ridiculous price train that Nvidia has become.
Got a bit off subject, but it all ties into the future of what gaming will look like and Nvidia wants to control it as much as possible. Crytek just showed them they won't have the monopoly on ray tracing and it makes buying a GPU for now and the future still open, without fear of missing out on the latest graphics achievements in the gaming Industry, no matter which company you prefer to buy GPUs from.