PC Games industry in decline?

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Deleted member 2277

Deleted member 2277

I haven't played any PC games for a couple of years but I have recently upgraded to a 4850 so I decided to buy a game or two. I visited a few computer stores but found that the number of available PC games had decreased significantly. Is the PC gaming industry nearly dead? If so then surely there won't be any need for high spec systems or graphics cards etc. Could this be the end of OcUK????
 
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I dunno about the end of OcUK, but I have noticed the decline in available PC Games, I went in to Asda last week and did a bit of a detoure just to see what games they had and I couldn't even find 1 PC Game, all I could see was Console Games! I'm hoping that I was just not looking hard enough!
 
I had a look in quite a few stores, some had stopped selling PC games and some had just a few on display. No games then surely no need to upgrade?
 
Jokester said:
It's probably because people with PCs are far more likely to buy their games online than someone with a console.
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I think most people still do prefer hard copies, the thing with PC games is that people normally return them because of compatability issues or they nick the CD key then return it which is too much of a headache these days for most shops to bother with, just my thoughts why less shops sell for the PC now.
 
Deleted member 2277 said:
I had a look in quite a few stores, some had stopped selling PC games and some had just a few on display. No games then surely no need to upgrade?
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STores like to sell £40 console games rather than the same game for £20-25 on the PC and don't like little kiddies asking why they cost so much. HIgher price, same percentage mark up, more profit on console games and they can sell consoles in store aswell.

Most PC gamers have the brains to buy a game from one of the 50k online stores for cheaper, than pay RRP in a store so no reason to sell them in stores when no ones buying them.

Most likely more PC games being made than console, although to be honest a lot of them are terrible cheap crappy things but same can be said for consoles.

Also lots of the PC gaming industry is moving towards downloadable distribution with PC's with 100's gigs of space, not gonna happen anytime soon for consoles.
 
Deleted member 2277 said:
I haven't played any PC games for a couple of years but I have recently upgraded to a 4850 so I decided to buy a game or two. I visited a few computer stores but found that the number of available PC games had decreased significantly. Is the PC gaming industry nearly dead? If so then surely there won't be any need for high spec systems or graphics cards etc. Could this be the end of OcUK????
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Nah.
 
I buy all my Games online and have them delivered. I hate going to the store to buy them because in the states most of the shops are in malls or you have to go to some giant super center and deal with 1000 people. Like music and books the trend is switching to online retailers.
 
Lots of people do obtain PC games via Steam these days, or from mail-order merchants.

Besides, even if there were no more PC games, it wouldn't be the end of OcUK. They'd lose a lot of graphics card business, but in reality a lot of OcUK's sales probably come from relatively low-spec gear. And of course, there are plenty of uses for high-spec rigs other than gaming.
 
EdGey said:
it is a shame to see pc overtaken by garbage like the xbox 360.

hope things change.
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In all honesty, its that very attitude which has screwed PC gaming.

Take Crysis for example. All elitist, all pumped up to the nines with the best looking graphics and all the hardcore PC gamers drooling over it.

Then it gets released. Nothing can run, it gets pirated, people slate it, it feels rushed in design when you play it and pretty soon it becomes a benchmark instead of a game.

If Crytek had not been so blinded by visuals, they could have downgraded the graphics of the game (I'm guessing) to run it on Xbox 360 and PS3. They could have also employed a Steam type online system to help cut down on piracy. But no. Had to be exclusively PC, had to only be playable on a Tri-SLi XXX Uber L33T Gaming Xtrem-o-vision computer. Had to be marginalised to a point of no return.

I'm not saying I don't like Crysis; I do, a lot (mainly for graphics). I'm glad it was made and I loved playing through the first half of the game. But, when it comes to PC gaming, developers either should swallow their pride or just admit that PC development isn't their primary concern. People slate The Sims for it's pure boredom factor but it sells. It sells 1000 times the amount of copies any FPS could achieve. Because...its...accessible.

As "hardcore" PC gamers, we should genuinely realise that we are in a dwindling minority. PC gaming, on the whole though, isn't dead seeing how millions of people sit at their computers playing Solitaire worldwide.

High-end graphics in games are wonderful, and are mainly what I play games for, but I'm not going to be playing those games much longer if the games I like are not selling. Ubisoft have it right with Far Cry 2, by simultaneously releasing the game on 360 & PS3.

Basically, it won't change. The Wii has cemented the fact that consoles rule supreme and PC gaming has to wake up and smell the coffee. Everyone's sick of a billion variations of driver problems, installation times, loading times, system slowdown, etc. You buy a console, it plays the game, end of.

None of this is new of course, but I felt like mentioning it.
 
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EdGey said:
it is a shame to see pc overtaken by garbage like the xbox 360.

hope things change.
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I like the 360. I haven't bought one yet (will do soon) but my friends own them and it's breathed new life into gaming for me personally. I also like the Wii and the Nintendo DS. I don't want to play PC games because they are mostly very negative, repetitive, glorifications of murdering people, usually in a FPS style, and I don't want that kind of crap in my life.

I have a fast PC because I do a lot of graphics editing and because I like to run through everyday tasks faster. It may not be 100% necessary for me to do what I do, but I like having the horsepower to breeze through any application without slowdown. So for me, I couldn't care less if the PC gaming industry is at a low point, that's the fault of the games developers and their severe lack of imagination, IMO. With consoles, I usually find there's more innovative games. I like quirky games. I loved the Dreamcast because of it's originality and entertainment value. I wish Sega would make hardware again. My choices now are to spend £200 on a ripoff graphics card which will be worth £20 in a few years, just to play some rehashed rubbish and pretend to be a soldier, or buy a console like the Wii and have fun with my girlfriend. Pretty easy choice.

@ Chimerical: Good post. I agree with you.
 
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Stoned_SpaZZZ said:
There is also shed loads of piracy of PC games, not nearly as much as console games!!
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is the reson for the lack of pc games well good ones any way but hopfully it will change and we will see some good games on pc

(bring ff13 to the pc plezzzzzzzzzzz)
 
I have an Xbox 360 but seldom play it these days, some games play absolutely amazing on the 360, Skate being an example or the first few rounds on Fight Night round 3 were great fun especially how you use the analog sticks to throw punches and move about the Ring although horribly rushed and gets boring after a few hours.

Cod 4 on the 360 looks exactly the same as the pc but what lets it down is the Control pad, Its painfully slow to the point that it ruins the cod 4 experience, Until consoles find a way of making it totally acceptable to be able to swap out parts with no technical knowledge needed & unlock the potential of fps games through something other than the control pad then the pc will reign supreme in this respect.

I like the fact that Games are released solely for the PC, not from a selfish stand point but the PC should act as a Benchmark for everything else after all its the Machine with the real cutting edge technology remember its the console that plays catch up to the PC not the other way around & so there is a place (Graphics wise) for forward thinking Games like Crysis and why you dont see them on the console.

I dont think there is a Gaming recession happening in the PC Market far from it, look at the Gaming Communities through Clans et all its alive and better than anything the console market can do, I actually think you need to look more at the Game Designers and ask the questions there, Its easier to churn out yet another half baked game on the console than to look outside the box and make something totally original, this relates more to pc gaming than the console because were a wily bunch and have been about since the days of Doom and easily before, We are all a lot harder to please.

Yes there are problems with Pirating and what not but Steam seems to solve many of these issues and maybe Developers should follow their lead and make an effort.
 
I think PC gaming is a bit in the doledrums but it's because the pace of hardware becoming outdated is to fast

PC games are not brilliantly coded you only have to look at the frame rate variations in graphics reviews, one min there 140 then next 50, console games tend to be much better programmed and use the system resouces far more efficiently

What the PC needs is a game friendly operating system, and a better way to code PC games, coding is sloppy because the hardware gets ever faster so programers rely on that to make the games look better, were as a console game needs to be coded better in order to get better looking graphics

Take first round console games at the systems launch, they look great cos the hardware is fast and up to date

Then look at the game released halfway through it's life cycle, they look way better than those first gen titles, much better graphics etc, yet the hardware is the same

Take grandtheft auto on the PS2, the last installment on that machine looked way better than the first, yet ran on the same hardware

In PC games land you'd need 50% better hardware specs to get that same quality increase

PC games are like first round console games, not well coded, a game like crysis if it was coded as well as a 3rd or 4th year console title would run at 60+ FPS on todays top hardware with all the bells an whistles, but it's not the way the games are done they realy on faster hardware rather than better coding to get them looking better and this results in an insatiable hunger for faster hardware which makes PC gaming far more expensive then it really needs to be
 
Im sure - or hope at least, that quality games will speak for themselves.

If i see a review and it looks like generic shooter #34000,78000 then i just ignore it, but even if its not a 'big' title but seems really addictive or original I will buy it.

Dont ask me why i have bought all the command and conquer series' - i just like them :)
 
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