Is PC games being faded out in shops

I wonder if Steam will ever provide the (legal) opportunity to trade 2nd-hand games.
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no unless the publishers of the game are going to make the same profit as they would on a proper sale.

publishers just wouldnt allow it unless its in their best intrest
 
spudbynight said:
CEX sells second hand PC games. Some of which I see stocked I know have only a limited number of activations or a tied serial. I don't know how this works for them - I don't buy anything there.
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They're very much the exception to the rule though. Most game shops stopped selling second hand PC games when CD keys and DRM became widespread.
 
Ravenger said:
They're very much the exception to the rule though. Most game shops stopped selling second hand PC games when CD keys and DRM became widespread.
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They're getting quite picky now with certain PC games. I sold command and conquer 4 to them, I hadn't installed or played it, so the CD key n all that jazz was fine, but because it wasn't sealed they sent it back to me.
 
thedoc46 said:
Unfortunately the whole PC market is dying in my opinion..
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What the PC market currently has is an opportunity to converge upon the casual gamer market. New releases not pushing graphics capabilities means any game will work on more machines. The consumer no longer asks 'can i run it' but 'do i want it'. This is surely a good thing.

The convenience of services like steam are similar to quick buy services offered by certain online retailers. No hassle, no fuss, one off registration and an easy way to spend your money. Its harder not to buy than it is to buy, because to buy is so very easy. AFAIK steam also supports MAC, which is more than can be said about most high street retailers.

So, the PC market is not dieing, it is simply being made available to a wider audience. The secret, and potential explosion, will be targeted marketing that draws in an untouched demographic. I have a Steam account. My girlfriend is a casual gamer and does not. IF steam appealed more to her, she would undoubtedly use it, but at present there is nothing to 'draw her in'.

In short, steam NEEDS to do TV advertising.
 
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thedoc46 said:
Unfortunately the whole PC market is dying in my opinion.. Maybe even OcUK are starting to feel the pinch. No longer is it as necessary to keep upgrading your pc to play the latest games... What games have been out since Crysis that push your machine? It use to be that you had to have a top notch PC to play the pinnacle of gaming. In the last 24months or so, I've noticed a slide in gaming no longer needing the latest and greatest...

I think that's more of a worry personally. That we don't slip into a niche market.
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You are totally incorrect and here are the facts - Source NPD.

The value of the digital PC games market is now far greater than the boxed sector, analysis group NPD has found. According to the report, 11.2 million PC games were purchased in North America alone between January and June 2010. In the same period 8.2 million boxed PC games were brought at retail.

Annual shipment volumes for the PC Gaming hardware market in 2009 were over two times larger than the combined Wii™, PlayStation® 2, PlayStation® 3 and Xbox 360® console units shipped in the same period. This trend for the PC Gaming hardware market to outpace all console shipments combined is expected to continue through the forecasted period of the research. In addition, revenues from consumer PCs capable of gaming that shipped with a discrete GPU (excludes Netbooks and integrated graphics-based PCs) totaled approximately $54.6 billion in 2009 and are forecasted to grow to $61.3 billion by 2014. These revenue figures are based on an estimated 61.5 million PCs (Desktop and Laptops) shipped in 2009 that can largely be associated with PC gaming as a key usage scenario.

The report also estimates the worldwide number of consumers gaming with discrete graphics solutions on their PCs (Desktop and Notebooks) to be 212.6 million for 2009 and expects this to grow to about 322 million by 2014. The report also includes detailed breakouts of various PC configurations (e.g. Basic, Mass Market, etc), by form factor and by geographic territory.
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PC Gaming dead? Not a chance however PC Gamers (and users in general) have embraced digital distribution and online ordering. Shops such as Game etc make most of their revenue from second hand console games. This much is true as Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's will now start a second hand gaming section in their stores. They are not stupid and can see the high street indie is making money off the back of old console games.
 
BunnyKillBot said:
What the PC market currently has is an opportunity to converge upon the casual gamer market. New releases not pushing graphics capabilities means any game will work on more machines. The consumer no longer asks 'can i run it' but 'do i want it'. This is surely a good thing.

The convenience of services like steam are similar to quick buy services offered by certain online retailers. No hassle, no fuss, one off registration and an easy way to spend your money. Its harder not to buy than it is to buy, because to buy is so very easy. AFAIK steam also supports MAC, which is more than can be said about most high street retailers.

So, the PC market is not dieing, it is simply being made available to a wider audience. The secret, and potential explosion, will be targeted marketing that draws in an untouched demographic. I have a Steam account. My girlfriend is a casual gamer and does not. IF steam appealed more to her, she would undoubtedly use it, but at present there is nothing to 'draw her in'.

In short, steam NEEDS to do TV advertising.
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Funny but i was thinking about Steam doing TV advertising as well yesterday & so should the other digital distributors.
 
arknor said:
no unless the publishers of the game are going to make the same profit as they would on a proper sale.

publishers just wouldnt allow it unless its in their best intrest
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Indeed. As it is, apart from Valve there are VERY few others who actually allow duplicate games to be gifted and they always tend to be the sort that you get free with a preorder of there latest game.
 
i've never downloaded a pc game before mainly because my internet is bull****.

i installed napoleon: total war the other day and it was pushing 20Gb, i cant imagine how long it would take to download 20Gb (not sure if it works like this)

also i bought starcraft and napoleon on the same day and i like to have the boxes, especially the funky foldy out cardboard ones :D (i may be just a little bit sad lol)
 
Havent seen shops stock a lot, if any PC games at all in Birmingham. Its been like this for years. Didnt stop them from slapping Starcraft 2 on the shelf for £39.99 though.
 
RandomNoob said:
Digital downloads such as what steam offer seem the way forward these days, ive noticed that the pc game section in my local game store is shrinking.
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For most people this is true, but a minority like me have a shoddy connection. I can only get a half meg connection as I live out in the sticks, and its not practical to download 10 + gigs at a time. It can take about 6 hrs to download a gig, as I have to share this connection with 4 other people.

I would have bought F1 2010, but after the initial pre-orders it became digital download only so didn't bother in the end.
 
crackerman said:
For most people this is true, but a minority like me have a shoddy connection. I can only get a half meg connection as I live out in the sticks, and its not practical to download 10 + gigs at a time. It can take about 6 hrs to download a gig, as I have to share this connection with 4 other people.

I would have bought F1 2010, but after the initial pre-orders it became digital download only so didn't bother in the end.
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I totally agree mate, i have a friend who has bought loads of games on steam and with his crap connection coupled with a fresh install of windows he cries at the fact he has to limit the games he can download.
With that being said i personally like to have a hard copy of the game, i have bought very few digital download games.
 
Ah, I remember popping down to WH Smiths and buying UFO-Enemy Unknown for £44.99... happy days. If Steam had been around at the time, instead of being the stuff of a mad man's dream, they would probably have flogged it for £55 (on special offer) :D

Trolling and nostalgia aside, these days I'm purely an on-line buyer and haven't bought a PC game in a shop for at least 5 or 6 years. I'm not a huge fan of Steam to be honest, but will use it for old or niche titles that have only a gig or two of downloading to endure (and are cheap).

Youngsters are probably more than happy to go down the digital only route, but I'm an old git in his mid 30's and like to have something tangible to show for my cash. If others feel this way then hopefully digital only distribution hasn't won yet.
 
Lunatic Dreyfus said:
Ah, I remember popping down to WH Smiths and buying UFO-Enemy Unknown for £44.99... happy days. If Steam had been around at the time, instead of being the stuff of a mad man's dream, they would probably have flogged it for £55 (on special offer) :D

Trolling and nostalgia aside, these days I'm purely an on-line buyer and haven't bought a PC game in a shop for at least 5 or 6 years. I'm not a huge fan of Steam to be honest, but will use it for old or niche titles that have only a gig or two of downloading to endure (and are cheap).

Youngsters are probably more than happy to go down the digital only route, but I'm an old git in his mid 30's and like to have something tangible to show for my cash. If others feel this way then hopefully digital only distribution hasn't won yet.
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Ive got to admit i like to actually own the game, case and book rather than a digital donwload (unless its one of steams mega sales). I dont ever recal many shops apart from PC World selling loads of pc games anyway. I just buy all my stuff online.
 
Surely digital distribution has seen the resurgence of independent games? With the ability to get your game published on things like Steam or Impulse I see a good future for PC gaming :)
 
Problem is PC gamers on average are pretty smart techy bunch, its easy to make money on simpletons and its impossible to make money on "smart" guys.

Money is in the console market and nobody can be bothered to even try and concentrate on PC gaming, Blizzard is the last fortress of solitude, valve has fallen or will soon fall depending on your glass half full half empty philosophy.
 
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