Who killed PC gaming ?

[Streeteh]

Consoles are for sure to blame for the PCs state would you not agree on that point ? before the 360/PS3 people would have to go for a PC no ?

I don't agree at all to be honest. Consoles may have turned people away from PC gaming but it's not necessarily their 'fault'. PCs turn out rubbish profits (unless you're blizzard or valve), whether that be due to piracy or just falling popularity is not something i'm not going into, but because of that developers are jumping ship. But is that the fault of consoles? Not really imo. It's the fault of the people downloading every game they can, the developers who put on overly restrictive DRM, the hardware manufacturers that release buggy drivers, the developers who release buggy games, all of these things are the 'fault' that has driven many away from PC games.

I'd say i'm a console gamer these days, true i still have a 8800GT and a core2quad, but back in the day i'd have had a i7 equivalent and a GTX280. Why don't i have those these days? Because consoles have more games, many of which i view as better than those that the PC has offered in a while. Who do i blame? Pirates and developers, they've both screwed themselves over.

I still think sony and MS insist that there's no pc version or if there is they must delay it.It's in sony and microsofts interest that the pc version is delayed or not released more so than the profit they'd make on pc sales.

MS maybe as games like Mass Effect were pushed back despite being a Microsoft funded project and others such as Halo 3, Gears of war and fable 2 despite the large number of people using Windows as a gaming platform so i'll give you that one. But Sony no, they make the vast majority of their exclusives themselves so they're well within their rights to withhold their own titles from whatever platform they like. They may deliberately hold titles back, but why the hell shouldn't they? It's their project, their funding and they have no stake in the PC market what so ever.

Coupled with releasing a single player based game on pc is like throwing money down the toilet these days.

I disagree tbh, The Witcher is one of the biggest success stories on the PC in a while and that was single player only. Action games do very much need to be multiplayer though on the whole, i assume you're thinking of the upcoming release of the ghostbusters game which has multiplayer cut from the PC release? In which case i completely agree, insane decision.

Look at the recent battlefield 1943, what other possible reason is there that the pc version isn't out til september other than sony and MS insisting they do delay it.So they get all the sales in first and another trend is making the pc version not as good online as we have seen with sfIV.

Again this is an EA decision, they simply know that more money will come from the console release and so poured more time and money into developing it. I wouldn't be surprised if Sony and MS actually rely on EA to release games for them, not vice versa as you seem to indicate in the above quote, they don't call the shots on EAs games, EA do.

 

[C64]

The funny thing is though is that console piracy is rising rapidly.

When a game like battlefield 3 comes along again all will be well in pc land.

The pc needs games that make console owners wish they had a pc and that is just not happening as much as it was last generation.

Half life 1 made me want a pc if im sitting there with a 360 there's nothing on pc I'm envious of unless I am an rts fan.

Glad I got a 360 a while back because the pc scene is going to be a very boring place until games like battlefield 3 etc come along again.

 

[C64]

Again this is an EA decision, they simply know that more money will come from the console release and so poured more time and money into developing it. I wouldn't be surprised if Sony and MS actually rely on EA to release games for them, not vice versa as you seem to indicate in the above quote, they don't call the shots on EAs games, EA do.

I have to disagree with that sorry, as big as EA are they shout how high when sony and ms tell them to jump.
Without sony and ms EA are nothing and it will never be the other way round.

If microsoft told EA your not allowed to release 1943 on pc until 2011 they'd do that in a heartbeat.

Ea will make 1943 on pc run through games for windows live probably with minimal server support.

 

[Streeteh]

The funny thing is though is that console piracy is rising rapidly.

Yes but it's still much smaller than that of the PC. Keep in mind the PS3 still hasn't been cracked, that's around 20mil units of hardware that people WILL buy games for. The number of people pirating 360 games gets culled every year or so as they ban people from xbox live who used poorly cloned games. Don't get me wrong, the 360 is still bad, but i don't know anyone in 'real life' that pirates 360 games, every PC gamer i know pirates PC games unless they have a good online component. I know my own experiences mean bugger all in the big picture however so a better, wider survey could be a popular torrent site, if you look on those the download totals for the PC are often multiple times that of the 360. The wii is a rampant piracy fest, but then it hasn't had a good game in the past year so it's null and void for me; why compare it to PC gaming when i wouldn't even rate it as a proper gaming platform?

When a game like battlefield 3 comes along again all will be well in pc land.

True, can't wait.

The pc needs games that make console owners wish they had a pc and that is just not happening as much as it was last generation.

Half life 1 made me want a pc if im sitting there with a 360 there's nothing on pc I'm envious of unless I am an rts fan.

Glad I got a 360 a while back because the pc scene is going to be a very boring place until games lik battlefield 3 etc come along again.

Again very true. I really want PC gaming to return to its former self, it supplied the best years of gaming i've ever had.

 

[.one.]

It saddens me if im honest.

 

[rypt]

every PC gamer i know pirates PC games unless they have a good online component.

So the solution is to make good games that have good online multiplayer ...
Or make good games like Witcher and Anno that have good single player ...

So basically the issue are crappy games that are all too often crappy ports

 

[Strife212]

People go on and on about how many PC gamers are out there, blah blah blah but the harsh truth is that most PC games have meagre sales.

 

[snowdog]

People go on and on about how many PC gamers are out there, blah blah blah but the harsh truth is that most PC games have meagre sales.

How do you know, I haven't seen any real statistics including digital distribution, where more modern gamers, buy most of their games from...

All I see is figures from the US ( yawn) and retail sales only...

 

[Spektor]

People go on and on about how many PC gamers are out there, blah blah blah but the harsh truth is that most PC games have meagre sales.

And you base that upon?... idiot (pre-emptive 'idiot' because I know what you're basing it on).

This months "omg pc iz ded yo!" threads are as bland as ever, atleast bump the older ones were something worthy was brought to the table.

 

[uvarvu]

I used to buy loads of games each year but have progressively bought less and less. The only game I bought this year was an L4D clone on steam which I really regret now!

 

[Wang Computer]

Piracy, more and more resource hungry software, laptops, Microsoft, The Xbox 360, simultaneous releases... They're all perfectly cogent arguments in my view. Absolutely nothing to baulk at.

Although I think 'death' is a completely disingenuous way to describe the state of PC gaming, we're certainly are a long, long way from the esoteric, exclusive gaming utopia the platform enjoyed in the mid-to-late '90s

 

[Vern1961]

Well I must admit the halycon days of walking into the purple software shop or its predecessors every other week to buy the next great flight sim or strategy game have long gone. Honestly can't say I've bought that many PC games this year - couple of train sim bits, Battlestations Pacific and Saint's Row 2.

However, they will have to prise my keyboard and mouse out of my cold dead hands before I moved over to console gaming. We do have an X-Box 360 and PS3 but as others have indicated, console game joypads may be okay for nimble fingered 20 year olds but not for crusty late 40 somethings. Handy for a bit of brain training but even GTA IV I preferred on the PC.

Even if no more PC games were released there's still plenty of back catalogue titles and the chances of seeing something like Flight Sim on the X-Box 360 are non-existent. (Of course, M$ have made their intentions regarding FS and their gaming "direction" clear by axing Aces Studios earlier in the year).

The argument about technical ability might have held water a few years ago, but these days the average numpty can walk into Vindaloo, Celestial Body or Purple Planet and buy a ready built PC or laptop with little or no specialist knowledge required. From OCUK type power users POV they are poor builds stuffed with bloatware and adware, but they will get someone started almost as painlessly as a console. Far cry from the early days when every new purchase had you making up a DOS boot disc and having to work out where to put your sound driver in the call list to free up enough memory for the CD driver!

 

[Teki187]

The gaming publishers and music publishers are so horribly behind the times, they hold on to there draconian CD/DVD's and then sue people for using the latest tech in regards to digital downloads.

If they took on digital downloads, I'm pretty sure the PC gaming scene would change and be far more popular, especially if developers could digital sell directly to the customers and by pass the publishers entirely!

 

[m4cc45]

It's interesting no matter how many articles you read the reason that PC gaming has died (even though I am yet to see this) is because of piracy.

Yet piracy exists on other formats. They allow you to hire games for the consoles and think 'they'll never pirate that' yet it's the main reason why people do hire games.

I don't believe gaming is dead - there's a lot of great games out there that I haven't played and if Steam lowers the prices then I'll buy the games. I've recently bought a ton of games from second hand stores and probably have enough to keep me going for a couple of years. Then there's the Steam games to complete which is another year to finish them.

Gamings what you make of it - if theres a decent game out there with good online functionality then people will buy it - there's too many mediocre games out there which is why games don't succeed.

Regarding the point above. It would be good if they did that but to have to have a client for every publisher would be very off putting. I'd rather use a centralised client. Perhaps the game publishers should band together and make one though if the game is only available by digital download they have a monopoly on the pricing.

M.

 

[mame]

As for your graphics thing - it doesn't mean much. There's this thing called 'diminishing returns'. You've spent hundreds and hundreds for a small graphical difference to the 360. A console that costs less than £100 if you know where to look.

It's hardware pricing - PC gaming is a horribly expensive hobby, and fast becoming a 'luxury' that's only offering more and more crap games.

I kind of agree with this. I have a good PC which I spent a lot of money on in various stages and then bought a brand new PS3 for £200 on impulse and I love it.

 

[m4cc45]

I kinda disagree. Consoles never stay the same. Like the PS1 / PS2 and PS3 - if you bought them all on release you would have spent around £800ish.

Then you look at the games. I'd love to play the latest MGS and Final Fantasy but I'd also love to play the latest Halo, Mario, Zelda, etc. so you then get into the area where you need to buy more than one machine.

Most houses have a PC of some form just for browsing so I'd say that a decent PC is comparable to the cost of keeping up to date with the consoles.



M.

 

[Klo]

Consoles will never really work with me, just due to the controls. They just don't seem to be very responsive at all, especially when compared to a mouse and keyboard. Plus, the entire concept of sitting around a TV in your living room is off putting for me!

 

[Duran]

PC games piracy is the only major reason why. For some strange reason many PC gamers expect free high quality games to play with their expensive e-peen hardware config.....

Why on earth would a company want to spend $20M+ to develop a PC game and recoup a fraction of the cost as piracy will mean you sell much fewer games so you end up with a huge loss. That's why most games now are multiplatform designs to spread the risk around as you have the artwork already so why go platform specific and risk a huge financial loss.

That article is not very well researched anyway as Vista is the best OS MS have ever created. Its almost perfect now and much better than XP ever was after 2 years.

If you want to blame the OS best to check your facts and see that in fact lazy development causes the lag & driver issues as developers love to code outside MS DirectX specs.

Best thing all PC gamers can do right now is buy an X360 as a backup gaming device because PC gaming aint coming back anytime soon as a mainstream gaming platform. Too much damage has been done and right now developers/publishers are making huge profits on the 360 so do not hold your breath for PC gaming to make a mainstream comeback before the next gen consoles are out.

If you took away World Of Warcraft sales from PC gaming sales in the past year it would reveal how shocking the figures really are compared to consoles.

sometimes i really doubt that you own the rigs in your sig. Buy an xbox360? are you serious? The xbox360 is in serious gaming drought and haven't received a single good exclusive game in 2009 so far. talk about a system dying...

 

[mame]

I kinda disagree. Consoles never stay the same. Like the PS1 / PS2 and PS3 - if you bought them all on release you would have spent around £800ish.

Yes but by the time the PS3 is coming to an end, you would be talking of 20+ years?? The PS1 is 15 years old as it is.

 

[RDM]

Despite owning all three of the current consoles I still game on my PC more than any of them. Different platforms for different types of games.