As another couple of comments in the OP link point out-
"[the Steam figure] doesn’t account for
Xfire
Battle.net
Raptr
gamespy Comrade
GSC
Game Ranger (MAC)
POPCap
Wireplay
Quake Live
not to mention private servers or the publishers servers."
and-
"Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Xfire users playing per day: 77,424
Call of Duty 2
Xfire users playing per day: 45,176
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
Xfire users playing per day: 22,932
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Xfire users playing per day: 16,479"
To add to that, some recent PC FPS figures-
STALKER- 2 million*
Crysis- 1.5 million*
Bioshock- 1 million *
*- from Wikipedia
Team Fortress 2 1,740,658
Half-Life 2: Episode Two 1,255,624
Portal Portal 1,247,849
Left 4 Dead 1,216,644
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 1,023,973
Day of Defeat: Source Day of Defeat: Source 2,500,776
Left 4 Dead 2 673,940
Killing Floor 249,177
All these from a post discussing Steam achievement figures. As the OP in the link notes, these are absolute minimum figures based on people who have public profiles, the actual figures are likely much higher. In addition, DICE have noted that more people were playing the PC version of BFBC2 than the console versions. The numbers aren't as big as Reach, but then again COD aside, how many games are that big?
Finally, id's Tim Willits has spoken out-
id Software's Tim Willits has refuted Microsoft's claim that the first-person shooter genre is in its death throes on the PC.
Speaking in an interview with Game Informer, Kudo Tsunoda, Microsoft Kinect's creative director, said that the battle to make first-person shooters work on consoles had been won.
"Halo did an awesome job of building a first-person shooter exclusively for the console, and now hardly anyone plays first-person shooters on the PC anymore. It's all about the console," he said, highlighting what he saw as parallels with the scepticism about Kinect's responsiveness.
A bold claim? id Software certainly thinks so. The Texas-based studio virtually invented the modern FPS with Wolfenstein 3D on the PC in 1992 and then refined it with Doom and Quake. It has continued to support the platform ever since.
"The PC is still a very viable platform for not only FPS games but also all other genres," id's creative director Tim Willits told Eurogamer.
"In my opinion the PC will always be the core of the gaming industry - it is the timeless stable platform that as developers we will always be able to rely on. Unlike consoles, the PC doesn't disappear because one company decided it wasn't profitable or decided to make a new version. The PC platform is always evolving but staying stable.
"The FPS genre is still great on the PC, the input controllers are very responsive, the keyboard allows many more choices and options, and the social networking of the PC allows you to reach out and play with your friends much easier than any of the consoles.
"Plus, as any hardcore FPS gamer will tell you, the mouse is still the best device for aiming." he added.
id's next game, Rage, arrives on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2011, and is looking seriously impressive. Willits is heading over to the Eurogamer Expo next week to demonstrate it to you.
According to Steam statistics, as many as 75,000 users were playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on PC at any one moment yesterday, while 72,000 were enjoying Counter Strike: Source.
PC shooter fans have plenty to look forward to this year. Call of Duty: Black Ops, Medal of Honor and an expansion for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 all arrive in the coming months.
