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Forums - PC Discussion - Why doesn't someone release a PC game with next gen specs now?

Because the appropriate software takes time and money to develop, real next-gen engines have only "just" been announced.



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I'm glad you're using Crysis as an example, as that game is exactly why Crytek went multiplatform. Why? PIRACY.
The game was pirated more times than it was bought.

So to answer your question: it's not worth the investment.



VGKing said:
I'm glad you're using Crysis as an example, as that game is exactly why Crytek went multiplatform. Why? PIRACY.
The game was pirated more times than it was bought.

So to answer your question: it's not worth the investment.


First game still sold 3.5m copies and was profitable after a year. The second game from recent comments didn't make a profit and they are counting on Crysis 3 which has a much shorter dev cycle (which means less dev costs) to make the franchise as a whole profitable again. They are also going back to PC melting graphics and the larger enviroments of the first game. Crysis 2 was the flop, and is the reason they are transitioning out of boxed AAA games into Free to play.

 

On topic there have been several trends which have meant that pushing graphical boundries has not really happened in the last few years. There is the long console generation of course and the developmental baggage that implies.

But more importantly pushing boundries requires new engines, and to really take advantage of modern systems you have to really change the engines and tool chains (how games are built) this all requires a lot longer these days. A new engine that offers all the features that are needed is not created overnight anymore. You hardly ever see whole new engines for one game anymore because they take so long to build and get the team up too speed on them. For example UE4 has been in development since 2008, and Tim Sweeny has been working on it by himself since 2003. And a game built on that tech takes another 2-3 years to make. 

Then you have the rise of laptops for gaming etc and the F2P craze which requires millions of gamers being able to run the games and as they are usually multiplayer focused you can't realy have the graphics differ a whole lot without affecting balance. 



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isnt pc already NG ?



Tsubasa Ozora

Keiner kann ihn bremsen, keiner macht ihm was vor. Immer der richtige Schuss, immer zur richtigen Zeit. Superfussball, Fairer Fussball. Er ist unser Torschützenkönig und Held.

What allot of people forget in regards to sales on PC is that even if a title is old (Even over a decade) all that is needed is a sale and it will top the sales charts again, raking in more money.
On a console after the initial release the game pretty much falls into obscurity.

You will see a few examples of this during the Christmas Steam sales. :)

Unfortunately, publishers don't care about long term, they care about minimal investment with maximum returns and as soon as possible... Which brings us to kickstarter to remove those "walls" to games being released on the PC. :)

Blizzard, Valve and Bethesda are perfect examples of PC gaming thriving and selling 10's of millions of copies of games on just the PC alone.



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--

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The thing is if a game is made for the PC they want as many people as possible to use. And not everyone has a cutting edge Graphics Card and CPU to run "next gen" games. Plus the more advanced the graphics the higher the budget needed for the title so it even makes it more imperative that a game runs on as many computers as possible. Some one brought up the Steam survey where the average user only has a two core computer, so that is what developers shoot for. Crysis is included in this. Even thought you needed a high mid-ranged computer at the time to run the game at the highest setting, but you could play the game on any computer. So the answer to why is simple economics and the risks involved in limiting your potential user base. So PCs may be more powerful on the top end but it is the average user that drives the specs of the software used.