Xelloss said:
Mudface said:
PC gaming may not be on a visible decline from the viewpoint of PLAYERS, but the profits enjoyed by developers and publishers is down
Is it? And if so, is this specifically due to a decline in PC sales and profitability, or simply reflecting the huge cost of development these days?
I remember seeing a graphic in PC Gamer UK around 2003, which gave the share of PC revenue at about 30% of all gaming revenue. For 2008, Charttrack reckons it at about 29%, or 13 billion out of a total of 45 billion. Where's the decline?
Publishers and developers are obviously making enough to keep on making PC games, indeed Capcom's recent PC releases are generally reckoned to be the definitive versions. Multi-platform games that aren't up to scratch and don't take advantage of the PC's strengths will fail and fail hard (e.g. COD 6 and the new Op Flash), but the likes of Zenimax and EA seem to be happy enough. There aren't as many exclusives, but there again there are very few publishers with deep enough pockets to make an exclusive for any one format these days. What's the point of aiming at 20 million PS3 owners, when you can aim at 40+ million PS3 and 360 owners and up to 200 million PC gamers?
I'm meandering a lot, but I just don't see where all the 'PC gaming is dead/ dying' comes from- it's in the best condition it's ever been. |
This.
Like I said previously, consoles are more focused. A console game is garunteed to work, and work well - or at least if a reviewer / friend says it works well on their PS3.. you can be pretty assured it will work on your PS3 equally well, while the same does not hold true for PCs. This makes consoles big targets for some big houses, and some big franchises like CoD do very well on consoles, and less well on PC.
Shio, the first computer games were written in the 60's.... and existed on every model of device to some degree for pretty much all subsequent hardware. Do not forget, some early systems such as Commodore64, TRS 80, Apple etc... were all PCs. These launched mostly about same time as Atari, Commodores especially were huge in Europe (though a little later). PC in my mind is not limited to IBM/Intel compatible. I suppose it would be fair to say that console and PC gaming were popularized to the masses about the same time, but even in terms of mass market console did not pre date PC. Then there was the big crash of 83, which mostly effected the consoles, PC gaming kept going... NES released in 85..... but PC gaming was bigger for quite some time.PC gaming also kept alive the Western development market, it would be some time before western software made it back to the consoles in a meaningfull fashion.
Also, heres a very good quote from Blizzard SC2 dev :""
From another angle, what about pessimism about the PC platform generally?
DB: Whatever. PC games have been drying for, how long now? Shouldn't it be dead by now? I mean, it's been on its sickbed for ten years. Give me a break. Obviously, it's doing fine. I think that if developers make great games, people will find them, wherever they are.
We get this every couple of years from the movie industry. They're like, "Aw, nobody's going to the movies." And I always think to myself, "Yeah, but you know what? You haven't put out anything I want to see?" And then they ship, I don't know, The Dark Knight, and they're like, "Naw, we're having a great year! Who knows why!?" Well, you made that great movie so we all came. Make great movies, and we'll come.
So, if people make great games, then they'll show up. But if people don't make great games, people will wander off. But they'll always come back if there are great games. It's hard for me to say, though, being inside Blizzard. Obviously, we're a PC company, and obviously we're very comfortable with that, and we feel we've had a certain amount of success with it.
Looking at what we do, I think it's fine. I think it's a very viable platform. I think it's a very fun platform to play on. I think there are things about the PC platform that make it superior to other platforms. It's all about what kind of games people play.""
Link to full interview: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4174/the_design_of_starcraft_ii.php
In all honesty, we will have a most excllent test of all our assertations coming up next week when Dragon Age launches. It is a style and platform that is popular on both console and PC. Remember to account for DDL sales being at least 40% of total PC sales, and compare to console... will be a good comparison. Should be an interesting few months for the grand PC vs console arguments.
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