| Masakari said: Japanese developers putting games on PC just makes sense. In fact, it's ridiculous that they basically ignored it for ages. But that is due to trying to reach the western market more, and also because the 360 is so similar to PC. Those titles sell a fraction of what they sell on 360/PS3, at least on retail. |
The thing is, some japanese publishers are now releasing exclusive PC support, taking advantage of the size and versatility of the PC platform. For example, Square Enix just released a PC exclusive on Steam called SEASON OF MYSTERY: The Cherry Blossom Murders. Sure, it's just a small casual adventure game, but it shows that japanese devs are starting to treat PC as more than just a sideshow.
| Masakari said: My point wasn't that PC gaming is dying or some like that, but rather that there are strong PC titles and companies, but gaming as a whole has moved to console in a big way, you can easily see that in traditional PC developers who have moved to attack the console space. |
Gaming hasn't shifted to consoles - Both PC and Consoles have been growing (except consoles in 2009). The reason some thought PC was losing crowd was because of the decline of it's retail market, which is idiotic. PC has always been growing healthily, and it was only until recently that someone had the time to estimate the strength of the PC market.
| Masakari said: VGChartz doesn't track PC numbers, but you can see from sales tables that PC ports of multiplats are much lower in the pecking order. Alot of them are also released much later, akin to the "PS3 release of former 360 exclusives", and you know how badly some of those sell. |
This is so bogus. How the hell can you figure out how much a game has sold from sales tables?! Stalker didn't even show up in the top charts on retail in US, UK, hell even in digital charts it still only showed up strong when it was from promotions, yet it still sold over 2 millions.
| Masakari said: You also have to take into account that X number of units sold isn't an accurate reflection of a game's success, PC games are discounted much more heavily than consoles titles, Steam does insane sales (like Mass Effect for $3 last december), etc, overall, even if ME1 had 2 million on both platforms, the 360 version would have been much more profitable. PC also has heavy piracy issues, as well as configuration issues, and the fact a lot of people want to play in their big screen living room TV, not on their desk in front of a monitor. Heck, you even see PC games nowadays that have "less features" than they used to because they are "consolized". |
PC games also have a much higher profit margin, and keep selling for years and years. And it's also cheaper to develop on PC than on Consoles. Oh, and PC devs don't need to spend near as much in marketing due to the extremely strong word-of-mouth.
And those games that are consolized end up selling less and lose sales. Look at what happened to Modern Warfare 2 and Unreal Tournament 3.
| Masakari said: There's lots of reasons for PC nowadays selling less copies, and only one that can be said for the reverse - that the PC userbase is huge. Well, if that translated into sales, consoles wouldn't be as big as they are now. |
Explain to me how PC games are selling less when everything, from reports and direct info from PC companies, say that PC games are selling more than ever?
| Masakari said: I consider myself a hardcore PC gamer first and foremost, but I have no illusions about the current state of the market. Out of all my friends, i'm the only one that still buys retail PC titles or even Steam titles, all my friends pirate PC games unless it's an MMO, and have bought consoles because they can't afford a good gaming rig. |
So you base your view of PC gaming's health from your friends, and not from the industry reports that show PC gaming is growing strong?!
| Masakari said: Japanese developers putting games on PC just makes sense. In fact, it's ridiculous that they basically ignored it for ages. But that is due to trying to reach the western market more, and also because the 360 is so similar to PC. Those titles sell a fraction of what they sell on 360/PS3, at least on retail. My point wasn't that PC gaming is dying or some like that, but rather that there are strong PC titles and companies, but gaming as a whole has moved to console in a big way, you can easily see that in traditional PC developers who have moved to attack the console space. VGChartz doesn't track PC numbers, but you can see from sales tables that PC ports of multiplats are much lower in the pecking order. Alot of them are also released much later, akin to the "PS3 release of former 360 exclusives", and you know how badly some of those sell. You also have to take into account that X number of units sold isn't an accurate reflection of a game's success, PC games are discounted much more heavily than consoles titles, Steam does insane sales (like Mass Effect for $3 last december), etc, overall, even if ME1 had 2 million on both platforms, the 360 version would have been much more profitable. PC also has heavy piracy issues, as well as configuration issues, and the fact a lot of people want to play in their big screen living room TV, not on their desk in front of a monitor. Heck, you even see PC games nowadays that have "less features" than they used to because they are "consolized". There's lots of reasons for PC nowadays selling less copies, and only one that can be said for the reverse - that the PC userbase is huge. Well, if that translated into sales, consoles wouldn't be as big as they are now. I consider myself a hardcore PC gamer first and foremost, but I have no illusions about the current state of the market. Out of all my friends, i'm the only one that still buys retail PC titles or even Steam titles, all my friends pirate PC games unless it's an MMO, and have bought consoles because they can't afford a good gaming rig. |
