Why PC Gaming is Surging

[Zkuq]

S.T.A.G.E. said:

Zkuq said:

I think I missed something here, probably due to English not being my native language. What are you getting at? Are you trying to tell me my open platform argument doesn't work because Steam is a closed platform? My point was that because PC is an open platform, anyone can create games for it, which encourages innovation, and once a game is made, distributing it is almost a trivial task. It's much easier than developing for consoles, which requires you to first get a dev kit before you can do anything.

Steam, Origin...all of it is unified no different than the Xbox Live concept. You can just manipulate your games because it doesn't interfere with it like a true closed format would. Anyone can create games for an open format, but how much can they stand to make especially when marketing is needed in their budget? At some point they would probably need a publisher. Minecraft, I am sure sold very well, correct? How much did it sell on the Xbox compared to PC?

It's still easier to get a game on Steam than it is to get one on consoles. Steam even has Steam Greenlight, which lets the community vote which games should get on Steam. Besides, strictly speaking, it's not even necessary to get on any distribution platform on PC. It sure helps but a good game can thrive even without. Besides, usually it seems to be the community that does most of the marketing on PC. You don't need huge advertisement budgets for that. Word of mouth is well and alive in among the PC community. Sure, getting a game to truly stand out among smaller games requires more resources, but such resources aren't required from the beginning. As for Minecraft, it has sold about 12 million copies on PC, and last I heard, maybe 8-9 million copies on the Xbox 360? Not sure about the Xbox numbers, I think somewhere close to what I said.