How big are the sales difference between console and PC games?

[torok]

Pemalite said:

You are also forgetting that a PC game doesn't have to sell as much as the console version to be as or more profitable.
You don't have to pay the Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo tax to have your games on the system, last I checked they take what, 30%? You also have to pay for releasing Patches and DLC too I think.
That probably explains why EA and Ubisoft have their own "stores" now in PC land.

Granted you also have to pay the privelage to have your games on Steam, you literally *don't* have to, Minecraft and majority of EA games have lived fine without it.

There has been a distinct shift in the way games are being developed over the last few years with more games starting to focus primarily on the PC version then releasing the downgraded console version. (I.E. Battlefield, Low settings on the Last-gen twins and only high settings for the next-gen twins, ultra and beyond for the PC.)
Just take a look at any Frostbite or CryEngine powered game...

I don't seee this shift, exepct with a few cases like BF and Crysis. Even Skyrim was mostly a 360 game (DLC came first, Kinect voice commands, etc). And we have big titles like GTA V that weren't release on PC (this one can still come) and Red Dead Redemption or games releasing much later than console versions or with more bugs. My point is, if the majority of the money was on PC sales, PC versions would be better or at least released together with the console versions (or at least simply released anyway). Of course, some games like Diablo make more money on PC, but they are a minority (and in this case, what I said is clear. PC version is the best and was released earlier). I the end, if it was more profitable, it would get the best versions and best release dates and that's not what we see here.

Anyway, the shift in development is a sign that at least now everyone is agreeing on a more common architecture. Even PS360 weren't as different from PCs (from a developer standpoint) than PS2 or GC were. I believe that the HD transition created a mindset more focused on creating extreme high quality assets and then downgrade as much as needed for each platform (since none of them could deal with million pollygons characters and so on) and that assets would still be usable for future stronger PCs or consoles from future gens. 

It would be interesting to see digital sales data for Steam, but I really doubt we will see it someday since MS, Sony, EA and all other are very reluctant to release this numbers too (even when they are good). Publishers of course will prefer to have this numbers only for themselves so they can decide which ones they will brag about and wich ones they will simply hide and just sum up with all the game sales for quarter reports.