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Forums - PC Discussion - Why do game devolopers still make PC exclusive games?

FaRmLaNd on 26 October 2008

Its pretty simple really.

The only thing you need to make a computer game is a computer. You don't need a publisher, you don't need an expensive dev kit, you can do it all yourself (if your so inclined). Its far more difficult and far more expensive to make a console game. Not to mention that digital distribution is completely decentralised on the pc. So all you need is a website and the bandwidth to make some $$$.

Essentially the barrier for entry is a lot lower. Not to mention pc games don't get a slice of the revenue taken away by royalty fee's given to the creator of the console.



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Stillwell on 26 October 2008

That was a perfect explenation.



Bitmap Frogs on 27 October 2008

Also, the potential customer base is *huge* compared with consoles, as long as you aren't aiming for the 600$ vid-card every six months customer.





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Garnett on 28 October 2008
Sqrl said:
kabhold said:

Why do game devolopers still make PC exclusive games?

I love PC gaming a thousand times better than consoles. But with piracy it makes no sense. Also I was told (could be wrong) that porting to the 360 is easy from PC. I understand some games (Crysis) could only be on the PS3 (maybe) but it makes no sense to me otherwise. Financially speaking. Please inform me of your opinions..

 

Thank you

 

Because Piracy isn't a PC exclusive game =)~

Fallout 3 is a great example, it was leaked for the 360 a week ago (might have been longer) and only launches this upcoming week. It has already had tens of thousands of downloads across some of the more popular sites and it hasn't even officially launched yet, which means even more people will come flooding in looking for their free copy this week =/

Honestly I can't really blame folks for DL'ing a game they've been looking forward to for months when it gets leaked weeks in advance...doesn't make it right, but still =P

PS - Crysis would need a lot of work to port to any console at even med/high settings, they took advantage of hardware depth simply not available on consoles...and it still ran poorly on some very nice systems. I'm confident that very high would be literally impossible on the 360 or PS3...and the Wii would explode before the disc spun up...which ironically would mean it did better than the PS3 and 360 by managing to create at least one lifelike explosion =P

 

Ok,Fallout 3 was A REAL COPY,that the retailer,sold or stole...Not a pirated one on a pirated DVD disc like pc,second Crysis would have to be dumbed down for PS3 and knowing EA it would be released on 360/Wii/DS/GBA/PSP



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MonstaMack on 28 October 2008

PC games can still sell well on the PC to. It's not just MMORPGS - Look at The Sims and Spore, or any game geared toward the casual crowd. There are more PCs in homes then consoles still.

As others said to, It's easy to develop for the PC and cheap. Lastly you can still port from the 360 to PC and visa-versa to make money both ways.



It's just that simple.

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Dgc1808 on 28 October 2008

Some games are just better on certain platforms.

Some of them might have grown very used to PC development.



4 ≈ One

Godot on 29 October 2008

I just want to add that porting a game from PC to xbox 360 is only easier when you use the development tools provided by Microsoft (that you need to buy of course). If you're company is making everything by itself, porting the game for a console is basically remaking the game from scratch.



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