1. There may not be many big countries that are PC-dominated, but there are dozens of PC-centric european countries, which added up will make a hefty sum.

2. Casual console games do sell through a longer period (and nintendo games), but "hardcore" games don't. You think Halo 3 is going to keep selling for years? I have not seen it in any chart for ages. Where is 360 COD4? 360 Bioshock? The PC version of Bioshock still appears here and there, while COD4 was one of the top selling PC games last quarter. As a rule, PC games are almost NEVER frontloaded.

3. I'm not sure what you mean. FYI COD5 came out yesterday on Steam, so it's not surprising to see it well placed.

According to PCGA, last year the PC's DD market was 66% the size of the Retail market. Soon DD will catch Retail, if it hasn't already.

lots of cherry picking.


especially on resolutions.

HD TV can do 1080p now thats 1920x1080p and it looks gorgerous on any thing around 50'.

1. According to Mr. Peddie's research, said PC-centric European (both East and West) countries make up less revenue than the United States does. And last I checked, the US is a far more console-heavy nation. So what does that make European sales, then?

2. Ever heard of a game called Halo 2? It's still the #1 selling Xbox game, and is for sale on the X360 too as an Xbox Original - So it's still selling for 4 years. H3 is still selling 20,000+ units per WEEK at $50 each. What older games would you like to cite that have tremendous sales? Valve games? They're selling for $9.99 a pop at Steam - It's doubtful that even if they are selling awesomely (and I can assume they are), that it's much in comparison to a major retail game selling a similar number of games at 2-3 times the price.

"The PC share will get smaller" statement should of been clearer, what I meant to say is that with more PS3 and 360 consoles next year (possibly 18 million more combined) will mean more share of games will be sold on consoles which translates to a smaller share for the PC.

I wouldn't use L4D as an example due to the fact that its a 360 exclusive. PS3 users who want to play will purchase the PC version. Games released on one platform before the others or exclusive to one console+PC cannot be used for obvious reasons. 

Fallout 3 is next to perfect of an example to use, due to the fact that it was released on all three platform simultaneously. Also, I'm surprise that your calling Fallout 3 a game that no one cares about, specially since the series was lauded with so much praise from the PC community.

I havn't done any research to see if the PC gaming market is growing or not, and truth is I kind of don't care.. I used to be 100% PC in college but then I got a job, a couch, an automan to put my feet up, and a flat screen TV to enjoy my gaming needs. 

I do notice articles like the one linked, and developers choosing not to port console games to PC.. which I admit are all anecdotal.. but paint a blurry picture of the state of the PC gaming market

...? Lemme check something here...

....

Oh my God, you've never owned a Fallout game.

Young man, you go to your room and you don't come out until you think about what you've done.

ssj has lost all validity of being an actual PC fan.

I don't... I don't know what to believe anymore. Who is there to believe in? What is there to believe?

I probably will catch some flack as I didn't read the whole article. (I have a classical concert to go to in a few.)

But from the first two paragraphs, the data seems pigeon holed. Looking at what is presented, you could still ask, how many of those PC's were mean't for office use, how many were mean't for family use, how many were meant for home business, how many of them were meant for gaming and so on. PC's have so many functions that labeling all those PC's as part of the gaming market would be naive.

WoW is a success sure, Popcap games is a huge success also and Steam is doing great within the higher levels of niche land; this doesn't mean PC gaming is superior to the (Sony does this so don't hold it against me.)

Xbox360+PS3+PS2+Wii or console platform. It just means that a lot of people have PC's. While you can rest assured that few if even one person or people bought the Wii for the weather channel.

Gosh people. Who cares, the fact that consoles, handhelds and pc gaming segments of the markets are successful is a great thing. The pc market isn't directly comparable for a number of reasons that I'll list now.

1: Digital distribution, it may not be big as retail atm but its still substantial and more importantly un-trackable.

2: Subscription services are massively popular so whilst fewer games may be purchased lots of them are making a heck of a lot more money then the average console game.

3: No royalty fees for using windows. Unlike consoles game pc developers get a larger piece of the pie so whilst they may or may not sell as many games as their console brothers they make more per sale.

4: Fractured market, its not like console gaming where theres retail and limited online sales, the pc market is filled with retail segments, subscription segments, indie games, casual games, digital distribution, ad supported flash and browser games etc etc. Lots of the pc market isn't traditional and its all essentially impossible to track.

In conclusion whilst the pc may be outpaced in traditional retail and traditional hardcore games sales by the consoles the expanding pc market segments actually have little to do with the traditional games markets.

That is hardware revenue, not the best indicative. They are definitely making some decent sales. For example, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. sold 1 million copies in ex-soviet countries, and The Witcher broke 100k in just 2 months in Poland, a single eastern european country.

Interesting tidbit: the most emerging markets are the Eastern Europe and Central Asia - both totally dominated by PC.

Halo 2 can barely be compared to PC games. Fallout 1, an 11 year old game, can still be found in stores and is available in several online services like GameTap and GOG.com. In the last 12 months I bought brand new copies of Grim Fandango(10yr old), Curse of the Monkey Island (11yr), Full Throttle(13yr) and Sam & Max: Hit the Road (15 years old!). I also bought Myst Collection, which is includes the entire Myst series.

I am also going to buy Half-Life 1 on Steam, which is currently only $0.98 !!! Half-Life's 10 years birthday deal

Halo 3 is "only" 1 year old - Almost every PC game is still selling at that stage. You may criticise old PC games for selling so cheap, but that only means that they are still being sold, unlike most console games that stop selling after a few months or year.