lol, out of those 4 you mentioned, 1 isn't even FPS, and 2 of the FPS are coming to PC...

Any electronic device that supports programming, and is used a lot, will get games on it.  This goes for cell phones, and PCs.  It goes with the territory.  This being said, the reality is that the PC market is smaller, as a percentage, than the console gaming business.  This percentage is getting smaller over time, and the trend continues.  You are engaging in a severe case of rationalization to say it otherwise.  Now you question NPD and rationalize you are right.  If we were do a survey of 100 executives in the videogame industry and ask them who they would trust more for data to assist their decision making, NPD or shio from VGChartz, what percentage do you think would actually pick you?

1. Simulations.  Ok, PCs have this, simply because the general audience isn't into them.  How big is the simulation market?  And I am NOT going to put flight sims into this category, as the 360 and PS3 are set to get them.  A game like Hawx, for example.  And the PC loses Microsoft's Flight Simulator, pulling the plug on the studio.

2. Adventure games.  I am able to play Myst III on my 360.  I have others also.  As far as this genre goes, it has been been assimulated by the action genre, so now we get "Action-Adventure": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action-adventure_game

And consoles have these, IN SPADES.  Consoles specialize in this.  Considering that text adventures and graphic adventures aren't large today, big production titles (these are the norm on consoles) won't touch them.  They will, however, use them.  Like in Prince of Persia, you have a rotate the platform puzzle, straight out of adventure games.  Half-Life even had this on the PC.  So, it isn't just consoles that have consumed this genre, it is all of videogames.

3. RPGs?  You want to count every garage game effort and multiplayer free web stuff?  If so, the Wii and PS3 can play these.  How do they sell on PCs?  I mean outside of what Blizzard does, which likely has about half of all PC game sales, and over 2/3 of the RPG market.  And want me to bring up JRPGs?

4. Strategy.  Ahh, one of the last niches left for PCs to be relevant, and own.  These games tend to make a jump on the DS.  Good you don't go RTS which is pretty much Blizzard again and their -Craft titles.  Other ones don't do well.  Interface issues have saved the PC from having RTS defect to consoles.

Let's add Puzzle games here as another last bastion on PC games, although they are making an increasing jump onto consoles now.  Flash Games in the past end on the console in the future, or the DS.  This is a wash at this point.

And this is about where we stop as far as it goes.  You are now at a place, when someone mentions any other genre of going, "BUT PCs have these to!"  In other words, VERY defensive.  Like, say Fighting games, and you will go, "But the PC is getting Street Fighter IV!"  And it is.  But that is about it.  No Tekken for you.  And don't get cute by hitting garage games, which then will make me get into Live Community games as a counterpoint.  That is a place I don't want to have to go.

So, let's look at other genres here:

1. Fighting games.  You get an occasional bone, as in Street Fighter IV.  Be thankful for that.

2. Action sports games.  How about football (American style)?  Let me know when this is coming out for the PC.  Want me to bring up Wii Sports and Wii games along the lines of these?  What is comparable on the PC?  Sports in general have all but abandoned the PC, at least high production value sports titles.

3. Arcade racers.  How many are due out new for 2009?  And I don't mean garage games either.

4. Gun games.  You know, where you use a gun accessory?

5. Mini-game/party game type games.  Games where you get a bunch of people together and play quick games.

Here you go, chew on the PC line up at Gamestop this coming year:

http://www.ebgames.com/browse/search.aspx?Ns=Sort_ETA|0&N=5+140&PerPage=50

And the 360 lineup:

http://www.ebgames.com/browse/search.aspx?Ns=Sort_ETA|0&N=5+133

And the Wii lineup:

http://www.ebgames.com/browse/search.aspx?Ns=Sort_ETA|0&N=5+138

This block for quotes is annoying in that it is a pain to try to go between and put my comments, so I will put things on top.

On to your comments:

1. Intellectual property rights are so poor in China, you might as well count that market as almost entirely piracy.  Oh, Massive Multiplayer is something, but anything considered stand alone game purchases is nearly irrelevant.  The income of people in China can't afford too many purchases at all.

2. Sims, like NintenDogs, is a title that doesn't have its appeal because it is a sim.  Sims is a virtual version of a dollhouse.  Spore isn't a sim either.  It is a cross-genre title that has multiple other genres in it, including RTS, and arcade games.  It also has a space exploration title in there to.

3. Among your RPG titles, of the seven you listed, most have to do with subscription-based massive, multiplayer online titles.  Of these, it is mostly World of Warcraft that matters.  Of the stand-alone RPGs, you mentioned THREE that are on the PC.  Because massive multiplayer hasn't been effectively translated over to consoles yet, they stay on PCs. 

4. Strategy is a genre (I used niche).  A niche can be large or it can be small.  RTS is a niche in the genre of strategy, which hasn't been able to be effectively translated to consoles, so they stay on PCs.  You have console strategy games like Advance War, for example, and the DS seems to get more.  It is just that the genre hasn't successfully made the jump, it doesn't go to consoles.  The whole joypad experience is weaker on consoles.  Doesn't mean they don't try.  The last Civ game (not Civ 4: Colonization) was done on consoles, as an attempt to appeal to console players.  So, this is one GENRE that hasn't been translated to consoles yet.  Apparently Electronic Arts don't think console buyers want to play strategy games, because they took the Risk-like game out of Kane's Wrath.  I believe Civ Revolution had outsold Kain's Wrath.

5. Getting a port of a 2D fighting game doesn't say much.  Getting SF4 is bigger news, but that is it.  There is no licensing fees, and companies will dabble with this.  But you don't get much of anything.

6. Saying Sports games were never popular on PCs is either a cheap copout or why you aren't getting much of them.  I spoke here of action arcade title more than hardcore sims.

7. On the arcade racer titles, really? Go ahead among your list and list them.  I did read your thread.  And the titles that the PC is heavy in are genres that haven't made successful translation to consoles.  Arcade racers is one of these genres that has been done over on consoles, and is less on PCs.

8. Garage games are indie developer stuff (comes from the expression "working out of your garage", which refers to a tiny start up with a few people starting out).  They are like the XBox Live Community games.  Anyone can produce anything in there.  Yes, indie developers will do games of about all genres.

Flat out, the reality is, once a genre jumps to consoles, it leaves the PC, particularly when sales end up greater on consoles.  This doesn't mean that PC gaming will disappear.  It is an entry point for all development studios to create a track record for themselves.  There is no barriers to entry at all.  The marketing machine for console games is also higher than PCs, so you get console-only exclusives, which end up making people buy and play on consoles.  Also console gaming is far less of a headache, and easier for people to get into.  There are no viruses, defragging of harddrives, making sure you have the latest drivers, and so on... This is why console gaming is growing at a faster rate than PC gaming.  And, unless you can come up with some REAL sales numbers (like consoles have), you have nothing you can argue with on real numbers on why PC gaming is as competitive in the marketplace, or superior gaming experience for most people.  Oh, you can discuss frame rate and so on as supposedly superior.  But, take a simple example as bowling.  In the electronic format, would most people rather try to bowl over a PC, or do Wii bowling?

Ok, onto your thread below.

shio said:

In terms of revenue PC has always been smaller than the console market because PC gaming only started to be popular like 10 years after consoles were. But PC is growing fast, and I suspect it's actually gaining market share while consoles might be losing their share. While consoles are growing 20% yearly, PC's Online is increase is several times bigger than that (such as Steam growing 150%, China's Online 75%).

I wasn't questioning NPD, I was questioning YOU! NPD have said themselves that the Retail figures of PC sales do not represent what is happening to PC. They even estimated that there are more revenue from subscriptions alone than the retail's.

Simulation genre is one of the smallest, but it's not that tiny, or else The Sims, and more recently Spore, wouldn't be able to sell dozens of millions. Haux is an action game, not simulation.

The action-adventure genre has nothing to do about adventure games except for the fact that they borrow some characteristics from it. It wasn't the action-adventure genre that took away the popularity from adventure games, since action-adventure games were never popular on PC. It was the rise of shooters that did away the adventure genre.

lol. There's only 5 RPGs this gen that reached 1 million on consoles. How many is there on PC? We don't know, because developers usually don't release figures, but I can tell you easily that there are atleast 7 PC RPG titles that also reached 1 million: The Witcher, Fallout 3, Wrath of the Lich King, Oblivion, The Burning Crusade, Warhammer Online, Age of Conan. And you're being given a discount due to no more sales being known to public.

I think it's quite obvious that RPG titles sell more on PC. And of course, a game like Warhammer Online will probably make more money than any console RPG in it's lifetime.

Strategy games are niche?! dude, you really aren't a PC gamer.... if it was such a niche, then why are Starcraft 2, Dawn of War 2, Empire: Total War, Demigod, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valorr, Anno 1404, C&C3: Read Alert 3 - Uprising coming out this year?? Each of them should atleast reach 1 million sales. There's also Cities XL, Battleforge, DIsciples III, Grand Ages Rome, etc...

1. We are also getting King of Fighters XII. Fighting games were never relevant on PC, but the fact that 2 of the biggest series are coming to PC in just a year should say something, no?

2. Sports games were never that popular on PC. Add the fact that like 90% of PC's fanbase is outside North-america should say something about American football games not being on PC. There are still high-production sports titles like EA Sports games, and even 2k started to release sports games on PC last year, and there's the popular FM and CM series.

3. PC pretty much gets all the multiplatform arcade racers from consoles. And what the hell is with this garage games thing?! If a game is good, does it matter how it was made? By the way, PC is getting an exclusive Need for Speed game this year, since EA has seen the true potential of PC.

4. Why use a slow gun, when you can use a much faster and accurate mouse at no additional costs?

5. Yes, never relevant on PC because PC has a strong online component with strong communities. Though the Guitar Hero games have been out on PC recently.

Here, you should some of the PC games coming out this year:

http://vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=55527&page=1

Well, I don't follow the FPS genre much so I can't pull half a dozen title names out of my butt and I was feeling lazy!

Why do these discussions always turn to sales when it isn't easy to quantify PC games sales or even categorise which genres are selling better than others?! Bah!