Is PC gaming dying?

An burning question, and one way to perceive it.

By vindKtiv on October 21, 2009 6:37:13 PM from

In my many years spent posting/trolling on the forums, one question that appears a lot is the legitimacy of the death of PC gaming. Is PC game dying out?

Yes, and no. What?

Well, before I elaborate, it will probably be better for everyone if I went into some history. Dead Space 2 is not coming out for PC [check GameSpot for the article]. Grand Theft Auto IV (a very well respected game) is poorly optimized for the PC and released as an afterthought. Empire: Total War is given a very half-hearted release and has an expansion coming out. Do I really need to go into all the woes of the modern PC gaming industry? Piracy is at an all time high, even for relatively solid and bug-free games such as Call of Duty 4[1] and more and more companies are screwing over PC gamers.

On the other hand, a company like EA, known to give PC gamers the short stick, are doing very well well after realizing that actually listening to their customers is a good thing[2]. Even a game hit hard by piracy like Demigod has made the publishers "happy" [3]. Many blockbuster games have done well, including Fallout 3 [4]. Also, if you are ever bummed on the year 2009 for PC gaming, there is a very nice site for you[5].

So is PC gaming dead? Yes and no. Most of the biggest games aren't coming out for PC anymore and more attention is given to the console exclusives. If gamers are going to look back on this era, they are going to see a PC gaming industry that is not as strong and not as exclusive. Games that use to be made with the PC in mind are made instead on the consoles and then given a port to the PC as an afterthought. Series that have made the PC industry strong are now being released for the consoles. But despite this, PC gaming lives on and even thrives. PC gaming is living as healthy as ever, but you have to find where to look. Finding where PC gaming is thriving is going to lead us to find where PC gaming is headed. One thing is clear however, PC gaming is certainly not headed in the same direction as the consoles no matter how consoles try to emulate the PC.

The thing is, PC gamers are not console gamers. Yes, consoles have been becoming more and more like PCs and historically strong PC developers have been starting projects on the consoles, but the audience and creators are not the same. If the endless forum threads are any indication, many features we take for granted as PC gamers are quite foreign to consoles gamers. Features such as dedicated servers, command consoles, and fan-made maps and mods are alien to console gamers and often tossed away as insignificant. The depth and and expansiveness of PC games are rarely attempted at on consoles because there isn't an audience for them.

PC gamers have grown up. They have grown up and learned new tricks. Networking? Building your own PC? Easy. Setting up your own dedicated server? Pshh. In order to appease these people, games need to become more and more complicated which is going to require more and more money. From a business standpoint, however, spending more and more money to appease a small group is not going to get you as much as, say, trying to appeal to a mass market who isn't interested enough to learn more than how to hook up their 360.

In fact, spending money to make a great game is absolutely a horrible business practice. If FreeSpace 2[6] and System Shock 2[7] shows us anything, it is that great games does not automatically equal great sales. I chose these two games because of their indisputable greatness. Labelling modern games as "classics" is often easily disputable, but there are a lot of modern maybe-classic games that have received the bad end of business.

On the reverse side, many mediocre games have achieved great sales. Games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed[8], which failed to do its series any justice, have found success. TFU rose up only on a venerable title (Star Wars) and a great advertisement campaign.

THAT IS THE KEY TO WHY PC GAMING IS PERCEIVED TO BE DYING.

Making a great game is not necessarily the key to success now. Success can be found more easily in a great marketing campaign than appeasing finicky hardcore gamers.

But do not blame the console gamers. Console games, for the most part, have evolved. Multiplayer (surprisingly unheard of last generation) is not a very key component in games. WRPGs, FPS, and even RTS can now be translated to the consoles with a greater degree of success. And all that WITHOUT forcing the player to mess with complicated computer jargon. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, pat yourselves on the back.

So now, there IS a market for games with less depth and lesser gameplay because most of its budget spent on marketing. But there is also a market for PC gaming, and that is where the truth is revealed.

PC gaming is not dying, it has never left its true home: games by gamers for gamers. When Richard Garriot, id Software, Will Wright, and the legends started developing, they started small. They started in their garage. When the classics of yesteryear was made, they were often made by small groups who were so dedicated to gaming that they were willing to put up with a risk of unemployment or small pay to make games. The spirit of those people still continue on, and today, some of the best games are the "indie" games.

These indie developers don't have a good series to ride the coattails of, they don't have a massive budget for marketing. All they have is their will and their fans. It is people like those that make the best games. Some of the mods and the $20 games are absolutely amazing. They don't push the graphics and they don't have a cool commercial. What they do have however, is the whole reason why we play games: entertainment.

[1]http://kotaku.com/344848/piracy-makes-call-of-duty-4-devs-sad

[2]http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/59088

[3]http://frogboy.joeuser.com/article/349758/Demigod_So_much_for_piracy

[4]http://www.pcworld.com/article/153399/47_million_copies_of_fallout_3_shipped_to_stores.html

[5]http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2009/

[6]http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/editorials/04-14-00a.shtml

[7]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_2
(yes, I just did cite Wikipedia)

[8]http://www.forceunleashed.org/2009/02/21/star-wars-the-force-unleashed-sells-57-million-units/

+7 Karma | 48 Replies

As for the argument that Mouse and Keyboard make it easier to play FPS I disagree. You may not be used to it but controllers are just as easy to use effectively. I have none biased view because I play FPSs on both. It is a lot easier to play an RTS. Halo Wars is the first RTS I have played that works on a console; I dont see how the controls could get any better with current controllers. The problem is that its a watered down mediocre RTS compared to PC RTSs like SOASE or Sup Com.

Quoting Luckmann,

reply 21

Quoting lbgsloan,
reply 20

I will quote you on that.

The Sims playerbase excluded of course.The Sims playerbase aren't gamers. They're just casual schmucks.

And what would you know about the Sims player base. You think all of us just play the Sims and nothing else? Yep, go ahead and wallow in your ignorance. This Sims player isn't on the stardock boards because that's all I play. This anti Sims thing is about as worthwhile as the anti-wii thing and the 360 vs PS3 argument. Mostly a bunch of guys wantng ther backs patted and egos elevated.

Quoting Nesrie,

reply 27

Your reaction betrays you, young grasshopper.

Look at Dwarf Fortress. The guy makes a living off a game which isn't even technically finished yet. Is PC gaming dieing? Uh. No. Are some of the big gaming companies switching to console only releases? Yes. Is that good for PC gaming? YES, DEFINATELY. The last thing we need is a monopoly in PC gaming, and having the big fish swim to another pond just leaves more room for the little ones to grow.

Quoting Luckmann,

reply 28

Your reaction betrays you, young grasshopper.

I'm older than you are, and I am tired of a bunch of the elite attitude some, primarily male gamers, have against a game they don't play. There are tons of games I don't play, and don't care for, but I am not insulting towards an entire group of people I don't know anything about.

As for PC gaming. No it's not dying but there is a post about it dying every few months, and this claim, that PC gaming is dying, has been happening for well over a decade.

Quoting Nesrie,

reply 30

What you're saying is "I am older than you" but what I'm hearing is "waaah, waaaah, waaaaaaah".

The PSP still can't emulate the DS. In fact, it wouldn't be viable at all even with the PSP's better hardware. Imagine playing Star Fox: Command with only one screen and no touch screen!

Really? I know that there are DS emulators for PC *cough*notthatI'veusedone*cough*, so I just assumed it would work the same...just with a painfully small screen.

nd what would you know about the Sims player base. You think all of us just play the Sims and nothing else? Yep, go ahead and wallow in your ignorance. This Sims player isn't on the stardock boards because that's all I play. This anti Sims thing is about as worthwhile as the anti-wii thing and the 360 vs PS3 argument. Mostly a bunch of guys wantng ther backs patted and egos elevated.

Overreaction much?

Hey look, a game discussing whether or not PC gaming is dying. Who wouldda thought... on the internet, no less!

Quoting lbgsloan,

reply 32

Overreaction much?

Right because almost 10 years of this bs, of gamers whining and pouting about a game they don't like doesn't get old

wow. i had no idea freespace 2 sold so few copies that is a travesty.

Well, there may not be a FS3 because of it,, but at least the engine went open-source so the SCP could work on it. All hail FS2 version 3.6.10 and the 3.6.10 MediaVPs!

My first time posting here and is in a pc gaming dying thread

No pc gaming is not dying

Is generating more income than consoles

If they can make games like sins of a solar empire with a budget of 1million then the pc future looks bright

you can find games that you wont find in any console. RTS, simulation, City building, MMO's, real driving sims,sports management games, adventure games ( the real adventure games point and click adventure games like machinarium that is )

I don’t see it dying, but I do see it taking a back seat to consoles, especially with games delivering first to the consoles, presumably to sell hardware

Saying that nowadays big games are developed only for consoles with PC only as an afterthought is not true either. Dragon Age: Origins is an excelent counter-example.

Moreover, I think it is a cycle. When new consoles are coming out they are as capable as PC. But as times goes on, the consoles start lagging seriously behind PC capabilities. And with console life time now expanded to like 10 years, lots of titles will apear aimed on PC, using huge advantage of PC in hardware at the time. Remember the first Crysis? Who would develop it at that time for consoles (XBox, and PS2 at the time)?

Today even modest PC has better capabilities than console. Imagine what will hapen in couple of years when consoles still will be XBox 360 and PS3, with possible exception of Wii (Wii HD? still inferior to PC, they have different strategy).

Quoting MxM111,

reply 39

I don't think this is 100% true: as games cost more and more and more, more games are developed for several platforms to recover from the costs, and when you develop for several platforms you try in general to make things common for all of them. So if in 2 years people continue making games for XBox360, PS3 and PC, it won't matter much we have DirectX11, as consoles will continue to be DX9 machines...

PC gaming will die when a console RTS is actually decent. Note, however, that this will also be a sign of the coming Apocalypse

PC Gaming's golden years were in the late 90's early 00's imo. After the 360 launched, it was the begining of the end of PC exclusives. Games are no longer being made for PC first, console second, and for a platform that excels in Technology and the Mouse and Keyboard interface, it's not an ideal situation at all. We now have to share AAA titles with at least the 360 and probably the PS3 as well. Where's the next Farcry, Doom , Crysis type PC blockbusters? No where. Everything is multiplat on PC nowadays with the occassional gem like the Witcher, which is now going multiplat. Dragon Age was a breath of fresh air, but that's the only multiplat I can think of designed for PC first, which was also in dev years ago. L4D2 was clealy dev'd with the 360 and PC in mind, although I find it highly preferable on the PC, Valve has their eyes set on 360 along with the PC from here on out. Blizzard seems to be the last pinnacle of PC gaming, along with indie studios of course. I still love this platform, and always will for RTS and FPS, but it's not the main platform for development any longer like it was in years past.

Is PC Gaming dying?
Before we can even begin to answer this question, we need to define what PC Gaming is. If you mean games focused entirely for the PC Market, then yes, of couse, these games are moving to the side and becoming niche titles as we enter the realm of multi-platform. It's the evolution of the industry and is a result of a large number of variables.

However, when most people scream 'PC Gaming is dying!' they are usually referring to the 'dumbing down' of games for the 'console 'tards'. In my experience, this is a fictious development of the mind of a gamer who considers themselves better because they use a mouse and keyboard compared to other gamers who use a controller. Some of the biggest titles available for the cross-platform market are what signifcantly for involved than people give them credit for. There seems to be a confusion between what a complicated, hardcore game is and what a great game is and some gamers are of the mind that if it doesn't utilise 32 button control schemes and come with a 400 page instruction manual, it's 'dumbed down for the console 'tards'. There is a big difference between accessible, and dumbed down and it's here, I feel, that the fictional death of PC gaming lives.

I wrote a discussion piece entitled "Gamers: Are we getting soft?" to talk about how easy games, or simple, games are becoming in general, and this isn't limited to the PC in any way. Why is this 'dumbing down' occuring? Simple; money. Games are literally making more money today than both the Music and Movie industries combined. The time of video games being a niche market have passed; video games are big money now and are reaching a social level that we haven't seen before. This is simillar to what happened in the movie industry where movies were made for the lowest common denominator so the maximum number of people would go and see the films; games are being made in the same way to sell to the largest number of players possible. 'Accessibility' is what it's called and it's both good and bad, but it's neither a result of console gaming or limited to it. Games have become a victim of their own success. Board Room Designing is the issue here, not consoles.

Now, Games on the PC dying? Hardly. Unlike the 360, which has around a 20 million user install base, PCs have the largest install base in the industry. Period. In comparison to the 360, Steam alone has 20 million active users. The reports of PC Games selling so unfathomably low compared to their console counter-parts that making games for the PC is simply not profitable comes out of North America and North America alone. A lot of these reports simply don't take into consideration international sales figures, online sales figures, price/volume differences or simplt have inconsistant data - what makes a game a top seller, for example (money made? number of copies shipped?). The recently announced record breaking sales figures posted by Modern Warfare 2 encompassed every terrirtory it was released in - not just North America - yet, reports which claimed the PC version sold less than the 360 version were based on North American retail sales figures alone and ignored the online - this includes online stores - sales figures and international sales figures entirely.

The facination with 'PC Games Dying' is a rather interesting trend fueld by longer development times and the rose-bud coloured glasses of nostelgia. We're now in an age where crafting the biggest and best AAA titles is measured in years and takes incredible numbers of people to accomplish, where as in the 'golden age' of gaming things took significantly less time and so we see less of these titles released each month, and each year, giving a perception that PC Gaming is dying. It's not dying, it simply takes longer and costs significantly more to make them. We're also looking at back and asking where are today's "Deus Exs" and "Baldur's Gate IIs" and failing to acknowledge that these games aren't just great titles, they are literally the best titles ever made. Period. This is like asking where are today's Mona Lisa's - ok, that might be a stretch in the comparsion, but you get the point.

In my opinion, PC Gaming is as strong as ever - literally hundreds of millions of people log onto their computers and play games every day. Every console ever released's total sale figures combined (minus the Gameboy) don't even cover 50% of the PCs shipped in the last two years (estimated at 520 Million). The install base dwarfs the console market, and if calculated risk - i.e. selling to as many people as possible - design is the wave of the future, then consoles have more to worry about than PCs.