Is PC gaming doomed? Apolyton 2008 edition

[lord of the mark]

your comments on current and upcoming releases, the state of HW and SW, PC exclusives, concurrent releases and relative quality and sales vs consoles, PC games that are being ported to console or given console versions vs console games ported to PC, initiative to "save" PC gaming like the PC Gaming alliance, your comments on the NPD numbers and their accuracy, the relevance of the european market vs NA, piracy, direct to drive sales, MMOs and whether they are saving or killing PC games, casual games, the PC and the console life cycle, etc, etc.

TRY, if possible to keep it to RECENT things and not to the things one could have posted in 2004 or earlier.

To get us started:

Valve at least, claims to think the platform is far from dead:

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10711&Itemid=2&limit=1&limitstart=0

[FrostyBoy]

And Valve would be right.

[Nostromo]

Another problem with these discussions is that people compare PC, on the one hand, and all the other consoles on the other. Instead, they should compare individual platforms, like PC versus Xbox, PC versus PS3, etc., etc. In other words, the journalists and the analysts are are doing a lousy job. No surprise there.

[Asher]

It doesn't matter what you compare it to, it's pathetic...

Compare Xbox 360 sales to PC sales.

[Wiglaf]

Tell this to WoW, or Starcraft 2, or The Sims, or COD4...

[flash9286]

COD4 is a prime example of why PC gaming is declining. Rampant pirating.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
Tell this to WoW, or Starcraft 2, or The Sims, or COD4...

So you play The Sims in addition to the American Idol game?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Nostromo
Another problem with these discussions is that people compare PC, on the one hand, and all the other consoles on the other. Instead, they should compare individual platforms, like PC versus Xbox, PC versus PS3, etc., etc. In other words, the journalists and the analysts are are doing a lousy job. No surprise there.

I was thinking more in terms of the health of the platform period, not a comparison per se. Console gaming has clearly grown in over the last several console gens, and this one is no exception, and we're still at phase of the console cycle where consoles are continuing to grow (from what I can gather)

But then handheld gaming has grown, and so has mobile phone gaming. even faster than console gaming, IIUC. Yet no one says console gaming is doomed on that account, and the growth of consoles in general, even of the xbox, may not mean that the PC is doomed as a platform. Now that doesnt mean there arent genres and subgenres where the PC is in direct competition with another platform. And its not to deny that the shift of some key genres toward the 360 in particular has created issues for the whole PC "ecosystem"

But it does mean that simply showing that all consoles, or even one console, sells more SW worldwide, or just in the US, or just in the US excluding certain categories of revenues, does not show the PC to be "dying".

[Asher]

But then handheld gaming has grown, and so has mobile phone gaming. even faster than console gaming, IIUC. Yet no one says console gaming is doomed on that account, and the growth of consoles in general, even of the xbox, may not mean that the PC is doomed as a platform.

Did it ever occur to you that the reason why people say PC gaming is doomed isn't cause consoles sell more, it's cause PC game sales are falling?

Just a thought.

[FrostyBoy]

Originally posted by Asher
It doesn't matter what you compare it to, it's pathetic...

Compare Xbox 360 sales to PC sales.

...is like comparing dumbasses to kiwis (educated people)

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
Tell this to WoW, or Starcraft 2, or The Sims, or COD4...

Does COD4 really belong on this list? WOW is an MMORPG, a genre the PC still dominates, and is apparently the dominant revenue generator on the PC. The Sims series is, I guess, the second biggest revenue generator for the PC, despite some relatively minor console versions/ports. SC2 is an upcoming release of an RTS, again a PC dominant genre, that will (I guess) be released PC exclusive, and will be important for the platform.

COD4 though - was a multiplatform release that did much better on the consoles - though I guess it sold enough on the PC to more than justify the cost of the coding. That should keep the PC getting either simultaneous releases, or slightly later ports of FPS, but it hardly represents the kind of dominance the other 3 example you list do.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher

But then handheld gaming has grown, and so has mobile phone gaming. even faster than console gaming, IIUC. Yet no one says console gaming is doomed on that account, and the growth of consoles in general, even of the xbox, may not mean that the PC is doomed as a platform.

Did it ever occur to you that the reason why people say PC gaming is doomed isn't cause consoles sell more, it's cause PC game sales are falling?

Just a thought.

except they almost certain havent. The only data showing they have are NPD data that even NPD doesnt think is close to complete.

Even me, quasi-luddite that I am, find the concept of Steam appealing (if only they had more games other than FPS's) Lots of anecdotal evidence that direct to drive sales have increased dramatically, and thats ignoring the subscription revenue model.

and of course NPD is the US.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by flash9286
COD4 is a prime example of why PC gaming is declining. Rampant pirating.

Or at least sales of AAA FPS, the type of game that apparently most appeals to pirates.

[Asher]

Originally posted by FrostyBoy



...is like comparing dumbasses to kiwis (educated people)

Dumbasses = kiwis, as ably demonstrated by the posters on this board.

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


except they almost certain havent. The only data showing they have are NPD data that even NPD doesnt think is close to complete.

Problem is all of the metrics only track retail sales. Which are dropping significantly year over year.

Unless you can show me definitive numbers showing the digital downloads being of significant numbers to offset massive drops in revenue, you're full of ****.



In what kind of deranged mind does "all possibly known definitive indicators show decline in PC sales" equate to "almost certainly haven't declined", anyway?