Is PC gaming doomed? Apolyton 2008 edition

[Asher]

That's not a ****ing merger.

It's a simple co-marketing deal. HUGE difference.

[El_Cid]

ah yes sorry, I had was also reading an article about the lay offs at High Moon(Bourne Supremacy) after the Activision/Vivendi merger!

http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19765

crossed wires......nitpicker

In other PC gaming news they had an interesting survey conducted by Game Developer Research:

http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19672

It would seem that many indie devs are making use of XBLA(etc), as most of the readership for this magazine, I presume, are indie rather than AAA (Asher can confirm this for me I suspect)?

Still 70% are still making PC/Mac games, so that is a good thing

[Asher]

XBLA has indy games and studio games.

[El_Cid]

I think Game developer is aimed at mostly indies? I'm only thinking that due to the figures from the survey on 70% production being done for PC(so only 30% on console), which is almost an inverse of the AAA development figures I would suspect.

And if you have a spare £2000 you can get the full report!!

[Asher]

I have no idea what the hell you are talking about.

XBLA caters to anyone who wants it. True indy (self-funded) studios will probably be in the XNA fold.

There are very few AAA indy games on the PC. There are more on the 360 from what I can tell.

[El_Cid]

Drop your MS lenses for a sec and you will see I'm not criticizing your love child!
All I'm saying is 70% of the devs surveyed(As in the Game Developer Research link I gave) doing PC game development would suggest to me that this isn't representative of most AAA publishers(EA/Activision/2K/Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo etc). As most AAA dev is for the big three consoles these days, less on PC.

And I didn't feel like paying the £2000 for the full report to know for sure.

That's all Asher....relax it's not an MS bash from me

[Asher]

I'm not saying you're bashing MS, I'm saying you're not making any point and I'm confused how you can keep spitting out posts without any cohesive point.

[El_Cid]

Ok well sometimes I like the reader to make up their own point, sometimes it's just nice to spread the info around and let the idea flow.

If that's too un-pointed for you i'm sorry, but I don't always have an agenda to push, sometimes I'm just curious and interested in the games industry and like to share.

[lord of the mark]

PC gaming is dead.

Dont follow the link - its pro-PC spam, It should be banned.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6196181.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6196181

[Asher]

The number includes MMORPG revenue, which is ironically what is killing PC game sales...

It's also an unsubstantiated claim from a pro-PC gaming tradegroup.

So, your attempt at sarcasm was actually correct (for once). Perhaps you should just always post like that? It saves me a lot of time.

[snoopy369]

MMORPGs aren't PC games?

[Asher]

Originally posted by snoopy369
MMORPGs aren't PC games?

They are when they're counted as the initial sales.

They're not when they're counted as a value-added service like a monthly fee. Just like Xbox Live member subscriptions or downloadable content numbers don't get included in the console numbers...

[El_Cid]

I dont know why it took so long to publish these numbers:

http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19914

but for 2007 PC games market hit $10 billion, $4.8billion from on-line downloads alone.


Compared to the numbers from this source of worldwide videogames earnings of around $38 billion for 2008, the PC contribution is still significant, maybe more than many would like us to think?

http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19912

Go PC

[snoopy369]

Look up four posts...

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
The number includes MMORPG revenue, which is ironically what is killing PC game sales...

It's also an unsubstantiated claim from a pro-PC gaming tradegroup.

So, your attempt at sarcasm was actually correct (for once). Perhaps you should just always post like that? It saves me a lot of time.

You are so right Asher. Im not even going to do the breakout of MMORPG revenue from other online rev, casual rev, etc. First Im too lazy and care too little about gaming to do the numbers carefully, and will probably make a mistake. But also cause its wrong in and of itself to use numbers from a pro-PC trade group, even one that includes Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft, etc. They should all be banned. Im going to suggest that no one go to other busier sites where these numbers are being discussed, and see what others make of them.

PC gaming is completely dead, killed by MMORPGs.

Meanwhile Im sorry I havent posted here more, the little time I have for gaming has been devoted to Age of Sail Privateers Bounty and to Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, both of which are games I purchased on their tenth anniversaries - AOS:PB came out in 2002 and RCT3 in late 2004 - (im either screwing up the math again, or I have been time traveling, Im really not sure which) Not that Id give such ancient games as examples of PC gaming being alive (it is not) its just that Id like to keep moving through my backlog, and the upcoming release of Spore and Colonization is making me think I should be buying new games again. Oh and Im gonna buy Civ4 any day now (in honor of its 10 anniv) even though as everyone knows Civ:Rev is superior.

PC gaming is dead. Dont be fooled.