Microsoft exec: Hardly anyone plays shooters on PC

Counter Strike - proof that PC FPS are still flourishing
Counter Strike - proof that PC FPS are still flourishing

A Microsoft exec has courted controversy by suggesting that 'hardly anyone' plays first person shooters on the PC any more, because of console shooters like Halo.

Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360 creator Kudo Tsunoda suggested that the PC is waning for first person shooters, something that is sure to raise the hackles of thousands of serious gamers.

"Halo did an awesome job of building a first-person shooter exclusively for the console, and now hardly anyone plays first person shooters on the PC anymore," Tsunoda told Game Informer.

"All about the console"

"It's all about the console," he added. "And I feel it is the same with Kinect stuff. If you are constantly trying to take something that is made for a controller and port it over to Kinect, it's not going to be a good experience because it is made for a controller.

"If you take the time to build it for Kinect from the ground up, however, you can make something that is a very new experience, but lots of times even more fun than it was before."

Mouse and keys is still considered the quickest and most accurate method for first person shooters, and recently Hewlett Packard and VooDoo man Rahul Sood revealed that Microsoft had killed a project for console and PC gamers to play against each other because "the console players got destroyed every time."

Certainly the likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Team Fortress 2 and classic Team Fortress are still phenomenally popular online, with packed servers full of enthusiastic gamers, and gaming giant Valve still considers the PC as the home of its games.

So, Kinect may be reaching out to hardcore gamers, but its creator is hardly endearing himself with one major section of the gaming community.

From Game Informer via Neowin

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.