The all-knowing man on the internet who loudly proclaims that it's game over for the PC doesn't, it transpires, know much at all.
Not only is there this sad tendency to declare the PC the Latin of games platforms, but there's also a constant hunt for a smoking gun. Is it Microsoft abandoning it in favour of its own Xbox? Is it piracy? Is it complexity and cost?
The key mistake is the confusion of 'change' with 'death'. It seems outlandish to accuse an industry that was worth $10.7billion in 2007 (according to a recent study by the vague-of-purpose PC Gaming Alliance) of being in anything less than rude health.
Another report, from research firm John Peddie, suggests that the hardware market is in even better shape than the software market: "From Q3 2005 till Q3 2008, 196 million gaming PCs shipped, and 10 million of them were in the Mainstream Enthusiast class—and if we include mainstream desktop and high-end notebook, we could add another 187 million units—now that really is a lot."
The true cost
The popular presumption is that gaming PCs are ludicrously expensive compared to the current console generation. It's a patent untruth: £250 can buy you a system capable of playing any current game, and one that offers versatility and future-proofing upgradeability any console could only dream of.
It is, however, easy to appreciate why so many have presumed the worst. Certainly, standard boxed game sales are down, and there's not been much in terms of bona fide AAA PC exclusives of late. The platform's biggest games turn up on console too; the knee-jerk reaction to this is that the PC is being overlooked, but really it's cause for celebration.
We see veteran PC series such as Command & Conquer being blessed with bolstered budgets and quality control that would be impossible were they PC alone. Most of the 360's most interesting titles filter down to PC, whether it's straight away or in a graphically improved form a few months later – as with next week's GTA IV. Far from harming the PC, the 360 has probably done it a favour. The PC now gets the fruits of the other platform's labour as a matter of course.
Revenue streams
That's not really where PC gaming's vast revenue comes from, however. While the consoles are dabbling with online distribution, the PC is charging towards this bright new, plastic disc-free future at full steam. In 2007, digital sales – think the likes of Steam and Gametap – earned almost $2bn, and 2008's haul is likely to be far bigger still.
And that's without factoring the PC's really big movers: World of Warcraft and The Sims. The consoles simply have nothing to compare to the spectacular turnover of the former's subscriptions and the latter's expansions. In addition, the Asian MMO market generates almost as much PC gaming cash as the rest of the world combined. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Xbox 360 console didn't begin to turn a profit until it had been on sale for almost three years.
On its initial release, estimates put Microsoft's operating loss on each console at $126 – and that's back when it sold for $399. In recent months, reduced manufacturing costs have finally seen the box start to make a profit, but what a gamble it was.
At this stage, a third Xbox may not be guaranteed. Each foray into a new hardware generation sees Microsoft burn a small fortune with the only hope being that the long game will pay off. It's a far cry from the safe fortune of licensing Windows and Office to PCs the world over.
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Your comments (5) Click to add a new comment
dreamhunk
December 15th 2008
5. I just want to add this link here for people to look at
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/DRM-Prince-Persia-PC-Securom,6687.html
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darthsteve333
December 14th 2008
4. The thing that gets my goat as a PC gamer (who also owns consoles) is that when these multiplatform games finally reach the PC, they're poorly optimised or riddled with DRM software that infect my PC AFTER I have done the decent thing and bought the game.
Its the talk of PC gamers everywhere at the moment, but you can't get away from it - the attitude of many games companies towards PC gamers (I'm looking at you EA), is nothing short of scandalous. GTA IV is quoted in the article, but I wonder whether the writer has tried installing and running the game on PC. A lot of PC gamers have, and have experienced significant issues in getting the game to run at all, and those that have are finding the game has been poorly optimised and runs very badly.
Another example is a game I bought my wife a couple of days ago - Sacred 2. The specs of her machine well exceed the minimum specs quoted on the box, but even after installing 3 post retail patches, (totalling over 1gb of downloads), the game randomly slows down and crashes the machine if she as much as thinks about running it even slightly above the minimum performance levels in game.
Its about time people woke up to the fact that PC gamers are getting the brown sticky and smelly end of the stick from a lot of publishers. I for one don't want my only form of PC gaming to be MMORPGs, as although it appears that Blizzard, NCSoft et al do look after their customers better than EA or Ubisoft for example, that repetitive style of game bores me to tears.
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dreamhunk
December 12th 2008
3. the only thing console is got going for it is cost and pc gaming being too complex for some people.
that is why the wii is winning in the big picture the pc is winning because there free games on the pc.
In fact runescape is more popular than all of hollywood and sporting games
http://www.clickz.com/3631593
the media should ask EA about fifa in asia
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dreamhunk
December 12th 2008
2. sorry I was not clear with my gammer so I fixed it.
these game comapnies could care less about consoles they know alot about pc gamers. There are huge coummunties just for pc gaming.
pc gaming will never die, don't beleave the media all they want you to hear pc gaming is dyeing. I bet some the media people in the take cash from big busines to make you beleave in pc gaming is dying.
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dreamhunk
December 12th 2008
1. pc gaming will never die. It's too big to die. The best game devs on the market respect their fan base. Like Bio-ware,vavle,Blizzard and anetNcsoft.
these games could care less about consoles they know alot about pc gamers. There are huge coummunties just for pc gaming.
the people who are trying to kill pc gaming are the big buiness.
big business vs pc gamers
media vs pc gamers
Here is why pc gaming will never die and mods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H2Tjj8N6F8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H2Tjj8N6F8
In fact console gaming destories companies. Pc gaming creates companies.
as for pircay it's on all gaming machines
check this out nintendo lost 1 billion to pircay that is just nintendo alone
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Almost-1-Billion-Dollars-Lost-by-Nintendo-in-2007-78918.shtml
now check 360 getting pirated even gears of war 2 and fallout 3 got pirated
http://kotaku.com/5060952/fallout-3-360-compromised-by-pre+apocalyptic-pirates
check out the history of pircay
http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/3GwK3lZIp7jrUUeZdcp7se3MlENRIULs
pc gaming will never die, don't beleave the media they way you to hear pc gaming is dyeing. I bet some the people in the media take cash from big business.
I just want to say that there is bigger business that back pc gaming.
there is more game devs that back pc gaming.
take good look at E3 it was dead because of pc gaming!
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