For comparison, if there’s really a piracy rate of 95%, that would mean that there is something like 40 million copies of The Witcher on PC’s out there. That would be five times more popular then Halo 2 on the Xbox, more popular that WoW, twice as popular as the latest Call of Duty game across all platforms, eight times more popular the Gears of War.
The 95% number is pretty clearly bunk.
Another cool thing PC has going for it is that largely digital marketplace.
In terms of profit a game can sell 1/2 of what it sells on consoles and still bring in just as much money to a studio.
The open nature of the platform, the long tail-end of sales on PC, and the digital nature of the platform can mean that your game still makes you money years after release. In fact, there’s been games that have sold more 2 years after release than when it first came out!
Take a look at ARMA 2, years later, a mod comes out (DayZ) and they’re selling the game like hotcakes (why hotcakes? They don’t sound appetizing to me)- selling their game like cheesecakes. Same goes for Amenesia, Dark Descent. Years later it picks up a community buzz, and the studio is seeing tens of thousands of weekly sales.
I’ve been a PC gamer for over 20 years, but I find the older I get, the more I gravitate to the 360. The ability to sit in front of a large HDTV and jump right into and out of a game is very appealing to me. Contrast that to the hours of trouble shooting Steam to get the latest Half-Life mod to work, and then sit hunched over the computer desk for hours at a time. I believe we will see a time when we don’t think about what gaming platform we are using, but the games themselves. That said, there is plenty of fun to be found on the PC for the considerable future.
Well, to be fair, you couldn’t install ANY mods on a console game, period. 
In terms of ease of use, I think PC has passed consoles by.
When I come home, I wiggle my mouse and click on Left 4 dead, and I’m in the game in 3 seconds. I get an in-game IM from Beef insulting my parentage and asking me to join him in some Dirt 3 fun, and I’m in Dirt 3 in another 5 seconds.
On consoles that whole thing would have taken several minutes of looking for discs and interminable load times, and god forbid there’s a firmware update or an update to a game. On PC that kind fo stuff happens while I at work, automagically and in the background.
I do think the largest gap between consoles and PC is the entertainment center/living room factor. I agree with you there. Sure you could plug in your laptop/desktop to your TV, or build a PC specifically for your it (Home Theater PC and the like), but that’s just not in the realm of average Joe gamer.
I’d love to see Valve come up with something like a small box that streams content from your PC to your TV. Games, video, TV, etc. It might help cross that bridge.
Regardless of how many PC game boxes you see, there are tons of PC game sales going on online. Mostly through Steam, but there is GamersGate, Green Man Gaming, EA’s Origin, and many more. Steam’s summer sale is huge, you can buy many games for $5 or so, including AAA titles from not many years ago.
And yes, many people do want to sit back on their couch which is why Steam is developing Big Picture for use on TVs.
There are also rumors of a Steam console, which I’m expecting would be PC-based for those that don’t want to make their own living room PC.
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There are also rumors of a Steam console, which I’m expecting would be PC-based for those that don’t want to make their own living room PC.
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Basically that’s how I envision a next gen console system. Standardized hardware, with a large solid state hard drive, a slick OS and user interface, and using an internet connection (and something like the Apple App store for the game box) for downloading content, whether that be games, music, videos or whatever…possibly integrated with ones cable or satellite system to act as a DVR as well. Why no one has developed such a system yet is a mystery to me, but that’s what a successful new next gen system will be…I wouldn’t even bother putting in a freaking DVD player into the thing (possibly a USB connection for loading from thumb drives, but even that would be silly IMHO…just require an internet connection and have all purchases go through that connection).
The Ouya. Time will tell how successful it ends up being. It’s not Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft, so getting developers will be a slow process.
Should also look up Steam’s Big Picture mode - a TV-customized Steam interface. It just entered open beta, IIRC, so you can opt in through Steam. If you can stretch a HDMI cable between your PC and TV and you’re close enough that you can connect a wireless controller to your PC, it’ll essentially be a console.
I am also an avid PC Gamer, and while PC Gaming has definitely gone downhill (fewer games, some games simplified and ported directly from consoles), I think that there will be niche for the PC. Some games, like MMORPG, FPS, Strategy games for instance are much easier and better to play on the PC than a console. I just don’t think it would be enjoyable to play games like Civilization, Total War, EVE online, on the consoles. And even FPS like Call of Duty, Battlefield are better on the PC where you can use a mouse to aim instead of a controller.
PCs are also upgradeable, while the console crowd is stuck with last year’s technology until the next console comes out, sometimes 4-5 years later. I think in the long run what will happen is that the PC and console will merge into one big machine. I can envision one machine hooked into the TV functioning as your Gaming device, DVR, Web surfing platform, MP3 music player, etc. And the machine will probably have to be hooked into the internet and accessing your games and other content through a cloud based system. When that happens, your PC/console will no longer even need to be upgraded every few years, because it will just be like a thin client shell with some ports and a keyboard/mouse, gaming controller hooked into it.
You’ve listed six free-to-play titles (LOL, Dota2, Tribes, Mech Warrior online, Warface, C&C Generals) and five strategy titles (SimCity, Civ V, Anno 2070, Company of Heroes 2, Rome 2 Total War). Both of those genres practically scream “niche” though some of the strategy games are clearly “AAA” contenders.
You’ve also listed four MMOs (Planet Side 2, Elder Scrolls Online, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2), which definitely have the development budgets of a “AAA” game.
Diablo 3 is, without a doubt an undisputed “AAA” game.
Oh, and Project Cars is in simultaneous development for the Wii U.
I think you’re seriously overselling the PC and seriously underselling the consoles.
Wait, Uhm, MOBA is niche? There are more people playing MOBA games than there were sales of the last 2 Call Of Duty’s combined. Some of the strategy titles are also played by larger numbers than some “AAA” titles on consoles.
This is the what I’m talking about. You don’t mean niche, you mean none of your circle of friends play them. It’s called sample bias.
“Niche” is the wrong word, but I have a hard time accepting free-to-play games as “AAA” titles. Especially when you cite user numbers. Of course there’s a shit-ton of users, it’s free!
Put me firmly in the “PC gaming has gotten better” crowd.
All the hassles of PC gaming have for the most part disappeared - port forwarding, driver updates, hardware incompatibility - I haven’t dealt with these in years.
PCs led the way in digital distribution, one of the greatest things ever. Last week I downloaded Zeus and Poseidon from GoG and immediately got sucked back into a game that I hadn’t played in ten years.
The games that get crappy ports from consoles are usually from the same developers. The good ones learn their lesson - Gearbox posted a PC love letter for people who will play Borderlands 2 on a PC.
Far from getting worse, PC gaming is the engine of gaming. Leading the way in design, graphics, and delivery.
Yeah, same old arguments I know, but that’s what I think. Now I’m off to play Borderlands 2 on the PC!
Really? Because HDMI cables aren’t THAT expensive.
It’s not just the HDMI cable. It’s the entire mouse/keyboard interface. Where do you put a mouse in your living room?
That’s why Steam’s Big Picture thing (and hardware beta, from the intarwebz) could be such a big deal. With JUST an HDMI cable and an existing controller you get access to your entire library of PC games on your big TV.
Valve just handed out more than 1.5 million dollars as prize money for their DOTA 2 tournament. I think it’s safe to say that it’s a AAA title.
The crazy thing about DOTA 2 is that it’s not even a “freemium” game. It’s completely free to play and the only things you can spend cash on are cosmetic improvements.
And those cosmetic improvements are making 13 year old 3D designers hundreds of thousands of dollars, and valve likely millions and millions of dollars.
On the coffee table? On a tray on my lap? Everyone uses wireless mouses these days, anyway. Plus, I’m pretty sure they sell wireless USB PlayStation-style controllers for the PC.
Because the prevalence of high speed internet access in the home is a pretty recent phenomenon. A console that’s completely dependent on it wouldn’t have been at all marketable a few years ago.
I think it goes in waves. Consoles are nice and easy, but they are stuck in time with 2005 graphics (or whatever date your particular console was releases). PC graphics improve each year. So if anything, PC gaming is more popular now as the XBox and Playstation reach the end of their useful life cycle.
That said, it’s expensive to build a top of the line gaming PC compared to buying an XBox360. But that and the fact that PC games tend to be “mod-able” tends to attract more hard core gaming fans.