That is bullshit plain and simple. There are a lot more consoles than there are PCs capable of playing newly released games (which is what you’re really saying).
I don’t mean to hijack, but that kind of statement hasn’t been true since the late 90s and will likely never be true again.
As for the game itself, I hated Diablo II and liked Diablo I. Based on the gameplay trailer alone, I’m definitely getting this.
What the hell are you talking about? Numerous surveys have shown that the average gamer plays more PC games than console games. The number of sales for PC games as reported by the major publishers have the PC beating out the next gen consoles by a considerable margin.
The install base for PC’s that will likely be able to play Diablo III is absolutely larger than the PS3 and XBOX 360 combined.
Really, where the hell are you getting your informaiton from?
Reality. Let’s take Call of Duty 4, a game released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. It was also originally a PC-exclusive series, so the game has a lot of fans that own a gaming capable PC.
Here’s an article from a few weeks ago that details CoD4 passing 10 million in sales.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-9959146-52.html?tag=nefd.top
The head of Infinity Ward even confirms that the Xbox 360 is the bestselling version. A quick trip to VGChartz shows 6 million for the Xbox 360 version and 3 million for the PS3 version. That only leaves 1 million for the PC version.
The article goes on to say that 10 million sellers are rare, with only “less than 10” games to do it since 2000. And what are some of those games? Why Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (17 mil just on the PS2), Gran Turismo 3 (14 mil just on the PS2), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (14 mil just on the PS2) and Grand Theft Auto III (11 mil just on the PS2) are a good start. The GTA games came out on PC as well, but no way could PC game sales reach anywhere close to those numbers.
And just for icing, this article
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/50939
shows that PC game sales only account for 14% of all retail game sales in 2007. Sure digital distribution isn’t included, but come on, there’s no way the math can be massaged to put PC games ahead of console games “by a considerable margin.”
Um. Money?
Maybe I should log my wife out before posting.
Daniel
There’s still room in the world for niche markets: just because more people eat burgers than burritos in the US doesn’t mean that Taco Bell needs to add all-beef patties to their menu. If Blizzard decides that they’re better off spending their energy making a game that functions perfectly on PCs and Macs than on making a game that functions pretty well on PCs, Macs, and consoles, I expect they’ll do just that. They’re known for being perfectionists, and that’s not a reputation they’ll want to lose.
Daniel
There has beena HUGE shift from retail PC to donwloadable games. It account for millions of dollars. Just thinking about WOW, as many people play that game as there are PS3 consoles out there.
I’m sorry but PC gaming is still incredibly huge. Granted as I mentioned above, Diablo’s play style defnitely complements console style gaming. So I wouldn’t be suprised if they do release it for the consoles as well.
That’s all well and good, but console games sales accounts for several billions of dollars. And while there as many WoW accounts (not players, accounts) out there as there are PS3 systems, there is also the Xbox 360 and the Wii, which both blow WoW out of the water.
Completely understood, I was replying to the notion that Blizzard would never want to put the game on consoles because the PC audience is so much larger, which is ridiculous.
Well Apparently Bliz doesn’t see it your way necessarily. They just confirmed Diablo III as a PC/Mac Exclusive.
Some more details:
What my way? I am merely pointing out that PC gaming is no longer the top platform and hasn’t been for sometime.
While I am a Blizzard stockholder (or will be as soon as the Activision-Blizzard merger goes through), I am not their mommy and I cannot tell them to share their games with their console brothers. They can do what they want and if they want to turn down the easy money that is a popular game on the most popular platform, then more power to them. But my wallet weeps.
I dunno. I think they could reach out and get more people that will end up loving Blizzard’s work if they put it out on the conosles too.
Sorry, I’m not buying this at all. Unless you are including the minesweeper/solitaire/online-poker people in there, and even then I don’t think you will reach the number of people playing consoles today.
Maybe in the 90’s but not now. The days of the PC as a mega game machine, outside of MMORPGs, are gone and won’t come back.
One would think, reading this thread, that the topic would be akin to something on the subject of the pointless pissing match commonly known as PC vs. consoles. Imagine my surprise when I realized I was still in the Diablo 3 thread …
Can we stop the fucking hijack and attempt to discuss the game now?
There are a grand total of 65 million consoles out there. I doubt the Wii hardware can handle D3 and even if it could, the online service is so shitty I doubt Blizzard would even consider porting it. So that leaves us with aproximately 30 million 360/PS3 owners. And it could work for those consoles and I kind of want to see Blizzard try. Keep in mind, Diablo was on the PS1. (It got an inferior score due to a choppy framerate, long loading and saving times, but was still considered a successful port)
I suspect one of the biggest reasons D3 is PC/Mac exclusive is because they want Battle.net to be an operative feature. XBox Live and PS Network are great, but not that great. Further, I have a hard time imagining how the control scheme on a console pad would work out with dozens of combos at your fingertips, quick-heal and quick-mana buttons, directional control (keep in mind you actually have to aim a lot and not just in a general direction, for spells like the fireball), jumping and so on and so forth.
Lastly, Blizzard aims at longevity and replay value in all their games. Warcraft 3? Starcraft? Still the biggest strategy games around. Diablo 2? Still thousands playing online. And I’ve never heard of that kind of longevity in a console game.What console game older than two years is still being played extensively? Competetively?
I’m glad they didn’t decide to cross-release unto the consoles, personally, because I’d hate for them to have to dumb it down.
Shit. This has me all ready to play D2 again, and the disks are somewhere buried deep in my closet…
-sigh-
Joe
I can think of a few. Before Brawl came out, there was Smash Brothers Melee. Also, Halo3 might last that long.
Also I’m pretty sure there are still tournaments for old-as-the-hills original Street Fighter II (and/or turbo).
Virtual Console anyone?
The stars must be aligned. I literally just finished installing Diablo II again when the announcement came. However, I’m reserving my nerd hype until I see it for myself. What was Blizzard’s last non-WOW game? The Diablo II expansion in 2001? Since then, many of the creative minds responsible for the original games have left. Sure, the gameplay video looks great, but I’m wary that Blizzard has jumped the bloated overfed shark that is World of Warcraft.
Time vill tell. Sooner or later, time vill tell.
Wait, wrong franchise.