# PC Gaming. Is it dying? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 9, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986 "2010-11-09T02:05:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/141 "2010-11-18T14:15:31Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > _iPhone_ and android apps also have virtually no start up costs. Emphasis mine. Last I heard, you have to own a Mac to develop games for iOS, and then you have to pay a $99 fee to register as a developer. Quite prohibitive. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/142 "2010-11-18T14:18:30Z")
> [@unwashed\_brain](#): > > Last I heard, you have to own a Mac to develop games for iOS, and then you have to pay a $99 fee to register as a developer. Quite prohibitive. Please. As far as game development costs go, that’s chump change. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/143 "2010-11-18T14:25:22Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Please. As far as game development costs go, that’s chump change. For a game company, yes. Then they take 30% off the top of every copy you sell. THAT is not chump change. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/144 "2010-11-18T14:34:22Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > As posted above, there are slightly more Xbox 360s in the world than FREE Steam accounts. So any comparison between the two is pretty useless as you don’t know who signed up for Steam for one game versus how many people use it regularly and you don’t know who has Live Gold versus who has Live Silver. The poster’s concern appeared to be about the size of the online community, not the size of the install base. The point remains, Steam has more users than xbox live has users, and certainly more than Gold users, which is who can play games online. > [@](#): > > But I dug up the real numbers, it appears to be 1,000,000 (which was tweeted by Treyarch’s community manager) versus 122,000 (which Steam was showing at the time of the tweet). > > [StockExaminer - AI-Powered Stock Chatbot](http://www.examiner.com/console-gaming-in-national/call-of-duty-black-ops-hits-one-million-xbox-live-players) I read about the tweet. The tweet was about the number of concurrent Xbox live user at the time. There is no mention of them ALL playing black ops. If that’s just a total of concurrent xbox live users, I guarantee you Steam was beating that number by an order of magnitude. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/145 "2010-11-18T14:37:13Z")
> [@unwashed\_brain](#): > > For a game company, yes. Then they take 30% off the top of every copy you sell. THAT is not chump change. That’s pretty good for publishing actually. Steam charges about the same I believe. The only way you’re going to beat that is by selling directly to users outside those store fronts, and then you won’t be moving anywhere near the numbers you would move through iTunes/Steam. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/146 "2010-11-18T14:41:21Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > The poster’s concern appeared to be about the size of the online community, not the size of the install base. The point remains, Steam has more users than xbox live has users, and certainly more than Gold users, which is who can play games online. You don’t even have to buy any games on Steam to sign up for a Steam account. You do have to buy an Xbox 360 to sign up for Xbox Live. But the fact remains, comparing them is useless as the number of Steam accounts means jack shit as you don’t know if they’re even buying anything and the number of Live accounts means jack shit as you have no idea how many of them are Gold members. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/147 "2010-11-18T14:54:32Z")
Do Xbox 360s just idle online without playing anything? The vast majority of people on my Steam list are online, but not playing anything. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/148 "2010-11-18T15:17:13Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > That’s pretty good for publishing actually. Steam charges about the same I believe. The only way you’re going to beat that is by selling directly to users outside those store fronts, and then you won’t be moving anywhere near the numbers you would move through iTunes/Steam. I was poking around for Steam’s percentage but couldn’t find it in the 2 minutes this question held my interest. Does anyone know this figure, as well as that of the Android marketplace and the new Windows Phone 7 marketplace? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/149 "2010-11-18T15:22:02Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > Do Xbox 360s just idle online without playing anything? The vast majority of people on my Steam list are online, but not playing anything. Aren’t you automatically signed in to Xbox live when the console boots? That how mine works. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/150 "2010-11-18T15:28:40Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Aren’t you automatically signed in to Xbox live when the console boots? That how mine works. I believe that’s how it works with the PlayStation Network, too. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/151 "2010-11-18T15:56:47Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Aren’t you automatically signed in to Xbox live when the console boots? That how mine works. That’s how it works if you set it up that way when you first get the console. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/152 "2010-11-18T16:21:55Z")
But isn’t that process the default? I remember being asked to input my account details and that’s it. From then on it just logged me in. Could be I clicked… eh maneuvered and activated a check box somewhere that I didn’t notice though. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986/153 "2010-11-18T16:25:38Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > But isn’t that process the default? I remember being asked to input my account details and that’s it. From then on it just logged me in. Could be I clicked… eh maneuvered and activated a check box somewhere that I didn’t notice though. I set up my 360 a little over four years ago now, so I’m hazy on the specifics. But I believe when you input your account it asks you. You’re right in that the vast majority don’t say no, but it is an option. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-gaming-is-it-dying/559986.md?page=7)