The Pendulum Will Swing from Consoles to PC Games in 2015

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

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Light and dark, Yin and Yang, consoles and PCs; they all share the pendulum’s swing from one back to another and this year looks to be the year of the PC’s return to prominence in the gaming world. What turns the tide? This year it will be the introduction of Windows 10 and its renewed dedication to gaming, improved hardware resources and of course, more and better games to play.

We can expect to see a lot of outstanding PC games this year, including multiplatform releases such as Dying Light, Evolve, and Fable Heroes. And some lucky fans will be able to play those games at superfast frame rates on gaming monitors that can display images quickly in 4K resolution or better.
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Um, how many real console exclusives where there last year? It's not many. Infamous: Second Sun and Sunset Overdrive are the only two I can think of (although I'm sure there are more).
 
not too long ago we were told PC gaming was dead. i guess all these "experts" are full of crap.


mp-trolollo.png
 
console gaming is dead owned a PS4 for a Year and like 2 months no good games =)
That I can't buy on the PC cheaper also exclusives are next to nothing right now 1886 the order and maybe Bloodborne will fix that.

Exclusives are the only hope for consoles....
 
When the PS5 comes out when I'm 50 years old I'm going to say FUCK IT.... It's only going have graphics comparable to the PC I'm typing on and shaped like god knows what.
 
"but but but I thought the new consoles were just PCs now cuz lyke AMD inside, derp"
 
This article has just about no substance. Yes, things are getting bigger on the PC, but that's been true since maybe 2008? The author is making it sound like 2013 was a low point for the PC because the consoles launched. It's a false analysis since PC gaming was getting stronger the entire time. The rest of the article amounts to "Windows 10! 4k scaling! The PC is saved! Who would have thought!?"

The whole thing comes across like somebody who doesn't know what the hell they're talking about, hasn't done any research aside from some press releases, then making a correct point entirely by accident.
 
Nothing to do with Win 10, especially since it isn't out yet. Consoles still sell more games. I think PC gaming has gotten a bit bigger in the last few years though. I think it can be attributed to more PC only games coming out, some higher profile Kickstarter projects, and Steam/Origin.
 
One guy predicts that PC will be back on top and peoples around here are ready to open bottles of Champagne :rolleyes:
I suggest a little bit more evidence before starting the celebration..
 
How can you not like an article that pisses off console weenies?
 
Look at Windows 10 and tell me if it isn't an attack on PC gaming. LOOK AT IT! Dying Light is coming to Linux the same time for console and Windows. Microsoft finally stopped snorting coke and saw that Steam and PC gaming is a threat to the Xbox One and Windows.

#1 Windows 10 did EVERYTHING RIGHT.
It has a start button. It has separate UI's for desktop and tablets. It's Windows 8 without the suck. You can't say anything bad about Windows 10.

#2 Windows 10 is free like Linux
Not technically but if anyone for the past 8 years that has owned a PC, then you likely have Windows 7 at least. Which means you now have Windows 10. Microsoft could have been a dick about it and made it only for Windows 8.

#3 Xbox One streaming
Probably the biggest slap to the PC master race. Rather than having Xbox One games run natively on PC, Microsoft wants you to run two machines to play 1 game. Any $500 PC could run Xbox One games. Especially now with DX12.

#4 Cortana
Just pointing out that they're using a female character from Halo as their new Siri clone for Windows. A game that's ironically is exclusive to Xbox and not on PC. At least not the recent titles.

#5 Windows 10 for Xbox One
The hacking you could do if this were to happen. Of course Microsoft will limit you to the App Store which will keep the Xbox One hack free, but that won't last. I'm more excited at the idea of someone finding a way to run Xbone games on PC, than homebrew on Xbone.

Does nobody else see this as an attack on PC gaming? Specifically Steam cause a lot of the features seem to be just in time before Valve releases info about SteamBox. As much as Microsoft claims that they have a lot of focus on PC gaming, I just don't see it. It's all a focus on app store and Xbox. Once every Windows 7 user upgrades to Windows 10, you'll all have access to the Windows store.

Especially around Q2 of this year where both AMD and Intel are going to release new CPUs with stronger GPUs built in, along with SteamOS as an alternative choice for gamers. It's not hard to see PC gaming as a strong competitor to consoles this year. Microsoft isn't holding back cause they know they could potentially lose both Windows 10 and Xbox One.
 
PC has already exceeded any individual console sales a while ago, in total hardware revenue as well, as I had previous posted the numbers.

Comparing "PC" to "Xbox One" sales makes sense. Comparing "PC" to "Xbox One + Xbox 360 + Xbox + PS1 + PS2 + PS3 + PS4 + Wii + Wii U" none of which are backwards compatible, didn't make any sense, which is what many console fanbois were doing.

It'd be like comparing Ford F150 sales to every other pickup truck from different manufacturers on the market, and then somehow saying the F150 isn't the best selling truck, if its sales were equal to all the others combined.

If PC gaming is going to exceed literally every console in distribution COMBINED in 2015, yeah, the peasantry is finally doing the math and figuring out that consoles are like HP Printers. Sure, you get HP Printers really cheap, but you end up paying out the butt for ink cartridges and have all this HP spam programs on your computer after installing it. Checking the math, you finally realize your low initial investment adds up to an expensive printing experience with sub-par quality and capabilities. MMhmmm...

Save a thousand dollars and get a far superior experience by joining the Master Race.
 
Don't need a $1000 PC. A good $700 will get you a gaming PC that will last 4 years at least. That's more than the current consoles have.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($138.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card ($161.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Antec GX500 ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: CoolMax 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $677.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-25 15:36 EST-0500
 
Flogger23m said:
Nothing to do with Win 10, especially since it isn't out yet. Consoles still sell more games. I think PC gaming has gotten a bit bigger in the last few years though. I think it can be attributed to more PC only games coming out, some higher profile Kickstarter projects, and Steam/Origin.
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Ask Steam to define "a bit bigger" for you ;)
 
If you are going to limit the comparison to individual consoles vs the broad market of the PC, then you had better leave out the MOBA and F2P MMO genres like World of Tanks. Without League of Legends, DOTA 2, and F2P titles PC revenue falls far short of console revenue. There aren't many examples of multi-platform titles selling better on PC than on console.

In relation to this, take your childish, idiotic master race and peasant comments some place else, like to PC Gamer, IGN, or Kotaku. Gaming should be about games. The multiple platforms that we can game on these days, PC, consoles, 3DS/Vita, and our mobile phones, should make people excited.

@Ashbringer - I do not think Windows 10 is a slap in the face to PC gaming. DX12 alone makes it a great benefit to PC gaming.

I also do not know why the return of the start button would matter in this discussion or how it helps your argument that Windows 10 is an attack on PC gaming. The start button won't make Windows 10 better than 8 in any meaningful way, considering the whole screen start menu of 8 is infinitely better than nested menus and all the clicks it takes to get through them to what you are looking for. However that's just my opinion. Windows 8 was a great OS for gaming under the hood and I've been fine with it. Windows 10 looks great to me as well.

Cortana is a great addition to Windows 10 and will probably lead me to having a desktop mic for the first time in ages. This also doesn't really have much to add to the discussion.

The Xbox One streaming is a good point but it's also nice for people who may happen to have an Xbox One plus a Microsoft tablet or laptop.
 
I considered dipping into the PS4 world to go alongside my gaming PC , to restart in ESO online this June when it comes out on it.

Then I saw it confirmed that its going to run at 30fps.

I thought this new powerful generation of consoles was past the 30fps stuff ? Pretty much ruled out any consoles for me if they can't even handle 60 fps in something like ESO.
 
More like despite Windows, PC gaming will succeed. Steam, Oculus, mobile, and indie games are the biggest reasons.
 
Ashbringer said:
#3 Xbox One streaming
Probably the biggest slap to the PC master race. Rather than having Xbox One games run natively on PC, Microsoft wants you to run two machines to play 1 game. Any $500 PC could run Xbox One games. Especially now with DX12.
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One big thing you're leaving out here is that it's probably going to be possible to create universal apps that run on both the XBox One and Windows 10. I suspect a lot of the more casual titles will be delivered this way as to target a broader audience.
 
Lakku said:
If you are going to limit the comparison to individual consoles vs the broad market of the PC, then you had better leave out the MOBA and F2P MMO genres like World of Tanks. Without League of Legends, DOTA 2, and F2P titles PC revenue falls far short of console revenue. There aren't many examples of multi-platform titles selling better on PC than on console.

In relation to this, take your childish, idiotic master race and peasant comments some place else, like to PC Gamer, IGN, or Kotaku. Gaming should be about games. The multiple platforms that we can game on these days, PC, consoles, 3DS/Vita, and our mobile phones, should make people excited.

@Ashbringer - I do not think Windows 10 is a slap in the face to PC gaming. DX12 alone makes it a great benefit to PC gaming.

I also do not know why the return of the start button would matter in this discussion or how it helps your argument that Windows 10 is an attack on PC gaming. The start button won't make Windows 10 better than 8 in any meaningful way, considering the whole screen start menu of 8 is infinitely better than nested menus and all the clicks it takes to get through them to what you are looking for. However that's just my opinion. Windows 8 was a great OS for gaming under the hood and I've been fine with it. Windows 10 looks great to me as well.

Cortana is a great addition to Windows 10 and will probably lead me to having a desktop mic for the first time in ages. This also doesn't really have much to add to the discussion.

The Xbox One streaming is a good point but it's also nice for people who may happen to have an Xbox One plus a Microsoft tablet or laptop.
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Why would anyone leave out huge games. Why don't we leave out huge games on the console just because we want to. One of the big advantages of a PC is you get those amazing and popular new games before the console companies figure out how to dumb it down for a controller and 5 year olds.

Nearly every major innovation in gaming in 20 years started on the PC. And PC gamers enjoyed years of the experience before anything hit consoles. Moba is just the latest in a long line of such innovations.

Arguing about revenue and games sold when you have no way to calculate how many PC games sell is stupid. Remind me when the last time an Xbox tournament sold out a stadium like LoL was? It never happened that's your answer. Minecraft, terraria, WoW, CS the entire FPS genre, real time strategy all of it was huge on the PC before a console gamer ever got to touch it.

Multiple platforms has not excited anyone in PC gaming because there has been not one single gain PC gamers have received from any console. Everything has been a negative.
 
Every year it's the same thing.

Someone predicts PCs will die or are dying.
Microsoft states that their newest OS will be a boon for gamers.

In the end, Microsoft barely gives the PC gaming side any attention and PCs live on. But AAA titles will be console first and PC second. And PC Gamers will whine about how AAA games have been consolized, while tons of indie titles will still only come out for the PC. And Linux and Mac users will cry at how games don't come out for them, while posting about all these middleware layers that allow them to run the Windows titles (maybe) and all the great indie titles out for their system, and how awesome their OSs are while Windows users will laugh at them.
 
I think Intel screwed up with the Core i7/5/3 CPU at least from an economical stand point even the first generation Core i-X cpus are more then powerful for the average user and still can get the job done for the power user. I'm still running a i7-860 that came out almost 6 years ago. I've upgraded my graphics card twice (started with a HD3870, then an HD5830, and now I'm on a HD7870 Ghz edition) with an SSD this system still performs great. I'm planning on waiting until the second DDR4 platform is released to avoid the early adopter tax. Basically I think people still want PCs it's just that most mid-high end PCs made in the past 5 years or so still get the job done for 90% of people who have them so there's no reason to upgrade but I do think that will start changing in the next year or two as more powerful systems are required to drive 4k displays and video.
 
Lakku said:
If you are going to limit the comparison to individual consoles vs the broad market of the PC, then you had better leave out the MOBA and F2P MMO genres like World of Tanks. Without League of Legends, DOTA 2, and F2P titles PC revenue falls far short of console revenue. There aren't many examples of multi-platform titles selling better on PC than on console.
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You're not wrong. Any AAA game 1:1 sells better on console. Except for a handful of exclusives on PC, though PC does have more exclusives. Overall sales are higher in terms of volume sold.
In relation to this, take your childish, idiotic master race and peasant comments some place else, like to PC Gamer, IGN, or Kotaku. Gaming should be about games. The multiple platforms that we can game on these days, PC, consoles, 3DS/Vita, and our mobile phones, should make people excited.
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I love to use PC master race cause it gets people like you upset. I just think it's funny. Especially since it was originally used to mock PC gamers to begin with.
@Ashbringer - I do not think Windows 10 is a slap in the face to PC gaming. DX12 alone makes it a great benefit to PC gaming.
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DX12 was something Microsoft had to release, and very late release it was. As much as Microsoft wants PC gamers to jump on Xbox, they don't want OpenGL to become the standard for developers. If that were to happen it's a stones throw away to get games on Linux and Mac. Remember they had to. Look how long Mantle has been out for. By the time DX12 is released we'll have OpenGL-Next as well.
I also do not know why the return of the start button would matter in this discussion or how it helps your argument that Windows 10 is an attack on PC gaming. The start button won't make Windows 10 better than 8 in any meaningful way, considering the whole screen start menu of 8 is infinitely better than nested menus and all the clicks it takes to get through them to what you are looking for. However that's just my opinion. Windows 8 was a great OS for gaming under the hood and I've been fine with it. Windows 10 looks great to me as well.
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The point is that the consumer won. We asked for it and we got it. Supply and demand. Since Windows is a monopoly on PC, it was Microsoft demanding to supply not the consumer. Regardless of how you feel, we won. Now we just need to put Window's 8 head on a pike to remind anyone else making software to listen to their customers.

Microsoft should have went out of business for Windows 8, but being a monopoly kinda prevents that.

The Xbox One streaming is a good point but it's also nice for people who may happen to have an Xbox One plus a Microsoft tablet or laptop.
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Who is going to play Xbox games on a tablet? Laptop maybe but tablet? Just in case Mom is busy watching house wives of bel air on the TV and there's a BF4 match? Wish I could be playing BF4 on my computer but stupid me I bought it for Xbox Live. I wish I could play it on my PC. :rolleyes:

Also, do they even have a wireless receiver for Xbox One controller on PC?

heatlesssun said:
One big thing you're leaving out here is that it's probably going to be possible to create universal apps that run on both the XBox One and Windows 10. I suspect a lot of the more casual titles will be delivered this way as to target a broader audience.
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That's the slippery slop of the whole thing. On one hand Microsoft wants to unify Windows across all platforms, including the Xbox One. On the other hand that won't make Xbox titles exclusive to Xbox, but Windows instead. But if Xbox One titles don't work on Windows then people are going to call out Microsoft on it. With Windows 10 and DX12 on Xbox One, what reason shouldn't they create universal apps and games?

Would be interesting to hear what Gabe Newell thinks of all this.
 
Lakku said:
If you are going to limit the comparison to individual consoles vs the broad market of the PC, then you had better leave out the MOBA and F2P MMO genres like World of Tanks. Without League of Legends, DOTA 2, and F2P titles PC revenue falls far short of console revenue. There aren't many examples of multi-platform titles selling better on PC than on console.
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There aren't? Then show us some example games that sold more units for the Xbox One than for the PC. Pro-tip, you can't, because there are no exact numbers released. PC gaming isn't tracked like that since there are many different outlets to purchase games, especially digital downloads as they come with graphics cards, I bought one game from Russia online (luckily the key worked), some from Steam, some even get physical copies still.
In relation to this, take your childish, idiotic master race and peasant comments some place else, like to PC Gamer, IGN, or Kotaku. Gaming should be about games. The multiple platforms that we can game on these days, PC, consoles, 3DS/Vita, and our mobile phones, should make people excited.
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Absolutely not, what it does is segment the gaming community, so that Charles with his PS3 can't play with Doug with his PS4 who can't play with Chris with his PC who can't play with McLuvin with his Xbox One who can't play with Steve with his Xbox 360. Luckily, nobody plays Wii or Wii Us so we don't have to worry about that one. It also means that developers now have a clusterfuck of coding to do for a huge variety of platforms. So even though they all have the same game, they have to all agree to buy the identical thing, which is easier said than done as seen in the South Park episode where the kids went to war with one another, heh.

With the PC, it doesn't matter if one kid wants an Alienware, another kid wants a Cyberpower, another has a Asus gaming laptop, and poor bastard Kenny has a budget celeron system with a 19" CRT playing at lower resolution lowest graphics settings, as they can all still play together.

We also don't run into this BS with exclusives, to where you either have to have a mass of cables and boxes connected to your TV, or simply accept that you won't be able to play some AAA games because they are exclusive to XYZ. How does that benefit the gamer?

Lastly, because console life cycles are getting longer and longer each generation, they can lead to almost complete stagnation of graphics card development, since there are only so many Autocad and rendering cards needed. But luckily, PC gaming industry is very healthy, leading to constant battles between AMD and NVidia to push and push and push or risk being left behind. By contrast an XBox One winning an AMD contract using the same old crap year after year after year for close to a decade before asking for something more powerful would be absolutely ruinous.

Luckily, the licensing fees and coding limitations inherent in proprietary consoles are already prohibitive to small development groups or individuals and the control and display options, or lack thereof, and lack of modibility and so forth generally limits them no matter how much Sony and Microsoft push them in order to dip their fingers into everything and get their pound of flesh.
 
Ashbringer said:
Microsoft should have went out of business for Windows 8, but being a monopoly kinda prevents that.
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This doesn't make any sense. Windows only accounts for about a quarter of Microsoft's profits I believe and it's not like Windows 7 disappeared because of 8. And you can't just always chalk it up to monopoly. OEMs can put whatever OS they want on devices today without fear of retaliation from Microsoft, we're kind of past those days with the anti-trust litigation. The problem for OEMs is that it's a tough sell to put something other than Windows on a PC at $500 and more.

Until another desktop OS can replicate Windows' 3rd party support it's going to be like Windows Phone as you've mentioned before. And sure Windows is a monopoly but it's not like Windows can stop being a monopoly until someone makes the investment for that not to be the case.

Ashbringer said:
That's the slippery slop of the whole thing. On one hand Microsoft wants to unify Windows across all platforms, including the Xbox One. On the other hand that won't make Xbox titles exclusive to Xbox, but Windows instead. But if Xbox One titles don't work on Windows then people are going to call out Microsoft on it. With Windows 10 and DX12 on Xbox One, what reason shouldn't they create universal apps and games?

Would be interesting to hear what Gabe Newell thinks of all this.
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XBox titles running natively on the PC though could end up killing a lot work to specifically support PCs. Many developers would simply stop doing any PC work. It would be much better to simply have more console titles developed specifically for the PC. In that regard I do believe that Microsoft shouldn't create it's own console exclusives and that they should be multi-platform. I think we might be on a path to that.

Microsoft has shown a willingness to support other platforms for Office, because that's how the numbers worked. If the numbers work in favor of supporting the PC with all of it's XBox titles and they can make more money, in time I think they'd do that.
 
Ducman69 said:
We also don't run into this BS with exclusives, to where you either have to have a mass of cables and boxes connected to your TV, or simply accept that you won't be able to play some AAA games because they are exclusive to XYZ. How does that benefit the gamer?
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This right here is why consoles can't die fast enough. Anyone defending consoles nowadays is essentially cheering to have a leash on them. In the past, the hardware really was vastly different that a standalone console was completely justified. Nowadays it's a holdover and the consumers lose. The PC really needs to come up with an out-of-the-box living room gaming solution as streamlined as the consoles however, that's about the one last area it hasn't caught up to the consoles in yet.
 
I still see zero incentive to buy a PS4 or an XBone when I already own a PC. Seriously, what's the point? All of the games I want to play are out on the PC anyway, so what happens? I buy crappier hardware and take a hit on the graphics? K.
 
tetris42 said:
This right here is why consoles can't die fast enough. Anyone defending consoles nowadays is essentially cheering to have a leash on them. In the past, the hardware really was vastly different that a standalone console was completely justified. Nowadays it's a holdover and the consumers lose. The PC really needs to come up with an out-of-the-box living room gaming solution as streamlined as the consoles however, that's about the one last area it hasn't caught up to the consoles in yet.
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The thing about consoles though, they are identifiable. It's a specific thing that you can go by, doesn't have tons of hardware configuration options with a million different vendors making them. Really I think the only company that could but a face and a brand on a PC console is Microsoft.

They could replicate what they are doing with the Surface and lead branding and marketing helping to pave the way for OEMs with their own devices. But it could be a bit trickier to not be seen a competitor to OEMs in this space as the devices would have to come in at well less than the Surface Pro does.

I'm not a console fan and haven't owned one since the PS 2 but I think make PC gamers here are vastly underrating what consoles bring to the table for average people who just want to go buy something without worrying about tons of details and just play games.
 
heatlesssun said:
It would be much better to simply have more console titles developed specifically for the PC. In that regard I do believe that Microsoft shouldn't create it's own console exclusives and that they should be multi-platform.
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Agreed. And the first step would be for Microsoft to stop moneyhatting developers to keep games off of Windows for the purpose of Xbone exclusivity. That would be a great first step. But I've seen no evidence of them stopping that. This is also why all the "one platform" synergy bullshit rings hollow. If MS wants us to believe Xbox is such a big part of their unified ecosystem, and that "Xbox One is just a PC" and "DX12 on Xbox One = DX12 on Windows", then why not let Xbox One games run in Windows 10, and sell them in the Windows Store? And I don't mean half measures and gimmicks like streaming Xbox One to PC. THAT would be a great way to jumpstart that dead store, a truly killer feature which right now they lack.

heatlesssun said:
I think we might be on a path to that.
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Based on what? Genuinely curious because I've seen no evidence of that. Fable? One game? Just like every year for the past 15 years, some talking head at MS makes an announcement about "Microsoft's renewed focus on PC gaming" and then nothing. Rinse, repeat. Leading up to the Windows 10 reveal there was big talk from Phil Spencer about "Microsoft cares about PC gamers", and then ofcourse the big but not exactly unexpected letdown that it once again had nothing to do with PC gamers or embracing PC gaming.
 
DPI said:
Based on what? Genuinely curious because I've seen no evidence of that. Fable? One game? Just like every year for the past 15 years, some talking head at MS makes an announcement about "Microsoft's renewed focus on PC gaming" and then nothing. Rinse, repeat. Leading up to the Windows 10 reveal there was big talk from Phil Spencer about "Microsoft cares about PC gamers", and then ofcourse the big but not exactly unexpected letdown that it once again had nothing to do with PC gamers or embracing PC gaming.
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Again, some of you are looking at universal apps and the cross-platform capabilities is brings using a shared code base as nothing and trivial. You also think that the Xbox and the PC are the same thing when it comes to gaming and just want the Xbox to go away. Of course it's not like the PlayStation, Wii and others are just going to go away and all of those games just run on the PC.

Microsoft is building all of is major consumer platforms on Windows 10 and creating a common platform to develop code in a way that's easier than previously. I do think that Microsoft and others are going to leverage this over time, like they are doing so with the new touch versions of Office being universal apps. Now does that mean that Microsoft is going to not have Xbox exclusives and that everything on the Xbox it delivers will be on the PC? If it makes economic sense then yes, I think it could happen. The Xbox and PC gaming don't have to be mutually exclusive. And they should now easier than ever be able to share a common game library.

Maybe it doesn't make economic sense and maybe it won't happen. But the future will be whatever brings in the most cash. It's just that simple.
 
heatlesssun said:
The Xbox and PC gaming don't have to be mutually exclusive. And they should now easier than ever be able to share a common game library.
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Of course they do, that's literally the entire point.

You have to ask, why does the Xbox even exist? Is it because Microsoft makes so much money selling the Xbox hardware? From what I hear, they barely make anything off the hardware. So whats the point then?

The point is that Microsoft has absolutely ZERO control over gaming on MS Windows. None. Any schmuck can make a game for windows, and how much of a cut of that does Microsoft get? $0. Now games that sell on Steam? Did you know that Valve takes a 30% cut? Yup. You pay $30 for a game, $9 goes to Valve. That's a lot of money, money that Microsoft wants.

So the only reason the Xbox exists is so that MS can be "Steam" for it, and not only do they get that cut right in their back pocket, but they can even charge people to play on the internet! Can you imagine if you had to pay Microsoft so your computer could connect online? Now if they could force you to buy all your software through the Microsoft Store and take a 30% cut and then charge you a monthly fee to play online, they'd toss the XBox POS in the trashcan yesterday... but it'd never fly with consumers.

So, no, the PC platform cannibalizes XBox sales, and so MS will do just enough for the PC to ensure that there isn't so large a vacuum that someone else takes over that arena.
 
heatlesssun said:
This doesn't make any sense. Windows only accounts for about a quarter of Microsoft's profits I believe and it's not like Windows 7 disappeared because of 8. And you can't just always chalk it up to monopoly. OEMs can put whatever OS they want on devices today without fear of retaliation from Microsoft, we're kind of past those days with the anti-trust litigation. The problem for OEMs is that it's a tough sell to put something other than Windows on a PC at $500 and more.
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What other choices? Android? Linux? Mac OS X?

Microsoft and Windows is like Google and Andorid. Google makes nearly nothing off Android and yet they're committed to it. Why? What about Valve and SteamOS? It's the ecosystem that provides security. The reason Google made Android was to keep their bread and butter search engine alive. After all, if Apple or Microsoft dominated the market they would use their own search engines, putting Google out of business. Office for example runs on Windows mostly, so a lot of incentive to buy Windows is for Office.

Xbox itself hasn't actually profited and yet Microsoft is putting more effort into it then ever before.

XBox titles running natively on the PC though could end up killing a lot work to specifically support PCs. Many developers would simply stop doing any PC work. It would be much better to simply have more console titles developed specifically for the PC. In that regard I do believe that Microsoft shouldn't create it's own console exclusives and that they should be multi-platform. I think we might be on a path to that.
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That's assuming a lot. Especially with a lot of major developers already supporting both Mac and Linux. Currently a good 1/3 of Steam games are on Linux. Developers have no interest in the Windows store and probably less in the Xbox. But much like Notch, when money is involved then nothing else matters.

As the PC becomes a growing source of revenue for developers, so too does that influence their decision to make games with more focus on PC. Considering that Valve decided to suddenly make their own distro of Linux with tons of resources thrown at it, along with Microsoft making Wiindows very Xbox friendly, it's not hard to see that gaming on PC is a real threat to consoles. Specifically Xbox which isn't doing too well in market share.

To give you an idea the Xbox One is 11 million, with PS4 at 18.4 and Wii U 8.94. That Wii U that everyone says is doing badly isn't actually doing that bad compared to Xbox One. If the Wii U gets a price drop, it could be a big problem for Microsoft. And the Wii U is due for a price drop.

Microsoft has shown a willingness to support other platforms for Office, because that's how the numbers worked. If the numbers work in favor of supporting the PC with all of it's XBox titles and they can make more money, in time I think they'd do that.
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What do you think Windows 10 is all about? Besides trying to discourage anyone's interest in Linux?

heatlesssun said:
I'd love to know how as I've not seen a way to do this yet.
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I've done it. Just get the wireless adapter off Ebay for $10. Plenty of Chinese knock offs, but they work. Just manually install the driver as the installer won't. Also if you have a RROD Xbox 360, you could remove it's receiver and solder some usb wires to make your own.

heatlesssun said:
You also think that the Xbox and the PC are the same thing when it comes to gaming and just want the Xbox to go away.
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edward_scissorhands_yes.gif
 
I've gave up consoles 2 years ago. I miss madden the most. Don't miss anything else.
 
Ashbringer said:
Office for example runs on Windows mostly, so a lot of incentive to buy Windows is for Office.
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The first touch first version of Office was released for the iPad. So there's that.

Ashbringer said:
Xbox itself hasn't actually profited and yet Microsoft is putting more effort into it then ever before.
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Overall the Xbox in terms of hardware doesn't seem to profitable. Thus why I think Microsoft might be willing to use universal apps and more cross-platforms tactics to make money.

Ashbringer said:
Currently a good 1/3 of Steam games are on Linux.
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You and post whatever animate GIF you want but this simply isn't true from STEAMS OWN NUMBERS.

Linux games on Steam: 1698
Windows games on Steam: 9827

1698/9827 = .1727 about half of 1/3rd.

Ashbringer said:
Developers have no interest in the Windows store and probably less in the Xbox. But much like Notch, when money is involved then nothing else matters.
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However, developers are highly motivated to develop for desktop Linux because of the huge market share?

Ashbringer said:
What do you think Windows 10 is all about? Besides trying to discourage anyone's interest in Linux?
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Ok, now we really get to what's burning folks like you. If free desktop Linux can't compete against $100 desktop Windows, then what chance does free desktop Linux have of competing against free desktop Windows? Realistically little. So you throw around Microsoft's monopoly position on the desktop but you can't flat out say that you wish Windows upgrades should cost a $100 dollars because that just doesn't make any sense to average folks.

Ashbringer said:
I've done it. Just get the wireless adapter off Ebay for $10. Plenty of Chinese knock offs, but they work. Just manually install the driver as the installer won't. Also if you have a RROD Xbox 360, you could remove it's receiver and solder some usb wires to make your own.
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Thank you! You may think I'm sort of rabid Microsoft defender but I think I'm very objective while understanding my bias. I am one of the few people around here that readily accepts his own biases. I would love desktop Linux to make it big. I have for nearly 20 years. I was a HUGE Linux adopter nearly 20 years ago. I thought that because it was free, open source with the "many eyes" looking at the source code and the community's vow at that time to replace desktop Windows under all circumstances that Windows was dead.

The problem is that it didn't happen. I don't know how old you are but the desktop Linux folks fucked up beyond all belief. The community DIDN'T LISTEN. The desktop Linux folks are always pointing fingers as Windows and Microsoft and not ever tying to fix their own issues. EVERYONE WANTS A FREE DESKTOP OS THAT DOES EVERYTHING THAT WINDOWS DOES. EVERYONE. Until the desktop Linux community understands this message and does something about it instead of pointing fingers or rationalizing to people why they don't need or that or that it's never going to progress. I truly want it to progress. I want cheaper and better computing solutions. Like everyone one else.
 
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