What is the current state of PC gaming...?

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Mar 13, 2008
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Hey guys/gals, I used to be a hardcore PC gamer back between 2001-2004, and I remember some of the best games ever coming out in that time period. I've kinda been out of the loop for a while, so I was wondering if you guys would be kind enough to fill me in. Is PC gaming gaining ground or losing ground? Or is it the same?

Thanks in advance. :D
 
Tons of threads on the topic. Many developers are on the verge of abandoning PC gaming all together, Epic being the one the major ones.

Gotta search.
 
*laughing* No one is ABANDONING PC gaming. It's not priority development. Unless you are someone who just simply doesn't like ports then you havea problem. To me a good game is a good game.
 
*laughing* No one is ABANDONING PC gaming. It's not priority development. Unless you are someone who just simply doesn't like ports then you havea problem. To me a good game is a good game.

Epic clearly stated it won't be developing any technology for the PC untill 2011 give or take. The unreal engine from here on then will be designed exclusively for consoles.
 
I find some humor in this as well.... 2007 was one of the best years for PC gaming.... ever!

A bunch of great titles came out, Just to name a few: Bioshock, Half-Life 2 (including Portal! and TT2), Crysis, COD4 (I'm an addict to MP), The Witcher, Hellgate London (just kidding!).

WOW and The Sims are still going strong and have tons of players.

Don't pay any attention to the Chicken Littles out there. I. for one, am happy as hell.... just don't have time to play everything.
 
I find some humor in this as well.... 2007 was one of the best years for PC gaming.... ever!

A bunch of great titles came out, Just to name a few: Bioshock, Half-Life 2 (including Portal! and TT2), Crysis, COD4 (I'm an addict to MP), The Witcher, Hellgate London (just kidding!).

Most of those games made all of their money via console sales.

Just because a game is good and well reviewed doesn't mean crap to a company. It's all about dollars and cents, Business 101.
 
Epic clearly stated it won't be developing any technology for the PC untill 2011 give or take. The unreal engine from here on then will be designed exclusively for consoles.

Well that f**kin sucks. :mad: Epic has been making PC games since the start, I can't believe they would do that. :( I really hope devs realize that the PC is (arguably) the strongest platform for gaming.

All, except for the games released by Valve, made all of their money via console sales.

I hope that is sarcasm, as Valve is mainly a PC dev. They made almost all of their money in PC games, that is fact.
 
Most of those games made all of their money via console sales

I hope that is sarcasm, as Valve is mainly a PC dev. They made almost all of their money in PC games, that is fact.

The orange box was released on 360 and ps3 in addition to the PC version.

i think he was referring to sales numbers The orange box for the pc sold more than 360 and ps3 combined

Rob Wright: You released The Orange Box for both the PC and the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. Were you happy with the business the console versions did, and how did it compare to the game's PC sales?

Doug Lombari: We were very happy with both the Xbox 360 and PS3 sales. I think the Xbox 360 version did just over a million, while the PS3 [released later in December] version did a few hundred thousand copies. So I think when all is said and done, The Orange Box will have sold about 1.5 million copies on the console, which is great. But the game's PC sales were much stronger.

Rob Wright: How much stronger, exactly?

Doug Lombari: I'd say significantly stronger, at least a two-digit percentage increase over the console sales. And that includes Steam sales, retail sales, and now individual sales of Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode 2. So when you take the PC numbers for The Orange Box a la carte, they're significantly higher.
 
Epic clearly stated it won't be developing any technology for the PC untill 2011 give or take. The unreal engine from here on then will be designed exclusively for consoles.

no Tim said they are focusing Unreal 4 engine for the console then porting it to the pc. It's not exclusive
 
Epic clearly stated it won't be developing any technology for the PC untill 2011 give or take. The unreal engine from here on then will be designed exclusively for consoles.

Yes designed, but there still will be ports, intead of games being made for the PC and ported over to the consoles, it is going to be the other way around now, so technically if you have a console, you will be getting the games first and games designed for that specific console, yea it kinda sucks considering that now all you need is a $300 console instead of a $1500 computer to get the newest best games...:(
 
I meant to exclude Valve. They are one of the only heavy hitters in the PC market next to Blizzard. Bring back Lucasarts style adventure games and PC sales will boom! ;) I'm serious though, those games were the shit.
 
The orange box was released on 360 and ps3 in addition to the PC version.

And your point is...? Valve still makes more from PC sales and has been primarily a PC dev since they began. Seriously, how are you even arguing this fact...?
 
I am still boggled by the whole "Crysis crisis". Sure this was expected to be a major hit from the previews. But I guess the dev's didn't take one major thing into consideration. When you market and create a game that only 1% of PCs can actually run decently, then I would assume only <1% of gamers will actually buy the game. I guess they didn't think of that when creating the "futureproof" game.

When people know how to release a PC game to the masses, it WILL make money (take Valve and Blizzard as major examples). When a game is released to target a minute amount of gamers, don't expect anything other than that minute population to go and buy the game.
 
Epic clearly stated it won't be developing any technology for the PC untill 2011 give or take. The unreal engine from here on then will be designed exclusively for consoles.

And then Msoft bought them and then they pretty much retracted their fuckin statement. PC gaming isn't going anywhere. Pirating is a huge issue however, once better copy right protection is in place I think we will see hell lot more PC games getting released.
 
And your point is...? Valve still makes more from PC sales and has been primarily a PC dev since they began. Seriously, how are you even arguing this fact...?

Because from the way you responded about valve, it sounded as if you did not know there were console versions of the orange box.

I didn't realize the statement that I made was argumentative? Calm down
 
PC accounts for 30% ($2.76B) of US gaming marked and is projected to grow 14% this year. Sure MMOs like WoW are responsible for way over one billion of the global $8.3B PC revenue last year. Digital distribution (Steam, Direct2Drive, EA Store, etc.) has now become a major sales channel.

325 upcoming games in the US, which are more than 360 and PS3 put together.

Total AAA (# exclusive)
PC: 15 (8 )
Xbox 360: 13 (4)
PS3: 8 (0)
Wii: 5 (4)

Total AA (# exclusive)
PC: 75 (52)
Xbox 360: 57 (10)
PS3: 32 (4)
Wii: 16 (5)

Current Gen AAA and AA Games by Platform

Pretty decent when excluding all the FUD people create.

I am still boggled by the whole "Crysis crisis". Sure this was expected to be a major hit from the previews. But I guess the dev's didn't take one major thing into consideration. When you market and create a game that only 1% of PCs can actually run decently, then I would assume only <1% of gamers will actually buy the game. I guess they didn't think of that when creating the "futureproof" game.

When people know how to release a PC game to the masses, it WILL make money (take Valve and Blizzard as major examples). When a game is released to target a minute amount of gamers, don't expect anything other than that minute population to go and buy the game.
Do you call one million sold worldwide in two months a failure? Some people don't understand that the US != world and that console games is a lot more prone to burst sale at release (e.g., Halo 3) for revenue than PC which more often sells good over a longer time period.
 
Im happy enough on PC. Buying new consoles every few years doesnt seem worth it when you can put the money towards a computer which can play good games but also do a whole lot of other things.
 
PC Gaming has had some real gems this past year. Don't listen to the propaganda Epic is spewing out. They made a terrible and unfinished game that didn't sell well on the PC. They in turn point the finger at the industry and say they're moving to consoles while lying the whole time about how they love PC gaming. Truth is, their garbage game (UT3) isn't even selling well for consoles but they're still denying responsibility. While they scream at the top of their lungs that PC gaming is dead, games like Crysis, COD4 and Orange Box are enjoying success.
 
Yep, gaming is getting more and more popular. One just needs to look at the installed user base of the PC and realize that there is a huge potential market there. The developers/publishers just need to get their act together and release good polished games instead of buggy shit. Often they are their own worst enemy.
 
I think Valve and the other online distributors need to start giving out their sales numbers. NPD is pretty useless without those numbers for judging pc sales imho.
 
Tons of threads on the topic. Many developers are on the verge of abandoning PC gaming all together, Epic being the one the major ones.

Gotta search.

funny that epic abandons the platform where third class recycled shooters don't sell :)
 
The Stalker thread below http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1266891 is a good example of PC gaming and different opinions. As you can see in the thread there are folks that loved Stalker and others that hated it. Keeping in mind I do prefer more simulation type stuff with lots of keyboard mouse options as opposed to console gamepad type stuff I believe Stalker is a good example of a complex game built for PC that wasn't dumbed down(simplified?) for console play. On the other hand I'm sure much fun can be had on console systems but cheers to the developers and creators of Stalker!
BF2 is a game that was ported to console. I'm not sure if the console version is as fun but I'd be interested to know. For sure the free and very popular mods POE2 and Project Reality aren't possible with consoles or are they? Obviously there are PC gamers that use gamepads etc and consolers that use keyboard and mouse but as the environs and games become more complex it looks as if there will be a happy medium between console and PC in the future. In other words when console makers create a system that can play the PC games that I like it'll be time to switch especially if the console is considerably more cost efficient and does everything a PC does.
 
PC games are selling more than ever, there is a bigger market than there has ever been. They remain at the forefront of technology, they're the leaders in graphical fidelity, there is more progress and more exciting things happening than theres ever been, it all happens first on the PC

The industry is booming more than it ever has in it's history.
 
Do you call one million sold worldwide in two months a failure? Some people don't understand that the US != world and that console games is a lot more prone to burst sale at release (e.g., Halo 3) for revenue than PC which more often sells good over a longer time period.

I'm not calling it a failure. But people claiming PC gaming is dieing and citing that the "biggest" release (Crysis) basically bombed was due to piracy when in fact I believe that had very little to do with it (although it does account for some of it).
 
I'm not calling it a failure. But people claiming PC gaming is dieing and citing that the "biggest" release (Crysis) basically bombed was due to piracy when in fact I believe that had very little to do with it (although it does account for some of it).

Biggest releases were COD4 and probably Orange Box...Crysis bombed because of performance issues, yet still managed to sell a respectable amount
 
gaming with dual analog is just plain stupid. Pretty much the only kind of games you can play are fps and hack and slash games. The keyboard and mouse combo remains the BEST way to play all kinds of games, it just feels so much better
 
gaming with dual analog is just plain stupid. Pretty much the only kind of games you can play are fps and hack and slash games. The keyboard and mouse combo remains the BEST way to play all kinds of games, it just feels so much better

I find I like to play platformers and racing games with a gamepad, but everything else with kb+mouse. I personally can't stand FPS on a gamepad but thats probably just a personal preference
 
Hey guys/gals, I used to be a hardcore PC gamer back between 2001-2004, and I remember some of the best games ever coming out in that time period. I've kinda been out of the loop for a while, so I was wondering if you guys would be kind enough to fill me in. Is PC gaming gaining ground or losing ground? Or is it the same?

Thanks in advance. :D
Don't believe the nay sayers, its a strong or stronger than it was in 2001-2004. As stated before some of the best games in years were released in 2007. Ad to that this whole console port issue is not necessarily the big negative that some gurls what to make it out to be. Consider that in the past ports were just that, rarely any additional features etc. Think the RE4 port as an example. Now many of the best games do not stay exclusive to a single console but instead are released widely and then released 6 monthes later with additional content, improved graphics etc (Lost Planet, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, etc).

So no, things are good an if you are not playing PC games you are missing on some of the best games that are not on the console.:D
 
Biggest releases were COD4 and probably Orange Box...Crysis bombed because of performance issues, yet still managed to sell a respectable amount

Crysis did not "bomb" because of performance issues... jesus christ... :rolleyes:

The "issue" is elitist retards who absolutely refuse to run any game at anything less than maximum settings and then bitch when it doesn't run well because it was designed to take advantage of next generation hardware and NOT to be able to run at full settings right now :rolleyes:
 
PC accounts for 30% ($2.76B) of US gaming marked and is projected to grow 14% this year. Sure MMOs like WoW are responsible for way over one billion of the global $8.3B PC revenue last year. Digital distribution (Steam, Direct2Drive, EA Store, etc.) has now become a major sales channel.

325 upcoming games in the US, which are more than 360 and PS3 put together.



Current Gen AAA and AA Games by Platform

Pretty decent when excluding all the FUD people create.


Do you call one million sold worldwide in two months a failure? Some people don't understand that the US != world and that console games is a lot more prone to burst sale at release (e.g., Halo 3) for revenue than PC which more often sells good over a longer time period.

Excellent post, pretty much echoes many of my sentiments that when you really start pulling out the numbers rather than the baseless rhetoric spewed forth by the console kiddies, then PC gaming shines even more so upon meticulous scrutiny of the facts and figures.
 
I'm not calling it a failure. But people claiming PC gaming is dieing and citing that the "biggest" release (Crysis) basically bombed was due to piracy when in fact I believe that had very little to do with it (although it does account for some of it).

1 million+ sales in less than 2 months != bomb. :rolleyes:

Besides, unlike console games which experience large droves of sales in the first few weeks and then taper off into oblivion, PC games typically sell quite well by comparison for extended periods of time (usually since it takes time for more people to catch up hardware wise).

I guarantee that before years end, Crysis will have sold well over 2 million copies easily.
 
Hey guys/gals, I used to be a hardcore PC gamer back between 2001-2004, and I remember some of the best games ever coming out in that time period. I've kinda been out of the loop for a while, so I was wondering if you guys would be kind enough to fill me in. Is PC gaming gaining ground or losing ground? Or is it the same?

Thanks in advance. :D

PC Gaming is doing just fine. Didn't you hear ? A group of crappy developers just decided to prioritize console development. You knew them as Epic. One group of retards less, to ruin PC games with console ports.

And I'm being serious. No sarcasm at all. PC Gaming started to be less appealing, ever since developers started to gives us console ports. So one less company that does that, is good news for PC Gamers.
 
Excellent post by Guezz, but there are a few things I'd like to add.

Valve has over 15 million subscribers. WoW has 10 million sunscribers, and Blizzard made $1.5 Billion dollars last year. The Sims 2 has sold over 14 million copies, and continues to sell massive amounts of expansion packs and stuff pack. Guild Wars sold over 5 million games.

With the merger of Activision and Blizzard they are now the world's largest third party publisher. Their number one platform is the PC.

EA Games is the second largest publishers and PC games were their second biggest money maker last year.
 
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