PC Game Sales in 2017 Are Almost as Big as All Console Sales Combined

Megalith

Megalith

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According to statistics published by GamesIndustry, PC gaming accounts for 28% of the total game market in 2017, whereas consoles (this includes all consoles) accounts for 29%. As such, and if we compare the PC individually with each console, we can easily see how more profitable PC gaming actually is.

PC gaming generated $32.3 billion in 2017 and saw a YoY growth of 1.4%. Boxed and downloaded PC games generated $27.1 billion whereas browser PC games generated for $5.2 billion. What’s really important here is that PC gaming is a really healthy market, something that more and more console-only developers appear to acknowledge.
 
Money talks. This news certainly means game publishers will start taking notice of the PC gaming crowd.
 
spugm1r3 said:
Can we please shift the dynamic from porting to PC towards porting to consoles?
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No. Because Consoles = Control. PCs don't allow that level of control, despite efforts from Microsoft to move things in that direction.
 
spugm1r3 said:
Intel, AMD, and Nvidia?
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AMD and Nvidia get money from console sales since they have their chips in them so while that isn't as much as their PC side sales they wouldn't want to rock the boat is my guess. Intel could but lets face it I doubt they will part with their money so easy when they're making billions each quarter as is.
 
Simmonz said:
I wish but we have nobody to bribe the studios while they are happy to accept money from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to keep the PC down.
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It's not really 'bribing' Microsoft Sony and Nintendo invest in and create studios to make exclusive games that get the most out of their console platforms that they also created.

Then take a look at Valve who has most of the pc market in it's pocket and yet doesn't make any games or create studios and relies mostly on community generated content for updates on it's 5 year old games.
 
yourgrandma said:
It's not really 'bribing' Microsoft Sony and Nintendo invest in and create studios to make exclusive games that get the most out of their console platforms that they also created.

Then take a look at Valve who has most of the pc market in it's pocket and yet doesn't make any games or create studios and relies mostly on community generated content for updates on it's 5 year old games.
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I'm not talking about creating studios, I'm talking about stuff like Microsoft paying to have Rise of the Tomb Raider be an Xbox One exclusive at launch. PC doesn't have a company doing things like that so consoles will continue to get such perks even if they are a much worse eco system.
 
M76 said:
I wonder how much of that is actual game sales vs microtransactions.
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That, and the fact that there are 80 bazillion games that come out. Just because PCs make almost as much money as all the consoles combined doesn't mean it makes financial sense to make PC games. Remove all the trash, and focus on just AAA games, and the numbers are probably skewed heavily in favor of consoles.
 
Budzman said:
I remember reading stupid stories about PC gaming dying. Whatever happened to that angle.
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The same people that said that the tablet market would destroy the PC market.

pc_master_race_by_thewarrises-d5gmwti.jpg
 
Wasn't there some tool from UBI saying that PC sales were essentially dead a couple of years ago?
 
I think its far more impressive to see the combined console sale figures to even be neck and neck with the PC since consoles primarily make sales off their AAA titles with 'some' focus for indie titles along with the subscription fee that they charge inorder for you to play alot of these titles online with others. The PC on the other hand offer nearly all of the AAA titles for the consoles and offer a much larger assortment of unique indie titles in excess to what's already on the consoles. Then there's the MMORPG's which generate a ton of profit. This is also taking into account that virtually every AAA title offered for the PC is primarily designed for the console first and then decided during or after production if it will get ported to the PC.

I think that speaks alot for the combined sale figures of the closed ecosystems (consoles) with overall small offerings compared to a larger ecosystem (PC) with a ton more offerings.

Now if the positions were reversed showing actual profit from AAA titles on the PC in excess over the consoles then I'm sure the AAA titles offered on the PC would be vastly more sophisticated at the core rather than just focusing on gfx. I'd gander to say that porting Star Citizen to the current gen consoles would be a nightmare of code deconstruction just so it can run smoothly and offer 'some' ingame content.
 
Budzman said:
I remember reading stupid stories about PC gaming dying. Whatever happened to that angle.
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Skyrim happened.

No seriously. Look at PC sales numbers over the years and see the trend. Skyrim saw a huge number of people abandoning consoles and moving to PC. as a guy working in the PC industry at the time, the sales of gaming PC's and video cards tripped in late 2011, early 2012.
 
M76 said:
I wonder how much of that is actual game sales vs microtransactions.
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Probably a good portion of it. Sadly a large amount of these sales are from "free to play" games. You know, the games that invented microtransactions. When it comes to actual AAA games (the memorable experiences we all love) PCs are still the minority, but do make up around a third of sales.

PC games both invent and crate some of the best trends as well as the worst. PC games have always been where most of the innovation came from in gaming.
 
I wonder how much of that PC sales is microtransactions.

While money talks, I am still not convinced that PC games will win against consoles in terms of revenue if all microtransactions were removed from all platforms.

But then again, the number of F2P games on PC are already pretty high to begin with. PoE, Rift, etc etc.
 
DukenukemX said:
The same people that said that the tablet market would destroy the PC market.

pc_master_race_by_thewarrises-d5gmwti.jpg
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*YAWN* Ow, I hurt my jaw. PCMR is stupid, to feel superior because of what a person is gaming on means that person has issues. If a person thinks that limiting themselves to just one platform makes them superior to someone else....... :eek::rolleyes: As for PC gaming being profitable, think micro transactions and DLC that you have to pay for.
 
jardows said:
Money talks. This news certainly means game publishers will start taking notice of the PC gaming crowd.
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yes yes

it's because news likes this one.

not actual data from publishers himself has access to:cautious:
 
ManofGod said:
*YAWN* Ow, I hurt my jaw. PCMR is stupid, to feel superior because of what a person is gaming on means that person has issues. If a person thinks that limiting themselves to just one platform makes them superior to someone else....... :eek::rolleyes: As for PC gaming being profitable, think micro transactions and DLC that you have to pay for.
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Peasantry detected.
 
Simmonz said:
I'm not talking about creating studios, I'm talking about stuff like Microsoft paying to have Rise of the Tomb Raider be an Xbox One exclusive at launch. PC doesn't have a company doing things like that so consoles will continue to get such perks even if they are a much worse eco system.
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Microsoft doesn't do that anymore; one of the changes that Phil Spencer brought was to make things Microsoft-exclusive (e.g. PC and XBox) rather than just XBox exclusive.
 
damicatz said:
Microsoft doesn't do that anymore; one of the changes that Phil Spencer brought was to make things Microsoft-exclusive (e.g. PC and XBox) rather than just XBox exclusive.
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You can trust Microsoft if you want to, givrn their history I have zero reason to.
 
Coffeve said:
Peasantry detected.
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Yeah, a peasent with a Vega 56, 43 Inch Samsung 4K un43mu6290fxza tv, Ryzen R7 1700X, 16GB of GSkill 2800 DDR 4 ram, 2 x 1TB SSD, 1 x 256GB NVMe WD SSD, 2 x 1TB Seagate hard drives, 1KW Seasonic Gold power supply, Coolmaster Master Case 5, Asrock X370 Taichi motherboard, 5.1 Surround Sound Logitech speakers,. Corsair K65 RGB Mechanical keyboard, Logitech G602 Gaming mouse, Corsair gaming mouse pad, XBox 360 wireless controller.....

You were saying? :rolleyes: That, of course, does not include the hundreds of games I have on the PC. Next time, get your tricorder repaired first........ o_O Oh, and that does not include my other Ryzen 7 1700 computer. Should I list the parts on that one as well?

Basically, there is no such thing as PCMR, unless you need to display your epeen and then, you have other issues that need to be dealt with. :D
 
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