If PC Gaming Isn't Dead, why are game makers Favoring Consoles?

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tomana

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Just went to Amazon.com to see about a digital download for Crysis 2. I had previously read many reviews that said the game was a major disappointment for those who had played Crysis and had waited a few years for this release. So I figer'd I'd wait until the price dropped to $20 for the DLC version. Amazon has it for $28 but I just couldn't click the Add To Cart Button because I read a very thorough customer review there ...

http://www.amazon.com/Crysis-2-Pc/dp/B002BS47YE

very enlightning, and then I saw the following which is currently posted on EA's main page

http://www.ea.com/crysis-2

"Crysis 1 Now Available on Console"

Interesting, is it not?

Mass Effect is IMO the best PC game ever written and the in-game viewing angles are Hollywood perfect. Mass Effect 2 = sub-par to non-existant story line, poor game play, kiddie carnival style scope reticle, characters that float up into the air (and usually stay there until you reboot the game), fighting mates that talk too much and say the same line or two over and over ("Field is clear!" ... why don't they know when to shut up?) and forget about turning Shepherd as he's running or to run up flights of stairs (like he could effortlessly do in ME1) because once running - he don't like to veer from the straight path. Yes, there were a couple of improvements here and there though I fail to recall them at the moment.

I have to say, I've purposely not viewed any ME 3 trailers out of concern that I will be disappointed at what I see. I mean, can anyone name a game who's sequel was an improvement over the original release? I can. Half Life vs HL 2, just for starters.

Getting back to topic, why would folks be saying that Crysis 2 sucks an egg? I would venture to say the same about ME 2. I'm sure you have your favorite game that you saw as being a marketing venture, or to cut costs (though not at the checkout counter), etc

I just bought a Seasonic X750 on Black Friday, and today I splurged for a Gigabyte 990FXA mobo BUT, after reading many things about the future (or lack thereof) of PC gaming, especially this one by UbiSoft and the other by Microsoft - I decided to cancel the Gigabyte mobo order

Ubisoft: I Am Alive skipping PC because &#8220;it&#8217;s not worth it&#8221;
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/11/24/ubisoft-i-am-alive-skipping-pc-because-its-not-worth-it/

This Week in the Business: "We&#8217;re not pulling out."
http://kotaku.com/5832774/this-week-in-the-business-were-not-pulling-out

Do you trust what Microsoft says ? I read an article yesterday (I don't have the link on hand) that saiod MS did not release even one NEW PC game title in 2011. Not sure if this is true or not, but it may well be an indicator of the trend towards consoles. Meanwhile, others keep saying, "PC gaming is not dead." ? What's a gamer to do?

Such postings online tend to not be a good indictor for the PC gaming industry, which could well means loss of graphics card, motherboard and memory sales. Though the current economy is down, I'd gladly invest in better hardware ... if the game(s) warranted it - which so far, IMO, they don't.

From here on in, I'll be holding off buying the next gen hardware until a title comes out that can wow me like Half-Like 2, Mass Effect and Crysis did.

And whatever did happen to Half Life 3 (aka Half Life 2 Espisode 3) ?

I've been patient the past year or so, and kept occasionally buying some nicer hardware in anticipation of some upcoming release (Crysis 2, ME 3, etc) but thus far, well, I already made my comments earlier.

What do you think about the future of PC gaming (the real deal, not wishful thinking) ?
 
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MMORPG, RTS, FPS, Action-RPGs will always be better on PC. As long as these genre of games are around, PC gaming is fine. As a primarily MMORPG/FPS/DoTA player, I'm not worried about PC gaming.
 
The only publishers "pulling out" of the PC gaming platform are ones who's intentions were always to make money.

All the Publishers and Developers who just want to make games and innovate are still churning away titles business as usual.

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

4.4 million gamers online at the moment just on steam.

Looking at the steam sales this week alone I think "Fuck there's a lot of games I haven't played yet"

I have something like 30 "must play" games in my steam backlog. I always always have something I want to play I haven't played yet on PC. I went to Gamespot the other day looking for something to play on Xbox360. Whole wall of games, For the life of me I could not find one fucking game I wanted to play.
 
The first response,naturally,is greed. But the reason that greed on the part of game makers is rewarded is a generation of gamers who meekly fork over their cash for half assed,poorly developed assembly line games,paying more for less.
 
piscian18 said:
The only publishers "pulling out" of the PC gaming platform are ones who's intentions were always to make money.

All the Publishers and Developers who just want to make games and innovate are still churning away titles business as usual.

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

4.4 million gamers online at the moment just on steam.

Looking at the steam sales this week alone I think "Fuck there's a lot of games I haven't played yet"

I have something like 30 "must play" games in my steam backlog. I always always have something I want to play I haven't played yet on PC. I went to Gamespot the other day looking for something to play on Xbox360. Whole wall of games, For the life of me I could not find one fucking game I wanted to play.
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Any developer or publisher not looking to make a profit will die and deserves to do so. Only a complete fool believes that there is anything other than money behind commercial games.
 
If you cannot figure this out on your own, well... you're a lost cause.

Game makers are focusing on one thing really these days, it's called money, and console kiddies bleed it.

The ME series is a terrible, terrible game to focus on. Seriously, ME is bad, Bioware hasn't made a good game really worth sinking into since KoToR, MAYBE DA:O.
 
Derangel said:
Any developer or publisher not looking to make a profit will die and deserves to do so. Only a complete fool believes that there is anything other than money behind commercial games.
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Define Commercial games.
 
Derangel said:
Games developed and sold for money by a person or team that has game development as a job.
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I'll just bring Minecraft and Mojang in here... Money was never their reason, and that hasn't changed. Notch just wanted to make a game, so that's what he did, and that's what he has continued to do. The guy has Millions stored away somewhere, and you could never tell if you were to look at him.
 
TheOneKnownAsMe said:
I'll just bring Minecraft and Mojang in here... Money was never their reason, and that hasn't changed. Notch just wanted to make a game, so that's what he did, and that's what he has continued to do. The guy has Millions stored away somewhere, and you could never tell if you were to look at him.
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Didn't Notch start selling Alpha versions of Minecraft to pay for development?
 
Derangel said:
Didn't Notch start selling Alpha versions of Minecraft to pay for development?
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I honestly have no idea if that was his reason or not. He continued to hold a day job for a pretty significant amount of time during development. Minecraft Classic was- and always has been- free.
 
TheOneKnownAsMe said:
I honestly have no idea if that was his reason or not. He continued to hold a day job for a pretty significant amount of time during development. Minecraft Classic was- and always has been- free.
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Sadly they're not updating Classic anymore. Anyway it doesn't look like there is anything that says they don't wan't profits or are not hoping for them. Being a for-profit developer and being creative and innovative are not mutually exclusive.
 
The reason people are saying that PC gaming is dying is because now more than ever PC games not taking advantage of hardware as most are console ports. There are also quite a few less PC exclusives than there used to be. Even companies like Bioware that have roots in PC gaming are taking a 180 stance and are moving to consoles. It's not fair to attack the people who say PC gaming is dying. Look at the facts on the table. Just because there are still PC games being developed doesn't mean it's getting the effort and heart it used to. That can be construed as PC gaming is dying.

The reality is that consoles are more powerful and companies can do things on them that they originally only could do on PC. There's also more money to be made on consoles. On consoles there is less worry about piracy and the hardware is cheaper so it's more accessible.

I believe PC gaming can recover once companies realize that more DRM isn't going to fix piracy (Ubisoft). Develop a reputation for making good games and have good delivery methods and support for the games and people will buy your PC games.
 
I thought Mass Effect 2 was much better than the first one, in fact it is one of my all time favorites. I look forward to ME3.

Just picked up Crysis 2 on origin for 20 bucks, I've heard good things about it.

PC gaming is not dead. If whores like Ubisoft won't do PC anymore, great! I'd rather give my money to indie devs who will fill the niche with games that are actually worth playing.
 
bigdogchris said:
The reason people are saying that PC gaming is dying is because now more than ever PC games not taking advantage of hardware as most are console ports. There are also quite a few less PC exclusives than there used to be. Even companies like Bioware that have roots in PC gaming are taking a 180 stance and are moving to consoles. For those who say PC gaming is dying, it's not fair to attack those people. Look at the facts on the table. Just because there are still PC games being developed doesn't mean it's getting the effort and heart it used to. That can be construed as PC gaming is dying.

The reality is that consoles are more powerful and companies can do things on them that they originally only could do on PC. There's also more money to be made on consoles. On consoles there is less worry about piracy and the hardware is cheaper so it's more accessible.

I believe PC gaming can recover once companies realize that more DRM isn't going to fix piracy (Ubisoft). Develop a reputation for making good games and have good delivery methods and support for the games and people will buy your PC games.
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It's really much more simple than that. It makes no sense to be exclusive anymore. The days of exclusive games are ending. There will always be exceptions, but for the most part we will keep seeing less exclusives across all platforms. Development costs are too expensive and the risks are far too high. It's smart to follow the money and do what is best for your business.
 
I think Bioware's last good game is going to be DA:O. Unless ME3 is amazing, I think Bioware is off my list.

Skyrim has huge potential for the PC. Huge.
 
Derangel said:
Any developer or publisher not looking to make a profit will die and deserves to do so. Only a complete fool believes that there is anything other than money behind commercial games.
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There is a difference in creating a product you are proud of and making a living out of it in the process vs. making a product just for the sake of money. This holds true in game business as much as it does in music industry. Both want money because in this day and age people NEED it. Its a necessity. But former wants to innovate, create something that is as important to them as it is to audience where the latter is driven by nothing but greed. And it usually shows in the product. A conveyor belt product that is forgotten fast...
 
MaZa said:
There is a difference in creating a product you are proud of and making a living out of it in the process vs. making a product just for the sake of money. This holds true in game business as much as it does in music industry. Both want money because in this day and age people NEED it. Its a necessity. But former wants to innovate, create something that is as important to them as it is to audience where the latter is driven by nothing but greed. And it usually shows in the product. A conveyor belt product that is forgotten fast...
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The problem is that people tend to think that being for-profit and being creative are mutually exclusive. They are not.
 
NukeDukem said:
I thought Mass Effect 2 was much better than the first one, in fact it is one of my all time favorites. I look forward to ME3.
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Objectively it was. Mass Effect 1 has better story, more hardcore take on its scifi universe etc... but ME2 despite its glaring shortcomings was just so much fun to play. I have more hours in ME2 than in ME1 despite technically loving the latter more. Its a difficult thing to explain... :)
 
tomana said:
Mass Effect is IMO the best PC game ever written and the in-game viewing angles are Hollywood perfect.
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This is hilarious when you consider that ME1 was an XBOX 360 game ported after the fact to the PC by Demiurge Entertainment. That's right, your gold standard of PC gaming is an after-the-fact console port.

tomana said:
Mass Effect 2 = sub-par to non-existant story line,
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I found ME2's storyline to be far more focused, and superior to ME1's.

tomana said:
poor game play,
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Please. The thing I remember most about ME1's gameplay was the incessant grinding necessary to level up. There's something to be said for depth, but driving around aimlessly on empty squares of map looking for the odd mineral deposit or scrolling through dozens of useless dropped weapons and weapon modifications is not my idea of fun. ME2's scanning mechanic wasn't much better, but at least it didn't take as much time.

tomana said:
kiddie carnival style scope reticle,
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Really?

tomana said:
characters that float up into the air (and usually stay there until you reboot the game),
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You want to talk about bugs? Grind enough using the rover in ME1 and you will get that thing stuck more than once.

tomana said:
fighting mates that talk too much and say the same line or two over and over ("Field is clear!" ... why don't they know when to shut up?)
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"I will DESTROY you!"

What, you don't remember that? That's the line I'd hear every. single. time. I engaged a human enemy on a side quest. You know, those side-quests that took place on those cookie-cutter barren planets and required rescuing someone from/stealing something from/killing everyone in one of those cookie-cutter warehouse things full of cookie-cutter crates and chest-high walls defended by cookie-cutter pirates/mercenaries/corporate security. Well one of those cookie-cutter baddies would be female. And she'd yell "I will DESTROY you!" in that shrill voice of hers. every. single. time. Maybe there was a clone trade in the galaxy in the ME1 era that was completely dismantled by the time Shepard returned for ME2. Or maybe Bioware was lazy, something they sincerely tried to rectify with the varied side-quests and locales in ME2.

tomana said:
and forget about turning Shepherd as he's running or to run up flights of stairs (like he could effortlessly do in ME1) because once running - he don't like to veer from the straight path.
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I can agree that the sprinting mechanic was messed up in ME2.

tomana said:
Yes, there were a couple of improvements here and there though I fail to recall them at the moment.
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You have a very selective memory.

In conclusion, both ME1 and ME2 were designed with consoles in mind. If anything, the PC was an afterthought on ME1, while ME2 was actually developed concurrently for both platforms. The changes from ME1 to ME2 were made to try and increase mass market appeal independently of platform. Personally, I had a mixed reaction to the changes, but felt the improvements far outweighed the disappointments.
 
Inate8 said:
The ME series is a terrible, terrible game to focus on. Seriously, ME is bad, Bioware hasn't made a good game really worth sinking into since KoToR, MAYBE DA:O.
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ME shits all over DA:O. What's telling about ME1 though, is that the PC version wasn't done by Bioware, and it was a better port than ME2.
 
bigdogchris said:
The reason people are saying that PC gaming is dying is because now more than ever PC games not taking advantage of hardware as most are console ports.
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Do you remember what happened last time a game came along that took advantage of PC hardware?

"OMG the game is so unoptimized!!!"
"OMG I don't have anything that can run it at max details!"
"OMG the story is lame!!!"
"OMG the aliens are annoying enemies, why can't I kill more North Koreans???"

Blame bad word of mouh. Blame piracy. Blame then-Senator Obama. The point is, the game didn't sell. In the old days, ID could put out a game with system-crushing graphics and a non-existent plot and people would flock to it. Now PC gamers are too whiny and hard to please. No wonder devs are flocking to consoles.
 
I blame whiny little beeches. Look at BF3. People can't even do basic troubleshooting when they have problems and cry and cry on forums.
 
LstOfTheBrunnenG said:
Do you remember what happened last time a game came along that took advantage of PC hardware?

"OMG the game is so unoptimized!!!"
"OMG I don't have anything that can run it at max details!"
"OMG the story is lame!!!"
"OMG the aliens are annoying enemies, why can't I kill more North Koreans???"

Blame bad word of mouh. Blame piracy. Blame then-Senator Obama. The point is, the game didn't sell. In the old days, ID could put out a game with system-crushing graphics and a non-existent plot and people would flock to it. Now PC gamers are too whiny and hard to please. No wonder devs are flocking to consoles.
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Except the game did sell well. In two months it sold 1 million copies. That doesnt include Steam number either. To date I'm not sure what the number is.

But yes, you are correct Crysis 1 was an amazing game and it caught so much crap for all the wrong reasons.
 
jadams said:
Except the game did sell well. In two months it sold 1 million copies. That doesnt include Steam number either. To date I'm not sure what the number is.

But yes, you are correct Crysis 1 was an amazing game and it caught so much crap for all the wrong reasons.
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3 million last I heard and that was a few years ago.

No it was a good looking, but kind of meh game. The mechanics worked, but it never did anything beyond being a serviceable shooter that looked pretty. Crysis deserves a lot of the shit it gets.
 
Derangel said:
3 million last I heard and that was a few years ago.

No it was a good looking, but kind of meh game. The mechanics worked, but it never did anything beyond being a serviceable shooter that looked pretty. Crysis deserves a lot of the shit it gets.
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The story was so-so, but it brought destructible environments, smart AI once you got off the easy difficulty, and an open world. YES an open world in the sense that there was obviously still set objectives and places to go but many many different ways to accomplish them.

Theres games that have been considerably worse that havent caught as much crap as Crysis did.
 
jadams said:
The story was so-so, but it brought destructible environments, smart AI once you got off the easy difficulty, and an open world. YES an open world in the sense that there was obviously still set objectives and places to go but many many different ways to accomplish them.

Theres games that have been considerably worse that havent caught as much crap as Crysis did.
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The first Red Faction had better destructible environments than Crysis. Crysis took a lot of shortcuts for destruction. Trees fell apart the same way, houses fall apart in pre-defined pieces. Vehicles explode the same way. The much hyped destruction was highly disappointing.

The open world was a lie. The only open thing about the game was that the first half of the game let you explore for no reason or reward and let you pick which way to approach a battle. Of course that was completely removed as soon as the aliens appeared.

Crysis was hyped to hell and back that is why it's problems get harped on harshly. Crytek completely abandoning the game after failing to released promised features doesn't help either.
 
Are they favoring consoles?

If you compare PC vs 360+PS2+PS3+Wii+WiiU, sure it may seem that PC is not dominating on major titles.

Now compare PC vs Wii on major release titles... The Wii isn't dead, it was and I believe still is the most popular selling console of the generation.

Fact is, there are a crapton of major PC titles, but the reason people bitch is that more and more developers are using a "lowest common denominator" approach to gaming, which tends to be the Xbox 360. Thus games are designed around that archaic weak hardware, and not at all taking advantage of the amazing performance available with modern technology in the PC world. Consoles were also seen as the solution to piracy for developers, since the flexible PCs were too open and flexible to attempt to lock down as you can a Xbox 360.
 
I haven't read the rest of the thread. I'm on my phone and out. But I'll say that in the last couple of years I've bought a shit load of pc games. Pc gaming is certainly not dead.
 
Derangel said:
3 million last I heard and that was a few years ago.

No it was a good looking, but kind of meh game. The mechanics worked, but it never did anything beyond being a serviceable shooter that looked pretty. Crysis deserves a lot of the shit it gets.
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jadams said:
The story was so-so, but it brought destructible environments, smart AI once you got off the easy difficulty, and an open world. YES an open world in the sense that there was obviously still set objectives and places to go but many many different ways to accomplish them.

Theres games that have been considerably worse that havent caught as much crap as Crysis did.
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Exactly my point. What did games like Quake 3/Doom 3 innovate besides better graphics? The old-timers were looking at the good old days through rose-tinted glasses, and the new generation wasn't used to a game that can crush the expensive rig their mommy bought them.
 
PC gaming has been dying for an awful long time hasn't it? The term has been tossed around so much that it has very little meaning to me. The once PC-focused developers such as ID, Epic and IW may have shifted their primary focus to consoles, but that just makes room for up-and-comers like CD Projekt, Mojang, etc., to step up and take their place (much like those former companies did ~10-15 years ago).
 
jorojr said:
PC gaming has been dying for an awful long time hasn't it? The term has been tossed around so much that it has very little meaning to me. The once PC-focused developers such as ID, Epic and IW may have shifted their primary focus to consoles, but that just makes room for up-and-comers like CD Projekt, Mojang, etc., to step up and take their place (much like those former companies did ~10-15 years ago).
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Exactly. I really love the European devs. Makers of STALKER, METRO, WITCHER etc. The Euros don't seem to cater to the lowest common denominator.
 
tomana said:
Do you trust what Microsoft says ? I read an article yesterday (I don't have the link on hand) that saiod MS did not release even one NEW PC game title in 2011. Not sure if this is true or not, but it may well be an indicator of the trend towards consoles.
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This is incorrect by the way. Microsoft has released, or plans to release, PC only and multiplatform titles this year.

One of the worst things about gaming is really sloppy "journalism" and people who get misled by it.
 
Piracy!!!
epic-jackie-chan-template.png
 
NukeDukem said:
Exactly. I really love the European devs. Makers of STALKER, METRO, WITCHER etc. The Euros don't seem to cater to the lowest common denominator.
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Plague_Injected said:
Tell that to Crytek and Ubisoft.
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Eastern Europeans are far more friendly to PC gaming than their western counterparts. To be fair, its probably because consoles have a weak presence in Eastern Europe, with none of the console makers having official markets there I believe.
 
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