Is PC gaming dying?

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I do think PC gaming is dwindling as you only have to go into a high street shop and look at the selection of PC games compared to consoles. I buy all my PC games online as they just don't stock them in most shops and that includes new games as well. I would be gutted if PC gaming stopped as for me it's the best platform and I don't really like how console games look and feel. When I have the choice I always buy the PC version but we can see with games like COD4 that PC is a 2nd class citizen as they have released map packs for the console versions and not the PC version.

 

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I dont think the dwindling floor space is a good indicator for PC gamings downfall
if you ask me it's simple economics

PC games competitively go for a bout £30 in the uk, £35 if your EA and drop to £19.99 - £24.99 pretty damn fast
Console games can go from £35 - £50 plus they can stock the console itself

the majority of hardcore pc gamers are not scared of the internet and are happy to buy stuff on line, the same cant be said for console gamers, us PC gamers were some of the first to embrace the internet outside academia / military channels, hell some of us were playing direct dial over the phone lines before then!

 

I started playing quake on line in 1994 at college. Most of the time though my internet usage was VAX/VMS based playing text based games

 

You Geek

 

I know

 

Good point as it is all about the £££ but for the average person on the street the simple fact is the shelf space has shrunk for PC games. If the games retailers don't see the profit in PC gaming market then it could disappear completely which could lead to the market going altogether in years to come. I hope I'm totally wrong as we would loose certain types of games that don't work well on console (Baldur's Gate for example) and that would be a blow. I like consoles but just have never taken to them as much as PC games but can understand why the market is declining as with a console you have just that one console to code for. A PC on the other hand has many variables and configes and probably costs more to develop for with that in mind. Plus as you pointed out Phoenix PC games tend to loose there value quicker and cost less to purchase so that means less £££ for the industry. I can see a future of sloppy console ports to be honest where the PC is an afterthought but again I hope I'm wrong.

 

Exactly right... took the words out of my mouth!

BBS gaming as well... blast from the past.

 

You're not getting the point. **ALL** brick and mortar shops could stop selling PC games, and the PC gaming market STILL wouldn't be close to dying. As do most PC gamers, I buy the vast majority of my PC games online because I can find them cheaper there. B&M shops can abandon the platform for all I care.

Unfortunately, that's already happening. The only way to fix that behavior by dev companies is to speak with our wallets and not buy crappy console ports. The companies with the truly brilliant PC games will survive... those who "just get by" with a crappy port will fail or simply abandon the platform (which is a GOOD thing for PC gaming).

 

Of course I get the point. Your naive to think that bricks and mortar shops not selling PC games doesn't hurt the PC gaming community and that everyone buys their games online as they don't. If the games that are produced don't get exposure from all corners then they run the risk of not selling as well as their console counterparts. If that happens then it's not cost effective for them to release PC versions or to do what so developers do and release sloppy ports.

 

I think you guys should all come together and form you own games publishing company.

Haven't been reading through everything, but I get the feeling that it is being said that if PC games were not to be marketed they would still sell? Well, a game is like any other product out there, and even though global sales exceed that of the movie industry, games are still part of a very niche market; after all it's one of the very newest industries out there - and as such needs all the marketing that it can get. Let's take GTAIV as an example. Everyone around me couldn't wait for the game to be released, both at work and mates outside of my industry, yet R* saw fit to not skimp on the advertising and general marketing budget, seeing the game through to release. I know that GTAIV isn't a PC game (yet!), but regardless of the popularity of the platforms it was release on and the GTA franchise itself, the marketing expenditure went substantially further in generating interest for increased sales.

Put simply, if PC games are not properly marketed they will do either one of two things:

1. Professional PC game development will cease, and this will mean no new shiny games on the PC for the public.
2. Alternative channels like indies will produce sub-standard games that will effectively drive the console market.

I'm sure that a games marketing pro will have more to add, but I'm very confident that this is the state of affairs.

 

Sorry, man... the numbers don't show it. B&M stores have been eliminating the PC gaming footprint drastically, and it doesn't seem to have affected sales. Rapid acceptance of online vehicles like Steam have effectively countered the problem.

 

I would be godsmacked if you took a multiformat game and told me the PC version sold anywhere near as much as the console counterparts. Why is that???

I personally like PC gaming 10x as much as consoles but even I can see that the console market has eaten away at the PC market and will continue to do so.

 

Wow, wasn't expecting this many responses to this thread, excellent!!!

I sincerely hope PC gaming doesn't die out, as I mentioned earlier, I've been gaming on the PC for over 7 years now without even looking at consoles. The problem I think is the marketing and advertsiing. Think about it, when was the last time you saw a television advert featuring a game that was almost exclusive to PC? I can't think of one at all. The adverts tend to advertise a game, big up the platform it is being released on, then along the bottom or side, you might get a bar that say 'also released on .......' and a tiny little symbol for PC

Obviously, we all know how good PC gaming is as we've been using it for a while, but I'm sure we can all agree, generally people are looking for the cheapest and laziest ways to do things, and in terms of gaming, consoles offer that.

 

I'm not comparing PC sales to console sales. I'm saying that PC game sales are increasing. Thus, the statement that PC gaming is dying is patently false.

The console market hasn't eaten away at the PC market; the console market is reaching a demographic that doesn't want to game on PCs. Those are two entirely different markets.

 

Complete b@llocks of course consoles have had an impact on the decline of the PC gaming market.

 

Why do you HAVE to see a television advert featuring a game that is exclusive to the PC for PC game sales to be strong? Why can't GTA4 sales for the PC be strong because of GTA4 adverts for consoles? They can; they did for GTA: San Andreas.

I don't recall seeing a single TV advertisement for The Sims 2. But sales were incredible. How can that be?!? Ah... it must be because PC gamers tend to see advertisements on... the PC. Who would have figured THAT out?

Similarly, it stands to reason that console gamers are sitting on their couch, watching the square box that they play their console games on: their TV.

 

The PC Gaming market is NOT IN DECLINE!
its been increasing year on year!
consoles may of taken a way a few sales, but those sales are made up in other areas, the PC game market continues to grow AS WELL as the console market

and comparing multi format games is a waste of time, everyone knows to steer clear of a game that comes out on every platform, it will stink on most of them!

 

Way to logically defend your point, Sly.

 

That's what I tried to tell him... but will he listen? Nah, he'd rather just say that my post is bollocks.

 

Well that might be bad wording by me to say declining but a quote from an interview below sums it up for me the state of play of the PC gaming market

David Tinson from EA first talked about sales numbers. "So to give you an example... Last year, for every 30 copies on PS2, we'd sell one PC. And that's PS2," he revealed during the interview.

I find it hard for anyone to say that consoles haven't had an effect on the PC gaming market. It's like saying consoles didn't have an effect on the decline of arcades. I'm sorry on this one we will have to agree to disagree.