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Is PC Gaming Dying? Or Thriving?
Is PC Gaming Dying? Or Thriving?
Fri, 03/28/2008 - 20:03 — Feature by Jonathan
MSNBC has come out with an article exploring the decline in the PC gaming market. Mid-way through the article, a question was posed as to why console games are outselling PC games with a larger market of PCs. MSNBC‘s article would like you to think that it’s potentially the game industries fault on not educating the public as to how affordable PC gaming really is. While I agree that this is definitely an issue (I see this argument thrown around a lot by console enthusiasts) it pales in comparison to what has been happening in the gaming industry in the past couple of years resulting in a shift of how gamers purchase their games.
A lot of gamers own a PC and a Console
I would say that the people who are really into gaming will generally own both a PC and a console to satisfy their gaming fix. Now if we look at what’s been happening in the market, we’ve been seeing a lot of developers hop on the console bandwagon leaving PC gamers in the dust or at best with a playable port months later. For the gaming enthusiast who owns both a console and PC, the inclination would be to buy a game as soon as it’s released generally resulting in a console game purchase. After spending 60+ dollars on a game it’s highly unlikely that same person will buy the PC port of that game whenever it arrives for nearly the same price.
Console ports to the
PC are generally half-baked ventures
Rarely have I played a game console port to the PC without encountering bugs, glitches or some kind of hardware conflict. A perfect example of this would be Resident Evil 4. When Resident Evil 4 was ported over to PCs, it contained worse graphics than the consoles versions and NO MOUSE SUPPORT. Yes that’s right, the most vital part of a pc gaming experience, mouse control, was completely left out in the port. This is not a rare occurrence, this is the norm for most ports and people wonder why sales of PC games are lagging?
Console games are generally inferior to games developed for the PC
Consoles games are constrained by dated technology meaning that developers will have to settle for less feature rich, smaller and graphically inferior games to those developed exclusively for the PC. With console games being inferior to the PC exclusive counterparts, why are PC gamers forced to shell out the same amount of cash for the port which is generally worse off than the console version?
Conclusion
With developers shifting focus to the console market it would seem rather obvious as to why PC games aren’t fairing as well. More console developers mean more games tailored to the console gamer. Developers believe that they can take a popular console game, give it to a third party to create a shoddy port, release it months if not a year after the original game release and expect PC gamers to eat it up. Developers are getting what they put into their PC games as of late and are slowly killing off the market that built them up.
Comments
Console ripoffs
MJB — Sat, 03/29/2008 - 18:35After I bought the first Xbox for the full price only to be told several months after the launch that Microsoft was reducing the price by almost half, to compete with Sony Play Station, I have been anti-console. You could never get me to purchase a console. I don't care how good the game is. Console maufacturers are only interested in the bottom line and they do not care how they shake those dollars out of your pocket. They don't care how the buying experience turns out for the consumer. I still feel ripped off all of these years later.
do you honestly think you're
Virago — Mon, 03/31/2008 - 13:37do you honestly think you're getting a better deal with PC parts? The reality is that being an early adopter is an expensive venture. I can't count how many times I've had to go out and spend 500 dollars upgrading my video card only to see it 3rd or 4th on performance charts (that price alone can buy you a console!) - I used to play PCs exclusively when console's weren't yet online. Sure I've had every console to date but they were just to keep me occupied when my mom was on the phone (dialup days). Once I had a taste of online play, its all I ever wanted to do and as soon as consoles picked up on that, my PC was relegated to work once more. I've got a few titles for it like Crysis and Microsoft Flight Sim, and more games that generally don't have the mass appeal to warrant a console edition (crysis excluded of course!).
Let's look at a few reasons why someone might purchase a console as opposed to a PC for his gaming fix.
Price point - (high end gaming rig costs upwards of 5000), Console is 500.
Connectivity out of the box - plug it in, get your xbox live account and you're ready to rock!
Better Games - PC games are becoming these genre specific titles that only cater to small numbers of gamers, yes these gamers love their games but most games with mass appeal come out on console first and are then later ported).
Don't need to be a geek to enjoy them - let's face it, not everyone knows or wants to know how to upgrade drivers, or install the latest punkbuster to enjoy his games online. Console don't require innate knowledge of technology to enjoy.
I could probably name several more reasons but I'll stop there. I will say this though, for niche games, PCs will always reign supreme (I can't see simulations ever thriving on consoles), but for Mass Appeal (and this is what the article is all about), consoles have already won.
In the Eyes of the Beholder
MJB — Mon, 03/31/2008 - 21:52Virago, you make some good points. But shopping like gaming is about perceptions and feelings. A shopping decision has to have the illusion of fun. If post-purchase you feel like you have been ripped off then the fun of the hunt and purchase decision is destroyed. It is more likely that you will be upset about things related to a less costly console than a computer like a Voodoo or Blackbird 002, etc. You have invested so much in the computer that you will find ways to continue to support the purchase decision (denial?). Again it is a matter of perception. Given that the computer has more uses than mere gaming, a loss in one area can be compensated in another. With a console, filling that loss is not that easy given its limitations. On top of it the console manufacturers are counting on their target market not being very organized in order to be able to demand better treatment.
In the end so long as you are happy with your decision then that is all that counts. But I will always harbour a grudge against consoles.
I'm not a big fan of
Virago — Tue, 04/01/2008 - 02:05I'm not a big fan of purchasing illusions ;)
I had two faulty xbox360 units (who hasn't honestly), but in both cases, they were promptly replaced with a new one. I've since had my elite with no problems whatsoever. For me to get that sort of service from a PC reseller, I'd have to go buy myself an expensive VoodooPC. And yes I do say expensive because you pay not only for the machine, but the craftmanship that goes into it. That's one of the problems with PCs right now is that there is no guidelines when it comes to putting a machine together. Over 90 percent of computers out there are crap, which means that developers have to cut so many corners just to make a game run on a broad range of computers. Imagine how amazing a PC could look if it was taylored to all high end machines? That's the benefit console developers have. Nobody has even begun to tap into the raw power these machine's posess. How many PCs have 3 cores that run at 3.2 gigs each AND DDR3 memory with 4 pipelines running to the core! None that's how many. There are so many bottlenecks in PCs that the numbers never tell the true story. Don't get me wrong, if I could afford a 5000 dollar PC, I'd have one, but most people can't and that's what the statistics reflect. Until component manufacturers lower their prices (instead of playing price wars with one another at the expense of the consumer), the PC gaming market will continue its decline.