PC gaming "becoming a niche" -- analysts speak

you mean there are some games that aren't for windows? Which ones are those?

Anything made by Blizzard.

did you guys just pull the enchanted arms story? whats going on around here?

When was PC gaming not a niche?

I've never really enjoyed playing games on my computer. The keyboard just wasn't meant for it. I would much rather play on a game pad. But I do still play PC only games like HL2 and Unreal. ( I know you can get them on xbox just it's not the same.)

When Halo2 comes out for Vista, I'll probably pick it up because of the map editor but I'll definitely be using an xbox360 controller.

I think its becoming harder to rationalise purchasing a high-end pc only for gaming. My current 3 year old rig may not run all the latest games but it can do everthing else that i throw at it including high-def video, surround sound and of course word processing and it handles all the things i need todo for uni like compiling etc. Previously when I would upgrade my pc aside from games it would also be able todo everything else much faster too. Now technology has reached a point where im not going to see that anymore, web surfing doesnt need a ninja rig. Its very hard to for me to justify buying something high-end when I dont get any fringe benefits...

To crono141

There's lots of great games on the mac, just watch this video and see!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1215065532862862958&q=why+macs+suck

I use my PC to play classic games (Starcraft, MechWarrior 3, Jedi Knight) and my 360 to play bleeding edge games (Oblivion, Prey). I love both setups.

Oh I can assure you that piracy is alive and well on consoles.

It's not going anywhere. When vista gets out, itll be a boost to the platform.

Everyone has been foreshadowing the downfall of the PC Game industry yet it contiues to pull in money. As for the piracy issue, I think Steam really cuts down on pirates. If MS could implement a universal game service like Xbox live for PC game then I'm sure it will make pc gaming more streamlined and attractive to gamers. Maybe we'll see something like that on vista.

I hate you joystiq! You are so anti-PC. Everyday it's another PC bashing article. You are single handedly bringing the industry to its knees!


Sarcasm detector jumps off of the scale.

Sorry I just couldn't resist.

I'd much prefer playing games on my PC. Graphics are usually better and I can just use a keyboard much better than the new controllers. The two joystick thing on the new controllers just threw my game off, no idea why....

Uh, "appealing piracy-free environment"?

So, they're either lying, oblivious, or terribly naive. I'm not sure which one to hope for...but consoles are FAR from "piracy-free".

Remember this post:
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/06/current-top-10-selling-pc-games/
and
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/09/current-top-10-selling-pc-games/

"Nancy Drew" is in the top-5 selling PC games! And "Cars" takes the top spot. Are bad are must sales be for Nancy Drew and Cars to be the best?

Please excuse my bad English in 14. I think my point is clear, though.

5. Really? I would argue just the opposite. I find that the console controller is too limiting. I like the keboard/mouse setup the best out of any offering. A mouse feels more natural than any analog stick I've used and the keyboard has tons of buttons to use.

Most of the time PC games give you the option to map your own keys. This ability to hotkey tons of actions allows a level of refinement to the PC game's on screen menus and interfaces. This also allows the developer the freedom to implement that many more inputs into their game. When an equivalent gaming experience is ported over to a console, you often have to either dumb down the user inputs or force the user to traverse clunky menus to execute the same action that was a simple button push on the PC. This is why if given a choice, I would rather game on the PC. Some genres are just serviced better by the PC setup. Genres like Simulations (Mechwarrior, flight sims), RTS games, and FPS games just feel better with full mouse/keyboard support IMO.

As for the price issue, you don't need to spend a fortune. If you buy last years graphics card you can usually play brand new PC games on moderate settings which is usually good enough. I never pay more than 200 bucks for a graphics card and I maybe purchase one once ever 2-3 years. Everything else should be upgraded as normal maintenance to your PC and I don't consider these purchases to be gaming specific. If you are going to be a PC gamer than learning how to upgrade your own machine is the way to go.

Yup, PC gaming is going the way of the dodo. I've been saying it for the last few years. PC game sales went down practically 20% last year.

Guess how many PC games broke a million units in 2005?

Zero. Only WoW came close.

@ 17
Didn't you read the article? No games broke a million because we're pirating them all.

Piracy or not, the day I can unwrap a PC game, pop it into my DVD or CD drive, and be playing the game in seconds without having to update drivers, download patches, remap keys to fit my preferred method of control, reboot 2-3 times, and reconfigure my whole damned system just to play...

...that will be the day that PC games have finally caught up to the console gaming experience...

...and the day I can do the same with all my old PC games will be the day PC games have finally surpassed the console experience.

"No games broke a million because we're pirating them all."

From a publisher's perspective, that's just as bad as not selling.

someone probably mentioned this. but isn't it almost oxymoronic to mention an article about WOW and how big it has grown and how big MMOs are going to get, then post something about how some how, PC gaming is also going to decline around the same time? (I'm not insulting you Joystiq for the posts, I just find this humorous)


oh and PC FTW!!!1!!11

LOL
FPS's and RTS (and certain 3rd person) games only rock on PC I cant stand FPS on Console its like trying to cut a tough piece of meat with a buttered up knife and buttered up hands. lol I dont know about that but you get the idea.
I think PC gameing is way better, if you are smart you will actually spend less then getting a new console controllers and the game.
I had a PC setup for around 5 years with only getting a new Harddrive and it ran games just fine for me, When Doom 3 things didnt run as well but then I updated my Graphics Card Drivers and it ran almost perfict thats the greatness of updates you dont actually have to buy anything. now 200 bucks just a little while ago and I can run all the current games great.
All you have to know is your hardware, educate yourself in that and you will be fine, think its to much work, well then shut up and sit down. Knowing all about your PC is a must anyway I think. Console Games while good are very limiting in many other ways, like I still play HL1, well with its millions of Mods its like I paid for one game and got so much more out of it for free. Same with HL2 as more and more good mods come out.

PC gaming sucks. Ill take my couch, HDTV, 7.1 surround and a cold 40 over a computer desk and monitor. No contest. Not to mention saving hundreds of dollars every year in the process.

Come'on now. That "PC games is a niche market" was made by the "beloved" Michael Pachter. How could it be taken seriously?

"With console platforms offering an appealing piracy-free environment"

PS2 - Hacked , you can play backups

Gamecube - Hacked , you can play backups

XBox - Hacked , i can and you can play backups

XBox360 - Hacked , i can play and you can play backups

PS3 - will be hacked and you will be able to play backups

Wii - will be hacked and you will be able to play backups.

@Pretty what prevents you from playing PC games on a couch or on an HDTV? You can easily use an HDTV or 7.1 for PC games. You can play your PC anywhere you can with a console. You can even use a controller. PC moniters at the highend are better then HDTVs for resolution. High res moniters just aren't too good for watching video, unless it's already clean up and at the native resolution.

Some genres just don't work on console like FPS and RTS. RTS and FPS are better with a lot of keys. If you're anywhere serious about FPS games you'll use a keyboard and mouse.

But the same can be said for console gaming. Platform, racing, and fighting really have never worked on the PC. I play consoles also and I play the genres that work best with a controller.

ShockWave:

When was the 360 hacked? I'd just like to know when the breakthrough happened. By hacked I mean someone playing pirated games from the HD or the like.

I'm curious because I've heard nothing on the subject in months.

This became a serious concern when I found out about Crysis' sheer technical power. If it requires a £500 graphics card investment to play properly, and that sort of specification becomes the norm, then PC gaming could quickly price itself into obscurity.

That said there were similar worries when Doom 3 came out and things balanced out eventually.

Abyss: I pondered having my PC and consoles sharing a display and surround system, but it proved impossible to position the keyboard and mouse comfortably in a living room setting. I would literally have to haul a work desk into the audio sweet spot every time I wanted to play Age of Empires or browse the web. I could use the PC for controller-based games and media centre functions easily enough, but then I would've lost the benefits of using a PC.

With this in mind, Phantom's lapboard would actually be quite nice.

I've got both a 360 and a big PC gaming rig and they are both great but if I want the best version of the game then in my opinion the PC is the best. I know PC's cost more but then so does a bigger house or a better car etc, you pay for what you get and if you shop smart and build the PC yourself then you can get a good PC for much cheaper than buying in the stores. You cannot beat mouse / keyboard for control although I agree the 360 pad is excellent and the Wii wand looks interesting and will hopefully be a lot of fun but you need the mouse if you want complete accuracy.

As for 'PC gaming been in decline', 'consoles will take over'...blah blah etc. I heard the same comments when the PS1 and PS2 both came out and PC gaming is still going strong. I think there's room for PC's and console gaming on the market.

The PC has more variety than any other platform, the best dev tools, and is still the indie platform of choice. It is the least nichey of all markets.

If anything, market saturation is to blame for the low profits. I recall back in the late 80's, profits from PC games were far less than console games, yet, the platform continued, especially once people realized you didn't have to spend $3,000 for a computer just to get green text and beeps (thank God for the Amiga and ST).

Besides, consoles are just stripped-down PCs these days, and they run crippled PC toolkits. Where would consoles be without PC technology? Thanks for the gratitude, you million-copy money-grubbing DRM-harboring stogie-suckers!

Google tip: Did you mean Nitsche Market?

So-called experts have been proclaiming PC gaming's death for a good decade now, and yet it quite happily keeps on living.

Graphics aside, the PC games I play today aren't all that different from what I played ten years ago. The fact that many of these games are now also on consoles doesn't bother me, as modding more than makes up for it. I can't actually think offhand of any series or genre that console gaming has "killed", except for MechWarrior I suppose, although that series was heading in the direction MechAssault took anyway. I also can't think of any series that have abandoned the PC, except for GTA which is only temporarily an exclusive.

The piracy claim is utter bull. I'll accept that it's hurting gaming, but it's not hurting the PC alone; as pointed out above, console games can by pirated with only a little more effort than the PC. The rising popularity of modchips further illustrates this.

The PC market is changing not because of piracy but because consoles are becoming more and more like mini PCs. Ten years ago there were dozens of famous licenses that were exclusive to the PC; if consoles got them at all it was almost always in a shockingly reduced form (the SNES reimaginings of Doom and Ultima VII spring to mind).

Nowadays, except for cases when the devs screwed up or the target system is too weak, the games look and feel nigh identical--look at Doom 3 and Oblivion for perfect examples. Genres that were never all that good on the PC to begin with (racing and platformers) have now moved to consoles almost completely, which is a Good Thing. For shooters and RPGs I'll take the PC version no matter what, but I'd far rather play Project Gotham with a trigger vibrating under my gentle grip than have to hold down the comparatively tiny W key for the whole race.

When presented with the choice between these nigh-identical versions, casual gamers of course choose the console; while some PC games do install without a hitch twice as many don't, and nothing beats shoving the disc in and the game just working straight away without any technical concerns whatsoever. Sure you don't get mods and proper HD (my 17" LCD is actually more "HD" than many HDTVs), but overall the console version is just as good.

Another defining factor is how you control the game; many find the controller's familiar and strictly finite buttons easier to handle than a mouse and keyboard setup with different button layouts for every new game. While shooters (and RPGs, to a slightly lesser extent) still control better on the PC the 360 controller comes darned close, and the Wiimote promises mouse-like accuracy with the added depth of a z axis. As for the PS controller, well... it barely deserves to be even *mentioned* in the same paragraph as the 360 controller.

PC developers just need to stick to its strengths (RTS, FPS, RPG, MMO) and stay the heck away from its weaknesses (racing, fighting, platformers). DirectX 10 and the Games for Windows initiative should definitely help.

After spending about 3 hours installing and getting HL2 EP1 to run on my brand new X2 3800+ with 2G Ram, this isn't surprising at all. Most people wouldn't put up with having to search for hours until you find the -dx 81 or whatever switch to use. Oh, sure, my geforce 6100 isn't exactly great, but I still should be able to turn all the graphics down and have the game run without resorting to BS text switches that aren't prominantly mentioned.

And lots of new games won't run at all decently no matter what I turn off. Excuse me? If I down the graphics until they look much worse than a PS2, a PC with my specs should bloody well be able to run it.

32. AirIntake

I ran HL2 EP1 with much lower specs and it ran beautifully. Much better looking than anything I've played on the consoles lately and that's including the 360. I think you have some other issues not related to your hardware specs if you couldn't get it to work right. Also were you installing it through Steam? 3 hours? You know you could have just driven down to BestBuy, bought it and installed in less time. Again, my anti electronic distribution for large scale games like this comes to light.

@AirIntake, Correct me if I'm wrong but is that 6100 chipset intergrated on the m/board? If so, best to get an AGP or PCI-E card rather than anything intergrated, if you want a cheap card, get an nVidia 6800 or an ATi 9800 and Ep 1 will run sweet. They are not that expensive, have a look on eBay etc.
As for the 3 hours installation, what are you using, a 56k modem?

@AirIntake, one last thought, what kind of new PC comes out with DX 8.1 rather than DX 9.0c (WinXP, SP2 has 9.0c as standard), what OS are you using? Win98?

Even if every single major developer left the pc for the console market, pc gamer would have games to play. Pc's are entirely too easy for an indy developer to break into when compared to consoles. The pc will always have a place in the market.

Also, the only thing required to give the pc compatability with those "console only" genre's is the installation of a controller. With the xbox 360 controller useable on a pc, you have the best of both worlds imo. (plus, the best controller to date)