Yet another gloomy sign for PC gaming enthusiasts: Shacknews recently reported that of the whopping $18.85 billion the video game industry made in North America last year, only $910.7 million (or around 14%) was derived from PC games. When you compare the 267.8 million games sold in total in 2007 to the portion that were on PC (36.4 million) the numbers dip a bit closer to 13%.Though the news doesn't look great, it's worth noting that this evidence isn't exactly conclusive, as the NPD doesn't track digital sales, a portion of the market that's rapidly increasing on PCs. So dry those tears, pumpkin, that big black box under your desk could be more of a chrysalis than coffin.
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Were that on a bumper sticker, t-shirt and mousepad, I would create a non-profit fund to buy as many as possible to send them out to all the "gamers" that exist today.
Thank you so much for saying that.
(Squints eyes, looks at PS3, shakes head)
I have never heard of this console.
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But, hold on to your hats, PCs can do other things as well!
Apparently "other things" are just about all they're being used for these days.
"Well lets put things in perspective. Gamer A buys an Xbox 360 for $350 dollars, assuming we are using today's prices. Over four years, he buys 20 games at $60 each, $1550 (total). Add in four years of Live, and that brings it to $1750 (I don't care if you can get them for cheaper, if you assume that PC's need to be upgraded yearly, I assume Gamer A is is uneducated consumer).
Now, Gamer B, who believes it is time to upgrade his computer, decides to take the ~$400 he would spend on a new computer and build a gaming rig. He buys one of these shiny new 8800 GTS for $350, a Q6600 for $275, gets a decent motherboard for $130 and gets 2 gigs of ram for $40. He buys a harddrive for $70, a DVD drive for $30, and a case for $30. This brings him to $925, and if he was unfortunate enough to buy everything at different websites, about $40 for shipping. $965, $565 more than he would have normally spent. Add in a monitor for $200. Now then, if he buys 20 games, it would cost him $1000. Total, he would spend $2165, but has $400 that would have went to a computer if he bought a game console instead. So, he really only spent $1765, $15 dollars more than Gamer A. Not too bad considering he gets mods, and can use a mouse and keyboard (not factored into price because he probably had them, but if not, another $100). Now if Gamers A and B bought more games, Gamer B would end up paying less."
So at 20 games they are close to even in price, but I seriously doubt I could buy 20 PC games in five years, as replay value is so high.
Buying a PC for the expressed purpose of gaming isn't terribly bright, but you do have to get a new PC every 5 years anyway, so why not put something together that puts every console on the market at the time to shame for the same price?
Newegg.com:
CPU - AMD Dual-core, 2.1GHz 65W ($59.99)
Motherboard - ASUS, 8GB DDR2 1066, 2600MHz ($99.99)
Hard Drive - 500GB Seagate, 32MB Cache ($119.99)
Power Supply - 600W, Cooler Master ($34.99)
Case - Cooler Master ($34.99)
RAM - Patriot gaming, 2GB ($26.99)
Grand total: $376.94. 500 gigs of space and it will do other things than just gaming. If you're interested in extremely high-end gaming:
Video Card - eVGA 512MB 256-bit ($239.99)
Or if you just want games to run but don't require them to blow your mind:
Video Card - eVGA 256MB 128-bit ($37.99)
Grand Total (with insane video card): $616.93
Grand Total (with normal video card): $414.93
I'm confused. How is this so much more expensive than when the PS3 debuted at $599.99? And if I'm not mistaken, that machine only provided 80 gigs, not to mention a fraction of the library PC gaming provides.
In fact, let's go with current price schemes for the PS3. Assuming one went with the cheapest one, the 40GB for $399.99, for only about $20 more you're paying for something that not only plays games but allows dynamic entertainment centers that can perform far more applications than the PS3 can.
The worst part about this belief that PCs are so overpriced is that the prices I quoted above are the high-end. Ongoing sales and deals, if one pays attention, can reduce the prices even further. For example, I recently built a friend a comparable machine for about $365 that can run even Crysis (though admittedly not on high settings).
I think people need to rethink this "PC is expensive" argument - it's complete garbage.
It's all about what games you want to play and when you want to play them in the case of porting games to a PC (or Mac). My opinion is that FPS games are far superior with a keyboard and mouse, yet I opted to get COD4 for the 360 because my rig will only run COD4 with low quality (that's a "me" problem).
If all 360 games (well, all 360 games I want to play) came out for the PC, then I wouldn't have purchased a 360 in the first place. M$ (or Sony) won't allow this on a broad scale because they wouldn't be making money on their systems if people could just play them on their PC right away.
Exclusive games drive sales.
It's not about price. Well it is, but only sort of. Here's what's up;
Consumer A doesn't know anything about computer internals, has never heard of newegg, and buys his/her computers pre-built.
Problem 1: Companies like dell classify computers as things like "Basic Productivity", "Home Entertainment", and "Gaming". Consumer A may assume to play games well he needs to buy the "Gaming" system, which starts at $2,000.
Problem 2: Consumer A likely doesn't know what specs will be good enough to play PC games. Which means if he's smart enough to know he doesn't need to buy the expensive "Gaming" rig, he may end up with a computer not powerful enough. Sure, the CPU, RAM, and everything else but the video card might be fine, but he might not know that. His games will run slow, and he'll assume he needed that uber expensive system to play them well.
Problem 3: Let's say our consumer is a bit more savvy than average. He avoids buying the super-expensive pre-built, knows he needs to upgrade the video card, and is even brave enough to do it. Unfortunately, he doesn't head to newegg.com and get a good midrange card for $125, or a higher end one for $250. Instead, he goes to best buy and sees a fairly crappy card for $120, a midrange one for $250, and a high end one for $500. He's now looking to spend as much as a new console on top of his computer purchase to make it play games.
Basically, PC gaming isn't any more expensive than console gaming, IF AND ONLY IF the gamer in question is highly knowledgeable about computer hardware. The unknowledgeable can still game on the PC, but they'll have to pay a much higher price.
Incredible Crysis ready PC that will spank the shit out of a PS3 - $570. Someone else built it for you to boot.
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How do I know this? Easy...
1) Achievements have slowly been showing up on the PC front. (Only a few M$ games have achievements on PC while all 360 games have achievements.) All Games4Win games should have achievements.
2) PC games are much easier to pirate than console games. (This is pretty obvious).
3) Console is more locked down meaning any hacks will result in console or LIVE ban.
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A) Man, FUCK ACHIEVEMENTS! There, I said it. If they were fun and original like Insomniac's when they made the first Ratchet & Clank, I'd be all about them. But so many of them are lame, I have zero desire to even pursue them.
B) You know what's amazing to me? Asia was hardcore the most pirated region in the world. Still is, in fact. This was the region people said PC gaming could NEVER turn a profit. And guess what? PC gaming is very strong in Asia due to ideas like Microtransactions and such. I find it completely ridiculous that the heavily controversial Battlefield Heroes has people complaining about a supposedly losing business model that's effectively saved the PC gaming marketplace in Japan.
C) Consoles still have the problems of glitching. Besides, most hardcore PC gamers ban hackers from their servers.
I think you mean most GAMERS, not most people. Macs are more expensive and have a lot less software support.
Right now - like twenty minutes ago - I was playing Sim City 4 again.
Brought it for £2. The best £2 I ever spent.
Actually, PC gaming is probably dead.
The graphics elitists have mostly migrated to the PS3. I have no evidence to support that last statement.
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In fact, a calculator tells me that 100/7 is just about 14. So...yeah.
Considering how many PCs are in the world compared to consoles, 14% of games sales doesn't look too good.
And the article is awfully vague about the games purchased. There is no top 50 or 100 so I will have to talk on faith. The top ten is dominated by the Sims, its offspring, and Warcraft. Big selection. But more importantly, does the NPD group track those £0.50 bargain bin games like Sudoku Mania and the like? If so, judging by my time working in a video games store, games like that would make up the majority of PCs 14%.
Jerkface - I like your pictures. You change often. They add variety. Variety is good.
Well, fucking duh. I wouldn't say a majority, but I would say a lot of PC gamers buy things digitally. Particularly steam games-- the Orange Box has sold quite well on PC.
Even with that, its a sad figure overall. But the death of PC gaming has been being prophesized forever-- and everyone's been completely wrong each time.
Right now, the biggest problem is piracy. PC games need to come with aggression copy protection and need to actively attack torrents that can be easily found by anyone on google. At the same time, they need to make sure this protection doesn't interfere with legitimate customers-- in fact, a goal should be to make life easier for customers. Something like Steam is ideal.
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It was the DRM that drove me to the 360. The fact that you can't :CAN'T: sell used PC games because of the DRM, or take them over to a friends for a play because of DRM, is what is killing the PC game market. That, and the stiff system reqs for most games these days. Sure, cost may not be the issue, but confusion is. The day you can buy a PC game, take it home, and it just works is the day PC gaming starts making a come-back. Until then, PC games will continue to become marginalized.
And even now, with DRMed software up the wazoo, you can STILL get it on torrents, no problem.
No. DRM punishes only the law abiding consumer. Pirates will continue to ignore DRM, and get their software "for free" for the forseeable future.
Athlon 3800+ 2GHz
2 GB Ram
250 GB Hard Drive
DVD-DL Burner
Memory card reader etc etc etc
With an 8800GT, it might not be able to run Crysis at 'very high', but it should bloody well be able to run it at 'still-pretty-fricken-high' settings and 720p equivalent resolution.
And if it can't, then that is exactly why PC gaming is dying.
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we have been dieing in a year for 20 years.
i have bought all my pc games for the past couple years on steam, and that 14% is out of all 3 consoles, the last gen consoles, mobile devices, flash games, pop cap games, e gambleing, arcades, etc.
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we have been dieing in a year for 20 years.
i have bought all my pc games for the past couple years on steam, and that 14% is out of all 3 consoles, the last gen consoles, mobile devices, flash games, pop cap games, e gambleing, arcades, etc.
14% sounds pretty good to me.
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PC Gaming will never die, but in a few years PC gaming is going to be insignificant. It just keeps on shrinking. The only ones that keep crying that PC gaming is the best are to types of people. The Rich Snobs that can upgrade every 2 months and the other type that love PC gaming because they never actually buy a freaking game. All downloaded from torrent sites.
Of course they dont want it to die, they get free games!
-_-
upgrades for a console are as neccasary as they are for a pc, i have had this computer for a couple years now and it plays TF2 and many other games on max (which the xbox does not, which i still love) we also have dedicated servers, mouse + keyboard setup, fully downloadible real games (steam marketplace) and the biggest advantage of all, MODS.
anyone can make a game on the PC, such as dystopia, fistful of frags, synergy, and many others.
-_-
upgrades for a console are as neccasary as they are for a pc, i have had this computer for a couple years now and it plays TF2 and many other games on max (which the xbox does not, which i still love) we also have dedicated servers, mouse + keyboard setup, fully downloadible real games (steam marketplace) and the biggest advantage of all, MODS.
anyone can make a game on the PC, such as dystopia, fistful of frags, synergy, and many others.
and dont get me started on user created maps.
the internet and harddrives + lack of regulation = 1337est things ever.
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Puzzle adventures like Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle or Full Throttle? 4X games like Civilization, Master of Orion or Heroes of Might & Magic? Boring. I hate things non-linear - I love when mediocre and cliche' stories drag me through pictures.
In fact, I really hate this whole "picking up a controller" thing and since developers are spending a huge majority of their budget on graphics development, I'm hopeful that one day I'll simply sit through a slideshow and won't have to play anything at all.
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Asses...
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Resolution,
Anti-Aliasing,
Antiscopic Filtering,
Texture Settings,
Draw Distance,
Are all up to the user, opposed to being locked in by the devs.
Very few games up until now on 360 even use Anti-aliasing, despite the designers claim that the embedded 10mb of eDRAM would provide "free" 4x AA in games. Ya right.
Granted those effects require the hardware on PC, but even on 360 games that look like complete dookie, they still don't have AA or AF going on.
-shrug-
PC Gaming isn't going anywhere, it's been "dying" for decades now.