The State of the Games Industry in Numbers

Gamasutra has up a pair of articles discussing the numbers from this round of the console wars. One focuses on the current frontrunner, Nintendo. Their numerical superiority is highlighted by the number of million selling titles they currently have on tap. Both the DS and Wii are carrying multiple-million sellers, with the current tally for (recently released) Diamond/Pearl sitting at 12,170,000. Meanwhile, in a lengthy article, the site fully explores the impact of console sales in numerous markets and venues, with comparisons between all three consoles (and a focus on Nintendo's sales). "PlayStation 2 titles make up the bulk of software sales in the U.S. and Europe again in 2007, as they have in previous years. The Wii's 2007 numbers equal the GameCube's in 2006, but its software growth isn't yet matching its hardware's. Microsoft's Xbox 360 has benefited largely from the Xbox's demise and the PlayStation 2 sales' slow decline. Even with the PlayStation 3 hardware's current state in Europe, its software sales in Europe are relatively low."

No PC gaming mentioned

[Kohath]

It would be nice to see PC gaming included in these. It seems like PC gaming is mostly MMO-only now, with the focus of every other type of gaming (except flash-based games) moving to consoles. But it would be nice to see numbers to indicate whether this shift is real or just perceived.

Re:No PC gaming mentioned

[Chosen Reject]

to upgrade it you can spend $70 for more RAM, and $100 for a better graphics card and your looking at a $210 game and when a Wii costs $250 and games cost $50

And then 3-4 years later you have to upgrade your system again to play a different game while the Wii will be supported for around 5-6 years.

This is actually one are where PC games can shine, though. First off, if all you are doing is upgrading your RAM or GPU then you have 100% backwards compatibility. But in 5-6 years a new game for a console will look 5-6 years old(1), whereas a new game for a PC will look new. Also, you talked about one game ending up costing $210 due to upgrades, but those upgrades work for all your other games. I don't have to make an upgrade for the Orange Box, and then Quake Wars, and then Crysis, and then UT3(2). I upgrade for one and I'm good to go. So the extra $170 (I'll use your numbers for simplicity) is now spread out over the number of games you buy, which admittedly is the same for a console. If you only buy a 360 and Halo 3, then that cost you a lot.

So you have to spread out the cost to the usefulness of the system as a whole. Most people still buy a computer in addition to their console because they need it for things which a console does not do. Assuming they buy a cheap Dell (I think ~$400 right now) and a cheap console (either PS2 or Wii) you are already looking at costs that are more than what I spent a year ago ($550) on a computer that plays the Orange Box and Quake Wars just fine (I have not yet tried the Crysis and UT3 demos) at a resolution of 1280x1024 (which is higher than the PS2 and Wii can achieve. If you look at consoles capable of HD then the price becomes even bigger. But I just have to upgrade to a new GPU (maybe $150) and/or a new CPU (maybe $100) and I'm back up to near top of the line. So for less than the cost of a new console I get 100% backwards compatibility and all my old games can look newer than they did before the upgrade. If you buy an 360 or PS3 to play your Xbox or PS2 games (if they work) you don't get updated graphics, only better fps.

Seriously, the big difference between consoles and PCs is the number of people who can play on a given system, the ease of setup, and the types of games. How you play the games (keyboard and mouse or sitting on the couch) is a moot point as you can hook up keyboards and mice to the new consoles (at least the PS3, I'm not sure about the others or even how well it is supported) and you can always play a PC game on the couch with either a wireless keyboard/mouse combo or by plugging in a controller. So if you want to know which to buy, you just determine which type of games you like(RTS or fighting game), how you like to play (buddy sharing screen space or not), etc. But cost has nothing to do with it.

1) I realize that developers do learn the platforms as time goes by. However, tweaks to make something run faster is not the same as much faster GPU, especially when the time frame is 5-6 years.
2) I mention these games mostly because they are currently the most hardware taxing games, even if two of them are only demos right now.