Is PC Gaming Set For a Comeback? 495
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the we'll-enjoy-our-mice-and-keyboards-while-you-flail-around dept.
from the we'll-enjoy-our-mice-and-keyboards-while-you-flail-around dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A combination of factors like console penetration, piracy, and the huge inherent variability in PC hardware setups have made the PC a third-class citizen for many gaming genres, especially the kind of high-adrenaline action games that were once the PC's bread and butter. Epic is a company that has been vocal in its shift toward consoles, with many controversial statements dropped over the years in reference to piracy being the reason. So it was with some surprise that we noted Epic's VP, Mark Rein, pointing out recently that the PC is as important as ever. Why the turnaround? This article suggests that the extended length of the current console generation will drive some developers back to the PC as new games push up against hardware limits."
Re:PC gaming never went away. (Score:4, Interesting)
Steam is definitely PC gaming's main champion.
last week's incredible sales probably moved more games than any other retailer did during the previous 6 months.
Won't happen for the majority of developers (Score:4, Interesting)
Nowadays, most game developers are owned by bottom-line-oriented publishers who prefer consoles over the PC for the reasons listed in the summary. There are very few developers who are enough of hardware geeks to want to push the envelope beyond what consoles can manage -- iD's Doom 3 and Crytek's Crysis are the only ones I can think of offhand, although both companies have sold out to consoles in recent years. Strategy games and MMOs are still PC-centric due to needing a mouse or dozens of keys; if the standard $200 Xbox 360 came with a mouse and keyboard, PC exclusives would be toast.
Re:Dollars (Score:3, Interesting)
If you want to do something you can do it on any console these days, when developers stop whining about how they don't have a Core i7 built into every single console these days and actually get to coding, they can make some pretty good games. I mean, look at the stuff older computers could do, particularly the Amiga, yet its specs would be considered completely ancient by todays standards.
In all honesty, devs need to start making games that are -fun- and I think this generation should have woke them up to it. I don't need a screen resolution of 3242342342 X 234234234234234 to enjoy a game, nor do I need an 8 core CPU. Graphics are nice when they enhance the game, but in a lot of cases devs focus far too much on graphics and not enough on making the game fun.
The publishers only have themselves to blame. (Score:4, Interesting)
It has gotten to the point where I can't just buy a game and install it without having to worry about what kind of malware comes packaged along with it. I've got terabytes of space, so I don't want some capitalistic malware forcing me to put a disk in the drive, so that the disk will get scratched and I will have to buy another copy. I also don't want to have to ask the capitalist pigs for permission to play the games after I have paid for them via on-line activation.
Thus, I have decided to buy all games used from now on, to screw the developers/publishers. The only people I will buy new games from are folks like Frictional Games, who offer native Linux games with no disk-checking or phone-home malware at reasonable prices. I will NOT pay over $20 for a new game.
I'm also willing to buy from www.gog.com, because they don't include capitalistic malware in their games. Many games I want are not available on GOG though, so I buy them used. The publishers are losing money here. No, I don't want to buy your latest shitty un-optimized console port.
Re:PC gaming never went away. (Score:3, Interesting)
yes, but
a good run-of-the-mill PC, for Office, internet, HTPC... can be had for $300-500. A gaming PC needs more CPU and GPU horsepower, and probably more RAM and HD, which can easily double the price. You've got to buy a whole lot of games to amortize that.
Re:PC gaming never went away. (Score:4, Interesting)
Steam proves that the right games sell well on PC.
Steam is a terrific platform and I think it could go a long way towards revitalizing the PC game industry.
Yes, it's DRM. I know someone's going to show up and start yelling about the evils of Steam DRM. It always happens every time somebody mentions Steam. But everything is wrapped in DRM these days, and wishing that it wasn't so is not going to change the world. Sure, we could start boycotting and lobbying and whatever else... But the fact of the matter is that DRM is a part of the game industry these days. And Steam is one of the least-painful forms of DRM out there.
The marketplace is a great way to pick up your games. Buy them on-line and download them. No waiting for boxes to show up. You can even pre-load games before the release date. And you can burn backups of your files, so that you can install them offline later.
Plenty of impulse buys. The lack of physical shelf space means that you can sell stuff on Steam for a lot less than in a brick & mortar store. There's constantly something good for sale for $5.
There's a built-in system of patching, finding network games, finding friends, planning events, achievement, etc. Sure, that's all kind of wasted on a single-player game... But most games include some kind of multiplayer these days. And that's an awful lot of nicely reusable code for anybody looking to implement multiplayer.
And now you've got the ability to use Steam on multiple operating systems. And your games, if supported, will work across multiple operating systems.
Understood. (Score:2, Interesting)
As a former game pirater, I completely understand if a studio wants to abandon the PC platform entirely. The reason great games exist is that there is the potential for enormous financial rewards. Downplaying the financial aspect of this problem is unhelpful. We can't talk eschew greed without badmouthing the engine behind nearly all the great games today.
Epic said the PC is the realm of farmville for a good reason. Ad-based games or simple labors-of-love are the only types of games that can exist when software is pirated over sold at 20:1. I think Steam is our only hope; Valve smartly used the Apple model of making purchasing as easy as pirating, all while lowering prices and keeping up a back-catalog to take advantage of "long tail" sales. Recently, I've bought GTA4, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Far Cry, Far Cry 2, Bioshock 2 all from Steam because it's cheap, easy, and makes me feel good to support PC gaming.
The PC market stinks right now, but it should get better with Console/PC hardware looking more and more similar, the effects of "iTunes for Games" (Steam), and us PC users growing the F up and acquiring games legally.
Re:PC gaming never went away. (Score:4, Interesting)
Yep, I was one of those haters when the service came out, but I'm a Steam convert. There's just too much to like. Crazy low prices during sales + the almost instant gratification factor = lots of impulse buys. I find myself visiting the steampowered.com site to check out the current deals.
Sure, you won't be lending out discs anymore, but you won't be losing/damaging them either. OTOH, you get easy access to your old games for as long as Steam sticks around (the only possible catch, I suppose).
I'd never played the Mass Effect series before, then saw them on sale on Steam. Picked up ME1 for 5 bucks! (ME2 is currently $24.) That's a LOT of entertainment per $.
Re:Won't happen for the majority of developers (Score:3, Interesting)
there are few people who are willing to shell out $1000+ for a PC
I built this machine in 2008 for $540 ($40 shipping). Case, PSU, HD, Memory, Video Card, CPU, MB. The works. I've not run into many games that I can't run at 1920x1080 (my HDTV). Actually scratch that, I've come across zero games that push this system. Probably since they are all console ports nowadays.
You may need $1000+ for a 'gaming' PC, but a PC that plays modern games can be had for a fraction of that amount. A slight generation off bleeding edge and you can have a very affordable rig. If anything, perhaps game manufacturers realizing that requiring the absolute latest in processing capability was hurting their ability to sell their product. I'm certainly happy that I don't have a three month window before my games start saying "Your equipment needs to support Pixel Shader vX.Y" I've had it happen to a few machines, but they were at least 3-4 years old, and probably running a 5-6 year old video card.
Video card manufacturers mislead consumers (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:DRM (Score:3, Interesting)
Some DRM is bad, some is great.
DRM is always bad for the customer. Because it is never your rights that get "managed", it is always someone elses, and always to your disadvantage.
Some DRM is worse than others, yes. Some is almost tolerable. I do enjoy that Steam on Mac is bringing more games to the Mac. But frankly, that is not thanks to Steam, but thanks to Valve porting their engines and picking up a bunch of mostly indie games that were already available for the Mac and bundling it all up into a distribution channel that is too big to ignore.
It is rarely a choice between "content with DRM / content without DRM" but usually "content with DRM / no content at all".
And that is where the free market fails because it assumes choice. If you don't have choice, you can't vote with your dollars. Which is another freedom taken away from you.
Re:DRM (Score:3, Interesting)
"Good" DRM isn't noticeable in anyway.
Unless you want to give that game to a friend, sell it 2nd hand, or do any other of a long list of perfectly legal things. Except that you can't.
Sure, pirates don't like it, because it means they have to wait for a cracking group to clear the DRM before they can steal it.
I'm sorry to destroy your fantasy world, but DRM has in no way whatsoever changed the warez scene. To a cracker, DRM is just a new term for copy protection, and they've been cracking that in 1% the time it took to create since the 80s. DRM or not, you can get any game out there on the day of sale as a free download. Not always as a torrent, sometimes it takes a while before it leaves the closed circles, but DRM has nothing whatsoever to do with the availability or lack of of a pirate copy.
You're saying that game developers need offer you an "honest option," what the fuck does that mean? It really sounds like "don't use DRM so I can easily pirate your goods."
Funny how I already answered your question further up in my OP. Among other things (like not fucking with the kernel in a way a freaking game isn't supposed to, I'm looking at you, SecuROM) an "honest option" means that I can sell the game to someone else when I'm done playing it.
And your argument is don't buy PC games because you need to buy two copies and it has DRM.... instead buy console games? WTF?
I didn't say "buy console games". Please respond to things I actually write and not to things that exist only in your imagination.
Maybe you're too young, but there were times when you could buy a game once and then play it with your friends. As in, for example, only the original copy could host a game, but copies of it could join that session. Sometimes a limited amount of copies, say 2-4, so that for a larger LAN session you'd need two copies. But playing a game on a LAN session and having to buy two copies of it for a total of 80 is a totally different story than having to buy 8 copies of it for a total of 400. Nobody who is quite right in their mind can expect that anyone is going to part with that kind of money for a cool evening. Heck, hiring a few whores would probably be cheaper.
I usually don't get out of an entire market because one vendor fucking sucks
If it's just one vendor, then that's a good decision. If it's just a few, it is still probably a good decision. If it's a whole freaking lot, it's stupid.
I didn't stop buying PC games, either. But almost all my money now goes to indie developers with an honest business model. Of course, to the big players, I'm probably included somewhere in their made-up-bullshit "losses due to piracy" statistics. Because they're like the RIAA or MPAA in that regard - "everyone who ever got a glimpse of our stuff without paying us is a lost sale".
PC gaming is a tricky game itself. (Score:2, Interesting)
Currently PC gaming is in a good place. If you bought a high end gaming pc 2 years ago it's probably still well above recommended specs. Mostly because the hardware race has slowed cause the difference in new tech and old tech isn't really that dramatic of a change when it comes to gaming. This might be due to the economic climate, or just a natural order of things, but it's really helped out consumers who've been trying to keep up w/ the Jones' (AMD, intel, Nvidia, and ATI). Their hardware arms race is one of a few reasons PC gaming has driven away consumers, and developers.
Piracy is a serious issue for developers in this global tech age. While many tend to blow it out of proportion it's still something you have to consider when releasing on any platform not just pc. The DS, and PSP are two other examples of platforms where piracy seems to be a serious issue. On PC piracy is a problem because often the pirated versions of games are cheaper, easier to obtain, and easier to run. Imagine you're 15 years old and want a copy of Bioshock 2 for PC. First off you can't order it from an online retailer like steam since you don't have a credit card, some stores probably have it in stock, but you're 15 so you'll have to ride your, bike or take the bus. If you happen to get it, and it doesn't work on your PC you can't return it. You'll have to figure out the DRM, and if you have the knowledge to fix a problem with DRM you already have more than enough knowledge to get a pirated version which is not going to have any DRM requirements. Who can really blame consumers when piracy meets all their needs, and legit buyers are left in the cold. Steam might be an answer to that. While it's not cheaper than piracy it is much easier to get games on steam, and easier to run steam games than pirated ones. Consumers have repeatedly shown they will pay more when convenient so it's possible to compete with free especially with the shady pirate community, and the amount of personal information people keep on their pcs.
Re:PC gaming never went away. (Score:5, Interesting)
Steam is DRM done right - you can move your games from system to system, and if there's any activation limit it's because some loser middleman added more DRM on top of Steam's. Heck, with SteamCloud you saved games follow you from system to system, which is great if you lose a HDD. Sure there's a risk Steam will just stop working on day, but I've lost or damaged far more physical CDs over the years and every game I've ever bought on Steam still works.
Cutting off portions of the user experience at will? Sucks, but consoles now do that too - Live servers are dropping like flies these days. If you want to sell a Steam game second-hand, make a Steam account just for that game, and sell the account. I buy most of my Steam games at the $5-$9 price range, so I couldn't care less about my ability to resell them.
Re:No, the media was just stupid about it (Score:3, Interesting)
The fact of the matter is that the claim is not entirely ungrounded.
It just so happens that there are more people who own a console than there are people who game on their PC.
It used to be that the Console was inferior mostly due to not having much in networking capabilities. I can play Counterstrike with friends over the net, but in order to play Golden-eye, we needed to be in the same room.
When consoles caught up (meaning when X-box Live was created) this evened the playing field and Consoles grew larger and larger.
And now the selection in Consoles has exploded compared to how it was before. Microsoft, Play Station, and Nintendo, all had their territories marked when they brought out their next-gen. Nintendo went for the motion sensing, the 360 went for launch titles, and the PS3 went for Blu Ray, all of which has served each of them well, and now that it's reached the end-game you'll notice they've all started to copy each other. Both Sony and Microsoft have motion sensing products to be launched soon here, Nintendo announced tons of new games at e3 recently, and Sony is now trying to compete with Microsoft's online live service.
The fact of the matter is - PC's haven't really done anything innovative in the last decade. So when half the PC Developers on the planet wanted to jump on board with the consoles for their various reasons, the PC became the red-headed stepchild. They sure haven't died but they lost A LOT of popularity.
The average teenager today would probably define PC gaming as Farmville or Mafiawars, since there isn't a whole lot going on for the PC that isn't already on their console.
Osmos (Score:3, Interesting)
PC gaming is back for me... I'm thoroughly enjoying Osmos [hemispheregames.com]. Best ten bucks I've spent in gaming since getting World of Goo and a bunch of others and some of their code (effectively) in the Humble Indie Bundle for the same amount (hey, I paid nearly twice the average.) And several other parenthesized statements.
Re:PC gaming never went away. (Score:5, Interesting)
Isn't The PC Just For We Older Gamers These Days? (Score:3, Interesting)
From the outset, let me say that I don't begrudge console gamers enjoying their gaming although with my being a middle-aged gamer, I don't see the appeal of the majority of modern games these days.
However, in my own experience, the PC is now the refuge of older gamers who probably buy 2 or 3 new games a year at the most - this doesn't strike me as a market that the big games companies would move back to.
In my particular case, I've been a "mostly Linux" user for years and am now down to one Windows (XP) installation that I keep about just for gaming purposes. Otherwise, I'm now finding that the many older titles I own now work better under Wine or DOSBOX in Linux than they do in XP, where invariably you need to do a lot of tweaking to get older games to run, if they will run at all.
For new games, I really only look forward to releases from Valve, Stardock (Galactic Civilizations & Sins Of A Solar Empire) and any new Fallout games - I don't feel any other new PC games are going to deliver anything new to me apart from better graphics.
Re:PC gaming never went away. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd also like to point out that many pirates pirate because they feel the price of the game is set too high to purchase and would purchase it at some lower price point that the consumer feels is reasonable. If companies could accurately price things according to how much people would pay, there would be absolutely no problems with piracy as everyone else wouldn't have paid shit for it anyway.
Sorry about the long response. It's a waken'bake kinda morning.
Re:My guess is their licensees yelled at them (Score:3, Interesting)
You appear to be confusing a UDK license agreement with an Unreal Engine license agreement. UDK is the indie non-source code product. With an Unreal Engine license, you are free to modify the engine source to your heart's content, and most licensees do precisely this. It's also the only license you can get for consoles.
This license costs considerably more than UDK.