Piracy, Not Consoles, Killed the PC Exclusive

[Andy Chalk]

Piracy, Not Consoles, Killed the PC Exclusive

The lead designer of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning says it's piracy, not the dominance of consoles, that makes big-budget PC exclusives impossible today.

Big-budget PC exclusives are pretty much unheard of in this day and age. They do happen but they tend to be either indie affairs, low-budget niche products or Ukrainian. The reason, obviously, is the rise of the console, which drove gaming from the computer desk to the far more consumer-friendly confines of the living room. PCs are expensive and complicated, consoles are cheap and easy - it's not exactly brain surgery.

But according to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Lead Designer Ian Frazier, nailing the lucrative console market isn't necessarily the biggest impediment to major PC exclusives. "No, probably not. A game this big is very expensive, to be blunt about it," he told IncGamers [http://www.incgamers.com/News/30386/reckoning-dev-rampant-piracy-makes-big-budget-pc-exclusives-unlikely] when asked whether a game like Kingdoms of Amalur could make it on the PC alone. "The PC, with piracy being as rampant as it is, is really hard to make money from. My first game was Titan Quest, a hack 'n' slash RPG, which was PC only, but the amount that it was pirated was the difference between us staying in business and going out of business."

Frazier was a designer on marred by pre-release piracy [http://www.amazon.com/Titan-Quest-Gold-Immortal-Throne-Pc/dp/B000WCCURW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328231129&sr=8-1], specifically an undocumented security check that dumped players out of illegal copies of the game. That led to some very negative word-of-mouth about its buggy, unfinished state prior to launch, which turned out to be inaccurate but still hampered sales and contributed to the studio's demise.

It's not impossible to do well by focusing on the PC but the bottom line is that the open nature of the system makes the risk of failure, even with a really good game, much higher. "It's really, really hard to be profitable by concentrating only on PC," he said. "Unless you're an MMO."

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning [http://www.amazon.com/Kingdoms-Amalur-Reckoning-Xbox-360/dp/B0044SA70M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328231241&sr=8-1] comes out on February 7 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.


Permalink

 

[Kapol]

Cue angry PC gamers calling BS in 5...

Honestly, not getting into that issue, I'm getting sick of hearing people hype this game up more and more. Notice how he talked about 'a game this big.' It might be big, but the way he has it phrased makes it seem like this huge game that costs much more then those other, normal games to produce. It's not just this either, but it seems like I keep hearing the people producing saying how amazing it is. The demo didn't impress me all that much either.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Cue angry PC gamers calling BS in 5...

Honestly, not getting into that issue, I'm getting sick of hearing people hype this game up more and more. Notice how he talked about 'a game this big.' It might be big, but the way he has it phrased makes it seem like this huge game that costs much more then those other, normal games to produce. It's not just this either, but it seems like I keep hearing the people producing saying how amazing it is. The demo didn't impress me all that much either.

Well he does have some experience with it but that is still only his experience. Also I didn't hear anything about Titan Quest when it was coming out. I just own it now from a THQ pack from a Steam Sale. I would try to argue his point but I really don't have any evidence on how much PC exclusives sell. I know some big name RTSs like the Dawn of War series sell fairly well and we have big name games like Shogun Total War 2 and The Witcher 2 if you aren't counting indie titles but I don't really know how many of them sell.

 

[Hisher]

Angry PC gamer here to say that a pirated game is not the equivalent of a lost sale.

 

[Dogstile]

He managed to mess pirates about so in return they made his game look like a buggy piece of crap. I really don't think you can win with pirates, they honestly will find a way to ruin everything, especially if you fight them.

Still, plenty of PC exclusives sell well, they just have to be the right type of game. Total war, for instance...

 

[Ninedeus]

Well, it might or might not be true in his case, but the bottom line he admitted is money. The console market is huge and games go to where the money is. True, piracy is a part of the problem but to completely pin it to that alone is just skirting around the issue.

 

[Hisher]

Angry PC gamer here to say that a pirated game is not the equivalent of a lost sale.

Yeah, it's a product being used that wasn't paid for.

True but there is a good chance it wouldn't have been purchased in the first place.

 

[Veylon]

I'd make a list of upcoming PC Exclusives, but someone already did [http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1216513p1.html]. Enjoy the impossibilities!

 

[Kapol]

Well he does have some experience with it but that is still only his experience. Also I didn't hear anything about Titan Quest when it was coming out. I just own it now from a THQ pack from a Steam Sale. I would try to argue his point but I really don't have any evidence on how much PC exclusives sell. I know some big name RTSs like the Dawn of War series sell fairly well and we have big name games like Shogun Total War 2 and The Witcher 2 if you aren't counting indie titles but I don't really know how many of them sell.

Honestly, RTS games are the only one that I think there's no argument only works very well on PC. Turn-based also plays easier on PC. But since you actually have more time, it's less of an issue for console. MMOs are a bit more iffy. They can work on console, but it depends on what the developer does with it. All other genres work fine on either PC or console and comes down to which you prefer.

Well, it might or might not be true in his case, but the bottom line he admitted is money. The console market is huge and games go to where the money is. True, piracy is a part of the problem but to completely pin it to that alone is just skirting around the issue.

I think his last line was more to point out the fact that MMOs really only work well in a PC environment due to easier communication and connection with others. His point is money, but it sounds more like he's saying that it would be financialy wise to develop AAA titles for PC exclusively if it weren't for piracy. As it is, piracy makes the PC a much bigger risk to develop for and therefore not worth the risk to many. We could get into the argument of that each piracy case isn't a lost sale and so on, but the fact is that piracy DOES end up costing the company sales.

 

[Vault101]

Poor Titan Quest...

Thanks PC gaming pirates... thanks for fucking that up.

I also find the last line interesting : "It's really, really hard to be profitable by concentrating only on PC," he said. "Unless you're an MMO."

Wasn't the idea of Kingdoms of Amawhatever supposed to be the intro for their MMO game?

another MMO? uggghhh...that kind of puts me off this game..just a bit

 

[Baresark]

You see what happened here? Daniel Kahneman had that shit right. He is making a causal story to go with a random event.

Well, I have my own causal event for you, sir. I had never even heard of that game till my friend pirated it. At which point, I bough the game when I had the money, AND the expansion when that came out. Then I had a few friends to play the game with and we downloaded that mod that made the game insanely hard. But, I digress. It was only through piracy that I had even heard of your game. So my friend pirating it picked you up a sale, and then he bought it too.

Also, your game was competing with a much bigger more anticipated game in the same category that came out a few months before. It was Oblivion... so, yeah. No wonder your game went unnoticed and unbought. I was still playing that game when your game came out thanks to all the great PC mods. Also, I think there are games out there that dispute what you are saying. Though it's really hard to find figures on the soot, lame.

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

Eh, kinda hard to care what someone from fucking Iron Lore claims. After all they claimed Soul Storm getting pirated to hell was what shut them down. Anyone who played Soul Storm knows that it was Soul Storm being shit that shut them down.

So no. Its just bigger install base of consoles that makes it easier.

 

[evilneko]

Iron Lore makes stupid decision, blames pirates.

Film at 11.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

"It's really, really hard to be profitable by concentrating only on PC," he said. "Unless you're an MMO."

Says the relatively unknown person who ignores things like Minecraft. And Super MeatBoy. And that console piracy does exist. And that sometimes games fail because...they fail.

Could it be that Titan Quest, despite being good, was really just Mythical Diablo?

But why bother accepting blame while there's already a wonderful scapegoat brought in for the occasion?

How about, next time, making a game more cheaply? Rather than just blaming people who didn't want to buy your white elephant for the asking price?

Or you can just sell into the overpriced game starved market of the consoles. Until that goes belly up. And then criticize pirates again. Or should we call them "Game Terrorists"?

Caveat: Pirates exist. Piracy is dubious. Piracy is not responsible for everything. Piracy 'can' cause some games to become more popular/profitable. Piracy will make a bad game worse. Worse games have still profited despite Piracy. Think that's covered all bases.

 

[James Raynor]

Hahaha oh you.


As if console piracy doesn't exist. Go stick your head in the sand some more.

 

[Jodah]

*looks at Blizzard*

Hmm...they seem to be doing pretty good. It must be because of their console games...oh wait.

 

[Vault101]

Poor Titan Quest...

Thanks PC gaming pirates... thanks for fucking that up.

I also find the last line interesting : "It's really, really hard to be profitable by concentrating only on PC," he said. "Unless you're an MMO."

Wasn't the idea of Kingdoms of Amawhatever supposed to be the intro for their MMO game?

another MMO? uggghhh...that kind of puts me off this game..just a bit

I am 90% positive that was/is the initial announced game plan for this IP. I do not have any sources handy to quote tho. Nor am I motivated to research that and get back to you... sorrys ; )

It put me off too, for the record.

its also put me of playing KOTOR what with all that crap with Revan...and how aprently KOTOR 2 is kind of "eh"