Blizzard Stands By PC Gaming Despite "Unique Challenges"

[Kagim]

When will people learn that none of these venues are going to die?

PC will not die.

PS3 will not die.

360 will not die.

Wii will not die.

They all offer something different at the end of the day. They all screw you over somehow at the end of the day.

While I might prefer my PS3 I'll always show my PC a little love when a good game comes out for it.

So can we this kind of subject die? The whole "death of..." subject? Pretty please?

 

[Mimssy]

When will people learn that none of these venues are going to die?

PC will not die.

PS3 will not die.

360 will not die.

Wii will not die.

They all offer something different at the end of the day. They all screw you over somehow at the end of the day.

While I might prefer my PS3 I'll always show my PC a little love when a good game comes out for it.

So can we this kind of subject die? The whole "death of..." subject? Pretty please?

Thank you!
My games are pretty evenly split between PC and console. I prefer my Bioware games on PC and anything that's really tactical.

 

[Xan Krieger]

If PC gaming died then sales of things like graphics cards and fast processors would drop by probably 50% at least. The PC gaming industry is what caused the growth of the computer from less then 1Ghz to quad+ computers of over 3Ghz per core. If PC gaming died then computers would not keep advancing in technology at the current rate. There's a little step by step program at work.
1. Intel, AMD, ATI, and Nvidia see a new cutting edge game come out a notice that many computers struggle to play it.
2. top of the line hardware is made to enable the game to run at good framerates with no lag.
3. over time the companies improve on that hardware so the stuff they originally made for the game becomes much cheaper
4. over the course of a year or two a fairly large portion of people can afford the new hardware even as even new models are made.
5. Everyone enjoys the new technology until the next game comes along and raises the bar ever higher.

 

[oktalist]

The problem of different hardware configurations is a lot better than it used to be, with all our hardware abstraction layers of modern operating systems, and standards like DirectX and OpenGL, and it's only going to get better still. If you're using a third party engine like Source, Unreal or idTech, the engine developer has done most of the integration testing for you.

 

[Kagim]

When will people learn that none of these venues are going to die?

PC will not die.

PS3 will not die.

360 will not die.

Wii will not die.

They all offer something different at the end of the day. They all screw you over somehow at the end of the day.

While I might prefer my PS3 I'll always show my PC a little love when a good game comes out for it.

So can we this kind of subject die? The whole "death of..." subject? Pretty please?

Pretty sure the PS3 will die with the PS4, the 360 will die with the 720, etc etc.

So will all the new components of your computer over time be replaced by newer ones

 

[Catalyst6]

Well, their two out of three of their biggest franchises (I suppose Diablo 3 could be ported) are strictly PC-only by non-translatable interface alone, so... yeah. Not surprised. Still, it's nice that someone's actually coming out and saying "we stand by you".

 

[Deathfish15]

I just wish that they'd stop linking that Punch A Baby Seal crap in every article that mentions the PC. I'm sorry, but one person's opinion piece about his single bad experience with the PC in no way reflects an overall public liking of the platform or their experiences either.

PC is a great platform and is far more open and better for choice for the customer.

Take a look at the recently released Starcraft II (since we're mentioning Blizzard here): It's got a map huge map editor and mod set up that allows for a bunch of options (from Tower Defense games to 3rd Person Shoots and 2-D space shooters the likes of Contra).

And, how about Valve's products such as Team Fortress 2 with it's map editors and set up; and even just the Source Engine and how many mods and stuff have been made with those. Pirates, Vikings, & Knights and Zombie Panic Source are two that are completely new, unique mods made of the materials from just one game (Half-Life 2).

It's that kind of customization, opened source creation, and user-base interaction that makes the PC a lot more....creative.

 

[Arenari]

Represent!

I'll always have my Blizzard and Valve

Not to mention all of us PC gamers who love Blizzard will go raze their facility if they do totally abandon PC.

 

[geldonyetich]

Blizzard had damn near better stand by PC gaming...

... they done took over 80% of the gamers on that market.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Bah, let Blizz crumble, we'll still have Bethesda.

But soon we're going to have to humanely put down console game buyers

We'll still have Bethesda? They've been leaning more and more towards console development with each passing game. Though admittedly they're one of the few developers who haven't ditched the mod-ability of their PC games, unlike Bioware and Infinity Ward.

 

[Canid117]

Mod communities alone will keep PC gaming alive for a long time.

 

[kibayasu]

Not that I don't doubt that Blizzard has certainly made a lot of money from people on computers, but call me when they "save" PC gaming with more than Real Time Strategy games and World of Warcraft.

 

[Buccura]

You know, I hate to admit to Blizzard's ego trip but, they are one of the few companies that puts out great games on PC anymore, compared to many other companies who just throw out PC ports.

 

[Jared]

Well, no sense to leave what you are good at. And, Blizzard is very good at least in terms of making PC games. And, people know them for it too. So, dont fix what isnt broken really

 

[MrJohnson]

Apparently there is a small amount of PC developers now too.

I wasn't aware the teeming hordes of exclusive games published for the PC every year was made by only a handful of developers.

 

[UnravThreads]

Though admittedly they're one of the few developers who haven't ditched the mod-ability of their PC games, unlike Bioware

BioWare haven't ditched the ability to modify their games.

I think PC gaming is what pushes the hardware market more than anything. If PC gaming "died", it wouldn't just be the developers/publishers who lose money. It'd be the graphics chip developers/producers (nVidia et al), those who make the CPUs, etc. The price of everything would shoot up, too, as demand would be lowered.

It's all well and good if developers like CDProjekt RED and Blizzard stand by PC gaming, but so many are going elsewhere. BioWare seem to be moving more towards the console market (Despite DA:O being their biggest success! Ridiculous.), many publishers (or developers) saddle us with absolutely shit ports that aren't worth two seconds of our time (Hello, AotD5).

If publishers and developers want money, then they should start giving us more games and better quality ones. As a PC Gamer, I'm sick of getting incredibly poor ports or missing out entirely on parts of series because the publisher sucks. We've not got Gears of War 2 and 3, no Fable 3, no Saints Row, no DLC for a bunch of games and so on. If the publishers started treating us like consumers, and not like a necessity they can please with a terrible port, then perhaps we'd all be happier.