Fable's Molyneux Says PC Market In "Tatters"

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Fable's Molyneux Says PC Market In "Tatters"


Renowned game designer Peter Molyneux says that despite a few high points, the PC game market is in "tatters."

"If you look at the gamer market on PC, I'll be quite honest with you, it's in tatters," he said in an interview with World of Warcraft [http://www.videogamer.com/news/02-10-2008-9538.html], they seem to be dominating the PC side."

Perhaps a bit surprisingly, Molyneux said that efforts at developing successful DRM schemes for PC games could actually be beneficial to the industry in the long run. "I would say while me as a player hates any restrictions, I can understand that publishers need to do something to give them the confidence to make games for the PC, to spend the huge amounts of money necessary to spend on development and to get their return," he said. "Anything that may give them more confidence on the PC means that ultimately we as gamers will come out better off because they will invest more in the game."

"I don't think three [Spore installations] sounds that bad," he continued, touching on the recent backlash against Spore [http://www.spore.com], which has been hammered by complaints about its restrictive DRM. "I'd prefer it not to be there but if it is going to be there then I think three is OK, but I can understand people being very upset. Personally I hate any copy protection. I hate typing in that number. I loathe it as a gamer. It just makes me feel insulted. And I always lose the blasted manual anyway. So if we can get away from that password protected side which is a waste of time then that would be great."

Molyneux may or may not be right about DRM inspiring confidence in the PC platform among publishers, but it's certainly not accomplishing anything else worthwhile: TorrentFreak.com [http://torrentfreak.com/spore-most-pirated-game-ever-thanks-to-drm-080913/] reports that Spore has been downloaded over 500,000 times, a rate that exceeds any other pirated game in history, and is well on its way to becoming the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent.


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Aries_Split

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TorrentFreak.com reports that Spore has been downloaded over 500,000 times, a rate that exceeds any other pirated game in history, and is well on its way to becoming the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent.
Definition of Irony.
 

Amnestic

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Aug 22, 2008
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a rate that exceeds any other pirated game in history, and is well on its way to becoming the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent.
So it's already the most pirated game in history, but not the most pirated game on BitTorrent? o_O Thems be some freaky maths, considering I thought Spore was only pirated via BitTorrent, and if it's the most pirated game in history and only acquired via BitTorrent, surely it's the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent?

It's 1AM and my logic may be somewhat skewed, so can someone correct/confirm my ideas?
 

Aries_Split

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Amnestic post=7.73071.782793 said:
a rate that exceeds any other pirated game in history, and is well on its way to becoming the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent.
So it's already the most pirated game in history, but not the most pirated game on BitTorrent? o_O Thems be some freaky maths, considering I thought Spore was only pirated via BitTorrent, and if it's the most pirated game in history and only acquired via BitTorrent, surely it's the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent?

It's 1AM and my logic may be somewhat skewed, so can someone correct/confirm my ideas?
It isn't the most downloaded game, and others have achieved 500,000 dl's and greater, but it's achieved 500,000 at a rate no other game has.

Make sense?
 

Amnestic

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Indigo_Dingo post=7.73071.782831 said:
So its not the most pirated game, its the most pirated game in terms of its pirates to time ratio.
Aries_Split post=7.73071.782804 said:
Amnestic post=7.73071.782793 said:
a rate that exceeds any other pirated game in history, and is well on its way to becoming the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent.
So it's already the most pirated game in history, but not the most pirated game on BitTorrent? o_O Thems be some freaky maths, considering I thought Spore was only pirated via BitTorrent, and if it's the most pirated game in history and only acquired via BitTorrent, surely it's the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent?

It's 1AM and my logic may be somewhat skewed, so can someone correct/confirm my ideas?
It isn't the most downloaded game, and others have achieved 500,000 dl's and greater, but it's achieved 500,000 at a rate no other game has.

Make sense?
It does, thanks guys. Higher (or even average) brain functions when I lack sleep are not something I should attempt it seems.
 

zachatree

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I believe that lower PC sales are also attributed to people not being able to keep personal computers up to pace with the speed the games are progressing.
 

HyPeR7

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i don't personally think there's anything 'wrong' with the pc market. developers nowadays see more security in multi-system releases to maximise potential profits. i actually don't mind this as long as its tastefully done, like in COD4.

really i couldn't care less if its a multi-system release as longs as

a) it doesn't get dummed down for console retards (why bioshock, why?!!)

b) ppl actually bother making proper controls for the pc and not the current wave of terrible console ported controls

i also think that game developers should stop ripping off ozzies!
 

stompy

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HyPeR7 post=7.73071.783002 said:
i also think that game developers should stop ripping off ozzies!
Thanks.

zachatree post=7.73071.782918 said:
I believe that lower PC sales are also attributed to people not being able to keep personal computers up to pace with the speed the games are progressing.
There is that, but still, building a computer right now, for a reasonable price (~$AU600), I could be gaming for quite some time, regardless if whether it's at max. resolution with all the bells and whistles or not.

Of course, you have the notion of that occurring, and it isn't helped by bad console ports that are buggy and not well done.
 

Ralackk

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Peter Molyneux post=7.73071.782473 said:
"If you look at the gamer market on PC, I'll be quite honest with you, it's in tatters," he said in an interview with World of Warcraft [http://www.videogamer.com/news/02-10-2008-9538.html], they seem to be dominating the PC side."
I have to completely disagree with this statement of his, I think the past two years have been a great time for PC gamers. I personally have a stack of 8 games still waiting to be played with plenty more out now or coming out that I just can't afford at the moment. I'm a pretty dedicated gamer spending 30-40 hours a week gaming and I still can't find the time to get through what I have much less the games I want that are out or coming out the end of this year.
 

DeadlyYellow

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zachatree post=7.73071.782918 said:
I believe that lower PC sales are also attributed to people not being able to keep personal computers up to pace with the speed the games are progressing.
Be better if they took a dip in visuals in order to actually finish a game.

Can't say I'm too surprised about the piracy thing. There's been copies of it floating around our campus network, actually sourced to one of the professor's comps (though in truth anyone could have put it on.)
 

Murmur95

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Malygris post=7.73071.782473 said:
Molyneux may or may not be right about DRM inspiring confidence in the PC platform among publishers, but it's certainly not accomplishing anything else worthwhile: TorrentFreak.com [http://torrentfreak.com/spore-most-pirated-game-ever-thanks-to-drm-080913/] reports that Spore has been downloaded over 500,000 times, a rate that exceeds any other pirated game in history, and is well on its way to becoming the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent.
And how does a DRM game like spore which is the most downloaded game in history give developers any more "confidence"? If anything this shows that DRM does the complete opposite from what it was designed to do.


Be better if they took a dip in visuals in order to actually finish a game.

Can't say I'm too surprised about the piracy thing. There's been copies of it floating around our campus network, actually sourced to one of the professor's comps (though in truth anyone could have put it on.)
I do have to agree here, i think that a game developer should work on the game play aspect first before even worrying about the graphics. If anything graphics are what is hurting PC gaming.

I have not been able to play a good game in a while that did not feel shallow or over shadowed by the graphics. (*nods head* yes it look pretty but it plays like a dumb blond)
 

stompy

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Murmur95 post=7.73071.783468 said:
Malygris post=7.73071.782473 said:
Molyneux may or may not be right about DRM inspiring confidence in the PC platform among publishers, but it's certainly not accomplishing anything else worthwhile: TorrentFreak.com [http://torrentfreak.com/spore-most-pirated-game-ever-thanks-to-drm-080913/] reports that Spore has been downloaded over 500,000 times, a rate that exceeds any other pirated game in history, and is well on its way to becoming the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent.
And how does a DRM game like spore which is the most downloaded game in history give developers any more "confidence"? If anything this shows that DRM does the complete opposite from what it was designed to do.
I believe the paragraph you're quoting is Malygris' personal input, and not a quote from Molyneux. Therefore, while Molyneux might believe Spore's DRM was the answer, Malygris has provided evidence to retort the claim.
 

Dectilon

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"Be better if they took a dip in visuals in order to actually finish a game."

Unfortunately the mass market is incredibly touchy about graphics. Just check out comments on Gametrailers for example : )

I don't find it surprising that Spore was pirated as much as it was. Good games sell more AND get pirated more. No surprise there. In this case however a large amount of would-be buyers sort of made a pact to pirate the game if the DRM remained as it was at launch. And so they did.
 

Arbre

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Politician: I'm a gamer at heart too, but you should accept DRMs, it's meant to protect you, to honour those who are honest with themselves, who play it fair. If Spore has it, I suppose it's a good thing.
Journo: But Spore has the highest pirated download rate ever recorded on a torrent site.
Politician: My numbers don't agree, Spore is certainly not the most pirated game you can find on torrent.
Journo: That's not what I said.
Politician: Look. People are misled by false numbers and don't realize how DRMs would help the PC market, which is in turmoil and despair. People loose their jobs, families break, suicide rates explode and kittens die day after day. Anyone who doesn't approve DRMs is pro-piracy and has a responsibility in this societal and economical disaster. They should be ashamed.
 

Volucer

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I have to agree with him. I've always been more of a PC gamer than a console gamer, but console games now have so many advantages over PC games. They don't have DRM, often they are released a week or more earlier than the PC counterpart, and you don't need to constantly upgrade to play the newest games. Thankfully I now have a Crysis-rig, so I should be ok for the next couple of years. And in regards to the DRM, I think Steam has the right idea in that regard, I know some people complain about it too, but I've used it for years without any problems. In fact it's gotten to the point where I only seem to buy PC games over Steam.
 

foolsama

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Piracy will never go away, and the only reason the console market isn't suffering the same problem is that it's beyond the average user to mod their console. Any idiot can find a torrent site and download a PC game (you can tell they're idiots because they don't know how to run WinRAR).

The problem as I see it is that like the Toyota Supra, the target market can't afford to buy the product anymore. $60 for 6-8 hours of gameplay is *rediculous*. If it's not a teen gamer, who may get $20 a week, it's a family man who has to buy food, diapers, and pay bills with that money. It's still a social guilt to spend money on games as a 'selfish' hobby, and shelling out several hundred for a good release season is very hard to justify.

Also, don't you console users be fooled in to thinking you don't have to 'upgrade your system to keep up with games'. That's the biggest load of BS. A modern PC's life is about 3 years - what do you think the development cycle for console systems are? How many playstations do you have? With pricing trends as they are, soon it will be more expensive to upgrade your console than to buy a new PC.

Anyway, I got side-tracked. PC games are pirated in the numbers they are becuase it's *easy*, and getting caught and punished is proven to be about as likely as winning the lottery twice. If it where that easy to rob banks, everyone would be filthy rich, with their cash in their mattresses. Put another way: It's a sh**load easier to pirate a PC game than it is to earn $60.