It's the End of the War as We Know It

[Tony Harrison]

Except there are alternatives: from competitors who also quite like making money but who have understood PC games should be less expensive, because they cost less to publish.

Competition is dictated by game play not price. Competitor will jump on board with the price, not stay low when they see people willing to folk over the dough(AAA titles are going to go up in price.)

Digitally distributed cost less. No clue whether that statement is true for hard copies. Its a standardized pricing when it comes to games. If everyone can list whatever price they want, id expect to see some variance in pricing from game to game eh.

Your alternative is to play a DIFFERENT game. You can't experience the same gameplay in a different game buddy. Thats just saying all shooters are the same. Which as a fellow PC gamer you know its not true.

But hey you feel so entitled to a lower price and are unwilling to pay thats fine, just don't be shocked when companies spend less and less time making the PC version different. o wait they are already doing that <.<

Yes, the price depends on what people are prepared to pay. But whether people think it's good value is influenced largely by the prices of comparable releases on the market. There are many potential customers that are prepared to go without if they think they're being ripped off. The more people that feel entitled, as you say, to lower prices, the better it is for everyone. Maybe IW wouldn't think it worthwhile to work on the PC version for a lower price (something which is clearly untrue in this case by the way), but that doesn't matter as long as there are developers that disagree with them. It's not up to the customers to make it easy for them.

Just to explain the traditional pricing: console games cost a lot more to manufacture because the publisher has to pay a fee to the console producer.

 

[Powerman88]

Great article. Well articulated thoughts a lot of us have.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Yes, the price depends on what people are prepared to pay. But whether people think it's good value is influenced largely by the prices of comparable releases on the market. There are many potential customers that are prepared to go without if they think they're being ripped off. The more people that feel entitled, as you say, to lower prices, the better it is for everyone. Maybe IW wouldn't think it worthwhile to work on the PC version for a lower price (something which is clearly untrue in this case by the way), but that doesn't matter as long as there are developers that disagree with them. It's not up to the customers to make it easy for them.

Just to explain the traditional pricing: console games cost a lot more to manufacture because the publisher has to pay a fee to the console producer.

Those bastard Consoles Companies wanting a slice of the PIE! XD

i agree they are just greedy asses, lying greedy bastards! as noble as it mite be that some companies are still committed to the PC cause, they have already converted Id Software over to the darkside.

Its too bad Console gamers are willing to pay more for less. The larger of the consumer grps will dictate what these companies will do. so unless the PC gamer market explode or something down the line, the eventuality will still be an inevitable price hike for a lesser game. The war is lost. PC is gonna get swipe under the proverbial rug.

 

[EBass]

Thank you, thank you. Its good to know at least one member of the gaming press not only has some integrity, but a basic understanding of the issues.

 

[syndicated44]

Spoiler: You've already read this

I was raised on pc games. My first RTS being homeworld. I remember sitting around in the lobbys talking to people as we set up game after game after game. There was a huge load time and we all would sit around and "race" our loading bars. However that was 1999 and there was maybe 15 to 20 of us sitting around on a dial up connection playing a niche game.

Now we have huge masses of people playing. Dedicated servers gave people that small community feel. I hate playing on the 360 because sure you might have a good game with a handful of people but when its over you jump right back into the mass of people randomly selected for some other game where you might run into some dick that screams every 3 or decides he is the team captain and barks orders at everyone and if you dont do it they spam your name for a kick the rest of the game.

I havnt games with people in a long time and it is rather depressing. Not because I have problems talking with people but mostly because I have problems with what most multiplayer communities have turned into. They seem to mostly have become a giant mob of either people so hell bent on following rules and regulations or people so hellbent on being the most awesome shit the world has ever seen. We have lost simply playing a game because its a fun game and we want to experiance it with other people.

You may wonder where I am going with this but PC players have always had a certain air of simply enjoying a game. Not that console gamers dont have this I have had plenty of fun with a handful of people playing console games. However with this whole matchmaking thing and deathmatches on small maps with caffeine junkies and 12 year olds. There is no longer that feeling of playing a game with other people that enjoy the game. Instead it has turned into what the name of the game is; a deathmatch.

True we may have lost dedicated servers but multiplayer in itself has evolved and turned into some horrible mutant monster. I no longer enjoy it and probably never will again. Maybe it is just what people have turned into or maybe it is the fact that gaming has become more widespread and popular. Maybe that old saying "you cant teach an old dog new tricks" has more thruth to it then I originally thought.

I used to play action Quake on Quake II around 1998 on a 56k modem. There was a real community on my local server, I'd see the same people day in and day out on there.

I was pushed out of PC gaming when I stopped being a student and had real life things to buy other than a gaming rig. I'm on consoles now. The friend list is nice but its not like having your own server to call home.

I see dedicated servers as your local pubs, where you can go in any time and see familiar faces and feel at home. The console system is like city center bars where you will probably only know someone if you arrive with your mates. It can still fun but it's not the same if you're on your own or in a small group.

A bigger issue for me is microphones, there was far less trash talk as you had to stop and type your message. Now every barely literate teenager is screaming down the mic. One positive from no dedicated server is that you will no longer be kicked for doing too well on a foreign server.

Ha I completely forgot about microphones. Playing online waaay back then is how I learned to type. Mics now have their uses but overall their a nuisance. Plus I may just be a complete idiot but muting people seems cumbersome to me considering if it is a matchmaking situation and you have a good chance of never having to hear this person again. On top of that if you mute somebody then you have people having conversations with nobody and it gets even more annoying. So you leave the game, the game yells at you and then nobody is happy.

Really though I hope this doesnt start a trend. With so many games you could hop onto that one server that you more or less considered home. With at least a handful of people you have gotten used to playing with even if you dont necessarily talk with them. I know that has already been said but it really needs to be restated, often.

 

[soundoflights]

Meh Infinity Ward can suck a fat one as far as I'm concerned. 60 bucks for a Download and no dedicated servers, just dont release it on PC if your gonna be douche bags. As long as Valve stays loyal to the PC community I couldn't care less about other developers.

 

[ReverseEngineered]

Cheers, Shamus! These are almost exactly the same points I made in the comments on John Funk's article.

We are still customers and we still make up a considerable portion of the market (what was it, 30%?). We can still demand that our games be designed to work well on the PC and not have all the limitations and assumptions of a console game. Just because they want to give us substandard features doesn't mean we have to accept it. I'll be keeping my money on this one, thanks.

 

[Doug]

John Funk encouraged PC gamers to get over their sense of entitlement. I'm encouraging everyone else to stop acting like this is no big deal.

Thank you! I've been waiting for someone on the Escapist to realise we have valid complains about Modern Warfare 2 and not just go "STFU WHINER" like John Funk did.

It's an unmistakably bitter loss for us PC gamers to miss out on multiplayer in big-name titles like Rage and Modern Warfare 2, as well as whatever other games haven't broken the news to us yet. But the market is a cruel mistress and there's nothing to be done about it. The massive layoffs at EA this week showed us the painful price to be paid when companies or divisions can't turn a profit.

True, BUT we are talking about THE best selling game of all time here, not just any game. And with 12% of the market being PC, I'm sure we are actually worth alittle effort to keep. I'm pretty sure Infinity Ward just whined too much about piracy to Activison who where forcing them to make a PC version still, didn't bother with any improvements.

I suspect if IW has its way, Modern Warfare 3 will be console only.

What we don't know is how bad the new system will be in practice. It might just be annoying and feature-poor. Or it might be so overcome with lag, cheaters, and usability issues that the entire online experience will be worthless. The only thing we can do is wait and see.

My experience so far is that it is unreliable. I haven't see any cheaters so far, but the matchmaking process is painfully slow and the amount of laggy connections and outright disconnections I've suffered in the last week is about the same as I suffered CoD:WaW in the last year.

Its fun and dandy when it works, but frankly it doesn't work often enough.

The disappointing thing is the way console gamers just go "Ha-ha, the PC elitists are getting screwed". What they should be saying is 'hey, why don't we get dedicated servers? What are we paying our money to XBL for? Or what services is the PSN providing?'

Meh Infinity Ward can suck a fat one as far as I'm concerned. 60 bucks for a Download and no dedicated servers, just dont release it on PC if your gonna be douche bags. As long as Valve stays loyal to the PC community I couldn't care less about other developers.

I'm pretty sure they would have, but Activison told them they had too. Thats my theory anyways.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

John Funk encouraged PC gamers to get over their sense of entitlement. I'm encouraging everyone else to stop acting like this is no big deal.

Thank you! I've been waiting for someone on the Escapist to realise we have valid complains about Modern Warfare 2 and not just go "STFU WHINER" like John Funk did.

It's an unmistakably bitter loss for us PC gamers to miss out on multiplayer in big-name titles like Rage and Modern Warfare 2, as well as whatever other games haven't broken the news to us yet. But the market is a cruel mistress and there's nothing to be done about it. The massive layoffs at EA this week showed us the painful price to be paid when companies or divisions can't turn a profit.

True, BUT we are talking about THE best selling game of all time here, not just any game. And with 12% of the market being PC, I'm sure we are actually worth alittle effort to keep. I'm pretty sure Infinity Ward just whined too much about piracy to Activison who where forcing them to make a PC version still, didn't bother with any improvements.

I suspect if IW has its way, Modern Warfare 3 will be console only.

What we don't know is how bad the new system will be in practice. It might just be annoying and feature-poor. Or it might be so overcome with lag, cheaters, and usability issues that the entire online experience will be worthless. The only thing we can do is wait and see.

My experience so far is that it is unreliable. I haven't see any cheaters so far, but the matchmaking process is painfully slow and the amount of laggy connections and outright disconnections I've suffered in the last week is about the same as I suffered CoD:WaW in the last year.

Its fun and dandy when it works, but frankly it doesn't work often enough.

The disappointing thing is the way console gamers just go "Ha-ha, the PC elitists are getting screwed". What they should be saying is 'hey, why don't we get dedicated servers? What are we paying our money to XBL for? Or what services is the PSN providing?'

Meh Infinity Ward can suck a fat one as far as I'm concerned. 60 bucks for a Download and no dedicated servers, just dont release it on PC if your gonna be douche bags. As long as Valve stays loyal to the PC community I couldn't care less about other developers.

I'm pretty sure they would have, but Activison told them they had too. Thats my theory anyways.

im a pc/consoler gamer, so fyi, dedicated servers never has and probably never will be a big deal to any console gamer, yes i understand how they work and that it does suck that its being shunned now but really most console games that i play, and my friends play, have little to no online as it is, so that completely takes that out of the picture, and i dont play on live anymore, so any online services i have are free as it is, and its bug/glitch free ( i cant tell you how many times steam servers are too busy or my digital download wont work on the pc, it gets very frustrating) that why i prefer the console where i just pop it in and play, hassle free, and thats how most of the world is becoming, time is of the essence and its much easier to just have it all ready to go with little to no bugs or glitches

i really hope this doesn't happen to the pc, but with how many console users there seems to be and the way the companies are looking, steam and blizzard and amongst a few others might be the last of the pro-pc market