Possible cure for so-called "consolitis"

allinwonder

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(Disclaimer: I am a die hard PC gamer)
So there is a big fuss recently about "consolitis". I found this argument quite often:

"People need to understand that games development is a business and for any business to survive it needs to sell to as many people as possible."

Seems correct, right? Wrong. Why BMW, Mercedes, Porsche survive so good without selling to as many people as possible? I mean, they obviously cater to a different crowd than, say, Toyota or Honda, but they are still doing quite well.

So why there is only "consolitis", no "Hondalitis", etc? Well, the problem is, it is an industrial norm that PC games and console games sell for the same price (bar $10 MS/Sony royalties). Developers/publishers make same amount of money from PC games and console games. But developing for PC obviously is more costly (both financially and intellectually), because of high demand from PC gamers, complexities and graphic etc.

PC gamers all advocate that gaming on PC is a premium experience (relative to console). So let's charge premium price for a premium experience. Charge more for high quality PC exclusives. Like BMW and Mercedes charge more for their cars than Toyota and Honda's.

Before you call me an idiot, I tell there are already developers out their doing that. See: Blizzard. Blizzard deliver high quality PC exclusives. But they always charge "outrageous" price for their games. Long before even video games on consoles were $50, they charge #60 for their games (Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 for sure; I heard they also charge $60 for Starcraft back then). Even today, the MSRP of Diablo 2 + XPack is still $40. An almost 10 year old game! But if I hadn't bought it, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

OK, that's just my 2 cents.
 

binvjoh

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Don't give them such ideas.

There's no objective proof that the PC experience is superior, though I prefer it myself as well, and it should not require any aditional charge.

One thing I wouldn't mind, though, is if they charged the same ammount for PC and console titles. Nowdays new PC games are usually about 10 euro cheaper, as price I'd happily pay for menus and HUDs actually designed for the mouse and keyboard.
 

Hero in a half shell

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Dec 30, 2009
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Everyone will just pirate the games anyway. PC gamers are killing themselves, if they want to fix the problem it is as simple as STOP BREAKING THE LAW YOU [removed for common decency]
 

hazabaza1

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Nov 26, 2008
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Games are already too damn expensive. We don't want them, getting any more expensive because we want a "premium club".
And really, I don't see how this could help. Make PC games cost more... why? So people who play PC can say "we spent more so we're better?"

If I'm getting this wrong, tell me, but this sounds really really stupid.
(And before you ask, yes, I am a primary PC gamer)
 

Cherry Cola

Your daddy, your Rock'n'Rolla
Jun 26, 2009
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Wait, so let me get this straight:

Console games are more profitable than PC games.

So your solution would be to increase the price of PC games.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 

Astalano

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The only cure for consolitis is for Steam to release some fucking sales figures already. I suspect publishers and developers are making quite a bit of money off of Steam and don't want anyone intruding on the market.

Also, multiplatform gaming is here to stay and the PC will always be one of the big 3. It's just too profitable to NOT develop for the 360 and PS3. That's not saying the PC is a small market, because it is a massive market that grows every year (16.6 billion with a 20% growth with no signs of slowing), but consoles are also very large markets with decent compatibility with PC's (games are becoming more and more similar), so it makes sense to develop for all three platforms.

Of course, idiots will always be willing to believe that piracy is killing PC gaming as long as the developers and publishers keep shoving that shit down their happilly waiting throats.

Edit: By the way, PC profit on each game is significantly larger than console profit, especially with how large digital distribution is.
 

allinwonder

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Hubilub said:
Also, about the car thing: Completely different industry. Comparing them is stupid.
Why? for multiplats, if you are willing to pay the same, you don't complain when you get the same. If you want a better one on your platform, why don't you want to pay more?
 

Vitor Goncalves

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Guess it depends where you live. In Portugal PC games start selling higher (60 to 70 Euros) but in 6 months usually had dropped to half the price (25 to 30 Euros). And in a couple of years drops to bargain price (5 to 10 Euros).
If its a very good title might take a bit more than a year to drop to half and 5 years to drop to bargain price.

While console games start at 40 to 60 Euros and stay there until the respective console is replaced by a new generation one and then the price starts to drop slowly.

EDIT: And why are we still ignoring the ocean of flash, casual games and what not that, even for free, gross billions on advertising and payed extra content and can reach hundreds of millions of players.

Just because here at the escapist we praise mostly AAA titles, lets not ignore the market as a whole. Or are we just picking the Mercedes, Porsches and BMWs and ignoring the Hyundais, Hondas and Peugeots?
 

allinwonder

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Astalano said:
The only cure for consolitis is for Steam to release some fucking sales figures already. I suspect publishers and developers are making quite a bit of money off of Steam and don't want anyone intruding on the market.

Also, multiplatform gaming is here to stay and the PC will always be one of the big 3. It's just too profitable to NOT develop for the 360 and PS3. That's not saying the PC is a small market, because it is a massive market that grows every year (16.6 billion with a 20% growth with no signs of slowing), but consoles are also very large markets with decent compatibility with PC's (games are becoming more and more similar), so it makes sense to develop for all three platforms.

Of course, idiots will always be willing to believe that piracy is killing PC gaming as long as the developers and publishers keep shoving that shit down their happilly waiting throats.

Edit: By the way, PC profit on each game is significantly larger than console profit, especially with how large digital distribution is.
OK, my concern is not that developers don't make games for PC. It is that people are complaining, about multiplats, that they get the SAME game on PC as on consoles.
 

Zyst

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That's incredibly stupid. Also, BMW and Porsche to mention some sell more because it's an actual item that denotes status (read: douchebag), and helps you get laid. I dare you to try to pick up ANYONE by saying your games are all on PC.
 

Radeonx

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That's just stupid.
There is NO reason to think that PC gaming is better than console gaming other than a bunch of elitist pricks spouting out how superior their platform is.
Sometimes, I'm ashamed to be a PC gamer, given how terrible the community is.
 

allinwonder

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Hubilub said:
Wait, so let me get this straight:

Console games are more profitable than PC games.

So your solution would be to increase the price of PC games.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Oh and my solution is providing developers incentives to make multiplat games better on PC.

In the end, it is capitalism, right?
 

lacktheknack

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Aaaaaaaaand piracy increases. And don't say "Oh, it's irrelevant", because this would probably be enough to MAKE it relevant.

Also, I'd just wait for Steam sales.

Lastly, the premium price is already paid for when you by the computer.

Almost well played, but not quite.
 

lacktheknack

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allinwonder said:
Hubilub said:
Wait, so let me get this straight:

Console games are more profitable than PC games.

So your solution would be to increase the price of PC games.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Oh and my solution is providing developers incentives to make multiplat games better on PC.

In the end, it is capitalism, right?
Sadly, piracy breaks the capitalism model, because it's a ton of people acquiring your product without you gaining any money. And I feel safe bringing up piracy here, because this would MASSIVELY increase piracy numbers.
 

allinwonder

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Radeonx said:
That's just stupid.
There is NO reason to think that PC gaming is better than console gaming other than a bunch of elitist pricks spouting out how superior their platform is.
Sometimes, I'm ashamed to be a PC gamer, given how terrible the community is.
Oh man, you didn't see the irony, did you?
The irony of those PC elitists (not to be confused with PC gamers) lies in: on one hand, they claim PC is superior; on the other, they don't want to pay for their so-called "superiority".
 

allinwonder

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lacktheknack said:
Aaaaaaaaand piracy increases. And don't say "Oh, it's irrelevant", because this would probably be enough to MAKE it relevant.

Also, I'd just wait for Steam sales.

Lastly, the premium price is already paid for when you by the computer.

Almost well played, but not quite.
But does the premium price go to developers, who actually make games?

There is also piracy on XBOX. And by playing pirate games on PC, you forfeit your opportunities to play online, to get patches, and make your computer extremely prone to viruses and identify theft. So pirating games is not costless, like some people claim.
 

Radeonx

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allinwonder said:
Radeonx said:
That's just stupid.
There is NO reason to think that PC gaming is better than console gaming other than a bunch of elitist pricks spouting out how superior their platform is.
Sometimes, I'm ashamed to be a PC gamer, given how terrible the community is.
Oh man, you didn't see the irony, did you?
The irony of those PC elitists (not to be confused with PC gamers) lies in: on one hand, they claim PC is superior; on the other, they don't want to pay for their so-called "superiority".
The irony is rendered completely useless when you try to teach a lesson to a minority by damaging the entire platform.
 

zehydra

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"developing for PC obviously is more costly"

No? All console games are developed on the PC (for the console), then transferred to the game console. To do this usually costs a lot of money due to licensing fees and unique development kits specific to consoles.