Why is PC gaming "dead"?

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Legendsmith

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Jax87 said:
Its not dead but its no doubt limited to a more narrow section of gaming like MMO's and web based broswer stuff. The PC main issue is keeping up with hardware and its much more common to have problems when playing on the PC than a console, which is basically plug n play. Also publishers generate more revenue from consoles so they care about that more than PC's.
The devs get less per sale though.
Especially when it comes to things like Steam and other digital distribution platforms, the devs make far more money per sale.
 

Korolev

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It ain't dead. Just smaller than it used to be. Developers are, like or not, focusing more on consoles. But PC gaming still makes money, as evidenced by the fact that PC games are still coming out. Sure, piracy is a bigger problem with PCs, but more people buy games than pirate. The companies still turn a profit by releasing for the PC.

Will PC gaming ever die? No, don't be silly. It will continue to shrink in terms of relevance, that much is for sure as it has to compete with consoles. But it will always be around. Even if a lot of developers abandon the PC, some enterprising company will waltz in to fill that space. It's simple market economics - there is a MARKET for PC games, therefore, there will ALWAYS BE PC GAMES.

People, especially business people, like money. If a lot of developers abandon the PC market, that creates a vacuum, a vacuum that will be filled by people who want to exploit the lack of competition.

Haven't any of you taken a business course? Ever?
 

Chibz

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Jaranja said:
Onyx Oblivion said:
Someone get the picture!
Yessir!

Let's look over the GAMES on that, shall we?

Crysis: Showcased everything wrong with PC gaming.
WoW: Is gaming in the same way killing your children, then eating them for christmas dinner is parenting.
Sims: See above point.
Spore: Pretty much universally loathed.
Fallout: Was PC exclusive. But is now mostly played on console.

And many of the games had (superior) console ports.

PC gaming isn't quite "dead". It's just marginalized. It's not even a side show. Way to kill it, MIcrosoft.
 

Woodsey

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It isn't - and I dare say PC gaming is more popular on this website then console gaming.

That's what all the polls seem to show at any rate.
 

Spygon

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Vault101 said:
I don't quite understand why people have been proclaiming the PC gaming is "dead" for so long I mean I go to the store and there's still a big selection of games..and many games coming out this year
I believe its not dead but it is dying i been walking into my local gamestation for years watching the pc section getting smaller and smaller.This year it is at the end of a very thin aisle and neither major games shops in my city will except pc games to trade in.That this shows me well at least in my city the market is drying up or everybody is digitally downloading that i can not really believe.These are not good signs for pc gaming and i can not remeber the last time i met a pc gamer that is sad to see as i used to be one myself.
 

Naeo

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PC gaming isn't dead, just...hiding.

There are still some good games being made for it. Minecraft, namely, if you're into that kind of game. But all the AAA games are being made for consoles, or geared towards consoles, and that's where most of the FPS/really shiny games are. It is, after all, easier to make sure your target audience actually buys your shiny new game when they all have the same console with the same specs. With PC, you have to worry about different specs and a bajillion other variables.

If you look, you can still find some great games on PC. A lot of them are a bit older (Morrowind, Oblivion, Painkiller (but not Resurrection, that one wasn't very fun), Orange Box, etc.
 

Chibz

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Woodsey said:
It isn't - and I dare say PC gaming is more popular on this website then console gaming.

That's what all the polls seem to show at any rate.
Well, yes. The escapist has LOTS of PC supremists. It's just the community.
 

dorkette1990

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You don't have to build a monster machine. My computer was only about $200 more than my laptop, and that was including it's speakers and keyboard. Sure, you can build a several thousand dollar machine, but my $600 4 year old computer still runs games on high settings, so I don't really see why you would NEED to build a monster.

Also, PC gaming isn't dead. I game exclusively on the PC, and I think a lot of games (Resident Evil 5, for example) is tons better on the PC anyways. There are still games being produced for PC, and not just by Valve. You just don't get the games at brick and mortars because PC gamers are notorious about turning to the internet for their gaming needs (surprising, that) so of course there aren't PC games in stores.
 

bob1052

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Zixinus said:
Still, pirates are making many devs feel less willing to produce for the PC, so they're generally being jerks and ruining everything for the rest of us.
This is the excuse of unsuccessful developers usually. Pirates are people that could not pay if they wanted to. People who can buy the game, will.
This is the excuse of pirates. Developers are people that want to make a product that will be purchased when they sell it. Developers who want to make a free game, will.
 

Daniel Laeben-Rosen

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Of course Pc-gaming isn't dying. It could probably sustain itself on Blizzard and Valve alone right now. Not to mention the money the Steam-sales bring in. I don't even want to think of how much I've spent lately, I really don't.

And this whole... "You need to constantly update your computer"-thing just isn't so. I'm on a pretty good laptop, it runs all current games flawlessly apart from maybe one or two. Had some trouble with The Ball but... that was because Steam didn't download half the textures. Then it patched and it works fine.
I can also run Crysis with everything turned pretty far up. Everything on full it does lag just abit when there's too much on screen.
 

Woodsey

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Chibz said:
Woodsey said:
It isn't - and I dare say PC gaming is more popular on this website then console gaming.

That's what all the polls seem to show at any rate.
Well, yes. The escapist has LOTS of PC supremists. It's just the community.
I know, that's what I just said (and I'll take it you mean supremists in the sense of people who champion the PC, not that whole master race/elitist thing).

The point was that it's odd for a multi-platform website, especially one that really doesn't pay much attention to the PC from it's staff (bar Shamus Young really), to have such a large PC-enthusiastic community.
 

linkvegeta

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Vault101 said:
I don't quite understand why people have been proclaiming the PC gaming is "dead" for so long I mean I go to the store and there's still a big selection of games..and many games coming out this year

also I know to do it properly you have to buy/build som monstrosity of a machine...but I have my laptop which works reasonably well graphics wise and runs most things on High (though I wouldnt trust it to run Crysis) ok I'm probably not doing it "properly" but anthing that can run far cry 2 on high is good enough for me
the only real reason i could say that it is dead is because of the massive amount of pc games being pirated, its much easier to pirate a pc game than it it to download a console game burn it and have your console modded.
 

Rad Party God

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PC Gaming: Proudly dying since the 1980's.


Jaranja said:
Onyx Oblivion said:
Someone get the picture!
Yessir!

To be honest, I'm quite sick of you people saying PC gaming is dead and "I use my console for what it is and I just use my laptop to rant at The Escapist forums, blah, blah, blah..."

Many popular franchises were created on the PC and even the best version of those popular franchises is always the PC port. Well, almost always, just if the developer isn't blinded by their $$$ from consoles and make a decent port out of it.

Calling Crysis as the "worst thing about PC gaming" is just pure BS. It was over taxing pc's 3 years ago, but now it's just old news and about any decent gaming rig can run it AND Crysis 2 will have even lower requirements (Spoiler: It runs on an Xbox).

I'm quite happy and I'm really proud to be a PC gamer, I had a 360 and I couldn't stand the thing, I sold it 6 months later. And yes, I had the heavy hitters from the console, like Gears of War 2, Halo 3, GTA IV and such and I couldn't stand spending money on a really expensive service just to be yelled at my ear by kids whose newest word is "Noob" and "gay".

Keep playing with your consoles, I'll be at my PC while it's happily dying in the next 10 years, if not even more.
 

GrizzlerBorno

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Pc gaming can't DIE. not really. people can live without Xboxes and Playstations. They can't live without Computers (i mean...they...shut up!) and as long as people will have said neccesary PCs and some time to kill, they'll play games. and in a few years, once Steam finishes spreading the love to our fruity little friends (what i like my windows!), PC gamingwill be immortal! [cheesy evil laugh]

yeah, case in point PC gaming can't and won't "die!"......that said [moan/whine] i want RDR and Enslaved!(*sob*)
 

Lamppenkeyboard

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If PC gaming is dying, it is because of all of the piracy. Releasing a game for a console probably feels more secure for developers. Other than that, the platform itself is going as strong as ever.

For the sake of standpoint, I am going to say that I am a console gamer who just at the moment lacks the means to get a PC capable of running modern (as in the past three to five years) games.
 

emeraldrafael

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Is it dead? You wouldnt think so the way PC fans whine and moan when a console/pc battle occurs. Of course the flip side of that is that PC gamers look at console players as something less then reputable because the consoles are holding back gaming advancement. So there's evil on both sides.

But is it dead? No, not really. Not at all actually. Casual gaming has taken over, thats whats really happened. Wii/Move/Kinect have drawn people away for the asthetic appeal so thats made a larger market for consoles. The cheapness of console gaming has also boosted its popularity (I know, I know, "PC gaming isnt that expensive" and blah blah blah, but I can tell you now, my friend PC games and he's sunk a good $10K into his rig but he's on the extreme end of it).

But PC gaming is far from dead. Until MMORPGs find a working model on consoles, I dont think PCs will ever really die.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
minxamo2 said:
Pc gaming isn't dead yet, just dying.
console gaming is much more dead then pc gaming is
and I can prove it
look at backwards compatability
you can still play an old dos game on a windows 7 machine (either tho something like dos box or zdoom with a game set on the doom engine)
go ahead and try playing a ps2 game on a ps3, chances are you cant, pc gamine just keeps going , console gaming dies and resurrects
 

Fooz

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i fail to see how its dead, like other people have mentioned the 'Steam' community is huge, not to mention the amount of people that play WoW, also we can add another PC gamer to the list as i have purchased a gaming PC today :)