The fall of PC Games

I am starting to believe that PC gaming will one day come to a bitter end.
If you stand in a game store long enough you can almost see the PC game section shrinking before your eyes.

It's a sad reality, PC gamers are just too blind to see that their free pirated games are actually going to be the end of their days of gaming. I am ashamed to admit it but I know people who have been playing PC games for years that have "never ever" purchased an original copy of a game.

And what is happening is that a lot of games are being made for consoles instead of PC. What then happens is the people who actually are not afraid to buy their games move over to consoles. Which leaves all the pirating scum behind ( because people who pirate don't want a console where piracy is hard to come by).

i have to admit it too. I have noticed walking into CNA and being like erm... where are the PC games? then I notice there is a shelf in the bottom corner with pc games... next to the huge glass window that has the paystation games.

This discussion has been around a while now, so excuse me for feeling it a bit stale. PC titles are no more pirated than any other console game out there. I know of both people with PS2’s, Nintendo DS’s, Xbox’s as well as 360’s who are yet to put money into the developers pockets. Consoles are becoming more like computers, now how that impact on the gaming community is that one sees the same games across all platforms. Pc technology and gaming technology as a whole developed solely because of personal computing. If it was not for the developments within computer graphics, hardware and marketing of these through professional gaming leagues and competitions then the console itself would not have to have developed the way it did.
The fact that the three biggest players in video gaming have all but released their consoles within one year would draw attention to them. Especially here in South Africa since the Xbox 360 only launched this year. Do I think console gaming is more accessible than personal computers? Yes I do, this is great because I want there to be more gamers not less of them. Now that consoles are competing on a multimedia based front as well, with the advent of being able to watch movies, view pictures and play your music collections the PC will always remain the workhorse which does require some learning for a new user.
I am not sure why there is so much animosity around which is better, and I am not speaking of this discussion, just in general. We as a gaming community seem to constantly want to pick a side and fight for a side which is constantly evolving and developing at such an alarming rate that we often fight from obsolete points of view.
The PC market will always drive the technology it just makes sense seeing how many there are in the world. The console market will always strip down the tech and make is serve clean, functional purposes. They need each other since there are different gamers out there. And I am delighted to see the kinds of stuff people can create. Yet I find myself playing old titles which were truly unique, had depth and reliability the likes of which new titles can only dream of.
In the end it’s not about who wins but which game you played and how you kicked ass

Y0
am sorry i can't see the fall of pc games.just because console is making a come back with ps3 and x-box 360.The reason i say so is because everyone thought the same thing when ps2 was released and yet PC games is still here.

Look at rage they have hold a 1200 man lan this year alone where i can say proudly most gamers i have met there agreed they won't go 2 x-box 360.They are pc forever.Besides i can't see ppl comming with consoles and holding a 1200 man lan.

Macguyver1 said:

It's a sad reality, PC gamers are just too blind to see that their free pirated games are actually going to be the end of their days of gaming. I am ashamed to admit it but I know people who have been playing PC games for years that have "never ever" purchased an original copy of a game.

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it's a sad reality, but one thing i cannot understand is why console games must be so damn expensive then, since piracy should be greatly reduced.

I know in the long run it'll probably work out the same as buying a more expensive computer and cheaper games, but i'd rather spend more money once off than have to pay R500+ for a game. I know it might not make sense, but that's just how I feel (and it may partially be due to the fact that it's nearly 4:30 in the morning and i need sleep )

I wish I had the link but I don't however Forbes.com did a very nice break down of why console games cost $60.

A game like Gears of War needed to sell over 500 000 copies before it broke even, that is a huge risk for these guys.

Oh and the 360 is much harder to pirate on due to Xbox Live!, if you want to play multiplayer online then chipping your console is no longer an option. I would say the piracy on the 360 is the lowest of all the consoles.

While it looks like the PC games section is shrinking, just remember, in the last year that in addition to the PS2, stores have now had to allocate additional floor space to the PSP, the 360 and in some cases to the DS, so yeah, the amount of space available for PC Games would have shrunk.

There's always doom and gloom around PC games when new consoles are launched, and yes PC games will suck (or be ports) for a year or two. But 2/3 into the consoles life cycles PC's always come back.

People will always have PC's in some way or form around for non-gaming activities, mail, research, DTP, so they will always be there, and when affordable gaming hardware catches up, so will the public.

Death of PC games? What again? People have been predicting this for years and nothing like it has happened. How many exlcusive XBox titles are released a month? And how many PC games? Do the math and you will see that PC gaming is still very very healthy, despite what the console marketing people would have you believe.

As long as people have PCs at work, there will be PC games...

(with quick hide options)

In other news, the end of the world is nigh.

Online play just means that any modchip has to be disabled to play. Anyone who wanted to play online would then have to have an original game.

nGAGEd55 said:

it's a sad reality, but one thing i cannot understand is why console games must be so damn expensive then, since piracy should be greatly reduced.

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Console games use a different revenue model to PC games. It is also often the case that the initial cost of getting into console games is higher.

Death of gaming? Nah. Kinda like going "Honoz! Teh internets will die because of <insert imagined cause here>"

I'd say the more likely outcome is an increase in MMO style games. WoW, Guild Wars, EVE and to a lesser extend MUDs. These very large and very successful companies have effectively eliminated piracy on their platforms because there's simply no point and no way to do it effectively.

You can pirate WoW if you want to but you'll end up playing on shoddy 3rd Party servers that don't have any content. You can't pirate Guild Wars as it requires you to buy a unique playing card before access is granted. Same goes for EVE.

Yes the PC game market is declining but that's because single player games are a thing of the past. The internet is permeating every facet of human life and it's only natural for it to start taking over the gaming market more and more.

Death of PC gaming? Not a chance. I dare you to write to Blizzard and ask them how much WoW is decreasing. Go on.

ya but not everyone has internet, i think with the xbox and ps3 and hdtv's pc games are going to drop big time

game makers must start looking at multiplayer games more now because the xbox and ps3 are cheap compared to a pc

killadoob said:

ya but not everyone has internet,

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Well only in Africa. In the real world , Europe, USA, korea, Japan etc. EVERYONE has internet.

another factor is that PC Gaming Hardware is becoming expensive relative to consoles

Insider said:

As long as people have PCs at work, there will be PC games...

(with quick hide options)

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Intersting theory that, seeing at how fast online browser games (ie. www.onemorelevel.com / www.teagames.com / www.popcap.com) are growing.

Considering that you can do more with your PC games than any consol game at the moment (wii excluded... for now...), and considering the price of consol games vs pc games, I do not see the PC game going anywhere.

More people are buying consol, because less people know how to handle a PC properly. Its not survival of the fittest, but rather survival of the mediocre. Consol games can be fun... for a while, but can you imagine playing battlefield2 or Dota on consol?

Fudzy said:

Intersting theory that, seeing at how fast online browser games (ie. www.onemorelevel.com / www.teagames.com / www.popcap.com) are growing.

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And snake is one of the most popular games out there... where are you going with this?

w1z4rd said:

Considering that you can do more with your PC games than any consol game at the moment (wii excluded... for now...), and considering the price of consol games vs pc games, I do not see the PC game going anywhere.

More people are buying consol, because less people know how to handle a PC properly. Its not survival of the fittest, but rather survival of the mediocre. Consol games can be fun... for a while, but can you imagine playing battlefield2 or Dota on consol?

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http://www.take2.co.za/product.php?id=2082464

http://www.take2.co.za/product.php?id=1519782 (Its UK import so the price is high)

The games are already available on xbox, and from the little bit I have seen call of duty is also a fps game like battlefield and its one of the popular fps games for xbox 360. And remember the xbox360 mouse and keyboard coming out next year.

w1z4rd said:

Its not survival of the fittest, but rather survival of the mediocre.

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Exactly and most of those people that dont know how to use a computer will get xbox360 or playstation 3 (maybe later get a mouse/keyboard) plug it in and play via xbox live vs their mates and no complications like their would be if you are using a pc for the first time.

Ok it isn't very likely that PC games will come to a complete end, what is likely to happen is that Games will first be released on console and when the developers have sqeazed every last penny out of the console guys then they will release the game to the PC guys.