The Death of PC Gaming

[GameBanshee News]

Bit-Tech has a wonderfully critical article about the assumptions surrounding the "death of PC gaming", and why it's all a bunch of hogwash.

Needless to say after looking at some of the responses in our own forum thread (amongst others who published this 'news'), you're still not buying it. And by the look of it, most of you didn't miss a trick when you looked at how the study was conducted. There's one very obvious flaw, but before we get to that I'd like to touch on some of the less obvious implications.

First of all: what are we counting as PC games? It's a pretty broad topic, don't you think? What about Internet-based Flash games? Things like Bejeweled, Sudoku and countless other little brain-teasing, time-wasting gifts of productivity loss courtesy of Popcap, Pogo, et al. What, you don't think they're paid for? Advertisers salivate over those things like a Pavlovian dog!
(...)
And while we're on the "console" point, isn't it about time we separate handheld from home-based? After all, I can't exactly tote either my PS3 or my PC around. Therefore, buying decisions for my handy DS aren't really going to be influenced by what I have on the shelf for the big systems. Adding these in doesn't even make sense - they're not direct competition at all.

So, that drops our list of consoles down by two, one of which just happening to be the biggest seller in games and units - the Nintendo DS. Suddenly, PC sales may look a little rosier. But if not, you also have to keep in mind that there are still five different entries in the "console" market - the Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, and Wii - each entirely different from the next in terms of purchases.
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Suffice it to say, there are a lot of missed factors in this "study" (we'll continue calling it that for lack of a better name that isn't insulting). But one aspect completely stood out to pretty much everyone - it didn't even look at digital distribution. Allow me to repeat this in a more meaningful way:

A study that examines PC video game sales does not include the Internet - which has already been chosen as the method of choice for nearly all PC-related content delivery from music to movies to software. And games are starting to catch up, too.

How relevant is digital distribution to PCs? Well, let's think about this. When was the last time that you brought home a disc of updates for your operating system? Maybe browsed the Internet via CD copies of the sites? Perhaps you've recently sent email by copying the text to a floppy and mailing it?

No? Why is that? Oh, it's probably because the Internet has been so thoroughly integrated into the PC that it is impossible to ignore its impact any further. In fact, it's plain old dumb. We buy everything through the Internet these days - some people even buy groceries via the web.

[fable]

All very pertinent points. And he includes one of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain, too.

I liked this, as a likely future scenario where PC games are allowed to vanish:

But it's not PCs that will have died, and it's not consoles that will have won. Consoles are just the tool most convenient for the purpose - locked down systems that can prevent outside innovation without significant initial investment. It's gaming that will have died, and a single corporate monolith that won. The same rehashed game sold eight different ways - that will be consumer "choice."

[Loki[D.d.G]]

This is a very sad article, contemplating a future of gaming I'd rather not be a part of.

[Xandax]

Bah - here I thought it was yet another "PC is dead" article I should rant about, but alas, it was contrary

[Tricky]

And yet I disagree.

It's an excellent article, if the point it's trying to get across isn't already obvious to most. But if I have to agree with everything mr Thomas here has to say, then PC gaming has already died for me because there is no way I'd upgrade my computer to be able to play the one or two future titles that *may* be worth my time. And certainly not the dozen or so other titles the less considerate buyers will be tempted into purchasing.

It's why there are Linux users and Volkwagen Beetle drivers. It's why there will always be people who prefer music that hasn't signed it's creativity away to a major label and why there will always be those who can appreciate that sense of ingenuity that comes with everything that isn't mainstream. It's why there are texture and model renovation projects for games we lost touch with. It's why I'll most likely upgrade to Ubuntu, rather than Vista.

All sounds a little idealistic, doesn't it? 'It is at our mother's knee that we acquire our noblest and truest and highest ideals, but there is seldom any money in them', to quote Mark Twain once more. What a strange man. I suppose it depends on the type of person, but one type certainly seems to be in excess.