got more of the story here
http://www.edge-online.com/news/pc-devs-shoot-themselves-in-foot
No, PC gaming isn't "dying," but it sure would help if more game developers made games that work on lower-spec rigs.
That's according to Tim Holman, senior producer for Relic Entertainment and the Company of Heroes RTS franchise on PC.
"I think one of the things that hurt PC gaming is PC developers," he said. "If you make a game with such high-end requirements that only people with a $6,000 PC can play it at a decent framerate, of course your sales are going to drop."
Holman continued, "And of course people are going to pirate your game more, because they don't want to invest in your game first. They want to try it first for free [to see if it's compatible with their hardware].
"I think PC developers shoot themselves in the foot to a large degree. A lot of companies are guilty of that."
When Company of Heroes launched in 2006, it did require a decent PC to play the game as it was meant to be played. But over two years, Relic has been able to exploit the versatile Essence Engine and deliver a game that still looks superb on a modern rig, developing expansions without upping system requirements. The company recently announced the CoH expansion, Tales of Valor, due in spring 2009.
Holman specifically said that World of Warcraft house Blizzard has the right formula for reaching the mass market with not only accessible gameplay, but also forgiving system requirements.
"...Every game you buy from them is one you can play them on a PC from about five years ago. It's no big secret. I know when I buy a Blizzard game, I'm not going to have to upgrade anything.
"But 95 percent of the PC games out there, I have to read the back of the box."
PC games business
Along the same lines, Holman commented on the never-ending "PC gaming is dead/dying" debate.
"I laugh hysterically whenever I hear that PC gaming is dead. Every time I hear a person saying, 'PC games are dying,' or 'PC games are dead,' particularly if they're a competitor, I fully agree with them--and I encourage them to get out of the space as soon as possible, just so I don't have to compete with them," Holman said, laughing.
"I'm in downtown Vancouver right now and there are several skyscrapers, and in front of me I'm seeing probably 200,000 PCs, and not a single Xbox or PS3.
"Now granted those aren't high-end gaming PCs, they don't have 10 gigs of RAM and they're not all quad cores, but they can play games."
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