What's killing PC game sales?

Madexponents thread inspired this poll... His thread is here

What do you think is killing PC sales??

Is it Piracy?

Newer Consoles?

Or is it World of Warcraft (WOW)?

The industry keeps saying it's Piracy, but honestly not many people I know Pirate anymore. Me personally I've just been playing PS3 a lot more than my PC lately. But one thing I've noticed with my hermit friends is they all play World of Warcraft (WOW). They never buy games because they pay for WOW every month and thats all they play all the time. So I actually think WOW is killing PC Gaming. Let me know what you think...

Nothing. They are fine.

torrents.

btw wow isnt killing pc, people lives on other hand...

torrents.

btw wow isnt killing pc, people lives on other hand...

Kirlok

I know first hand about that, it took a good few months from mine :) But my friends that are hardcore WOW players never buy any other games. I've got some friends that game literally 4+hrs a day, one girlfriend spends; at the bare minimum 8hrs a day on WOW, it's insane. So they play a lot, but haven't actually bought a new game in over a year.

[QUOTE="Kirlok"]

torrents.

btw wow isnt killing pc, people lives on other hand...

EmperorSupreme

I know first hand about that, it took a good few months from mine :) But my friends that are hardcore WOW players never buy any other games. I've got some friends that game literally 4+hrs a day, one girlfriend spends; at the bare minimum 8hrs a day on WOW, it's insane. So they play a lot, but haven't actually bought a new game in over a year.

yes this is nuts, a friend presented WoW to other 3 friends and noww they are completly addiceted, all i hear at school is wow this wow that.

only heavy hitters like mario or halo can change the subject.

Nothing is "killing" PC game sales. The market is shifting towards a new model and certain developers think piracy is a substantial issue. Last time I checked, North American PC games sales online was nearly 1 billion dollars last year. :|foxhound_fox

Really?? I thought I read that PC game sales were sucking wind. The Crysis developers were complaining about sales and so was Epic. I know they both blamed piracy, but people in the media industry always do. Maybe you are right, I don't know for sure.

Really?? I thought I read that PC game sales were sucking wind. The Crysis developers were complaining about sales and so was Epic. I know they both blamed piracy, but people in the media industry always do. Maybe you are right, I don't know for sure. EmperorSupreme

Hey read this, it's from 2001. And I do quote: "In five years, if we're lucky, PC Gaming will be all but dead." 2001+5 = 2006 And yet, the PC still outsells any console, had an awesome year last year, and still leads in AA/AAA titles even just since the Xbox360 launch. This is why we hermits get bored. It's like a broken record.br0kenrabbit

QFFT. I'm in full agreement with this.

Wow, i'm suprised Painballz has not replied to this, attempting to infect all of us with hermititis.

PC gaming is not going anywhere though, they are way too many people that enjoy pc games such as myself, and as long as they are MMO fans, RTS fans and mouse/keyboard fans all will be well.

Nothing. Revenue on the platform is increasing, the userbase is growing, these are hardly signs of decline.Danm_999

That's what it's sounding like... All these developers sure like to whine a lot about not making any money, it's kind've ridiculous of Epic, the guys who made Crysis, etc.. to all be complaining if everything is increasing.

That's what it's sounding like... All these developers sure like to whine a lot about not making any money, it's kind've ridiculous of Epic, the guys who made Crysis, etc.. to all be complaining if everything is increasing. EmperorSupreme

[QUOTE="br0kenrabbit"]Hey read this, it's from 2001. And I do quote: "In five years, if we're lucky, PC Gaming will be all but dead." 2001+5 = 2006 And yet, the PC still outsells any console, had an awesome year last year, and still leads in AA/AAA titles even just since the Xbox360 launch. This is why we hermits get bored. It's like a broken record.aliblabla2007

QFFT. I'm in full agreement with this.

I guess the console kids think that if they keep believing and saying the same thing over and over it will come true.

PC is Dying! PC is Dying!

Must be some truth in it, it seems to have worked for Halo.

[QUOTE="foxhound_fox"]Nothing is "killing" PC game sales. The market is shifting towards a new model and certain developers think piracy is a substantial issue. Last time I checked, North American PC games sales online was nearly 1 billion dollars last year. :|EmperorSupreme

Really?? I thought I read that PC game sales were sucking wind. The Crysis developers were complaining about sales and so was Epic. I know they both blamed piracy, but people in the media industry always do. Maybe you are right, I don't know for sure.

and guess what? those games aren't/weren't on steam. crysis on steam and it's sales would tripple overnight. crytek needs to get out of ea and team up with valve on steam. they could do what hl2 has done, let ea distrubute the game but require steam to run.

All of those...lol

As for Piracy if a publisher feels its killing the industry then what argument do you have against it???

The simple fact is its the developers who invest money not statisticians who argue against.

Why should epic make games on PC if the torrent sites are overloading with downloads?

The publisher makes the decisions not the hords and hords of pc gamers who claim piracy is not hurting the industry.

If PC was to die then yes piracy on consoles would sky rocket....

All of those...lol

As for Piracy if a publisher feels its killing the industry then what argument do you have against it???

The simple fact is its the developers who invest money not statisticians who argue against.

Why should epic make games on PC if the torrent sites are overloading with downloads?

The publisher makes the decisions not the hords and hords of pc gamers who claim piracy is not hurting the industry.

If PC was to die then yes piracy on consoles would sky rocket....

Sirfruitytooty

Why should epic make games on PC if the torrent sites are overloading with downloads?

Sirfruitytooty

I never understood that logic. Mostly because Epic's UT3 underperformed on PC AND Ps3. Yet you don't see them address the terrible ps3 sales at all. Only on the pc where they are blaming piracy. Go fig

Nothing is killing PC gaming, its still alive and doing very well. But if I had to pick something that gives gaming on PC a tough time to flourish completely then I would say Intel Graphical Solutions. There is just no way that Intel integrated graphic cards should exist in their current form. Most are incapable of playing dx9/dx10 sufficiently and I'm sure they outnumber the amount of Nvidia and ATI cards by a long shot. Basically what we have is manufacturers selling PCs which are in a sense incapable of gaming. This should not be so. It should be a requirement for every PC to be at least equipped with a graphic card capable of running dx9/dx10 on medium detail or so.

This problem alone has begin to split the PC. One PC that only does general stuff(apps, web browsing, video and music etc) and the other that can play games and the same the prior did.

[QUOTE="Sirfruitytooty"]

Why should epic make games on PC if the torrent sites are overloading with downloads?

TeamR

I never understood that logic. Mostly because Epic's UT3 underperformed on PC AND Ps3. Yet you don't see them address the terrible ps3 sales at all. Only on the pc where they are blaming piracy. Go fig

It's a convienient scapegoat. Unfortunately, it's not sustainable in the face of the facts about PC gaming; its generating more money each year.

And if your not making more money as a software development, it hurts a hell of a lot less to complain about PC piracy than admit maybe you made a crappy product.