Will PC be the lead platform for many games this generation?

LOL peasants still think the whole gaming industry revolves around them,

[QUOTE="AMD655"]

Yes.

Shielder7

None of this matters unless PC games are outselling their console counterparts.... which they rarely if ever do. If you look at the launch titles for the xbox 360 on average they greatly outperformed multiplats on PC. Alot of them selling 500K-2mil copies... which is well above what multiplats sell on PC outside of a few blockbusters games in well established AAA franchises.

Generally speaking, even a launch title with an anemic install base on console will easily outsell its PC counterpart. PC gaming may have a huge install base with a large revenue stream, but PC gamers just dont buy multiplats.

Well, that would matter if the only consideration when deciding a lead platform is which platform sells the most of a particular game. But that is far from the reality. If you know you are going to be building your game for three platforms the most important consideration is which approach is going to give you good quality on all three platforms and thus increase your chances at making a profit. 

I'd like you to support your claim that mutiplats at console launches easily outsell their PC counterparts. That to me is an absurd claim, because even today with the huge installed bases that consoles have they still aren't drastically generating more revenue for big multiplatform publishers.

Here are the revenue numbers from EA's latest financial statement:

X360: 292,204,277,379 
PS3: 267,150,289,404 
PC: 276,214,186,252 

PC generated more revenue than the consoles some of those quarters.

Next, let's look at Ubisoft's latest earnings report:

Again we see decent numbers earned from the PC. And this is despite the fact that we are at the end of the generation and the consoles have huge install bases and Ubisoft isn't very popular with PC gamers.

Now you are going to tell me that in the first few years of the new consoles' lives, when their installed bases are only a quarter or less of what they are now, that they will still somehow generate more revenue for the big multiplat publishers? Nonsense.

The revenue generated from all three main platforms is fairly comparable and each of them is important to the financial health of these companies. So, again, the question is, which is the best approach to create a quality game across all three main platforms? I think many developers are going to find that leading on the PC will lead to a better product for all three platforms.