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PC gaming’s certainly not dying, but by the same token, we recently saw a big-name PC-exclusive game roaming about our local wildlife reserve. The poor creatures are all but extinct these days, and piracy’s not doing anything to help. Fortunately, according to Avalanche boss Cristofer Sundberg, things don’t have to stay this way.
“If we constantly keep on delivering console ports and not games design for the PC player, the PC market will suffer from bad sales, piracy and bad DRM solutions. I strongly believe that most PC players are online players and online games are so much easier to design that we both protect the developer against piracy - and the consumer against a limited game experience,” he told CVG.
"As PC sales constantly dropping, there is a small group of very dedicated PC players who deserve a game designed for them and I strongly believe that PC games and console games are two completely different games.”
Now that’s speaking our language. However, it’s one thing to talk big, and another thing entirely to bite the bullet and risk financial well-being by taking action. Avalanche’s most recent game – while excellent – lacked any discernible PC-only features and had no online component to speak of. If we had an actual, real-life PC-exclusive game in place of every “PC gaming should be” or “PC gaming shouldn’t be” quote from a major developer, we’d feel a lot better about all the cash we’ve used to stoke the flames of the money furnace that is our PC. As is, though… well, there's a reason why people think PC gaming is dying.
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Rogue74
May 26, 2010 at 6:56pm
Most PC games, at least in the U.S. are only $39.99. Unless it's a console port, then it's $59.99. The only PC games, and I'm talking big games, that were more than $39.99 in the past year were Mass Effect 2 and Modern Warfare 2. PC Gaming isn't dead, just stagnant. Publishers need to get some balls and make PC games, not just games that will sell cross platform!
immersive
May 26, 2010 at 11:19am
Here is why I love PC games and not consoles.
1. I can play anything on my PC from Super Mario Bros - Bad Company 2
2. Mods for games. I may have payed $50 for Half-Life but look at how many other great games I ended up with becuse of mods.
3. Free online play. If they start putting a price on online play like they do with Xbox live you will see PC gameing die faster then a cow with a bullet in his head.
Some of my favorit PC games:
Half-Life, Unreal Tournament, Elder Scroll series.
You console gamers are probably wondering why they are my favorit. Well you can make your own maps or even a whole new game with the tools avalibale for PC. This is why all 3 games are still worth 50 to me.
bigkahuna
May 26, 2010 at 10:49am
If the games did NOT cost $50 USD or more there would be no need to borrow (insert sarcastic face here) games from the pirate bay, I think the high price is whats killing the pc gaming market and the will to upgrade the graphics cards, I know the console games are not cheap ether, but who cares, you're reading maximumpc dude.
habuza
May 26, 2010 at 4:22pm
You'll drop 60 to 70 $ on a console game, but you take issue with the 30 to 50 $ price range on pc games? I think your neural pathways are malfunctioning.
Trooper_One
May 26, 2010 at 12:40pm
Yea, I can see why for new games but console games cost about the same. Nonetheless, PC game prices drop much faster than console. Besides, Steam is a great service provider with weekend or holiday specials. If you want to save money like me, I just wait a few months then buy the game when a special is on.
But going back to PC gaming in general, I find that PC games are much higher in quality and more prefered games exists.
bikerbub
May 26, 2010 at 10:40am
"Avalanche’s most recent game – while excellent – lacked any discernible PC-only features [...]" That's a flat out lie. Just Cause 2 was completely optimized for a quad core. This is the first game i've played (given i don't play that many pc games because of the price) that has had a completely balanced quad core optimization. I know there are other games out there that do the same thing, but to say that Avalanche didn't do anything to optimize the game is a complete lie.
thinsoldier
May 26, 2010 at 9:31am
Bull.
Aside from the hard drive and video card there isn't any important difference between pc/consolde in regards to 90% of games.
If I could plug a keyboard & mouse into a console and have it actually work with all the games I would have gotten a 360, wii, AND ps3 by now.
But, they don't so I have to stick with what works. And that's plugging an x-box controller into my pc along with racing wheel, flight stick, keyboard and mouse.
fusobotic
May 26, 2010 at 5:40am
I bet those "sales" figures include the console itself and games, while with the PC it only includes games, and no hardware to speak of. The PC market is still going strong, I mean look at steam, direct2drive, etc, they aren't going bankrupt, they're thriving.
Yeah, I know some ports suck, but some others don't. Consider Borderlands, Half-life 2, Supreme Commander 2, Fallout 3, Just Cause 2 (which I thought was pretty good), Red Faction Guerilla, and now even Crysis 2.
PC sales aren't dying, just check the sale of $600 graphics cards and all those deals people get on online game stores.
fusobotic
May 27, 2010 at 7:26am
Half-Life 2 is for Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, and Mac OSX
Although, I'm not sure if it was when it was first released.
Furien
May 26, 2010 at 9:00am
Since when was Half-Life 2 a console port?! lol
I also have to take issue with using Borderlands as an example of a "good"port... that game had a shit ton of SERIOUS issues at release that were a result of being ported. I don't know if they've been addressed since then with patches but it's completely irrelevant at this point as far as I'm concerned anyway.
fusobotic
May 27, 2010 at 7:27am
Well, I've never played Borderlands on Xbox 360 so I wouldn't know. It's pretty good on PC though.
linkmaster6
May 26, 2010 at 5:27am
Yeah online games would be great if EVERYONE had highspeed. There is no love for anyone on dial up.
