For me, tracking games sales is just as fun as actually playing games -- I can impress friends with "I told you so, this game kicks balls!" or, my favorite "I told you so, this game bites balls"! For those of you who share my passion, here's some shocking news.
Crysis, the absolutely stellar first-person shooter on the PC, didn't break 100K units in the first two weeks of sales. Even more shocking, Unreal Tournament 3 on PC sold less than 35K units in its first two weeks. Some folks have already chimed in on why they think this is the case, but here's my take, which (BTW), is the only take that matters.
As long as you can accept that I used voodoo and an Ouija board in my scientific analysis ...
Clearly, gaming quality and marketing hype weren't the culprits here, but rather competition. But the competition I'm talking here isn't other FPS games on the PC, or even PC games in general. It's the console market that is starting to gain ground in the FPS category.
What makes this so titillating (a word I've been dying to use all week, so thanks for the moment) to think about is that PC gaming champions have always touted how they are able to compete with the console market. People cite the edge in technology, a more mature and older gaming audience, and more responsive controls with the keyboard and mouse.
But you see, Little Tommy (the console FPS), once the 90-pound weakling who always got his lunch money taken by the big bully (the PC FPS), has suddenly grown 10 inches over the summer. He took a couple of 'roid pills, and is now delivering an atomic wedgie on said bully of yesteryear. FPS games on the console are suddenly just as amazing, if not more amazing, than the ones you see on the PC now. Not to mention a number of exclusives you can't find on PC yet. With the average age of next-gen console gamers reaching towards the average age of PC gamers (which is over 30-years old), you've got PC gamers migrating to these hot consoles for some of their gaming habits.
But PC fanboys shouldn't just feel like they got slighted. It's only natural in the evolution of things. At least for now, the console market still can't touch real-time strategy games and MMORPGs, which are the other two biggest genres that the PC clearly dominates. RTS gaming just feels to cumbersome with a joystick, and MMORPGs have too many commands that it would be difficult to whittle those down to just a joystick.
Feel safe. For now.
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Dr. Boa may sound like someone who starred in some porn with Dirk Diggler, but his true passion is interactive entertainment. He's notched +15 years in the gaming industry from QA to launching several big hits, so he's got a healthy perspective on what goes on from the flipside. It's amazing he's not a jaded cynic yet. He's finally glad to see more drug filled parties with playboy bunnies and B level celebs like all other entertainment fields. Yes, gaming has finally made it.
Contest:
6:40 AM on 12.17.2007
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As for ut3, i think it wont sell well because its a lot like 2004 with a shiny paint job. Epic could have/should have put a fair bit more effort into it, really.
Consoles will never take fps games fully from pc, because there are styles that work much better with keyboard and mouse - ut is an example, counterstrike another. Not to mention, games like halo play just as well on pc.
There are just more of them out there than we can keep up with.
Also, who the fuck is Dr. Boa?
"newguy"
I still prefer a lot more keyboard and mouse for FPSs, that said, this year i only bought the Orange Box for PC, the rest of the FPSs I bought were for the 360. I think mainly because I'm lazy and didn't want to install, defrag, update video drivers, tweak the .ini (or something similar) etc. on the PC =P. That and xbox live friends.
But yeah, I think a big factor with Crysis and UT3 not selling well is that people don't have/can't afford rigs that are powerful enough to play them like they should be played.
I'm at a stage in my life where shelling out $3000 AUS for a gaming rig just doesn't make sense. I'd prefer to play Bioshock and the Orange Box games on a PC in all honesty, but my mortgage is preventing that from happening.
What about piracy? Does anyone think that's having an effect?
I have switched my to consoles as my main gaming platform and have been happy as a pill ever since. I buy a game, I come home, I put it in, and it works! AMAZING!
Let's face it, even at it's most expensive price, the PS3 was still a bargain compared to a high-end PC required to play similar looking games.
PC gamers will always be the "real gamers", though, naturally.
UT3 probably didn't sell well because the demo was buggy as all hell and not really that impressive.
I'm still a PC gamer for now, but consoles are looking more and more impressive.
The sad thing is I don't know how this problem could be fixed in the industry.
The question is, in five years will there be a big enough discrepancy between the game quality on PC and these consoles?
Another factor worth mentioning is that the windows market is drying up. People are hesitant to spend a lot on a windows PC when the plagued Vista is the only OS available from the factory. Apple has converted a *lot* of people I know.
Consoles are the devil...they ruin classics such as Deus Ex and Oblivion and ruin genres for the PC (EX: Bioware rarely developing a game for PC in mind). Society would be a whole lot better if consoles weren't invented. Just think if DOS was still being run I wonder how many e-thugs and l337 players would still be playing games?
Also, call me a demented nutfucker if you will, but I think the wiimote & nunchuck setup has a lot of potential(see metroid prime 3). I definitely think it could be better than dual analogues, and could give mouse & keys a decent run. Tactile, fast, accurate, analogue movement and rumble. Winning combination if you ask me.
One more thing; can we please stop saying "next-gen" now? The 360 has been out for over 2 years.
Seriously though, how's the sales for Orange Box on PC? Or do they not have numbers for Steam sales? The retail market for PC games IS dead. Digital distribution is not the future for PC, it's the now. It probably helps that Valves products run on minimal specs compared to those other games too.
however I have gametap and steam and I've been buying PC games this whole time.
BOXED PC GAMING with retail sales is flagging, but pc gaming and download services will never die: whine all you want about how expensive a "gaming" computer is, but the fact remains a "gaming computer" is NOT a $5000 console. It's the thing all games are built on from the first place, where video editing happens and 3D / sound production is done. These fancy rigs will always exist and there will always be a market for games to play on them. Also, RTS is my favorite genre and they will never get me to play RTS on a console. I'd rather dip my nuts in liquid nitrogen.
How is it the video game consoles on the market can load game content with minimal loading times while with the PC you still have to install the damn game? I used to play PC games as my sole video gaming entertainment. Now it seems all the PC is good for are the aforementioned shooter and real time strategy games. I'm sick to death of both, at least with a console I can get a larger variety of games that are actually big name titles and not complete shit either.
COD4.
people are playing crysis and ut3, cod4 as well, they're just not buying them. its almost as simple as that. piracy. of course, there are all these elements that all you guys talk about here that come into play, and answerers the question about piracy to some degree. the pc market is trailing behind, and the biggest factor is piracy. without a doubt.
You have to be joking...Consoles are the devil? Yeah, God forbid anyone would want to play a video game and just have to pop it in to work. Oh the humanity! It still amazes me that there are people who think like you. PC gaming is dead...or at the very least dying and on life support.
I've never been a KB&M guy...totally prefer the controller. Someone said something snarky about 3 seconds to turn...huh? don't have to look up or down....wha?
Why should it be incumbant upon me to have to upgrade my rig once a year, let alone more? I paid 400 bucks for my 360, I get optimized software, a great online service, no hassles with installing, drivers, or troubleshooting 1 specific issue. I pop it in, and then I *gasp* play the fucking game...
I don't think it is a saturation with FPS either. I think if you release Crysis on 360 or PS3 it would sell boatloads. There are a ton of FPSers, and there always will be because there is a huge market for them. Just looking at my 360 games I have 6 or 7 at the moment. I love them, it is a great genre.
Why even bother to get it on a PC? I think we all know, or at the very least think that Crysis will be hitting a home console at some point.
That said, Final Fantasy XI can be played with a d-pad and a 4 button controller (after some "initial tweaking), so it's possible to whittle down an MMO to a more manageable control level. I honestly do not know why big MMOs like WoW are not available for console yet. It makes no sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind, but at the same time I'd love to be able to run around Norrath on my hdtv.
As for RTS, LOTR:BFME2 and C&C3 took great strides to making RTS controls actually work with a d-Pad. Still a bit complicated, but it works at least.
PC gaming technology is still above and beyond that of consoles due to a continuous process of advancements rather than staggered advancement stages, and Crysis is proof of that. The sad thing is that it's consoles that will end up slowing down certain technological advancements in gaming in the long run.
I love both my PC and my consoles. But I'm not going to choose one over the other when they obviously have their strengths and weaknesses.
PC gaming technology is still above and beyond that of consoles due to a continuous process of advancements rather than staggered advancement stages, and Crysis is proof of that. The sad thing is that it's consoles that will end up slowing down certain technological advancements in gaming in the long run.
I love both my PC and my consoles. But I'm not going to choose one over the other when they obviously have their strengths and weaknesses.
PC gaming technology is still above and beyond that of consoles due to a continuous process of advancements rather than staggered advancement stages, and Crysis is proof of that. The sad thing is that it's consoles that will end up slowing down certain technological advancements in gaming in the long run.
I love both my PC and my consoles. But I'm not going to choose one over the other when they obviously have their strengths and weaknesses.
PC gaming technology is still above and beyond that of consoles due to a continuous process of advancements rather than staggered advancement stages, and Crysis is proof of that. The sad thing is that it's consoles that will end up slowing down certain technological advancements in gaming in the long run.
I love both my PC and my consoles. But I'm not going to choose one over the other when they obviously have their strengths and weaknesses.
PC gaming technology is still above and beyond that of consoles due to a continuous process of advancements rather than staggered advancement stages, and Crysis is proof of that. The sad thing is that it's consoles that will end up slowing down certain technological advancements in gaming in the long run.
I love both my PC and my consoles. But I'm not going to choose one over the other when they obviously have their strengths and weaknesses.
PC gaming technology is still above and beyond that of consoles due to a continuous process of advancements rather than staggered advancement stages, and Crysis is proof of that. The sad thing is that it's consoles that will end up slowing down certain technological advancements in gaming in the long run.
I love both my PC and my consoles. But I'm not going to choose one over the other when they obviously have their strengths and weaknesses.
PC gaming technology is still above and beyond that of consoles due to a continuous process of advancements rather than staggered advancement stages, and Crysis is proof of that. The sad thing is that it's consoles that will end up slowing down certain technological advancements in gaming in the long run.
I love both my PC and my consoles. But I'm not going to choose one over the other when they obviously have their strengths and weaknesses.
PC gaming technology is still above and beyond that of consoles due to a continuous process of advancements rather than staggered advancement stages, and Crysis is proof of that. The sad thing is that it's consoles that will end up slowing down certain technological advancements in gaming in the long run.
I love both my PC and my consoles. But I'm not going to choose one over the other when they obviously have their strengths and weaknesses.