News Mark Rein: Consoles killing the PC market

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/02...he_pc_market/1

Mark Rein has spoken about how he thinks consoles are killing the PC market through larger audiences and sales.



whoops, I forgot to create the thread!

[steveo_mcg]

So his game has failed to sell as well as he hoped (and has done in the past) so he's predicting doom and gloom. Here's an idea innovate, i know UT3 has some nice touches but to be fair i'd rather play TF2 or UT2004.

[naokaji]

Mark Rein is a traitor if it comes to pc games.... he's among those that dont take advantage of the pc's capabilities to allow for cheaper multi plattform development.
and i have to agree with steveo mcg, ut3 lacks innovation. 2k4 cheesecake

[Reputator]

If consoles are killing the PC market, he sure isn't helping.

We'll take his example. Call of Duty 4, it sold 383k last year for the PC, and 1.47m for the 360. Far and away from the 10x he speaks of.

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/ne...7/19191/?biz=1
http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/ne...ops-all/19119/

BUT this does not include digital distribution.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=231907

Crysis has reached 1 million sold as of the latest numbers.

http://www.incrysis.com/index.php?op...sk=view&id=612

Clearly there is plenty of mileage in PC gaming, and there is no sudden shift to consoles.

"This [console vs. PC sales gap] isn't really a new phenomenon. Video games software sales, and even just the console portion of that figure (at retail) have been greater than PC retail sales every year that we've tracked (1995)."

It has always been this way.

[p3n]

I blame the lack of backwards compatibility with graphics engines (can you say "Requires shader model: x.0"? I certainly didnt want to spend 400 quid on a 8800 when they came out so I spent 300 quid on an xbox to serve up my media quickly and easily to any tv in my house and play games for years to come without paying though the nose for a gfx card (or even being forced to change OS for dx10)

I was also one of the most 'hardcore' gamers until this year, playing at the forefront of 'WoW Raiding', I guess I finally burned out and just wanted something I could switch on and play then stop when it was convenient..

[crozon]

ok explain this, why do i hear that TF2 is almost a ghost town on Live yet is bigger on the PC. If consoles are so much bigger i expect TF2 to be played more on LIve.

Also lets see in the end how UT3 sells on the PS3 vs PC

[chicorasia]

Will someone please come up with some reliable sales figures?

reliable=including digital distribution

Until then, this discussion is pointless.

[cjoyce1980]

Mark Rein is an idiot! some one just sack him

[legoman666]

people have been decrying the death of PC gaming for as long as I have been playing them. This is nothing new and is not news worthy. Especially considering that the sales numbers don't include digital distribution.

[mikeuk2004]

Ive moved from Pc to console, looking foward to Unreal on PS3 and playing Halo 3 and Cod 4 on xbox. My Pc does not get used much anymore.

Console games look great and play great and the one off payment of £300 every 5 years or more is much better than £500 every year for new PC parts. Ive been able buy so many more games since scrapping the yearly upgrade and I cant say I missed the Pc games.

[DXR_13KE]

Originally Posted by chicorasia

Will someone please come up with some reliable sales figures?

reliable=including digital distribution

Until then, this discussion is pointless.

yep

[Darkedge]

'Hey guys, what server are you playing on? I'd love to come and join you,' and they said, 'Just send us a friends request,' It was at that point I realized they were all playing it on console."

Not just Console but on 360 - Unified friends list cheesecake!

[wuyanxu]

Originally Posted by mikeuk2004

Ive moved from Pc to console, looking foward to Unreal on PS3 and playing Halo 3 and Cod 4 on xbox. My Pc does not get used much anymore.

Console games look great and play great and the one off payment of £300 every 5 years or more is much better than £500 every year for new PC parts. Ive been able buy so many more games since scrapping the yearly upgrade and I cant say I missed the Pc games.

cost is always objective. PC gaming is cheaper if you buy a lot of games, PC gaming also gives a lot more hours per game if you play the mods.
1 PC game = 30 pounds
1 "next-gen" console game = 40 pounds (even though their graphics are shite compared to Crysis)

what is killing PC gaming is all those n0obs trying to play PC game on a 1 year old laptop! when they discover that they can't play it, they will go to consoles.
bad console ports (eg, UT3, Halo 2) is also killing PC very badly, yet the person who spoke about this is a UT2 developer?

when you do a real comparison, PC games is a LOT better than consoles, just look at all those Valve's release, and look at Crysis' graphics, look at those amazing mods.

[shammo]

Personally, I think that the console market is a benefit to PC gaming.

I mean that as consoles are proving to be all the more powerful and appealing, with more games shared across all platforms, it's forcing PC gaming and hardware firms to work harder at polishing the whole package to stop people shifting across.

Console gaming has its place for sure, to serve a huge chunk of the market who are fundamentally different from the "hardcore" gamers that generally use PC's.

I always laugh when I hear a console gamer claiming to be "hardcore" as if that's something to be proud of anyway, and find it even more laughable when they say so in the context of an FPS!

All platforms serve their purposes and there's room in every household for each, depending on the people in it of course.

By this I mean that I have a quad-core rig with an 8800GT overclocked to the rafters, a Wii and a PS2.

The PC is for strategy and FPS gaming, the Wii mainly for party gaming and random wackyness, and the PS3 for driving and sports games (mainly footy).

I didn't engineer this state of affairs in my house, it just developed as I wanted to play particular games and decided not to comprimise by using the same platform for each. I mean, playing an FPS like Halo on a console is a bit like trying to swim through mud. Every moment seems muted and restricted compared to my PC/key+mouse setup.

Then there was playing footy with the lads, impossible to get anywhere near the fun of gathered around a console when playing FIFA on the PC.

Make PC gaming more accessible with more attractive hardware that looks just as good as any other consumer electronics sharing space in our living rooms, put a stop to PIRACY for good (STEAM anyone?), and bring PC gaming crashing into the mainstream with official tournaments and proper recognition and the its role will be differentiated and cemented in its rightful place.

And those who truly take the reigns and pioneer this growth will be in the best possible positions to reap the rewards from the potentially HUGE market growth.

[lewchenko]

PC Gaming will always be the home of the MMOPRG and especially RTS / Strategy games though, and these are big markets.

The Shooter/Platformer/Racer games will always attract the consoles, even with their diabolical control mechanism for FPS games.

I tried to 'go console' in Nov 06 on a 360. Was a disaster, and have since built an Uber PC rig and am enjoying Pirates/Supreme Commander Forged Alliance and Crysis- gaming bliss that you just cant get on a console. [yes Im aware SupCom is coming to 360 but thats still not Forged Alliance]

My gaming bliss on a PC was a costly venture - but worth every penny. My 360 gathers dust, as does the wii.

As for Mark Rein's comments. Blizzard may disagree with him. WOW - Litch King, StarCraft 2 and their next MMO will dwarf all of EPIC's sales combined. Maybe EPIC needs to refocus...

[DoctorBeat]

PC gaming is in the same situation of the digital cameras: sure there is plenty of cheap cameras out there, which take "nice" pictures, but there always be market for dSLR cameras, even if they cost much much more. I've never heard of the death of dSLR cameras market, and they still have many people buying them.
Sure the consoles are cheap, but the gaming experience is nothing compared to the experience on pc. And i prefer spend 350£ on a HD3870 or 8800GT and 2 Gb of ram than waste it on a console. Plus even cheap pc can surf the web, write documentes, retouch images, ... add 300£ of investiment and you get all that functionality and a Next NEXT generation gaming system.
As for COD4, although it looks nice, is old technology taken to the limit. Its beautiful but is old. You dont get paralax mapping, the lighting system looks rudimentary compared to crysis (which simulates the real physics of light (light bounces and indirect illuminates surfaces) and interactivity don't exist in COD4, the world is static. And remember COD4 is the "best" that consoles offer yet it pales compared to crysis.
And Team Fortress 2 is way more fun than UT3.
As long as there will be cutting edge technology, there will be PC gaming.
And i almost forget to say: don't support piracy. Game developers will continue to bring games to pc as long as we, pc gamers, continue to buy them.

[Lepermessiah]

Mark rein says a lot of BS, this is one of it, Crysis, a game aimed at the hardcore gaming Pc market with very high requirements hit 1 million in a little over a month, The Witcher and Stalker all did the same. PC gaming is very strong, only gamers think a billion dollar market is dead, lol. These inaccurate constant reports of PC gaming dying is really starting to get on my nerves. All sites were quick to report UT3 and Crysis sold bad, but when a report shows Crysuis actually sold well, where are the reports? Sales figures are useless when it comes to PC as digital distribution is now getting very popular. Also, for some reason the US is not as strong as Europe, Canada and other countries for buying PC games. World wide PC games sell very well, why else do we continue to see big titles being made for PC? More bs reporting and comments from Mark Rein, this guy is an ass.

[Lepermessiah]

Originally Posted by mikeuk2004

Ive moved from Pc to console, looking foward to Unreal on PS3 and playing Halo 3 and Cod 4 on xbox. My Pc does not get used much anymore.

Console games look great and play great and the one off payment of £300 every 5 years or more is much better than £500 every year for new PC parts. Ive been able buy so many more games since scrapping the yearly upgrade and I cant say I missed the Pc games.

You missed a lot, you just don't miss what you don't know, Consoles pale in comparison, i had a 360, all of its games came on PC, and looked and played better on it, I sold my 360 on e-bay. Other then mass Effect, what the hell am i missing? Nothing. The Witcher is a better RPG as it is, and that is PC only.

[Lepermessiah]

Mark rein should look at making better games, PC had a LOT of great games, and UT3 was not one of them, crap sells on consoles, crap does not sell on PC. He needs to look in the mirror. Pc gamers have higher standards Mark. another dev makes dumbded down console games and then wonder why their games stop selling well on PC. Cryssi, Stalker, The Witcher had no trouble selling well on PC.

[Bungle]

10 Million subscribers to WoW, over 1 Million copies sold of Crysis. God knows how many copies of the Orange box have been sold. Yes you can hear the death throws of the PC beast this very moment. What a putz.