News EA: PC gaming is wrongly categorised

[CardJoe]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/05...-categorised/1

EA CEO John Riccitiello believes that PC gaming has been growing for many years and that sales are down only on the retail market.

[Wicz]

PC gaming truly shines in multiplayer and a huge percentage of the most popular multiplayer titles are free mods running on old game engines.

PC gamers don't need to spend money to get a new hit of entertainment anywhere near as often as console gamers because the community provides it for free Personally I haven't bought a game for my PC since Red Orchestra a few years ago and I won't be buying another until something as good or better comes along.

If i want single player arcade games I have the kids consoles


Clearly the EA guy would love it if we all wanted to make loads of microtransactions ( I personally don't and don't know anyone else who has indicated that they would either ) to play his games but I think the only thing he got right was that PC gaming will soon be entirely distributed 'over the net'

To me PC gaming is all about the community and a good game is one that lasts with the same people playing it year in year out and none of them wondering what's coming next because they are too busy enjoying themselves.

Long may it continue!

[freedom810]

I profere mouse keyboard to a slow controller ^^

[Krikkit]

I'm all for digital distribution, but EA will have to get EA-Link to be a sensible, working program first. It still doesn't work properly on my system.

[edit] Since EA-Link is dead, and the new EA Download Manager thingy (rebranded EA-Link) works fine, I take it all back.

[iwog]

I think the future of PC gaming is digital distribution I've bought the last 4 out of 6 games online and downloaded them within an hour or 2 and been playing as soon as they've installed. Steam, Stardock Central and just bog standard digital downloads from places like EA Store are the way forward.

[jakenbake]

I haven't bought a box game since CS left WON and went to Steam...

[Lepermessiah]

WOW, ea said something half sensible, I don't believe subsciptions and micro transactions are necessarily the future, digital distribution is, and they do not mention the fact that it is only the US were PCretail si slow, in europe, PC games often outsell big name console games. PC gaming is doing fine.

[Zut]

I'll be keeping retail alive for a good while longer yet.

Until BT can get faster broadband out to the countryside (amazingly, not everyone lives in London!), Steam is simply not an option for me. There is no way I'm going to download a game when I can bloody well have it DELIVERED faster.

Plus I actually like having a disc and box. Its nice to have a manual (or other stuff like maps etc...) and I have no idea how people manage when they have to re-install their OS. Do you have to download ALL your games again, or do you have to back them up to a huge pile of DVDs??

[rtrski]

With Steam, and a new computer or OS, yes you redownload all your games again. Simply re-download Steam and install it (matter of a few minutes), log in, and mark which of the many games you own you want locally installed. Then ignore it for a day or so while you're mucking with all the other stuff you do with a new install (cleaning off the FreeCrapWare, restoring all your browser preferences, etc etc.) That's one of the other advantages of Steam - you can have your SW on however many computers you want, concurrently, so long as you only play on one at a time. (Offline play can only be on the last one authenticated, too)

[scarrmrcc]

heh...funny, i have had steam for a long time now, and never realized i could use the same games on more than one compy with it (well, that could also be because i only have one worthy comp)

learn sumpin' new every day.
if only i could have my save games follow (then i could play at work...during lunch, single player games i have been working on)

[heir flick]

ive no problem with digital distribution as long as some of the savings made be games dev ie discs and distribution are passed on to the customers

[Wicz]

Originally Posted by Zut

and I have no idea how people manage when they have to re-install their OS. Do you have to download ALL your games again, or do you have to back them up to a huge pile of DVDs??

My games directory is backed up to NAS along with other important files and my entire OS install so If I have a problem I don't need to reinstall, I just restore from a backup which takes around 10 mins max.

I recommend it to everyone, it's so much quicker and easier, not to mention entirely stress free

[craigbru]

Originally Posted by Wicz

My games directory is backed up to NAS along with other important files and my entire OS install so If I have a problem I don't need to reinstall, I just restore from a backup which takes around 10 mins max.

I recommend it to everyone, it's so much quicker and easier, not to mention entirely stress free

+1

This is exactly what I do. It's saved me from re-downloading many times!

[Mcmonopoly]

Sorry to say, but you actually can backup your Steam games to an image file anywhere on your PC (preferably another HDD if you intend on formatting), thus eliminating the need for large downloads.

Just wanted to clear that up.

Used it several times and works like a charm.

Edit: Got bested on that one.!!!LOL

[Sebbo]

Originally Posted by Lepermessiah

WOW, ea said something half sensible

nope, they just finally came to their senses and reiterated what the rest of the gaming population responds with every time there's a study showing PC boxed-game sales are down :-P

Digital distribution certainly is the future, especially when implemented correctly. i don't think there is anyone who would disagree with me if i said Steam is the perfect example (i think most people have said as much already), and consoles are certainly heading that way (XBLA, WiiWare and Virtual Console, PlayStation Store). biggest downside is how much of your download quota is chewed up with DD as opposed to going to a store and buying the game boxed (a single DVD is 10% of my monthly quota)

also, i'm sure microtransactions will be a big part of future games, especially with how well they're doing at the moment. best examples of these are extra songs in GH3, Rock Band and Sing Star. personally, i really like them when they extend the game, such as extra songs as in the games above, however paying for something like a new gun in a battlefield game or extra furniture in the sims is hardly going to be worth it to me

also, i guess i should mention something on subscriptions ;-) generally, i'm against them, especially if its a flat, upfront yearly fee or something similar, since i know i won't be getting the most out of that game for the entire year. something smart where you only pay for what you use is ideal imo, but i don't really like "prepaid x number of hours" type things like Ragnarok Online had as one of its options. that said, i've quite been enjoying WoW () and i barely notice the subscription fee actually

[MrMonroe]

Unfortunately, I don't think this feller is talking about digital distribution making up for lack of box sales. He's saying that decline in sales of one-time purchase game packages (like, say, buying Mass Effect, whether you get it via DD or in the store) is being made up for by subscription-based, microtransaction funded games and ad-supported casual online games.

Now, there's nothing wrong with a good subscription-based MMO, but "microtransaction funded" games are a dangerous road. It just means players buy advantages over each other, just like with Magic and Pokemon. While certainly a great deal of skill is involved, when two players are evenly matched the outcome of the game comes down to who had sunk the most money into it. This is not a good game model, IMO. Certainly it is serviceable as a game theory concept to demonstrate how the world works, but in reality it's not that fun to play. I'm not going to deal with "casual" games, because Insaniquarium is not comparable with Fallout 3. It's a completely different audience and a different subject.

Long story short, developers are moving their "hardcore" games away from the PC market to consoles. It's deplorable but it's happening, and part of that is a reaction to piracy.

[devdevil85]

Originally Posted by MrMonroe

Long story short, developers are moving their "hardcore" games away from the PC market to consoles. It's deplorable but it's happening, and part of that is a reaction to piracy.

Hints the reason why DD is the way forward to help prevent piracy and to allow developers to stick with their target audience(s) that had/have the money to spend on that $1000 gaming rig......

Plus, no additional charges for add-ons and/or updates/patches, right? Idk how Steam works.....

[Bladestorm]

Originally Posted by devdevil85

Hints the reason why DD is the way forward to help prevent piracy and to allow developers to stick with their target audience(s) that had/have the money to spend on that $1000 gaming rig......

Plus, no additional charges for add-ons and/or updates/patches, right? Idk how Steam works.....

If there's a patch/new content available for any of your games, steam just quietly downloads it and installs it from the system tray, so long as you have that game set to "always keep up to date". No charges.

[Dreaming]

Digital distribution cheesecake.

When I buy boxes I never buy them from game anyway, I get them from play or wherever is cheaper online. I guess that still counts but say if you're looking at highstreet sales of PC games it's not going to give an accurate representation of the games market.

[wuyanxu]

if they REALLY wants to get us hardcore PC gamers back to buying boxes, remove the stupid copy protection!

this is why digital distribution is so big, no more annoying disk checks with DD, so most people actually prefer this way.

i would 100% go out and buy those games without CD-checking protection, as it's so much easier to play. if i bought one with protection, i would probably download a crack, which usually disables online play, thus in the end, downloading the game illegally might be better option