Xbox 360 Crytek: Console gamers 'don't respect development'

Cervat Yerli, Crytek's CEO, has told OXM that console gamers 'don't respect development'.

Yerli was illustrating the difference between PC and console gamers when he said that console gamers "give you two seconds" and "don't respect any value you put into development."

"I simplified it for our guys by saying there is one difference between the PC gamer and console gamer," Yerli explains. "I said the single most important difference is a PC gamer forgives you for about a minute. A console gamer gives you two seconds. It sucks or it fails and you're either the top or a flop. They don't respect any value you put into your development, either it works or it doesn't work."

Yerli says this pressure has ultimately made Crysis 2 a better game but do you agree that console gamers are less forgiving than PC gamers?

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=242795

With the reputation, and expectation this games has, coupled with the fact that he's been slamming every major shooter franchise as of late, this game better deliver. He's right though, he'll get about 2 seconds.

 

I think that's kinda obvious and not really a bad thing. Generally PC gamers are happy tinkering to get the best out of a game, whereas most console-only gamers want to throw in a disc and receive instant gratification. The same is true for almost everything. If this was a car forum, most of us would be happy servicing our own cars whereas the vast majority of the population want it to just work as effortlessly as possible.

Personally, I feel the more important point he raised is the increasing trend of (as he puts it) being 'top or a flop'. Every year the best sellers are occupying increasingly disproportionate large amounts of the total sales. This is really bad news because it discourages publishers and developers from taking chances and is turning the industry into a sequel machine. I believe this topic headlined at both PAX and GDC this year.

 

He has?

I think you'll find that was the lead writer of Crysis 2, not the CEO of Crytek.

 

apparently PC gamers are far less forgiving, according to Epic.

i am sick of sequels, and agree with NuTech, it's a shame big budget developers rarely take a chance now, just remaking whatever was successful. CoDMW2 (renamed perks), BFBC2 (continue BF series at a smaller scale), Mass Effect 2, Dirt 2 (add a few tracks and take out 80% of Colin McRae's core rallying), Bioshock 2 (same old, just less artistic moments, more grinding through corridor), Just Cause 2 (previous game formula, tweak grappling hook and done), Starcraft 2 (exact same races just updated graphics) and Assassin's Creed 2 (same as first, add customisable appearance) are all remakes that doesn't really have much core gameplay innovation.

Borderlands, World in Conflict, Sins of Solar Empire and Portal are really good innovative games, but they are not on headlines enough to make the general public that makes up the statistics notice.

 

I thought Borderlands did quite well? It was also advertised quite well with that Cage the Elephant song. Portal too, also quite famous now. Though I get what you mean. It's hard to name innovative games that didn't make headlines because of the fact that they didn't make headlines and no one knows about them! Look around at the indie games on Steam, for example, and you'll find quite a few innovative and fun games. Even go to your local store and just check out the games you've never heard of. Some might actually be good and you'd never know since they aren't heavily advertised.

 

I will agree that console gamers are by far much less forgiving.

But I won't say that the PC is the only platform with good games. Killer7 for example, one of my favorite console games ever to come out..

Of course the most concerning point was Wu's, big profile games are ever getting bigger, and mitigating attention away from the smaller games. Which = oligopoly. I wonder how many people would be receptive to the STALKER series?

 

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the epitome of PC games that console gamers just wouldn't understand. The game came out with one of the largest and most perplexing collection of bugs in the history of programming, and required substantial patching to make it work at all, let alone function as advertised. It was from a Russian games studio no-one had heard of. It was also vastly improved upon by a myriad of user-generated mods - so, in sum total, three compelling reasons why it would never have worked as a console game.

The reason it 'worked' (I use that in the non-literal sense) on PC is because we expect things to crash occasionally as a by-product of the vast spectra of hardware the community expects games to run on. We're more than happy to install mods and give them a try, and to read around looking for patches and optimizations and the like. None of that is true of console gamers, who are the very definition of disc -> tray -> work immediately. That's not necessarily a slight upon them, but it is definitely a very different market.

 

Gunsmith was given a 24hr ban for flaming, he should know better.

I agree with what the Crytek guy says, but to only some extent: PC gamers are typically more likely to give games a chance, but they are also ultimately way more fussy. Take a look at metacritic for the exact same game on both console and PC: user reviews for console games will ALWAYS be higher than user reviews for PC.

That said, agreeing with what Crytek CEO said - console games will have a much higher range of results and many more 1s and 10s than PC game user reviews.

 

I agree Bindi, PC gamers are a lot more fussy. Thats because the whole ethos of PC gaming is about personal preferences - what PC you build, what monitors you use, what games you play. And most PC gamers consider themselves experts and are a bit know-it-all (I'm not flaming, I include myself in that description). Console gamers are looking to buy a game, bang it in their console and enjoy it. When I buy a game, I really want to get my moneys worth so I will take my time even if the game at first disappoints. The past has taught me not to make a snap judgements on games - the first time I played TA I thought it was very meh, then when I had an extended go at it, I thought it was awesome!

I think that console gamers probably are quicker to write off a game, but at the same time, PC gamers are a lot harder to impress.

 

Nor would I, Metal Gear Solid 4 is possibly the best game ever made (in my opinion), but there is a huge amount of drivel out there.

I do think that Modern Warfare 2 would have passed by unnoticed if it was PC only. Mainly because it was a pathetic excuse for a game, well overpriced and way too short. It's the hype from console gamers (mainly 360 gamers, PS3 gamers were playing Uncharted 2!) that pushed it into the stratosphere.

 

There were points in gunsmiths quote that i can relate to (im not condoning how it was written though). All the console only gamers i know personally play a game solidly for maybe 2-3 months then want the next game in the series, An example is MW2 they are already wanting the next game, and regardless of if its any good they will all buy it.

They will all admit that my computer produces far better graphics than their consoles and they are always amazed when i show them game mods that completely change a game.

Maybe the problem is that if a game is buggy we (PC gamers) can try and work our own way around the problems, console gamers dont have this luxury, so if something doesnt work they're more likely to dismiss it as tripe.

 

ya should of given him an xbox for a week... he he

 

meh, i enjoyed crysis, i have hopes for a decent 2nd outing.


I think they are abusing their position a little bit, you don't see the devs of stalker saying to activision "your mums fat" or gabe newell saying "I ate your mum" or soemthing.
Its basically pr generating, and again we are the pawns in the game as its designed to segregate people, like the console wars.

 

Yup, the crytek marketing boulder is starting to roll... Good to see they're confident!

 

Ah, I see the banhammer is still in effect even from halfway across the globe

 

Was his post in another thread? Or can we now not post what we think without fear of you removing it?

 

Pretty sure he flamed Warrior24_7 first post in this thread.

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I think the reason that we may be more fussy (PC users) is because we have seen so many high quality games for the PC over the years. Much more so than the dross they release on consoles.

 

It was in this thread, I removed a post quoting it as there's no need to detract from topic and discuss the flaming. I'm sure you can imagine the gist of it... It wasn't just a disagreement with what was posted here, it went a bit OTT and was a flame (with bad speellingz too!). People are still free to disagree on this forum, but when it gets personal and is bringing over angst from another thread that's had plenty of warnings on it. Well, I support Bindi's decision.

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Another reason PC gamers take games crashing in their stride is that, at the moment, they're most likely using Windows and so are used to that

I agree console gamers want games to just work, but then they don't have much choice. If it doesn't work properly they can't do anything about it and it's a lot easier to just swap it for a game that does play through properly.

 

Console gamers can just pop into Blockbusters and hire a game to see if they like it or not.

PC gamers have little choice but to suck it and see. Maybe if they're really lucky they'll play a demo, which may or may not be representative of the final game.

 

Another factor is that if you buy a game on Steam, your stuck with it. If you buy a console game and your not really getting into it, then you can just sell it. When I buy my games on Steam, I determined to try to get my moneys worth out of them.