Crytek to End PC Exclusives

There's a Cevat Yerli Q&A on PC Play (thanks Eurogamer) with word that Crysis is likely the last PC-exclusive game from developer Crytek. Though he once again dismisses speculation that a console port of Crysis is in the cards, he places the blame for declining PC game sales squarely on the shoulders of software pirates, a theory that has become pretty commonplace. Word is:
We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin, a chart leading that is not desirable. I believe that’s the core problem of PC Gaming, piracy. To the degree PC Gamers that pirate games inherently destroy the platform. Similar games on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us and I believe we wont have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future. We are going to support PC, but not exclusive anymore.
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193 Replies. 10 pages. Viewing page 7.
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73.
 
No subject
Apr 30, 2008, 12:06
73.
No subject Apr 30, 2008, 12:06
Apr 30, 2008, 12:06
 
As a note Acl - although I like watching your banter with smart. It is best to ignore him - as he is ignorant of the real issues and just likes to start arguments in threads to get people going.

He is a self professed troll....

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72.
 
Piracy?
Apr 30, 2008, 12:05
72.
Piracy? Apr 30, 2008, 12:05
Apr 30, 2008, 12:05
 
Well wouldn't a steam like setup prevent that? These lazy guys will set gaming back 10 years for a dummy console system. They just haven't figured out that a game should be more complex than simple.

71.
 
Re: I CALL BS
Apr 30, 2008, 12:02
71.
Re: I CALL BS Apr 30, 2008, 12:02
Apr 30, 2008, 12:02
 
You could blame the steep hardware requirements for reducing the number of potential customers, but if you have been around as long as you say, you know this has always been the case. There must be another factor then, what could it be?

Gee, let's think about that one:

1) Consoles are mainstream, gaming PC's are not.
2) Consoles require considerably less tech savvy than PC's.
3) Consoles are cheaper than PC's.
4) Consoles are more socially acceptable than PC's.
5) Consoles are easier to develop for (a single set of hardware) than PC's.
6) Console games get much more marketing than PC games (TV spots, magazine ads, shelf space, etc).

This is why console games sell more than PC games. It has nothing to do with piracy. GTA4 has already been pirated by like 20,000+ people but it's still going to sell like hotcakes. It's all about profit. Why develop for a relatively niche market when you can make more money from mainstream consumers? It used to be that devs just wanted to make good games but now it's more about the money than anything else.

To Crytek, I ask this: Was Crysis profitable enough for you to work on your next project? If so, the only reason you are switching to consoles is greed.

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70.
 
Re: No subject
Apr 30, 2008, 12:01
70.
Re: No subject Apr 30, 2008, 12:01
Apr 30, 2008, 12:01
 
Oh, thats easy. Declining PC revenue, PC games sales, PC game developers etc. And thats just for starters.

Gimme a break.
No you give us a break you have done nothing but use generalizations, just like this. As if these have no other possible explanation.
Scorpio Slasher: ... What about you boy, what do hate?
Marcus: ... Bullies. Tiny d*ck egotists who hurt people for no reason, make people lock their doors at night. People who make general existence worse, people like you.
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69.
 
Re: No subject
Apr 30, 2008, 11:59
69.
Re: No subject Apr 30, 2008, 11:59
Apr 30, 2008, 11:59
 
Oh, thats easy. Declining PC revenue, PC games sales, PC game developers etc. And thats just for starters.

*sigh* That's not a proof. Everything (!!!) is being "pirated". Last i heard from Hollywood, they have been making another highly successful and profitable year.

68.
 
Re: No subject
Apr 30, 2008, 11:59
68.
Re: No subject Apr 30, 2008, 11:59
Apr 30, 2008, 11:59
 
"The sims is targeted towards a casual audience that normally don't play games"

People that don't play games, don't play games. They don't play some games, or one game, they simply don't partake in the medium; they are people like my parents, who just, "don't see the point."
Now, if there are a large number of people out there that are not averse to playing games but don't often do so (all those mothers of friends that are around), it would make sense to make a game for them. They're not very likely to own a console, since as we already stated, they do not very often play games. But everyone owns a computer! So right there you've got the widest possible market for any game, and that's not by going onto consoles, even the handheld ones, that's simply by not discriminating against a huge potential market by having ridiculous system requirements, and not going for the 13-year old male mentality by throwing together aliens, special forces soldiers and guns. We can call 'The Sims' a 'casual' game if we like, but it's far more original than Crysis and far more compelling to a wider audience. So was Myst in its day, and so is the Wii now. Even GTA4 is trying to offer something to more people with the depth and breadth of gameplay on offer.
Piracy is not even worth mentioning when there's such an obvious fallacy in the design of a game that leads it to appeal to a very limited number of people, most of whom aren't on the platform they're developing for. They can go to consoles, they'll get a few more sales, but they'll lose the opportunity to have something far greater if they continue to make those types of games.

67.
 
Re: I CALL BS
Apr 30, 2008, 11:59
67.
Re: I CALL BS Apr 30, 2008, 11:59
Apr 30, 2008, 11:59
 
Ask yourself why this number has been decreasing?
Your joking right? Your using propaganda to justify your assertion.
Clearly PC only developers are leaving becasue publisher funding has been reduced due to m$ strong arm tactics to force PC developers to console exclusives. You can't possibly not know this. How ironic you mention we are using weak arguments.
Scorpio Slasher: ... What about you boy, what do hate?
Marcus: ... Bullies. Tiny d*ck egotists who hurt people for no reason, make people lock their doors at night. People who make general existence worse, people like you.
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66.
 
Re: Hardcore and piracy
Apr 30, 2008, 11:58
66.
Re: Hardcore and piracy Apr 30, 2008, 11:58
Apr 30, 2008, 11:58
 
The Orange Box is a great example. I don't recall Gabe ever whining about piracy and using it as a lame excuse.

OK, considering that nigh unbreakable DRM that is Steam, how can anyone take that statement seriously?
It's also important to note that the Orange Box was a multiplatform release. Even if there were a lot of piracy of the PC version, why would Gabe care? He would still have tons of profit from the console versions.

65.
 
Re: Hardcore and piracy
Apr 30, 2008, 11:57
65.
Re: Hardcore and piracy Apr 30, 2008, 11:57
Apr 30, 2008, 11:57
 
OK, considering that nigh unbreakable DRM that is Steam, how can anyone take that statement seriously?

Dear Mr. Smart, "The Orange Box", every Steam Exclusive is widely available on all common p2p protocols. Cracked and stripped from any STEAM necessity. No one can take YOUR statements seriuosly, because you are lacking knowledge on this special subject.

64.
 
Re: Yea Right!
Apr 30, 2008, 11:57
64.
Re: Yea Right! Apr 30, 2008, 11:57
Apr 30, 2008, 11:57
 
Seriously, who can ignore the fact that piracy is real, it exists and is the #1 threat to PC gaming?

Is that why GTA sold......MILLIONS of copies on the PC?

Piracy will never hurt the huge blockbusters like Blizzard or Rockstar.

But it will hurt the PC gaming scene as a whole. More and more middle of the line developers, who's games will sell just well enough to turn a profit but will view piracy as potentially cutting off that profit margin and turn it into a loss. Businesses just won't take that sort of risk, and the consequence is the dilution of PC gaming in general as more and more games are designed to be console friendly.

Stardock has a bit of an advantage because 4x games, and RT 4x in particular, are pretty much a niche of pc gaming.

63.
 
Re: No subject
Apr 30, 2008, 11:55
63.
Re: No subject Apr 30, 2008, 11:55
Apr 30, 2008, 11:55
 
@ Kajetan

Anyone? A FUCKIN PROOF?

Oh, thats easy. Declining PC revenue, PC games sales, PC game developers etc. And thats just for starters.

Gimme a break.

Game developers are just human beings who happen to make games for a living. If you want to hold us up to higher standards of conduct, then go ahead
...but don't be surprised if we don't uphold them
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62.
 
Re: Hello, my name is:
Apr 30, 2008, 11:55
62.
Re: Hello, my name is: Apr 30, 2008, 11:55
Apr 30, 2008, 11:55
 
Why does anybody get surprised when businesses make good business decisions?

I think the problem stems from the lowest common denominator and greed.

The industry isn't happy with making great games with a great experience with a happy audience that is loyal. They are concerned about the all mighty dollar. Which I can't fault them for, it is business. American was built on this concept.

But, look at other industries and you see specialization. There are car makers that ONLY make 60k+ cars. I call this the PC market.
Then there are car makers that make 10k cars. I call this the console market.

One market is for the masses (sheep) and one is for those who are interested in quality and a great experience.

It is this concept and simplified example that will drive independents. Although I am not a fan of dsmart - he has been 'successful' as an 'independent' organization. PC roots are basement programmers. There are small shops popping up that are trying to get back to this, and with the big boys going to console (lowest common denominator - program for a far less capable system) I look forward to great small companies creating GREAT games.

The Witcher anyone?

The next console generation will seal the deal. Mark my words.

Smart - you are better than that....PC gaming is ebbs and flows. We will all benefit from a dry period. 90% of the PC games are crap anyway, so who cares if 90% of them go away?

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This comment was edited on Apr 30, 11:57.
61.
 
Piracy to blame? Prove it.
Apr 30, 2008, 11:54
61.
Piracy to blame? Prove it. Apr 30, 2008, 11:54
Apr 30, 2008, 11:54
 
I want to see some real statistics that prove this because I think it's mostly if not completely bogus.

Reasons:
1) Not everyone who pirates game X would have actually bought game X. Elimination of piracy != increased profit.
2) Sims? World of Warcraft? WoW has 9 million subscribers all paying $15/month.
3) How many PC's are in the market that meet the system requirements to play any 3D game let alone Crysis? How many of those PC's are being used exclusively to play World of Warcaft?

The problem is the gaming PC market. It's probably a lot smaller than the console market. Integrated graphics chipsets from the likes of Intel, just plain suck compared to the likes of NVIDIA and ATI. Yet, the major PC makers like DELL offer Intel integrated graphics on the base models of almost all of their PC's.

As much as I hate to say having been a computer gamer for over 20 years, the PC gaming platform is really in danger of disappearing altogether. The console business plan has several benefits. One of them is that all consoles are pretty much sold at a loss. The money is made back in licensing fees for games to be made on their platform. The PC gaming market doesn't have this luxury. The consumer has to absorb the high cost of a decent gaming rig AND high cost of games. To a parent of a child, it's a no brainer, console or gaming PC. They'll choose console everytime.

I think piracy may be a factor but not as significant as any of the factors I mentioned above. The problem is primarily with the PC gaming market. It needs to be reshaped.

60.
 
Re: Hardcore and piracy
Apr 30, 2008, 11:53
60.
Re: Hardcore and piracy Apr 30, 2008, 11:53
Apr 30, 2008, 11:53
 
@ D-Rock

The Orange Box is a great example. I don't recall Gabe ever whining about piracy and using it as a lame excuse.

OK, considering that nigh unbreakable DRM that is Steam, how can anyone take that statement seriously?


Game developers are just human beings who happen to make games for a living. If you want to hold us up to higher standards of conduct, then go ahead
...but don't be surprised if we don't uphold them
Avatar 9141
59.
 
No subject
Apr 30, 2008, 11:52
59.
No subject Apr 30, 2008, 11:52
Apr 30, 2008, 11:52
 
Make the same shit game for the Xbox 360 or PS3 and no one is going to buy it there either.


58.
 
Hardcore and piracy
Apr 30, 2008, 11:51
58.
Hardcore and piracy Apr 30, 2008, 11:51
Apr 30, 2008, 11:51
 
hardcore players pirate as much as they can, and crysis is a game for hardcore players

so obviously it is going to lose a lot of sales because its #1 audience are the #1 pirates

I have to disagree on this. Being a "hardcore" gamer does not necessarily imply that you pirate games. Being a hardcore pirate does. Consider the hardcore pirates as sales you never had, as it's highly likely that they would not have spent money on the game in the first place.

A hardcore gamer wants the CD, manual, collector's edition box, etc. People who just hoard software could care less. The term "hardcore" already indicates a small percentage of all gamers, and as recent business models show, the hardcore gamers should be the least of a game developer's worries.

D-Rock

This comment was edited on Apr 30, 11:52.
57.
 
Re: No subject
Apr 30, 2008, 11:51
57.
Re: No subject Apr 30, 2008, 11:51
Apr 30, 2008, 11:51
 
@skorpion67

Excellent and eloquent post. Hits it right on the head.

All I can add is that eventually all that will be left of PC gaming will, in fact be either

(1) bad console ports

or

(2) terrible PC exclusive games.

At which point, all the best gaming will be on the consoles. The upside? All those thieving bastards will be stuck with either playing the crappy pirated games or buy themselves a console.

Of course, you will still have less than stellar (OK, crappy) games coming out of International regions (e.g. Russia) but over there, given the bar, a gamer's take on what is excellent, is probably what we here tend to look on as being crappy. It happens with material things such as cars, homes, movies etc so I don't see how gaming will be different.

I for one predict that by the time the next console gen comes around, PC gaming would have all but become an afterthought. As I said before, since all console game dev occurs on the PC, releasing a PC game derived from a console game is a no-brainer because if you don't expect to make $10 and you make $5, you're still ahead of the game. The PC will be a throw away loss leader; and its well on its way to being just that. The next console generation will seal the deal. Mark my words.
This comment was edited on Apr 30, 11:53.
Game developers are just human beings who happen to make games for a living. If you want to hold us up to higher standards of conduct, then go ahead
...but don't be surprised if we don't uphold them
Avatar 9141
56.
 
No subject
Apr 30, 2008, 11:50
56.
No subject Apr 30, 2008, 11:50
Apr 30, 2008, 11:50
 

Hey dont forget if you want to see the real eye candy its Vista only.

55.
 
Re: No subject
Apr 30, 2008, 11:50
55.
Re: No subject Apr 30, 2008, 11:50
Apr 30, 2008, 11:50
 
Sure piracy hurt sales ...

Please, PLEASE! Can someone give a f... proof for that assumption? Any proof? Hard evidence? Not just another blogpost with some other assumption? Hard evidence, gathered with scientific methods and proper analysed, so that we can FINALLY end this stupid discussion?

Anyone? A FUCKIN PROOF?

54.
 
Re: I CALL BS
Apr 30, 2008, 11:49
54.
Re: I CALL BS Apr 30, 2008, 11:49
Apr 30, 2008, 11:49
 
"I wouldn’t have bought the game anyways!" This is utter BS.

So true. People begin to feel this way because they've grown used to getting games for free. They only pay for the best games, and decent games that used to get their money now seems like rip-offs. I've know plenty of people who have sizable console collections with quite a few shitty games who won't spend a cent on pc games.

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