More id on PC Gaming [Mar 20, 2008, 08:33 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
GamesIndustry.biz has more quotes on the state of PC gaming, this time from
Steve Nix, id Software Director of Business Development. Nix feels some of the
hardcore PC gaming audience is shifting to consoles, something id cannot
ignore:
"There are plenty of people who are diehard mouse and keyboard guys that may never go to console, and also right now, if you have the highest of high-end PCs, you're generally going to get a better visual experience," Nix said. "There's no console out there that's as powerful as a God machine right now, with a Quad-Core and a GeForce 8800 - it's very hard for any console to compete with that."
"So you still have PC players, and some players are just console guys, but have players moved over? Absolutely. We love PC gaming, and we continue to support PC gaming - but you can't ignore the market realities and the size of the console market these days."
id have not released a NEW title straight to digital distribution as well as retail, so they do not have those statistics to compare.First, yes, id has. id contributed to Quake Wars Enemy Territory, and that game was offered on several digital distribution and subscription services including Steam at about the same time as its retail release. So, id is no doubt aware of that title's overall sales. Second, I wasn't referring specifically to id with the statement you quoted, but to all of the companies whose representatives have made the same claim of declining PC sales versus their console titles.
WTF, where has anyone included digital distribution and subscription sales in sales numbers? They haven't so as per usual Riley you are talking out of your ass.As usual you are talking out of your ass because you don't understand a damn thing that you read. These game developers' and publishers' comments are based upon their own internal sales reports and those do include their digitial distribution and subscription sales figures. Just because you or the general public aren't privy to them doesn't mean that they, themselves, aren't.
It's been stated by several major developers/publishers that these numbers do not exist.Again you are confused. Sure industry-wide figures don't exist because these companies aren't pooling and sharing their data. But, even you should realize that each company knows its own sales figures and could certainly pool and share those figures if they chose to do so.
It has also been stated by several developers/publishers that PC sales are better than they have ever been, specifically due digital distro and subscription.That is simply not true for many game genres where console sales are cannibalizing PC sales.
And for Cross-Platform games that do get released at the same time across multiple platforms...generally the PC port is crapWhy the PC port's sales lag isn't the issue. As I mentioned below there are many factors and yes, it's not just consumer-driven preference. Developers and publishers are partly to blame.
Now if you want to talk about exclusive titles...that's a completely different ballgame, and PC titles still sell very well...if they are good games.Since you brought up the subject, no, not all PC exlusive titles sell well, even good ones. Game quality isn't always indicative of good sales and never has been. Sure, it can play a big factor in financial success, but right now the biggest obstacle for any new game on the market is simply the overabundance of competition. Given current game development costs and sales practices the market can't financially support most of the games released into it. There just aren't enough consumers willing to spend $50 on most of these games to make them profitable. And, now that console life cycles are getting longer (consumers are even still buying PS2 games), older titles are also taking dollars from new releases. Something has to give, and that is why there have been these public rants at the state of the market by developers and publishers of unsuccessful games.
This comment was edited on Mar 20, 20:39.
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