PC game piracy is a serious problem and it - not DRM - is the single factor that is going to KILL PC gaming. The end result is that all the good games are going to be on the consoles. While the PC ports (assuming they even get done) are relegated to residual income status; much like DVD movie sales and rentals.

Fucking pirates.

PC gaming is NOT going to die out. It's a free platform to develop for and there are consumers willing to buy. What we're seeing right now is an attempt by the big game publishers to try and force PC gamers to buy software designed for consoles.

Yes, all games are designed on the PC, but most are designed with a console in mind. The software is simply not worth as much to PC gamers as it is to console gamers.

There are going to be many games that stop having PC editions and this isn't a bad thing. Flooding the market with console games in a PC box is hurting the pc gaming market. Instead of PC gamers spending money on games that are overpriced on that platform, they will have more games that actually use all the advantages of the PC platform.

Piracy is going to be the savior for PC gaming. It's going to send all these console game making hacks out of the PC gaming market and free up space on the shelves for titles that target that platform.

Piracy is only a problem if you design a game that doesn't have major online components. So make online features a major factor in your game. Offer content that is only available in online features. I think games like Guild Wars are a great example, I'm sure that people pirated that game but I'll bet their sales were fantastic because being able to play online with others in that game is something people want.

If you don't make owning a legit copy of the game a reward then people aren't going to buy your game when they can pirate it.

And they can. They always can and always will be able to. I don't think you (devs) want to accept that. As hard as you fight against it, you're only making the problem worse. Your outnumbered and out matched. You can either stop making games or adapt and offer content that people will be more willing to pay for.

I'd say the MMO style game is a good adaptation, TF2 that has most of it's cotent and entertainment value in it's online gameplay (if not all) is a good adeptation, DoW2 looks to have a good feature that will make people want to have legit copies (playing online against others). Ignoring these choices and trying to put huge locks on your game in hopes that people can't pirate is failing. Failing is spectacular fashion.

If you want to make money in the PC gaming market, adapt. If not you can go 100% console. It's your choice, but please stop asking PC gamers to help you sell your crap.

Because that is all I'm seeing. PC game companies expect to bully us into paying too much for games that should only be on consoles. Many gamers do want to play console games on their PC's, but a 50% price cut on the product is needed. It's ridiculous that you'd try and charge $50 for a console game on a pc.