I have been watching the trends of the big names in games and seeing the new trends appearing . Lets take Activision for example lets take the new and up coming title MW2 every advert/sneak peek/ interview is about the xbox 360/ps3 version. There has been blank all mention about pc like we don't exist at this point.

Now It is probably due to the fact that they have not finished the SKU for the pc version yet but I noticed the change on their last release CODwaw almost no support for pc we got the patches at least a month/2 months behind all the consoles .

We are not given a map pack unless a big company sponsors it , So it felt like they have given up on pc before they started.

Now another big company in fact the one who started the next gen games CRYTEK have now said they will be moving into the console games , Which leaves to options in my head 1. They will build games for consoles then texture for pc or 2. They will split the team on both which leaves a game with less effort in it.

So what do you think Could this be the end of PC gaming or will we see some new unknown developers come into the market ?

As much as a number of PC gamers are looking at it and thinking the same thing, they may not like to admit it but the future of PC gaming doesn't seem to be in the hands of the FPS genre anymore.
I begun as a gamer on the Sega Megadrive, then I moved to the PS1 and then I found the joys of PC gaming. I've considered myself a through and through PC gamer for a considerable amount of time now and it's not simply for the improved controls for specific genre's (albeit my 2nd favorite genre is vastly suprior on the PC, RTS).

But enough of the boring backstory. PC gaming is taking it's hit when it comes to FPS games; however, the PC is still winning when it comes to RTS, Western RPG's (let's face it, fast paced action mixed with quick and easy access to an inventory system = PC) and it still is the king of FPS land.
Consoles, to me, will always be the major function for certain games though. Japanese RPG's, for example, more often than not work horribly on PC's - I dont know why, but it's just always been the case. Racing games, although they do work on the PC well, seem to be good on the consoles with titles such as Gran Turismo.


The crux of what i'm trying to say is, no. PC gaming is not, and never will be dead. The reason being PC gaming has more longetivity than consoles, the modding community on the PC adds years onto the life span and playability of a game and PC gaming is where the real talent still shines though.
Plus backwards compatibility is easilly worked around with older games

Halbarad,

Very interesting post.
I've been thru this type of crisis before...when i used to play Flight Sims.
We all thought that PC gaming was dead when those games went down the toilet and Flight Sim devs all went broke.
...then FPS games hit and PC gaming was back in business.

So yours might be very insightful thinking.

I think the issue of this is that, and I don't enjoy making bad comments about a community I consider myself a large part of, the PC community as a whole is being rather short minded and, to be blunt, stupid about this now. No matter where I've looked; Here, Kotaku, IGN, Gamespot, and many more - there's the whole "PC gaming is dead" statements being thrown around.
I always try my best to be a voice of sanity amongst other people shouting around on a whim even though I personally get carried away.

The thing is, and I know of the Flight Sim issue third hand, from reading; but as you've said the FPS genre hit full force. Now, as it stands we have the RTS genre where, and no matter how much console users try to deny this around on other forums, the PC will always have the advantage due to Functionality. I mentioned the western RPG genre also, look at games like Oblivion, Risen, Fallout and many more in that genre - they all play better on the PC, the only exception from personal experience being Mass Effect due to it being a simple port of the 360 version.

We cant forget the dominance of the MMO on the PC as well. Plus there's the fact that, as far as I'm aware and my history of gaming in the past number of years; all new startup developers begin on the PC unless commanded by a higher power to start with consoles.
It's something I would have loved to say on a public level to actually get the PC community in the right mind. If we want to make a good show and give people the right opinion of us we cant have people going around threatening violence, thousands openly saying it's going to be a pirate copy they obtain and we cannot have people keep going on about how the, more than likely, loss of a singular game to be the death of a whole system.

PC gaming hasnt died, just CoD has, well, thats until Treyarch release there next one Long live the mighty Treyarch <3

My opinion is this,pc gaming is the most stable platform of all,compared to consoles.
Given the fact that nearly every household has a pc,and pcs can always be upgraded and renewed if needs be,whereas consoles on the other hand only have a limited shelf life before they have to go back to the drawing board and create a new system.

The gaming community could do with more demos of games in my opinion,which could cut down piracy,as most people including myself like to try the game before hand before parting with some hard earned wonga.I think money needs to be spent on developing anti cheat systems that work,not by limiting games to the end user,this is not the way forward.

So to round things off pc gaming hasn't died it's just changing because of money.
Software developers are getting greedy,and selling out to bigger companies.

Easier to make a game when you know that it will run on everyone's hardware. PC wise, it must be tested thoroughly.

I'd have to disagree to a certain extent. As the person above me has said, PC gaming is more demanding on a developer due to the freedom while developing for a console has set standards. However, we all know that there is a top end in PC gaming, it's the highest level of Graphics, RAM, CPU, etc, etc. The problem is if the developer hit this high for the game then they would be catering to maybe 1 to 2% of PC owners.

That's the issue with you saying that most households have a PC. While this is relatively true that a PC is a common feature in the house now, a PC suited for modern gaming is not. The issue is that to get a gaming PC, one that really does hit the specs for the good+ quality settings does cost a reasonable sum to buy; that's one of the reasons consoles really took off in the first place (plus the ease of put in and play, though that is slowly draining out of the console market as well; PS3 for example).
Consoles do have a shelf life, but it's not to say PC's don't. PC's generally have a shorter shelf life than consoles, if you're attempting to keep with the curve that is. I would estimate that almost every relevant part of a PC would be upgraded within a two to three year period; while consoles are generally having shelf lives of around 5 years; the new predictions for the 360 and PS3 being 7/8 years of shelf life.

I do have to agree there. Demo's would cut down piracy at least a little. Anti-Cheat systems are alright, but the problem is, it's a constant battle. A patch comes out for Punkbuster/VAC/whatever, then some players make a work around for that, then another patch, workaround. It's a never ending battle sadly because there always will be people out there who like having unfair advantages.

PC gaming will never die as I've said; if not due to it's superiority in certain fields but for the fact that the indie's and majority of startup companies work on the PC.
It's not really a case of selling out to companies though. This issue has stemmed from IW's removal of dedicated servers and the general lack of interest they show to the PC community. This shouldn't really come as a big suprise to people though.

Look at the sales figures of Modern Warfare. It sold 7.8 million copies on the 360, 4.7 million on the PS3 and around 1.5 to 2 million copies on the PC (digital copies make it an uncertain number). Then they did say "60% of the people playing MW online on the PC are using pirate copies" - I don't completly believe this figure, but I will guess that the number is considerably high.
I don't agree with the move IW made, not in the slightest. However, I do understand it - they deny it but IWNet is a anti-piracy move through and through, and they are also a business who wants to look good in their first week. All the statements saying "MW2 will be the biggest launch of anything ever blah blah blah" need to come true for them, or they lose a lot of face and if it means the PC version is a simple port of the 360 version to gain the few extra sales they gain, it's something they are willing to do.

Crytek moving to console development shouldn't suprise anybody as well. It's a big shame, but aside from the RTS and MMO genres, the console is an overwhelmingly larger market than the PC. Dev's/Pub's are businesses, they want to make what they can and I don't previous PC exclusive dev's moving to console as well, it means they gain more money to fund later projects which will hopefully be good!

I was talking to a friend who works one of the big game publishers(I'm not going to say which,he has a wife and a morgage to pay)while staying round his house in the States.This was a while ago.

We got onto the outlook for gaming,we both found we had a love for gaming when we worked at Honeywell.

To be honest he layed all this out to me all thouse months ago.I thought he was blank*ting me.

Turns out he was SO right.The marginalization of the PC as a original platform and reining in of it in the market place.

The destruction of the "Communitys" that voice and create "problems" replace them with small handable groups that don't highlight shortcomings and effect sales.

The elimination of Free User made content so that Chargable Downloadable Content wll be more attractive,with no competion or standards to be held up against.

The streamlining of development by the wider adoption of Console ports,and the savings made by not developing a full adapted PC version.Take the console experience as a baseline(lowest common denomnated gaming experience,as he called it) and apply that to any roadmap in the development of any PC game.

Control OF any online game or franchise so that it can only be used throu Publisher owned inferstructure.This facilitates the maxium use of that "portal".Information and data is then used to proactively sell content to the said user on a personal basis while eleminating ANY possible use of external content(mods maps)not of CDC thou "Uncontrolable sources",IE Stand Alone Severs.

This is the equivalent George Orwells "1984" by Big Video gaming Publishers,,,this game is its biggest vanguard.
If we don't make some sort of stand by not buying it,this is the begining of the end.

SO whats the future of PC Gaming it this is deemed a success ?

"Imagine a Boot (worn by a Big Game Publisher)Stamping Repeatably into the face of a PC User!"while he repeats

. ..................................................... "Buy what I GIVE U..NOT what you want!"

Its very much a david and goliath situation.