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PC gaming is doing fine, despite of recession
Precusor
Member UncommonPosts: 3,589
Some great news.
The total PC Gaming Hardware market is forecasted to drop $1.4 billion (-7%) in 2009 versus 2008 (from $20.07 to $18.65 billion.). The decline is due to reduced sales because of the recession, and lower prices on PCs and components (also due to the recession and competitive pressures.) But, in such an environment, PC gaming systems seem to have suffered the least discounting which illustrates the value consumers place on such systems.
Furthermore, in 2009 the PC Gaming Hardware Market, approaching $19 billion, is forecasted to eclipse the hardware market for all gaming consoles combined by almost $2 billion. (Console costs include the console, a certain amount of accessories, and a factor for the cost of an HDTV to display the games on.)
games.ign.com/articles/986/986869p1.html
Comments
What I always love about this is huge amount of spin they add to these articles, Valve is really good at this too.
ofcourse, "PC gaming hardware market" is a fancy term for computer, which includes everything hardware related even for computers that aren't used for gaming, like say, most of them.
That's good to hear, but it'd be infinitely better if PC Gaming had something to stand on other than Sims 2 and World of Warcraft.
From the OP link
JPR updates the data in the PC Gaming Report every quarter to compensate for changing economic conditions, GPU and PC shipments, and the information in this release reflects our latest results.
The report shows the expected shipments in three classes: Enthusiast, Performance, and Mainstream for both desktop and the newly emerging notebook category. It shows the distribution of branded sales (HP, Alienware, etc), non branded ("White box"), aftermarket component sales and DIY sales, as well as peripheral sales of gaming components.
This is the most comprehensive report on the PC gaming hardware market ever produced and took almost five years to bring it to life. Individual segments can be purchased separately for $5,000 and the whole set is available for $12,000 which includes a bonus total market summary report.
Maybe you should upgrade your 2002 DELL PC and get some new games.
Maybe you should upgrade your 2002 DELL PC and get some new games.
Quite the knee-jerk reaction there buddy. I'm a fan of PC gaming or I wouldn't be on these boards. It is a sad fact that only one or two brands from Blizzard and Activision actually sell on PC, and thus drive the market.
So I repeat, it'd be infinitely better if PC Gaming had something to stand on other than Sims 2 and World of Warcraft. Don't you agree?
Youre PC gaming fan? you sound like a typical ignorant console gamer if you think those are the only companies that drives the market.
Youre PC gaming fan? you sound like a typical ignorant console gamer if you think those are the only companies that drives the market.
What else am I supposed to take from the Sims 2, World of Warcraft, Diablo and Spore permanently occupy the top of the charts?
It seems pretty evident to me that those games and their two publishers are driving the PC gaming software market. Pretty obvious considering feats like Sims 2 breaking 100 million in sales last year. It's a good thing, but it's also a sad thing.
PC gaming could use the variety and frequency of high-profile releases that consoles enjoy.
Heres a tip.. Ignore NPD's list cause they only count retail box sales..
And what sense would it make to ignore retail box sales? Now that'd be something ignorant of me to do.
The Steam and Direct2Drive charts are similarly populated with old games and console ports; not that they should at all be held anywhere close to the relevancy of NPD charting.
What ten games are you playing on PC the most right now?
I remeber the days when ALL games were PC games. Now the fewest are. It kinda sucks getting an awesome rig (well that doesnt suck too much
) and not being able to play anything else except crysis farcry 2 and fallout 3.
Im happy with my 280 gtx xD got it today.
Are you serious? I enjoyed Blizzard games, but everything Bioware, Crytek, Relic, Valve, id Software make nowadays for the PC is superior to Blizz (I probably forgot more developers) in terms of sheer originality and quality. Sorry, but I'm tired of a recycled Diablo 2 carrot-on-a-stick mechanic.
On topic, I'm not sure how hardware selling reflects about how PC gaming is doing accurately. You know, you don't need new rig each year in order to play most games. In fact if you accept not playing under maximum settings, you can even play many, many games with a cheap old setup.
@ Xemos Yay! Grats mate.
Luckily it does in my opinion.
I've had a great year for PC games so far...
Men of War, (Faces of War, Soldiers Heroes of WW2. Excellent brand, excellent new title.
Company of Heroes: Tales of valor. Third expansion pack to an awesome RTS series from Relic who also made a sequel to their WarHammer 40K game (which also had 3 expansions).
Codename Panzers Cold War, again third in a successful/enjoyable series.
Empire Total War. (Latest in a series of 7 Total War titles).
Armed Assault 2 (Previously Armed Assault and Operation Flashoint)
DCS Blackshark (Latest simulator from the Lock-On Series).
Microsoft Flight Sim. There must be at least 30 releases in this brand. There's one every month.
And America's Army 2 due out for free!
Red Orchestra 2 due out also.
Outstanding!
It's been a great year so far.
Luckily it does in my opinion.
I've had a great year for PC games so far...
Men of War, (Faces of War, Soldiers Heroes of WW2. Excellent brand, excellent new title.
Company of Heroes: Tales of valor. Third expansion pack to an awesome RTS series from Relic who also made a sequel to their WarHammer 40K game (which also had 3 expansions).
Codename Panzers Cold War, again third in a successful/enjoyable series.
Empire Total War. (Latest in a series of 7 Total War titles).
Armed Assault 2 (Previously Armed Assault and Operation Flashoint)
DCS Blackshark (Latest simulator from the Lock-On Series).
Microsoft Flight Sim. There must be at least 30 releases in this brand. There's one every month.
And America's Army 2 due out for free!
Red Orchestra 2 due out also.
Outstanding!
It's been a great year so far.
And awesome if you enjoy it, but again, frequency and variety; another flight simulator, another total war, and a new crop of WWII/Other Iconic War games.
Not to disparage 'em as I'm sure they all have their own merits, but I imagine such trends attribute to the reason games like Sims 2 and World of Warcraft are only selling.
And what sense would it make to ignore retail box sales? Now that'd be something ignorant of me to do.
The Steam and Direct2Drive charts are similarly populated with old games and console ports; not that they should at all be held anywhere close to the relevancy of NPD charting.
What ten games are you playing on PC the most right now?
Old games and console ports? Most of my games on my PC right now I got from steam.
HL2 and all mods (L4D, TF2, CS:S, Portal)
GTAIV - Console port
Fallout 3
Warhammer Online
Empire: Total War
How are those old games? A lot of those I got on release day.
Hell EA is on Steam. So spore is avaliable.
I haven't bought a boxed copy of a game in a long time. 95% of my games come from Digital Download. Boxes take up space. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who feels this way.
The Official God FAQ
And what sense would it make to ignore retail box sales? Now that'd be something ignorant of me to do.
The Steam and Direct2Drive charts are similarly populated with old games and console ports; not that they should at all be held anywhere close to the relevancy of NPD charting.
What ten games are you playing on PC the most right now?
Old games and console ports? Most of my games on my PC right now I got from steam.
HL2 and all mods (L4D, TF2, CS:S, Portal)
GTAIV - Console port
Fallout 3
Warhammer Online
Empire: Total War
How are those old games? A lot of those I got on release day.
Hell EA is on Steam. So spore is avaliable.
I haven't bought a boxed copy of a game in a long time. 95% of my games come from Digital Download. Boxes take up space. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Well there you go, Half-Life 2 was a number of years ago, Orange Box was 2007.
Grand Theft Auto IV was a port and like Mass Effect took awhile to arrive.
Fallout III like Grand Theft Auto IV are disadvantaged on PCs when it comes to a buying decision by perks given to consoles; mainly 360's downloadable content (though the Fallout III stuff is coming to PCs now finally, I think. Still delayed content.)
Warhammer and Empire? Awesome. I'm not going to call Warhammer a 'clone' of anything which is typical here, but I will hold it against my variety and frequency claim along with Empire.
Let's take all of those games though and put 'em on the top of the NPD charts for PC. Does that paint that much of a healthier picture for PC gaming than Sims 2 and World of Warcraft? It'd be a less stagnant picture for sure, but they're all still mostly things already available on consoles except without the perks, sold more on consoles and yet were still long since pushed off the charts by newer games.
Furthermore, these games tend to be the hallmark of PC gaming and are merely run of the mill for consoles amidst a plethora of releases. Everytime a game on PC releases; its usually displaced by the same old games that've been selling forever.
You could argue that games like World of Warcraft and Sims 2 are just utterly popular, easy to do given Sims 2 sold over 100 million copies and World of Warcraft has 10 million + subscribers; but we actually get the numbers and see some PC games top the lists for maybe their first week and simply plummet.
My argument is variety and frequency, since I don't believe good games don't come as varied or frequent to PCs as they do to consoles.
All and all, that's my explanation for the stagnant state of affairs. If anyone doesn't believe PC gaming hasn't been, and isn't now stagnating, and has no issues whatsoever picking up a new game every other week and enjoy themselves, then more power to you.
For those like me though that have more trouble populating their PC catalog with more variety and as frequently as they do their console collection, and often pick the console version of things due to the guarantee of 'em working and the online perks, well then you'd understand my perspective and wish more would be done to invigorate PC gaming.
lolwut
The Fallout 3 DLC game out on 360 and the PC at the same time. Even if it was delayed conent, the PC version's modability, as well as the choice to play with either a keyboard and mouse or a 360 controller, if you wanted, would still make it ten times better than the console version. Seriously, if your PC can run it, there really is no reason to choose the 360 version over the PC version.
lolwut
The Fallout 3 DLC game out on 360 and the PC at the same time. Even if it was delayed conent, the PC version's modability, as well as the choice to play with either a keyboard and mouse or a 360 controller, if you wanted, would still make it ten times better than the console version. Seriously, if your PC can run it, there really is no reason to choose the 360 version over the PC version.
Well, more specifically the DLC was released exclusive Live on both 360 and Games for Windows at the same time. If you use Games for Windows Live like me and I assume yourself, then correct you got it at the same time, otherwise the retail packs are only just now coming.
That does distinguish it from GTAIV though; which has exclusive Live content that's for the 360 only. It emphasizes how much Games for Windows Live needs to become a platform in its own right as synonymous with PC gaming as Xbox Live is with the 360.
And fair argument when it comes to Fallout III alone; but its only part of the picture, and Bethesda is only one of few companies that produces content parallel between consoles and PC. Ultimately their way of doing things should be the future, but right now they're an exception.
lolwut
The Fallout 3 DLC game out on 360 and the PC at the same time. Even if it was delayed conent, the PC version's modability, as well as the choice to play with either a keyboard and mouse or a 360 controller, if you wanted, would still make it ten times better than the console version. Seriously, if your PC can run it, there really is no reason to choose the 360 version over the PC version.
Yes there is.
If you play Fallout 3 on the Xbox360, it just works. Also, Fallout 3 is a big game which you will probably put a lot of time in. Playing it from the comfort of your living room on a nice big couch while looking at a big widescreen TV is a lot more comfortable then a desk.
You can do that with the PC.
lolwut
The Fallout 3 DLC game out on 360 and the PC at the same time. Even if it was delayed conent, the PC version's modability, as well as the choice to play with either a keyboard and mouse or a 360 controller, if you wanted, would still make it ten times better than the console version. Seriously, if your PC can run it, there really is no reason to choose the 360 version over the PC version.
Yes there is.
If you play Fallout 3 on the Xbox360, it just works. Also, Fallout 3 is a big game which you will probably put a lot of time in. Playing it from the comfort of your living room on a nice big couch while looking at a big widescreen TV is a lot more comfortable then a desk.
It "just works" on the PC too.
Eh. My computer chair is pretty comfortable. Even so, you know you can hook your PC up to your TV, right?
lolwut
The Fallout 3 DLC game out on 360 and the PC at the same time. Even if it was delayed conent, the PC version's modability, as well as the choice to play with either a keyboard and mouse or a 360 controller, if you wanted, would still make it ten times better than the console version. Seriously, if your PC can run it, there really is no reason to choose the 360 version over the PC version.
Yes there is.
If you play Fallout 3 on the Xbox360, it just works. Also, Fallout 3 is a big game which you will probably put a lot of time in. Playing it from the comfort of your living room on a nice big couch while looking at a big widescreen TV is a lot more comfortable then a desk.
It "just works" on the PC too.
Eh. My computer chair is pretty comfortable. Even so, you know you can hook your PC up to your TV, right?
Yes, and I also know what a hassle it is to get it connected and get the same image quality and that the vast majority of pc gamers do not have it hooked up to their TV for obvious reasons.
No it doesn't "just work" on the PC in many cases.
http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showforum=35
Here is the difference.
That is great news! Considering that this is only the monetary value of the hardware that is being considered it's even better news! Also considering that the average "Gaming PC" costs about twice as much as the average console (Even given the extra cost of a HDTV) it's wonderful news indeed! This means that at $2 billion less than the PC hardware market the console market is out selling them unit wise by about 2 to 1! This is indeed great news... for the console industry! LOL
Bren
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You say PC market is stagnant and yet you point at WoW as the holy grail of originality reflected by the subscriptions amount? Irony at its best, mate.
Maybe if the other games sucked so bad at sales, the companies behind them (some of them developing solely for the PC, like Relic Entertainment) would be shut down by now. You don't need 10 million subscribers for a successful MMORPG, and you also don't need to be the number one seller for financial success.
I agree with the argument of way more games coming for the consoles though.
You say PC market is stagnant and yet you point at WoW as the holy grail of originality reflected by the subscriptions amount? Irony at its best, mate.
Maybe if the other games sucked so bad at sales, the companies behind them (some of them developing solely for the PC, like Relic Entertainment) would be shut down by now. You don't need 10 million subscribers for a successful MMORPG, and you also don't need to be the number one seller for financial success.
I agree with the argument of way more games coming for the consoles though.
Where did I say World of Warcraft was the holy grail of originality? I said World of Warcraft and the Sims were utterly popular; which they are and for the reasons I gave.
And I think you missed the point of me mentioning the giant numbers that those two brands do; 100 million copies in 8 years across two Sims and all of their expansions means 8 years of probable impossibility when it comes anything else staying on the charts for long; except World of Warcraft which has expansions of its own and enormous success.
My point wasn't that the Sims and Warcraft numbers were necessary to achieve for a game to be considered a success, just that the Sims and Warcraft level of successes could and have easily masked any other successes.
It's similar to Nintendo products that often dominated by first-party titles. What happens though is that no matter how popular the actual hardware is, other developers tend to stop developing for it when the same few things dominate.
I believe that's why the 360 and PS3 are the most common grounds for a variety of developers and their biggest projects.
There's no shortage of developers currently.
Although if you don't like war games, RTS, WW2, MMO's and simulations, there is probably none for you.
Buy Wii, get that new skateboard device.
lolwut
The Fallout 3 DLC game out on 360 and the PC at the same time. Even if it was delayed conent, the PC version's modability, as well as the choice to play with either a keyboard and mouse or a 360 controller, if you wanted, would still make it ten times better than the console version. Seriously, if your PC can run it, there really is no reason to choose the 360 version over the PC version.
Yes there is.
If you play Fallout 3 on the Xbox360, it just works. Also, Fallout 3 is a big game which you will probably put a lot of time in. Playing it from the comfort of your living room on a nice big couch while looking at a big widescreen TV is a lot more comfortable then a desk.
It "just works" on the PC too.
Eh. My computer chair is pretty comfortable. Even so, you know you can hook your PC up to your TV, right?
Yes, and I also know what a hassle it is to get it connected and get the same image quality and that the vast majority of pc gamers do not have it hooked up to their TV for obvious reasons.
No it doesn't "just work" on the PC in many cases.
http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showforum=35
Here is the difference.
It "just worked for me".
Console ports just work on PC. Too low tech to phase anything.
In fact my whole computer "just works".
http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=481778
As for being a hassle to hook up your TV, you just run a cable mate. It's no more hassle than hooking up your X box or DVD player.
Everyone does it.