DCUO and FFXIV were the worst MMO UIs I've ever had to deal with and I blame it on being console ready.
If you want to make MMOs cross platform, cut a deal with omeone to make keyboards and mice for consoles.
Nah, you need to make different mechanics for both games instead of just porting them. Mechanic wise they should be like 2 different games, 1 for PC and one for sonsoles.
Just adding a mouse and keyboard to a console wont work, there is a reason some people play console games instead of PC games, making both games identical is a huge misstake (which BTW goes for all genres).
This will of course cost you more but the earning potential is a lot higher as well.
MMORPGs have been becoming more like console games over the past five years or so. It's all about the action these days. I don't think it's a very big leap at all.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
Perhaps i big company like Blizzard have the time, staff and money to develop a good, big MMO on the consoles. in my opinion, the pc will be the main for MMO in the future.. Only here u can play so many good mmo beside from World of Warcraft. Sandbox games like EVE and Perpetuum have only a chance on the pc.
Blizzard never been very good with consoles. It is kinda like giving a great violin player and electric guitarr and expect it will be as good without training in playing the guitarr.
I think MMOs will be large on consoles in the future but they wont be what we call MMOs. No holy triad, no global cooldown and similar features most MMOs have.
Console MMOs will have plenty of action. Check up Zombie labs if you want to have a look on the future of console MMOs.
Don't forget about DUST 514 being launched with the PS3, it'll be the biggest MMO probably to ever be released and the ONLY one of it's kind. An MMO part of a bigger picture MMO bringing PC users and console users together in a seamless universe. It's pretty exciting and it doesn't have a monthly sub. The unfortunate thing is, for some odd reason I don't think it's going to succeed as CCP plans, and with the way EVE online is going... I don't wanna get into it lol
That's an MMOFPS though, not an MMORPG. We already know FPS's are great on console, so an MMOFPS is the next logical step. Although, it will help meld PC and console MMO gaming more. I know I'll be playing it on my PS3.
My opinion, the next big trend in MMO's won't be consoles....although I think there is going to be some room for them. It's going to be mobile devices... smart phones and tablets. That's the space all the other application vendors are eyeing with anticipation. I can't why MMO's would be an exception. You could even import meta-game aspects where they are tied in with real world locations.
I don't anticipate the PC loosing it's throne as the MMO platform of choice any time soon, for obvious reasons. Consoles may make a bit of headway....but it's the mobiles that are set to take off....though I imagine the most successfull ones will be purpose built for that platform....so probably not taking much away from the PC MMO market...just creating a new one.
Game consoles will not exist in ten years or less. We will all be playing our games remotely on the same console. It will be a super computer that we will be sharing remotely and playing in real time over a network.
OnLive is already doing it. Its only a matter of time before people realize that consoles are obsolete. After a while, we will probably all be cloud computing as well.
My opinion, the next big trend in MMO's won't be consoles....although I think there is going to be some room for them. It's going to be mobile devices... smart phones and tablets. That's the space all the other application vendors are eyeing with anticipation. I can't why MMO's would be an exception. You could even import meta-game aspects where they are tied in with real world locations.
I don't anticipate the PC loosing it's throne as the MMO platform of choice any time soon, for obvious reasons. Consoles may make a bit of headway....but it's the mobiles that are set to take off....though I imagine the most successfull ones will be purpose built for that platform....so probably not taking much away from the PC MMO market...just creating a new one.
I agree, this is the way is't going. Too much talk within the industry about it so it is believed.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
I wouldn't mind hybrid PC / Console MMOs if the developers would just put the effort into creating seperate interfaces for each platform. I absolutely cannot stand that they always force PC users to conform to console control and interface designs. It's plain lazy and rude.
The main feature that keeps these games on the PC is the keyboard.
As much as people malign barrens chat -- a game without a scroll of player text asking questions etc isnt an mmo.
And it can NOT be done with voice -- Voice is way too ephemeral and only one person can talk at one time.
Yes I guess you can force people to have keyboards on a console but then it really isnt a console anymore and such things will always tend to be optional.
When you think about it, what's so different between consoles and PC's these days anyways? Both have similar hard ware. Both have the same inputs/outputs. Both an network capabilities. Shoot, if Sony hadn't shut down loading Linux onto the PS3, I'd find it VERY hard to convince my wife why I need a new computer every few years vs. just buying a (cheaper) console.
It really makes no sense to me. Most consoles are incroporating PC hardware, So yeah it's possible, but has only small scale success until consoles fully intergreate to become a PC. This is the ironic part, it will be a PC! so whats the point? Why not scrub the entire idea and just make a great game for PC's?.
Plus haha @smed DCUO from what I have heard is failing to retain subscribers due to his poor handling of his games and customers. Of course i'm speculating on the last part, but a good guess from some rumors I have heard.
So long as MMOs i play dont have the console generation on the same servers, I am not too bothered if MMOs make a bigger impact on the console market or not
All the points of view about this subject have been presented above with varying degrees of eagerness and hostility. For myself, if console style targeting shooter MMO's take over the future then I sincerely hope SWTOR, GW2 and TSW (Mabey NWN) are still around for me to enjoy.
Now if only some company would create an MMO with SHADOWRUN IP, the single most convertable game for group/solo satisfaction I have run across and it is done before the console boys and girls take over, ahhh that would be sweet. Shadowrun built like SWTOR or TSW or GW2 - no hope of that I guess but we can dream.
Console/MMO takeover? Probably won't see it as I am 65 and retired. Doubt if I last that long.
Well, time to play Devil's Advocate to your Devi's Advocate. Considering the still very long creation time for an MMO, and considering the rapid evolution of the hand held market, I think that quite soon, about three years or so, about the time it takes to make a less than half assed MMO, consoles as we know them are going to be the ugly sister of the tech parade. In fact I'd go a bit farther and say consoles became the ugly sister the day the overbloated S.S. PS3 wrecked itself on the iceberg of negative production costs.
Full blown computers are used for far more than gaming so they aren't going anywhere. Hand helds are getting far more sophisticated and are more than just a "supposedly" cheaper way of playing what used to be called a computer game. Hand helds are a continuous fashion statement as well as being a near pocket sized mobile social network and gaming system. So not only can they be marketed on what they do, they can be marketed on how they look. Plus the "have to have one of everything" crowd will stimulate sales because its a fashion faux pas to keep the same "so yesterday" model. And whipping up a quick docking station for one to hook up to what ever large screen HD TV you happen to be near won't be a massive technological hurdle. And what about keyboard and controler you ask? Its already looking like it will be the hand held unit itself.
So to me its looking like these up and coming console MMOs are going to be a quick flash in the pan because it won't be long before the consoles they are meant to be played on go out in the shed to collect dust next to the old Atari 2500. In other words it seems as if these companies tried to move into the next big thing about the time it will become the last big thing.
However the future of hand held based gaming of all types is looking quite good indeed.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
When you think about it, what's so different between consoles and PC's these days anyways? Both have similar hard ware. Both have the same inputs/outputs. Both an network capabilities. Shoot, if Sony hadn't shut down loading Linux onto the PS3, I'd find it VERY hard to convince my wife why I need a new computer every few years vs. just buying a (cheaper) console.
Sorry, but there is a huge difference. Both the xbox and the ps3 are about 5 years behind technologically, which is ancient when it comes to the electronics field. It is generally thought that the next consoles won't appear until 2014.
Secondly the vast majority of consoles do not have mice or keyboards, hence the designers of MMO's for these devices don't generally design the games for their use. Look at DCUO, the UI is horrible, no wonder PC use has suffered, but it does work well with the console controller.
Thirdly give me a pc/console with a mouse and I will own in pvp anyone with a controller. That is a flat out given.
So yes we will see more consoles MMO's, but the good ones will still remain on the PC because of better UI's which cannot be matched on the consoles. The better graphics will also always be found on the PC as consoles quickly become outdated in this area. It is also far easier to add hard disks, memory, etc to a PC than a console. I know my kids constantly complain about console storage issues.
On a side note, I think it will not be long before the tablets and phones make the console market a nebulous one. If I were a developer starting a MMO today, I would ignore consoles entirely and design for tablets and phones instead.
When mmo's really explode... is when they make it for a tablet and smartphone. Then people could play the game everywhere. Start at home, take it into the toilet, to the car, while walking the dog, while watching your kids at the swim meet, while waiting in line, etc. Heck, we could just forget about any real interaction at all and could just go 100% virtual if it was on a tablet, well except for the actual interaction required with the toilet and the microwave...
What about Q&A testing overhead? I've noticed that MMOs seem to be having a harder and harder time nailing down what the actual requirements to run their games are and patches day message boards are full of corner cases for different graphics cards. The biggest advantage I see in a console game is that the hardware is well-defined and there wouldn't be so much arguing over whether it is the developers who need to improve performance or the players need to upgrade their systems.
Within the next year to year and a half there is a long list of console MMOs that will released; Undead Labs Zombie MMO, Defiance, Dust 514, Everquest Next, Planetside 2, Dungeon Fighter Online and the Turbine MMO.
I don't think THE future of MMOs is on consoles, but a significant percentage of the MMO playerbase will be on consoles in a year and a half. And it will more than likely be here to stay. The days of PCs having a monopoly on quality MMOs is coming to and end.
There is a huge market on consoles for MMOs which is virtually untapped. And five quality studios have realized that.
I've been saying this for a while now. In all honesty I don't like the idea of it but at this point I think it is strictly naivety for anyone to think this won't eventually happen. You and I can kick and scream all we want but when the next generation of consoles is released I'm willing to bet a large chunk of the MMO market will be made strictly for consoles or possibly a hybrid model like FFXI and in 6-10 years playing MMOs on a PC will be a thing of the past. Why?
1. There is a huge market out there for people who might love to play MMOs but would never imagine spending the amount of money it costs on a decent gaming PC to be able to play the latest and greatest MMOs.
2. It happened with the FPS market. Why? because with online capabilties in this generation of console and increased bandwith that can support voice chat, playing FPS games on PC is oldschool now.
3. Not much is holding it back. Really the only thing holding back the switch at this time is voice chat. Many a console player hates the idea of having to type to communicate and when a system is made that integrates voicechat in the MMO the keyboard will eventually be obsolete. For all those people that hate voice chat you are now becoming the minority and gamers are getting more and more used to the idea of talking with strangers via their headsets.
4. One might make the case that controls are better suited for PC but that argument seems silly when you look at what happened with FPS games. Plus in games like FFXI many actually preffered the controller for playing the game. It's all about how the UI and controls are configured. One just has to realize that just because controls are typically a certain way now doesn't mean they will always be that way.
5. When people stop looking at this issue as to what they would prefer to happen and what actually makes sense there is really no logical reason why this won't happen other then MMO players don't want it to happen. At the same time I didn't want it to happen with FPS games yet look at the current scenario. COD, Halo, rainbow six, etc.. all these big selling games are made for consoles now which wasn't the case 6-8 years ago.
Though you and I might not like the idea of it, the trends show that eventually this will happen. Just like the arcade before it sadly it seems eventually PC gaming will become a novelty with us oldschool guys talking about the glory days.
I know some of you will disagree with me, you always do . Just realize the true test is going to be time and nobody right now really knows the answer we can just look at past trends to make an educated guess.
After playing games like crysis 2, dungeon seige 3, brink, duke nukem forever, dcuo etc i've realised that most pc developers have already shifted over to consoles. The one thing i hate about console ports is they are designed and optimised for play on a controller and all it limitations. Playing with a keyboard and mouse feels like playing in mud.
I have nothing against consoles as i grew up playing them as well as PC's but i wish for the days when games were separate for each platform. My hope for the future is that consolidation takes place and there is a clear winner. History shows when there are competing technologies like vhs/beta or the HD DVD/Blu-ray disc formats one becomes the dominant. Much like apple's iPhone.
I can't believe i'm saying this but i hope its the xbox (which is looking more like a mini pc nowadays with internet access and hard drives) just because its probably closer to a PC than a PS3 or a Wii. Maybe Sony being hacked will contribute to less future console sales for the PS. I'm sure developers would also rather a single platform to develop on as it costs less to maintain quality. Games are also getting shorter and shorter in length which is probably related to trying to get the game released simultaneously on multiple platforms so something has to suffer.
I think the future of pc mmo's lies in the success or failure of SW:TOR. There is so much expectation riding on it (and money) that if it fails developers just won't get funding for big pc mmo projects.
That said it not all doom and gloom for pc users. The indie scene is thriving and i've had a blast playing games as varied as minecraft to amnesia to plants vs zombies or world of goo....and all for $5 to $20.
Comments
Nah, you need to make different mechanics for both games instead of just porting them. Mechanic wise they should be like 2 different games, 1 for PC and one for sonsoles.
Just adding a mouse and keyboard to a console wont work, there is a reason some people play console games instead of PC games, making both games identical is a huge misstake (which BTW goes for all genres).
This will of course cost you more but the earning potential is a lot higher as well.
MMORPGs have been becoming more like console games over the past five years or so. It's all about the action these days. I don't think it's a very big leap at all.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
Blizzard never been very good with consoles. It is kinda like giving a great violin player and electric guitarr and expect it will be as good without training in playing the guitarr.
I think MMOs will be large on consoles in the future but they wont be what we call MMOs. No holy triad, no global cooldown and similar features most MMOs have.
Console MMOs will have plenty of action. Check up Zombie labs if you want to have a look on the future of console MMOs.
That's an MMOFPS though, not an MMORPG. We already know FPS's are great on console, so an MMOFPS is the next logical step. Although, it will help meld PC and console MMO gaming more. I know I'll be playing it on my PS3.
My opinion, the next big trend in MMO's won't be consoles....although I think there is going to be some room for them. It's going to be mobile devices... smart phones and tablets. That's the space all the other application vendors are eyeing with anticipation. I can't why MMO's would be an exception. You could even import meta-game aspects where they are tied in with real world locations.
I don't anticipate the PC loosing it's throne as the MMO platform of choice any time soon, for obvious reasons. Consoles may make a bit of headway....but it's the mobiles that are set to take off....though I imagine the most successfull ones will be purpose built for that platform....so probably not taking much away from the PC MMO market...just creating a new one.
Current Games:
Game consoles will not exist in ten years or less. We will all be playing our games remotely on the same console. It will be a super computer that we will be sharing remotely and playing in real time over a network.
OnLive is already doing it. Its only a matter of time before people realize that consoles are obsolete. After a while, we will probably all be cloud computing as well.
Elder Scrolls could prob pull it off. We shall have to wait and see what they do with theirs.
I'm a unique and beautiful snowflake.
I agree, this is the way is't going. Too much talk within the industry about it so it is believed.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I wouldn't mind hybrid PC / Console MMOs if the developers would just put the effort into creating seperate interfaces for each platform. I absolutely cannot stand that they always force PC users to conform to console control and interface designs. It's plain lazy and rude.
I disagree that these games are going to console.
The main feature that keeps these games on the PC is the keyboard.
As much as people malign barrens chat -- a game without a scroll of player text asking questions etc isnt an mmo.
And it can NOT be done with voice -- Voice is way too ephemeral and only one person can talk at one time.
Yes I guess you can force people to have keyboards on a console but then it really isnt a console anymore and such things will always tend to be optional.
I'm gonna resume all thoughts into:
Fuck consoles.
Have a nice day.
When you think about it, what's so different between consoles and PC's these days anyways? Both have similar hard ware. Both have the same inputs/outputs. Both an network capabilities. Shoot, if Sony hadn't shut down loading Linux onto the PS3, I'd find it VERY hard to convince my wife why I need a new computer every few years vs. just buying a (cheaper) console.
Umm, you can hook up your keyboards and mice to the consoles.......
It really makes no sense to me. Most consoles are incroporating PC hardware, So yeah it's possible, but has only small scale success until consoles fully intergreate to become a PC. This is the ironic part, it will be a PC! so whats the point? Why not scrub the entire idea and just make a great game for PC's?.
Plus haha @smed DCUO from what I have heard is failing to retain subscribers due to his poor handling of his games and customers. Of course i'm speculating on the last part, but a good guess from some rumors I have heard.
So long as MMOs i play dont have the console generation on the same servers, I am not too bothered if MMOs make a bigger impact on the console market or not
All the points of view about this subject have been presented above with varying degrees of eagerness and hostility. For myself, if console style targeting shooter MMO's take over the future then I sincerely hope SWTOR, GW2 and TSW (Mabey NWN) are still around for me to enjoy.
Now if only some company would create an MMO with SHADOWRUN IP, the single most convertable game for group/solo satisfaction I have run across and it is done before the console boys and girls take over, ahhh that would be sweet. Shadowrun built like SWTOR or TSW or GW2 - no hope of that I guess but we can dream.
Console/MMO takeover? Probably won't see it as I am 65 and retired. Doubt if I last that long.
Well, time to play Devil's Advocate to your Devi's Advocate. Considering the still very long creation time for an MMO, and considering the rapid evolution of the hand held market, I think that quite soon, about three years or so, about the time it takes to make a less than half assed MMO, consoles as we know them are going to be the ugly sister of the tech parade. In fact I'd go a bit farther and say consoles became the ugly sister the day the overbloated S.S. PS3 wrecked itself on the iceberg of negative production costs.
Full blown computers are used for far more than gaming so they aren't going anywhere. Hand helds are getting far more sophisticated and are more than just a "supposedly" cheaper way of playing what used to be called a computer game. Hand helds are a continuous fashion statement as well as being a near pocket sized mobile social network and gaming system. So not only can they be marketed on what they do, they can be marketed on how they look. Plus the "have to have one of everything" crowd will stimulate sales because its a fashion faux pas to keep the same "so yesterday" model. And whipping up a quick docking station for one to hook up to what ever large screen HD TV you happen to be near won't be a massive technological hurdle. And what about keyboard and controler you ask? Its already looking like it will be the hand held unit itself.
So to me its looking like these up and coming console MMOs are going to be a quick flash in the pan because it won't be long before the consoles they are meant to be played on go out in the shed to collect dust next to the old Atari 2500. In other words it seems as if these companies tried to move into the next big thing about the time it will become the last big thing.
However the future of hand held based gaming of all types is looking quite good indeed.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
Sorry, but there is a huge difference. Both the xbox and the ps3 are about 5 years behind technologically, which is ancient when it comes to the electronics field. It is generally thought that the next consoles won't appear until 2014.
Secondly the vast majority of consoles do not have mice or keyboards, hence the designers of MMO's for these devices don't generally design the games for their use. Look at DCUO, the UI is horrible, no wonder PC use has suffered, but it does work well with the console controller.
Thirdly give me a pc/console with a mouse and I will own in pvp anyone with a controller. That is a flat out given.
So yes we will see more consoles MMO's, but the good ones will still remain on the PC because of better UI's which cannot be matched on the consoles. The better graphics will also always be found on the PC as consoles quickly become outdated in this area. It is also far easier to add hard disks, memory, etc to a PC than a console. I know my kids constantly complain about console storage issues.
On a side note, I think it will not be long before the tablets and phones make the console market a nebulous one. If I were a developer starting a MMO today, I would ignore consoles entirely and design for tablets and phones instead.
When mmo's really explode... is when they make it for a tablet and smartphone. Then people could play the game everywhere. Start at home, take it into the toilet, to the car, while walking the dog, while watching your kids at the swim meet, while waiting in line, etc. Heck, we could just forget about any real interaction at all and could just go 100% virtual if it was on a tablet, well except for the actual interaction required with the toilet and the microwave...
/sarcasm off
What about Q&A testing overhead? I've noticed that MMOs seem to be having a harder and harder time nailing down what the actual requirements to run their games are and patches day message boards are full of corner cases for different graphics cards. The biggest advantage I see in a console game is that the hardware is well-defined and there wouldn't be so much arguing over whether it is the developers who need to improve performance or the players need to upgrade their systems.
Within the next year to year and a half there is a long list of console MMOs that will released; Undead Labs Zombie MMO, Defiance, Dust 514, Everquest Next, Planetside 2, Dungeon Fighter Online and the Turbine MMO.
I don't think THE future of MMOs is on consoles, but a significant percentage of the MMO playerbase will be on consoles in a year and a half. And it will more than likely be here to stay. The days of PCs having a monopoly on quality MMOs is coming to and end.
There is a huge market on consoles for MMOs which is virtually untapped. And five quality studios have realized that.
it's tempting, but no matter WHAT I say here is going to probably get me banned, so I'm going to leave you with a simple
NO
I've been saying this for a while now. In all honesty I don't like the idea of it but at this point I think it is strictly naivety for anyone to think this won't eventually happen. You and I can kick and scream all we want but when the next generation of consoles is released I'm willing to bet a large chunk of the MMO market will be made strictly for consoles or possibly a hybrid model like FFXI and in 6-10 years playing MMOs on a PC will be a thing of the past. Why?
1. There is a huge market out there for people who might love to play MMOs but would never imagine spending the amount of money it costs on a decent gaming PC to be able to play the latest and greatest MMOs.
2. It happened with the FPS market. Why? because with online capabilties in this generation of console and increased bandwith that can support voice chat, playing FPS games on PC is oldschool now.
3. Not much is holding it back. Really the only thing holding back the switch at this time is voice chat. Many a console player hates the idea of having to type to communicate and when a system is made that integrates voicechat in the MMO the keyboard will eventually be obsolete. For all those people that hate voice chat you are now becoming the minority and gamers are getting more and more used to the idea of talking with strangers via their headsets.
4. One might make the case that controls are better suited for PC but that argument seems silly when you look at what happened with FPS games. Plus in games like FFXI many actually preffered the controller for playing the game. It's all about how the UI and controls are configured. One just has to realize that just because controls are typically a certain way now doesn't mean they will always be that way.
5. When people stop looking at this issue as to what they would prefer to happen and what actually makes sense there is really no logical reason why this won't happen other then MMO players don't want it to happen. At the same time I didn't want it to happen with FPS games yet look at the current scenario. COD, Halo, rainbow six, etc.. all these big selling games are made for consoles now which wasn't the case 6-8 years ago.
Though you and I might not like the idea of it, the trends show that eventually this will happen. Just like the arcade before it sadly it seems eventually PC gaming will become a novelty with us oldschool guys talking about the glory days.
I know some of you will disagree with me, you always do
. Just realize the true test is going to be time and nobody right now really knows the answer we can just look at past trends to make an educated guess.
After playing games like crysis 2, dungeon seige 3, brink, duke nukem forever, dcuo etc i've realised that most pc developers have already shifted over to consoles. The one thing i hate about console ports is they are designed and optimised for play on a controller and all it limitations. Playing with a keyboard and mouse feels like playing in mud.
I have nothing against consoles as i grew up playing them as well as PC's but i wish for the days when games were separate for each platform. My hope for the future is that consolidation takes place and there is a clear winner. History shows when there are competing technologies like vhs/beta or the HD DVD/Blu-ray disc formats one becomes the dominant. Much like apple's iPhone.
I can't believe i'm saying this but i hope its the xbox (which is looking more like a mini pc nowadays with internet access and hard drives) just because its probably closer to a PC than a PS3 or a Wii. Maybe Sony being hacked will contribute to less future console sales for the PS. I'm sure developers would also rather a single platform to develop on as it costs less to maintain quality. Games are also getting shorter and shorter in length which is probably related to trying to get the game released simultaneously on multiple platforms so something has to suffer.
I think the future of pc mmo's lies in the success or failure of SW:TOR. There is so much expectation riding on it (and money) that if it fails developers just won't get funding for big pc mmo projects.
That said it not all doom and gloom for pc users. The indie scene is thriving and i've had a blast playing games as varied as minecraft to amnesia to plants vs zombies or world of goo....and all for $5 to $20.