PC gaming is dying. No one cares about it. Consoles are overtaking. The Apocalypse is upon us, save yourselves. Nyaaaaaaaah. You’ve heard from a lot of sources that PC gaming is not as popular as – lets say – console gaming, right? I mean, Rockstar is constantly delaying the PC versions of GTA so this must mean that consoles are where the money is, right? Well, they are wrong.
A recent survey from GDC 2014 proves that PC is the most popular platform. When asked about their platform of choice for their next game, 52% of the developers said that PC is where they plan releasing their games. Shocking enough? Well, not exactly if you ask us.
While console games can generate a lot of money, their commercially successful games are not that many. Hell, even multi-platform games have difficulty breaking even. After all, this was the reason why Irrational Games closed, and why Tomb Raider struggled to make a profit.
Like it or not, it seems that it’s more profitable these days creating an addictive game with a small team. Which explains why Ken Levine wants to build a studio with only 15 people. It also explains why CliffyB wants to return to PC gaming (you know Cliff that we still remember those comments about PC gamers being pirates…. right?). And it also explains why a lot of indie developers have been successful on the PC platform.
PC is stronger than ever, and it seems that Japanese developers are starting supporting it. Ikaruga has just been released on the PC, Killer Is Dead is coming, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance got released, and Square Enix – according to Eurogamer – wants to port main Final Fantasy titles to it (meaning there is still hope for Final Fantasy XV on the PC).
Enjoy!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email
This site is starting to seem extremely biased.
lol what ? this is a site that is related to the pc gaming. so ?
I’m just saying the site seems to be pretty negative towards consoles.
The site isn’t really biased as much as it’s sensationalist. But then again it caters to a certain kind of audience and benefits from it. Haven’t you read the comment sections already? 🙂
Yep I’ve read the comments and there is a LOT of hate towards consoles. It’s honestly quite insecure to say the least.
there is no hate against consoles, but when console fans come here and start a war then war it is other than that i saw nothing against consoles here
Lol. No hate? So just bashing consoles for no apparent reason is normal?
did you read my crappy english post ? i didn’t said no hate at all, i said no hate unless someone start a war
I’ve seen people such as “Dakan45” bashing consoles for no reason. I rarely see any console posters on this site, mostly PC posters and they ALWAYS end up bashing consoles. They forget the point of consoles entirely.
so you should see older comments to see why they (we) are bashing consoles, because they (some console fans) started it long ago.
I don’t see that as a good excuse. So based on past arguments, it’s fine for you guys to just bash consoles for no reason?
there is a reason and the arguments didn’t stoped yet, it’s a never ending war. so it’s not past yet and i guess it never will.
when some console fans comes here and tell people the X game rocks in terms of graphics and then you answer his/her questions with some facts and sources and then again he/she start trolling, war will happen, when the war stops ? nobody knows, maybe if PCGaming dies, or maybe if Console Gaming dies.
Well I’ve read some old comments and console trolls are pretty rare to be honest.
not so rare in my opinion. i don’t know how you read old comments in just a minute and talking to me at the sametime but you have some choices here, 1.stop this nonsense 2.go dig more 3.if you don’t like how here we/they treat console gamers then leave
To be honest I’ve come across very few console gamers on this site in
quite a while, and I’ve been here longer than you. I’ve got no problem with folks bashing consoles. As PC gamers it’s probably our duty to bash consoles and shit. But I wish all the bashing took place on console sites. I come here to read PC news, not to read about
PC>>>consoles and how PC rocks, consoles suck and pointless
shit. So if there’s anyone who needs to leave, it’s trash like that.
it started when this site articles starting to show up on N4G. lots of their users came here and start fighting
If they do come here and start unnecessary trouble, we’ll see about it. But please, just keep that trash to where it belongs, at N4G.
Nah, I’ve read the comments for a while now. I’ve only recently started commenting. So what you are basically saying is that it’s okay for you guys to just randomly bash consoles?
not ok, but if for example Sony guys saying their console is as much as powerful as a high end PC, ofcurse we will bash it, we bash it hard because it is a big lie. but for no reason there is no reason for bashing anything
That is understandable because those are ignorant sony ponies. In fact, that’s the only time when I bash consoles. Bashing a platform for no reason is just dumb though.
I don’t see what the problem is with bias. A PC site with no bias toward PC does not make any sense at all. Hooray for bias! Bring on the bias!
I thought that was the point of this site, lol Should I be pissed if I go to Playstation. Blog and start raving about the XBONE and people are throwing virtual tomatoes at me? lolololol very silly indeed.
You’re being far too bias about bias! (:
So if I go on a console biased site and say ” Yeah Castlevania was awesome on PS3, but looked way better on PC ” I am not going to hear one peep from anyone saying ” What is a PC guy doing here? go play on your $3,000 PC then. Go waste you money while I am playing games ” ?? I have been there.
Rare here,Go to IGN or gamespot every PC related post is overwhelmed by console trolls.
It’s just a medium through which you play games, consoles are just a bit shit, look at the so-called “Next-Gen”. Consoles owners have been ripped off, I feel sorry for them more than anything else.
I don’t see it that way. Consoles are meant for those who want the simplest gaming experience. Believe it or not, many people actually like coming home from a hard day’s work, pop in a disc and just play.
You can do that on a PC aswell, just sayin’
I know you can but let’s be honest, consoles are more streamlined and simple.
I’m writing an “essay” (a really long comment lol) right now based on this thinking of yours, it will be ready in a few moments 😛
I’ll read it because I’m interested.
That’s exactly what I do with my PC, depending on the game. I hook my projector up to it, pull up a seat, Xbox Windows pad and we’re away. Whichever you prefer playing on, it’s all good, peace.
I do that too. I like hooking up my PC because frankly, I really enjoy that couch experience. Only time when I game on my monitor is when I’m playing shooters. What I mean is that consoles are easier for the general public though. I will admit that PC gaming has become much more easier but it’s undeniable that consoles offer an easier experience.
Let us see how Steam machines will be received into the living rooms this year. Also, the Oculus Rift is going to pull more and more over to the PC, as it won’t be on consoles.
Yes I have a feeling the steam machines might change how most people perceive PC gaming. Don’t you think that it’s kind of stupid for there to be so much though? It will surely confuse the general consumer.
There are going to be 14 ones to choose from, and variety is the spice of life (so they say). It will be interesting to see how they’re going to advertise it into the common market, what will they think of it people who have no idea what one is?. Maybe they’ll prefer to stick to their usual brand names, for familiarity, and let’s not forget about some of the higher priced ones. Valve has the money to back it, but it’s anyone’s guess on how it will be received.
The thing that troubles me about the steam machines is the fact that there are so much. Don’t get me, wrong, I like the variety and the options but what about the average Joe who isn’t as tech savvy? Most who don’t know about the machines will end up thinking that you need the best one to play games acceptably. I don’t see the variety as a problem for people who are familiar with tech but I do see it as a problem for the majority who isn’t. But, I agree that how it’s received could go either way at this point.
Agreed, good luck to them. The last console I owned was an N64, PC gaming for life, it’s also in my living room (HAF XB Case) which everything runs through, I might take a peek at the Steam controller though.
I’m also going to give the steam controller a go. It seems innovative. This was a nice discussion man.
Agreed, nice and civil, there aren’t enough of them 🙂
It’s been a long time since I popped in a disc and just play. Now I just open up my Steam client and click on any the games that are readily available in my laptop to play. Other than that I have a Toolbar next to the Steam icon in the notification area where I put the shorcuts to my other non-Steam games, mostly classics from GoG.
My whole Steam library and old games from the heyday of PC gaming in one machine that I can carry and play anywhere, anytime I want(including that one time when I secretly play State of Decay during a staff meeting with a 360 controller-yeah, we PC gamers are the worst). I’ve always imagine a hardcore console gamer would need to pack a whole suitcase to carry the game discs and PS3 while another suitcase for the older games and PS2 in order to emulate what my laptop can do.
I don’t really want to bash console gamers but whenever they say about the ease of putting in the disc and play, I do get confused. I’m sure having the whole game library installed and just double clicking the icons is far easier and simpler than fumbling through a shelf or two of DVD boxes.
You know maybe because it is a….PC GAMING SITE! lol
I’m a PC gamer but I don’t feel the need to bash consoles just because this is a PC site.
i don’t think you are a pc gamer, you came you praised The Order 1866 and now you come to say this site is biased. no pc gamer will ever do that, i don’t see one in my 30years life and don’t worry your not the first to come here and start something unrelated to topic
I am a PC gamer. I just don’t bash things for no reason and I give credit where it’s due.I really don’t give a damn what you believe though.
up to ps2 consoles were fine, then…..well they are crap now and they have ruined nearly every ip and load them with casualization and dlcs.
Console gamers and companies started the war, remember 2006-2007? We were playing HL2 and its expansions quietly but then console companies started to say “OUR CONSOLES are much better than PC” “WE GOT MORE EXCLUSIVES” “PC are only for MMOs or FPS” “PC gamers are only pirates” REMEMBER that??? But yeah, we are the “haters” LOL.
pc site only dose pc news nothing biased here. but some sites like n4g or vg247 are biased because they are not only console sites but they’re ignoring or sometimes attacking PCs
Compared to other PC sites, this site is quite biased.
did you read PCGamer topics or some news ? how about rockpapershotgun ?
it’a a pc site, so it’s normal for a pc site to praise pcs, just like dualshockers or xbox related site, they only praise consoles even with lying sometimes
Of course PC sites are going to praise the PC platform. It’s possible to do it without being biased though.
when PC is the most popular platform in GDC’s Survey, then it is the most popular platform there. nothing is biased or aggrasive about it.
I’m not basing my statement just off this article.
all of them looks like this one, you said biased in this article so other articles maybe looks the same
How? lol
I mean that you can be a PC site but you do not need to bash consoles.
if a console have better for example graphic than a Top-End pc, are they going to bash PCs ? ofcurse they are, it is how it works, we didn’t forget 6th-gen yet specially the first 2 years, it’s still there.
Then don’t use the word bias. if you feel it is bashing, that is cool, but you shouldn’t use the word bias in place of bashing. Two different meanings.
Okay it was a poor choice of words.
Man, you claim that consoles are more streamlined and easy to operate because the videogame launching method is so simple. That’s true, but there’s a lot more to it than that.
Not only the method in which you start the game is simple, the games themselves are, too. Console games have become much more streamlined, hassle-free and simplistic over time. UI, writing and gameplay are geared today for everything to be easy and appealing to the casual gamer because consoles wanted to emulate PC gaming, in a platform that wasn’t designed for it (RPG, RTS, FPS) The input method and hardware limitations of consoles aren’t compatible with those kind of videogames, so instead of sticking with plataformers and sports games and do at least those right, no, they had to dumb down and streamline PC genres to fit their little boxes.
The result, as we all know today, is videogames not longer than 8 hours, corridors, ‘cinematic experience’ instead of actual gameplay, QTEs and hand-holding galore.
And on top of that we have to put up with ignorant little brats claiming ‘OMG PC GAMING IS DEAD OLOLOL’
So you see, it’s not like this site is biased towards consoletards. We hate them.
console gaming was simple. not anymore, now its acounts, pay for mp, online passes, preorder dlc, installing games downloading patches, errors, its a mess now.
i am constantly hearing negativity about pc when in reallity pc has more exlusives more devs working on pc games, makes more money for ea than consoles and its a much more profitable platform due to lower costs. Pc gaming is going up not down.
On the contrary. Right now for example I’m enjoying MGS’ OST. All the team also loves 16bit consoles (you will easily find here for example fan videos based on really old 16bit games). Speedrun marathons are also mind-blowing (and those marathons are mainly on consoles). Ideally the best thing a gamer can do is own both a gaming PC and a console (or two, or three).
But there are times when console limitation has an impact on games. That and the fact that some games are based on PC classics, yet they are dumbed down for a broader audience. Unfortunately, in those cases, consoles have a really negative impact on those games (Ghost Recon series is a prime example. Deus Ex: Invisible War and Unreal Tournament 3 are also examples of this). Then we have companies that try to push their console titles because of MS and Sony (EA Sports with its Fifa 14 fiasco is a prime example in this category).
Do not misunderstand me, this does not mean that consoles do not have great games. However, consoles had a negative impact in a lot of games, and that’s sadly a fact.
What I’m trying to say is: If consoles limit the development of a game – *ugh Crysis *ugh – then yes, we’ll bash consoles. If developers do not optimize their PC versions, we’ll bash developers. If a PC game offers underwhelming visuals and performance, we’ll bash that PC game. It’s really that simple.
man i still have my old SNES and i love anything about it. i own 360 and ps3 too and i will get x1 or ps4 when something like RDR come but they makes me sick
“PC gaming is dying” and” PC Piracy is killing ”
Actually, this was completely targeted marketing campaign to debase the PC as a game platform ,to make room for a very expensive and fragile old-gen consoles for 8years.
8 years in which desperately trying to have fully controlled and closed console model.
Pc has no good games?
imgur.com/tsCq4Qg.png
Right
Ladies and Gentlemen be ready for my load of horse$hit. *clears thr… er… stretch fingers*
I consider myself a gamer, nor a console nor a PC, just a gamer. I have my old consoles resting now (an old PS2 and a good old N64) and of course I own a PC. All platforms owns my three favourite games/franchises of all time (Zelda Series, Half Life Series and the “Team ICO” works). However years ago when I got my first PC that could play games decently, “my mind was blown”, it was easy to get into, a huge library, a massive community and a lot of possiblities with mods, overhauls, independent works and etc. Then I looked back to my consoles and, at that time, never passed through my head that they are limited machines or anything like that, but with the advent of emulation they started to feel useless (off course nothing beats to play in the original “feel” of the machine, but the benefits of emulation it are huge). And them came the “7th generation”, and everything went out of proportion.
I simple saw no need to have a console anymore. Everything that everybody says that consoles have an advantage well, I was doing in my PC, “easy peazy”.
“I see no problem” (notice the quotes) on having a console. It’s your choice, I can’t take that from you, not gonna argue with that. But people need to understand THAT:
At the same time that it’s about GAMES, when you buy a console you are buying the marketing/lie of $ony, M$ and Nintendo. WHY? Because there’s nothing, NOTHING new about this consoles that cannot be done on a PC. You can argue about the console architecture and streamlined production, but it’s all about reaching a wider audience a.k.a $$$. (I have to make an exception for Nintendo, because at least they are trying to make something new). Well, based on the huge discussion on this page, what I’m trying to say is:
You can and it’s good that you praise a game, in the end everything IT ALL ABOUT GAMES. However you do need to understand, while you do have a platform of choice, think about why, why are you supporting it.
You basically stated the main reason why people buy consoles and that is for it’s exclusives. Yes it is made to reach the wider audience because the wider audience prefers a more streamlined experience.
I expected (and appreciate) your answer 😉
The problem with that is that makes the people think that a more streamlined experience to a wider audience is only possible on a console. Wrong, and I tell you why: PC is a more “democratic” platform. See the success of kickstarter or indiegogo projects for that matter. You can argue that even with the success of these projects, still not near close of the console games BUT, this is only because of a simple thing: as a closed platform, consoles are dependant of a AAA publisher/dev, witch involves a big marketing dept/campaign, witch involves big costs, witch leads to squeezing money, witch leads to saturation of cr@p in the market, and so on…
I think consoles will always be more streamlined simply because most prefer the easier experience and that is where consoles trump PC. Sure, PCs aren’t that complicated but you’ll be surprised by how many people find it to be complicated. Most will inevitably prefer consoles because you just pop in a disc and play.
On PC are long gone any sort of optical drive-it’s all a one click on the internet, a practice i no optical drive from 2 years
I get it, I really do get that people find hard to get into PC gaming, but just because the consoles kinda “spoiled” everybody into thinking that way. Hell, look back for the 6th gen marketing : multimedia capabilities… on a thing that is supposed to be a streamlined experience for gaming… see where I’m going? Or even better : See where the consoles market are going? They are just doing a “cheap” PC without the real advantages of being a “real” one. It’s insane!
I get what you mean. This was an interesting discussion and based on what many of you guys said, I’m starting to reassess my view on the simplicty of consoles vs PC.
hahaha Good I guess, see just to clarify, I have no problem at all with a console per say, it’s just the business involving them that gets me. The games are the most important thing, but that doesn’t justify having to buy another machine (especially here in my country) just for the sake of it, because I have a machine that can do it and do better. IMO today, you aren’t getting different experiences, you are getting brands.
I cant see how inserting a DISC could be more easier that giving double click on an ICON. The deal here is consoles are not streamline anymore. PS2 days have died. If I insert a game in a PS3, you have to install it on the HD for the first use, then install the updates.
If you install something from steam, steam installs the last update at once. PC havent been that easier than now, now BIG PICTURE makes things easier.
Even pirating a game is hard on PC than console, you have a Xbox360 pirated and you only need to insert pirate copies. In PC you have to install it manually(no steam help) then copy the crack to the directory where you install the game, and guess what, theres 90% percent of probabilities that the crack have a worm or a trojan, so you have to aggregate the exception to your antivirus.
A friend of mine that have a XBOX360 was surprised of how fast a game can load on PC or how you can switch from game to game easily. EVEN you can have two or three games open at the same time.
Guess what is the next console he will buy? A DAMN PC!!
M$ has sell 55million of xbox360 but they just sold 4-5 million of halo 4 copies, wheres the rest? PIRACY!!
The only issue I have had with console gaming is really more with devs, than the consoles themselves. The consoles have a wider market, therefore they have the bucks… That in-turn effects the industry and what types of games are produced, PS/XBOX exclusives, DLC, annual pass, etc etc… This is negative to me, because one is catered to over another. And with technology exponentially growing over the years, consoles have held the development of games back a tad. I don’t mean this maliciously, just statement of fact. Polygons/texture quality/particle effects were limited to the on-board RAM of the console. That affected everything. Though I am excited that the new console hardware is beefier, that means more polygons/better textures/effects will trickle down to the PC ports if they are not developed side by side. (I say excited as if I like the idea of a port. I don’t, but I recognize that it is not my gaming studio on the line, and in a world of freedom of choice, I cannot assume because I like games and have a computer, that I am entitled to devs developing for my needs and wants, however silly I might think certain decisions are). By all means play the console. I personally can’t handle a controller for crap in the 3D realm of gaming. That informs my desire to stay with PC Gaming. M + KB = awesome. I love shooters, so that counts me out with consoles. And for adventure games, I suffered through RDR because it was/is a great game… But my dead eye ability is never used and I can’t get into MP without aim assist because of my “butterfingers” on the controller. All in all, consoles are limited, but they serve their purpose. Again, I am only bummed that the larger Devs do things like exclusives, DLC/Annual pass (My opinion: to keep peeps from trading in at gamestop), and limit PC polish. EX. inFamous: SS looks beautiful… But alas, PS exclusive…
What scares me is 50% of the devs answered smart phone/tablets and another 20% web based. Those are not “games” IMO, 90% of it is shovelware.
on PC most of them are indie/kickstarter devs, still a good thing but what about big games like MGS Ground Zeroes or GTA 5 still not coming for PC … also the quality of PC ports needs to step up a lot.
“BIg games like MGS Ground Zeroes” – 2 hours long and only 15 mins of gameplay is a big game? PC gets its own big games, games so big that consoles couldnt even handle them, games like ARMA III, SHOGUN II, ROME II, Star Citizen etc…
GTA V will be on PC soon. PC ports 90% of the time are very well done, so well done in fact that the “port” in almost all cases is better than the original console version.
The PC version being better than the console version is nothing to brag about, it is a given based on the sheer superiority of the hardware. The fact remains that the vast majority of ports are way below PC standards, making little use of the added horsepower (or rather using an awful lot of it but to no better effect because of TERRIBLE optimization) and in some cases not even allowing you to change the resolution.
I can understand when developers don’t want to create new assets (high res textures or higher poly models) for PC releases of their console games because that would be a lot of work but there is no excuse whatsoever for not optimizing your port of a game designed to run on almost a decade old hardware, so that it runs at 120fps in 4k resolution on a beefy PC.
Sure they can do more with their ports but that doesnt mean we are automatically entitled to it just because we have better hardware. If the game is lead developed on PC then there is no excuse but last gen multi-platform games mostly werent. Hopefully this is set to change soon.
Id love an FOV slider in every 3D game and I agree some ports are extremely sloppy ( DMC3, From Dust, Dark Souls for example) but acting like the games are not worth playing on PC is bullshit especially since in almost all cases they are still better than the console version -bad port or not.
Way to go , you bring up some of the worst optimized games ever made, also name me 10 “AAA” pc games where only 1 is a bad x360 port.
Pointless me listing anything as idiots like you always have the same defensive argumentative response “bu but its RTS”, “ohh but its mmo”, “bu but I never heard of it”, “ooh but its an indie game”, “bu but its free 2 play”…always an excuse …always so juvenile.
Damn straight John, Pc Gaming is bigger then ever and are growing by the day,
Pc F’CKN Rules 😀
OK, you buy a game for ps3 or XBOX360, when you insert that game, you have to install it, then updated it, in the worst cases if you console isnt up to date you need to upgrade your firmware in order to play that game. EVEN XBONE users had to update their boxes to play any game.
If you install something from steam or origin, STEAM installs the damn last version of the game. SO WHERE is the streamline or the ease of use of the consoles? PS2 was the last console easy to use.
Inserting a Disc is no more easy anymore than just giving double click on the steam library.
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
That’s because PC has WAY more exclusives than either console so of course the charts will look like that. Besides, games are subjective.
Yes, games, it’s all about games doesn’t matter who they comes from. Consoles get exclusive games only because they’re paid to be that way or the console maker owns the studio, not because they pick the console.
Some idiot said to me “how come pc exlusives come to ps4 but not the other way around”
Apparently those dudebro kiddos who think they know what they talking about when they cant even build a pc, dont even have any idea how exlusivity works.
I find it funny that 20 bucks go to the publisher and 10 go to the console owner as royality fees yet when sony or ms publishes a game instead of selling it cheaper since they get royality fee anyway, they just sell it for the same price so they get 30 bucks from each copy sold…and the developer gets 10.
Really? i thought pc has no games according to consoletards.
No wait its doesnt have any good REAL games
No wait its doesnt have any GOOD games.
Well pc has GOOD games, more than consoles anyway. Its exactly what the article states developers want to work more on pc than consoles, thus smaller good games= more games on pc that get good scores and unlike the 60 bucks trash they sell these days, worth their price.
Reading comprehension much… We already have decent ports. What I actually said was ( feel free to go back and read it again ) that we arent entitled to MORE just because we have the hardware for it.
The rest of your babble is you assuming I said something I didnt too so I see no point in continuing this conversation with you.
Also no, I dont have Stockholm Syndrome and im not defending sloppy developers either…
That’s your problem. You think you’re getting decent ports. Reality is that you are not but the average port is so bad, it has you thinking that anything short of a total catastrophe is decent.
The fact that you again say that PC gamers aren’t “entitled” to ports that don’t run like crap on hardware that’s woefully overpowered for the task is pure insanity.
We don’t deserve optimization because we have better hardware? How is saying that not defending sloppy developers? And how come they are allowing you internet access in the lunatic asylum?
PC GAMING FTW