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Console Games Sales Beat Out PC
ttol writes "In the Star Tribune, they write that "PC games fell 6.2 percent through the first 10 months of this year, making the first such decline ever." They go on to say that consoles will break record sales this year, and that there is a shift towards console gaming from PC. Is this due to the fact that there are now three major contenders (XBox, Playstation 2, Game Cube) and all the advanced features they offer (DVD ability on the first two etc)? I, for one, will continue with my Battlefield 1942 on my PC."
Perhaps everyone's just switching to Linux and playing games on their console?
Yeah... I don't know about any of you, but it really, really has been my experience that games on the consoles are far mor polished than their PC bretheren. For instance, Metroid Prime -- it really is a polished game. If any PC game manufacturers are listening, I look at this polish and completeness the first time I boot a game up. It is a nice feeling when Retro Studios/Nintendo think about almost every possible thing and implement it in the case of Metroid Prime. In contrast, take Unreal Tournament 2003 -- I found it rather ... blah, for a lack of a better word. I found UT's original interface far more original and understandable. The original's gameplay was also simpler and somehow more fun.
Anyway, my point is, I feel that console games on the whole go through the wringer far longer than PC games do (granted they are a closed platform and suffer less variability in hardware).
It's not very strange that sales are shifting more and more towards console games, many games are released several months earlier for consoles, and PC gamers have to wait. No wonder people who want to play the latest games buy the console version instead.
sj 3
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The videogame industry is on the cusp of widespread acceptance. In a hardware generation or two consoles might be seen as being just as indispensable as a TV. On the other hand, PCs and PC games are only growing in complexity, and it seems that they will be relegated to the hardcore segment only. This is not necessarily a bad thing; developers can make the big bucks off a multi-console release, but can realize their pet projects for the "advanced" PC audience. Face it, you're not going to see Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" at the local multiplex because the mass appeal just isn't there. Likewise, most people won't find the PC game Arx Fatalis under their trees this Christmas for the same reason. That's not to say that their won't be megahits on PC anymore, just look at any Blizzard game. It's the same with movies; arthouse can cross over to mainstream: think "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
The videogame industry is going through some serious growing pains with the fracturing console market and the lower PC game sales, but it'll come out stronger and more focused at the end of it, and it will have mass appeal equivalent to the movie industry. IMHO ;-)
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Seriously, console games have always sold better than PC games. Where does this article get off stating things like "the shift to video games." When exactly did this shift take place? 10? 15 years ago?
In 1996, I bough the Nintendo 64 console and a PC (133 MHz or so).
In 2002, I still play Nintendo 64. Guess where's my 133 MHz PC?
That is a very, very good point. My friends and I are all (or were all) hardcore PC gamers. Clan Kapitol members, for those of you who know the top ranked clans in the world. Now, all we do is play Mortal Kombat 5. You can't play that with a keyboard and mouse. You can't play that without a group of half a dozen people. :)
Sig.i>
Don't have to worry about piracy?
A friend came to my house the other day with a very large spindle of CD's. Every dream cast game every produced.
Sig.i>
What does this mean for the future of PC development? The demand for high end hardware has been driven largely by gamers.. if they switch to the console will that mean less demand for improved equipment and slower advancement in hardware tech?
many more people run BSD/Linux/OS X and can no longer play Windows games on their computers.
Yes, many more people now run non-Windows OSes on their PCs - but I very much doubt that that increase would account for even a small fraction of the drop in sales of PC games.
Most of the people who have switched to Linux/whatever are the sort of people who weren't playing PC games in the first place. If they were, they wouldn't have switched! Why would they switch to an OS that they can't do everything they want to with?
Personally, I'd imagine that falling levels of quality is one of the main reasons for the drop in sales. When was the last time you bought even a new PC game that didn't already have a patch out, or almost ready? Not only that, but I read an issue of PC Gamer recently (first PC mag I've read in ages), and of the dozen or so games they reviewed, only one or two scored above about 60%. When you're shelling out £35 (UK) on a game, you want a good one.
I think a lot of games companies need to sit down and think about letting the development teams finish their games, rather than getting them to market ASAP...
It's official. Most of you are morons.
My first game was U5. On a PC. Soon after I started learning programming. For me it did *go* hand in hand. be creative and play.
If people by only console to their kids it will remain just that : A toy. PC have the enorm advantage that you can use them for some, anything, else.
My bet ? My generation had a lot of kido starting learning programming on PC. The next won't, Console will be widespread, and thus less and less kids will go for the IT industry.
And console don't make a kid/teen/young adult get acquinted to technology per see, as using a MW oven don't make you acquinted with Electromagnetic physic. Our Kids will be as "technology analphabete" as our aprents...
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I like consoles as much as the next guy and the XBox itself shows a lot of promise when it comes to mixing traditional PC and arcade titles, but sticker shock is starting to get to me. I don't know if it's irked anybody else, but $50 for each and every brand new game is getting a little tedious. $50 for each and every game no matter what it is. It's a very disturbing trend IMO. Halo? Ok, no probs. $50 well spent. Whacked? There is no freaking way that title is worth $50, Live or no Live support. But it was, for the sole fact that it was new. And it's like that every game. PC games aren't like that. Would Worms Aramageddon for the PC, a signifigantly better title, have rated that much at launch? Never. I never saw the price above $40.
It's just a very disturbing trend in my eyes, one that brings home the fact and maks it super obvious that they're making all their money on the back end, not off hardware. It's enough to turn me into a late adopter and wait for the prices to hit more realistic levels, something I'm not used to. I mean, I realize early adoption comes at a price, but damn.
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I agree with most of your points. However, I must take issue with the idea that console gaming is cheaper than PC gaming. While it is true that the hardware cost of consoles are subsidized, there is one big element that most people seem to miss: the price of the TV set. I do not own a TV set, nor do I watch TV. For me to play console games at all would require me to buy one. They are NOT cheap, since you typically sit further from a TV set than from a computer monitor and have to buy a bigger one to get the same field of view. This tips the price of a console over that of a decent (not cutting edge) gaming PC. I realize that I am in a minority here, and that for most people the TV set is a "free" commodity that the console makes use of. However, I think it is equally fair to say that a PC is a "free" commodity that PC games make use of, since I need my PC for work. If anything, a PC represents ZERO additional cost for many people nowadays, since they need one anyway. This does not even take into account the generally higher price of console games. The licensing fees are, after all, how they manage to subsidize the initial cost of the console. There is no free lunch.
...Mars bars are more popular than Ginseng, and Microsoft have decided to start charging for software.
I'm confused - the article and many comments here seem to give the impression that the PC was king of the block, but this report shows that it's now starting to lose.
The PC has been losing to consoles for a long time. I'm talking years and years. Console game sales have beaten the hell out of PC games for a long time. Some of the most successful console games sell millions of copies - Games like Donkey Kong Country etc sold in excess of 5 million units world wide. A million selling console game is doing pretty well - a million selling PC game is extremely rare. Super Mario Bros 3 sold over 7 million copies in the US alone. Nintendo sole about 9 million copies of Mario 64, 7 million copies of GoldenEye, and about 6 million copies of Zelda 64. I can't think of many/any PC games that approach those sales levels. And remember those are N64 games, and the N64 did not do nearly as well as the Playstation. I remember reading that a million copies of Starcraft (for PC) had been sold in Korea alone, and that was a stunning figure for anyone involved in PC game development/distribution.
As for advertising, I've always thought that adverts for console games have always been much more dominant than those for PC, especially on TV/at the cinema - but maybe this is specific to the UK?
In short, what's the fuss? Console games have always been more profitable/better selling, and it's not like it's news. PC game sales have been declining significantly for at least two years - that's certainly the message developers get from publishers, who are increasingly looking for PS2 games above anything else.
2p.
Tim
I think the loss of computers that boot into BASIC
Line-numbered BASIC? Ecch. The overuse of GOTO constructs in programs for old 8-bit BASIC interpreters has been known to stunt the growth of a sense of structure in some programmers who started out on such a system. Luckily for me, I used Logo (Lisp without the parentheses and with a plotting library) before BASIC.
will lead to far fewer kids picking up programming for fun.
What about computers that boot into a terminal and have perl and gcc available?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Examples of Games that have been lost to consoles (or delayed because of them):
I do see a trend with people coming in the shop and buying games though, it is definately the more intellegent people buying PC games in general, as a result the market has tried to capitalise on this by releasing 'intellegent' (read sometimes boring) games for the PC, whereas your typical console owner goes for violence or motorsport, generally Wrestling or Driving games.
Manufacturers also alter games on different platforms, for example the new James Bond game, Nightfire was a multiplatform release, except the PC version misses out all the Driving levels, I happen to like driving games on the PC!
It isn't helped by the publishers and stores as well, they get far higher profit from a Console game (another £10-14) than they do from a PC game.
Manufacturers like the Console because it is an easily controllable market, once people have made an investment in the hardware everyone has to pay their prices for games, or they can't play it, there are barriers to entry into the console market, with expensive development kits being needed from Sony/Nintendo/Micro$oft before they are able to get started preventing easy, cheap game production.
Whenever people come into the store after a particular game and it's available on the PC I always try and sell the PC version because it's cheaper and for the mostpart better (better graphics, sound etc.) and if people definately want a console I try and steer them away from the XBOX (microsoft has made too much money and monopolised too many markets already!)
Also, Games Prices - People over in the US may complain about $29.99 per game, try £29.99, which is equal to around $44.98! (taking £1 = $1.50, I don't know the exact exchange rate) When are companies going to stop ripping the UK off!
Well, that's my general rant about the state of the UK games market over with.
The Honus should be on the OS manufacturers to make fairly consistent hardware (like macs) that could be garaunteed, then the game could just be booted from CD without worrying about the OS getting in the way (much like the XBOX does with embedded Win2k on each game)
Also, if you get offered a reward card in store and don't want to pay £2, I agree you shouldn't have to, but we get B**locked if we don't try and sell them, so please don't complain to us. Write an email to the head office and complain, also I wouldn't have one if I didn't work there, I don't like giving away marketing info to the company either, but seeing as they log employee sales anyway, I may as well have some points.
There are more console games that are making me say "Hot Damn Jim!" than there are PC games.
Oh boy, UT2003. Wow plays just like UT except with prettier eye candy and it costs $40 more.
Now, Mechassault on the XBox! Cool, a mech game that looks better than the latest Mech game released for the PC. "Steel Batallions", what's that? I need a special $150 controlloer for it that includes foot controls and a eject button? That's cool! Exepensive but cool!
Let me get this straight, if I beat the GameBoy Advance version of Metroid Fusion, I can link it to the GameCube version of Metroid Prime and get another power suit to play with? Cool!
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
- The two "new" consoles have been out a year now, and now have more than one game worth buying (especially GameCube), so it makes sense that they would be selling. There's only so much holiday buying money to go around, so the fact that the PC is down by only 6% is surprising.
- One of the things that PC's do well is Internet Multiplayer. All three consoles require you to purchase something (even Xbox which had it "built in" already) to get online. When you can play a game online, you'll play it more.
- For that matter, the PC has the MMORPG, something the consoles have only flirted with so far. Pehaps EverQuest isn't moving as many boxes as they used to but the 200,000 people paying $12.99 per month to play mean that the game is still making money. For that matter, when you have a game like an MMORPG that requires a large time investment and a monthly bill, you're less likely to go out and buy more games (which is why I don't touch 'em).
- PC games can be modified and extended. Check out Neverwinter Nights which you can pretty much play forever, especially online. Plus there's all the FPS modifications.
- By that logic, NWN debuted with a $60 price tag - makes sense, given the replay value. PC games are sometimes more expensive, which is hurting their sales.
- True, it's possible to pirate console games, but it's uncommon. Few if any fool with mod chips or have DVD burners (Joe Public, not Joe Slashot). PC game piracy is much more common.
- Finally, consoles don't need intelligence. Anyone can pop in a disc and fire up a game. PC games require installation, fiddling, and while people like me love this, Joe Public hates it.
Now I just got a GameCube and Metroid Prime, so I can swing both ways on this issue, but I do prefer PC games. However, console games will always have the apple of the public's eye.Schnapple
i think of the xbox versions as 'stripped down'.
the optimizations should carry over pretty well.
but pc will be 'more bloated', higher resolution texturemaps, models more detailed & etc, because (almost) nobody excepts the gameplay to be smooth with 128mb(giving fullblown windows up to 64mb), also you'll figure out faster if the texturemaps are lores(higher resolution, looking 40cm from screen..), so the game dev's can make more detailed models and texturemaps because that's what gamers seem to want..
there is (apparently) some codetricks they could use with xbox and not with pc, since (i heard from a guy in the docks wearing blue pyjamas) they can interface directly with the gpu for trickery, which is not possible on windows drivers(and has little point since it would work with only 1 card).
afaik they don't use any trickery like this yet on published games and i doubt they ever will because ms could just decide to change the gpu and then all games relying on it to be the same would be fscked.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Okay... here's what I just picked up from Dell a couple of weeks ago for a computer at the office.
I paid $714 shipped. Note that it came with a crappy video card. (Well, crappy if you want to use it to play games. We, of course, didn't.)
Go with XP Home instead of Pro (you don't need Pro unless you're running a domain or multiple processors) and you get $100 or so of that price to upgrade to a great video card.
Honestly, I think the people who are saying that PCs are $2000 haven't bought a computer in a while. It's now more cost-effective to buy a Dell, with all of its goodies like onsite warranties, than it is to build it yourself.
You're right -- most people would rather go to Dell than build it themselves. I used to build all my own PCs, but it's no longer worth it. The days of the $2000 PC are over. The days of the over-$1000 PC are rapidly approaching an end.
My boyfriend just picked up a 20.1" flat panel (yes, the equivalent of a 22" CRT) from Dell for $800 shipped. You want a $2000 PC? Get that plus a $1000 PC.
(No, damnit, I don't work for Dell, but I'm sold on their onsite service plan, and they build quality PCs that are affordable. Also, I use GotApex to find the best deals at Dell [and others]. No, I don't work for them either.