Is PC gaming dead?

[Rostere]

PC gaming, dead? There are more games coming out now that I'm interested in than in ages.

[Labadal]

It depends what "dead" means. I'm interested in the following games:

 

Project Eternity

Wasteland 2

Torment: Tides of Numenera

Dead State

Divinity: Original Sin

The Banner Saga

Shadowrun Returns

The Witcher 3

Cyberpunk 2077

Grim Dawn

South Park: Stick of Truth

 

Maybe:

The Lords of the Fallen

Sacred 3

Demonicon

Bound by Flame

Divinity: Dragon Commander

Football Manager 2014

Dragon Age 3

Avadon: The Black Fortress 2

Chaos Chronicles

Thief 4

[Hurlshort]

Is there a AAA title that was released on multiple consoles and was NOT released on the PC?

 

The PC is still getting most of the big blockbusters.

[Drowsy Emperor]

The only thing that's true is that there are few AAA games made explicitly for the PC and only in those genres which are still PC only.

 

But, since everything else gets ported - who cares.

[Monte Carlo]

^ What drowsy said, plus games like Rome TW2 are still being made, ironically published by Sega, the new saviour of the PC RTS genre (whoda thunk it?).

[Spider]

Is there a AAA title that was released on multiple consoles and was NOT released on the PC?

 

The PC is still getting most of the big blockbusters.

 

Red Dead Redemption? Not sure that was released on both consoles though, but definitely not on PC.

[greylord]

Is there a AAA title that was released on multiple consoles and was NOT released on the PC?

 

The PC is still getting most of the big blockbusters.

 

Don't really want to go listing them all...

 

I'll start listing, but don't really want to write down that many games...

 

Resonance of Fate

Nier (production values probably AAA, though sales wise...maybe not)

Final Fantasy XIII

Actually I should say almost any Japanese made game that was cross console normally doesn't cross over to PC

 

But when talking about more western games...it becomes a lot harder...

 

Civilization Revolution was a mid tier really, and PC has gotten several Civ games in relation...but CivRev probably wouldn't count as AAA.

Marvel Ultimate alliance

Harder to find sports titles like Madden on PC lately, always the TRUE BIG games of EA in my opinion, or at least a major mainstay., doesn't mean they aren't there, but I can't seem to locate recent Madden on PC.

 

When you discuss games from Europe, but not specifically Western Europe, it becomes even harder to find an AAA game that was released cross platform, but not ported over to PC.

 

So East to East...in summary, TONS of AAA games from Japan and Asian companies that are cross platform, but not to PC.  In the US/UK and somewhat France realm...some major titles, more in line with the sports genre, and with Eastern Releases (which I don't see tons of notice on this forum anyways, ironically for those calling themselves PC gamers as that may be where the PC gaming is biggest if you don't count MMO's and Blizzard games), it's excessively hard to find AAA releases that are ported to both consoles but NOT to the PC.

[Drowsy Emperor]

The third person action adventure genre was always poised to work best on the consoles due to their control scheme. Obviously, this was going to lead to some exclusives down the line. In fact it probably has the most exclusives of all genres present on the consoles. 

 

The only real shift was FPS games being made primarily for the console, but they're all multiplatform titles anyway. Its never going to make sense not to release an FPS for the PC, as there's always a market for them.

 

And its never going to make sense to focus RTS games, point and click adventures, flight sims, management games and turn based strategy for the consoles only.

 

Also, it would help to not be unrealistic in this matter. 

1. The PC never dominated gaming, it merely had a larger footprint than it has now

2. When it was at its  peak (if there was such a thing in the late 90's and early '00), it was basically the story of three genres: FPS, RTS and RPG - everything else was marginal and fading already (turn based, adventures, fight sims...)

3. The big games in those genres were made by relatively few companies - that in fact still exist and make PC games: Valve, ID Software, Bioware, Blizzard, Relic - even studios like Westwood live on (after a fashion) in EA as do other numerous developers.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is emulation. As older, irreplaceable consoles fail, the only place where they'll be playable is the PC. No console based emulation service is ever going to outdo the PC because of the massive funds it would take to do so, and the pointlessness of the task considering the transience of every console generation.

 

PC gaming can only grow. The question is, can new genres and companies draw some of the creativity back in it. I say its entirely possible.

[greylord]

 

Is there a AAA title that was released on multiple consoles and was NOT released on the PC?

 

The PC is still getting most of the big blockbusters.

 

Red Dead Redemption? Not sure that was released on both consoles though, but definitely not on PC.

 

 

It was on both consoles.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Japanese games were never a PC thing. Most of them are never even translated or released in the west.

 

That's a poor assumption to base the health of the PC on. That way you could argue that PC gaming was dying all the time, even when it was raking in millions.

[greylord]

 

 

Another thing to keep in mind is emulation. As older, irreplaceable consoles fail, the only place where they'll be playable is the PC. No console based emulation service is ever going to outdo the PC because of the massive funds it would take to do so, and the pointlessness of the task considering the transience of every console generation.

 

PC gaming can only grow. The question is, can new genres and companies draw some of the creativity back in it. I say its entirely possible.

 

Emulation is a large area for growth.  I think Sony has had a good thing going with their PS3's  (though the current ones only emulate PS1, the earlier models such as two of them that I have can do PS2 as well).  With them doing away with backwards compatibility it should be interesting to see if that rises up a LOT of emulation via PC or Apple devices.  I know that there is a strong following for emulation in other areas.

 

I think that arena normally is grouped with Piracy by the DRM and Angry Publishers people though.

[greylord]

Japanese games were never a PC thing. Most of them are never even translated or released in the west.

 

That's a poor assumption to base the health of the PC on. That way you could argue that PC gaming was dying all the time, even when it was raking in millions.

 

Xbox 360 isn't a western thing either, but these games are ported over to the Xbox 360.

 

FF games were put on PC starting with FF VII, though they didn't port X, XII, or XIII over admittedly.

 

What's more interesting are the games that are huge on consoles these days but not so huge on PC (even with ports) that got their start on PC, such as COD series and such.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Also, JRPG's are in a worse downward spiral than western ones.

 

At this point all they have is endlessly repeated outdated, heavily combat based gameplay married to AAA production values.

 

Compared to the PS2 and PSX, the selection of JRPG's on the PS3 is relatively poor.

[Zoraptor]

360 is very much a western thing, and specifically an anglo thing- which is why so many people thought it 'won' this round of the console war, because it did well in loud countries like the US and Britain. It's significantly outsold the PS3 in the english speaking world, but the PS3 despite having a year less has still sold better overall. That's one of the reasons the On3's launch was so focussed on stuff that only applies in the US, it's the largest market for their stuff and the one in which they were actually successful. In contrast the PS4 will be rather more consumer friendly because it's aimed at a more worldwide audience which won't have large data caps, fast connections and the like. Live doesn't even service nearly 80% of countries, and it's going to be compulsory...

[Hurlshort]

Did the most recent Final Fantasy Online game ever end up on the PS3?  I realize it doesn't count because it is an MMO, according to greylord's bizarre metric.

 

 

Red Dead Redemption and the major sports titles strike me as the only big AAA stuff missing from the PC.  The sports games could be viewed as a real concern, as they used to be very successful on the PC.  Front Page Sports and the EA NHL games were superior to what was offered on the consoles in their respective eras.  But that may be the only genre that the PC has really lost completely over the years.  It was never the go to platform for JRPG's or platformers.  They still get most major FPS and RPG releases, and they dominate the RTS and MMO genres. 

[Orogun01]

Also, JRPG's are in a worse downward spiral than western ones.

 

At this point all they have is endlessly repeated outdated, heavily combat based gameplay married to AAA production values.

 

Compared to the PS2 and PSX, the selection of JRPG's on the PS3 is relatively poor.

Are you basing this on the American/European markets or on the Japanese one? Because there are a lot of PS3 exclusive JRPG that don't make it overseas.

[Spider]

Did the most recent Final Fantasy Online game ever end up on the PS3?  I realize it doesn't count because it is an MMO, according to greylord's bizarre metric.

 

 

Red Dead Redemption and the major sports titles strike me as the only big AAA stuff missing from the PC.  The sports games could be viewed as a real concern, as they used to be very successful on the PC.  Front Page Sports and the EA NHL games were superior to what was offered on the consoles in their respective eras.  But that may be the only genre that the PC has really lost completely over the years.  It was never the go to platform for JRPG's or platformers.  They still get most major FPS and RPG releases, and they dominate the RTS and MMO genres. 

 

FIFA 2013 was released on the PC though, so not all hope is out for sports games on PC. Though personally I never liked playing them on PC, their controls always felt very clunky with a keyboard. I guess you could buy a controller though (but that's never been a preference of mine).

[Tigranes]

 

Japanese games were never a PC thing. Most of them are never even translated or released in the west.

 

That's a poor assumption to base the health of the PC on. That way you could argue that PC gaming was dying all the time, even when it was raking in millions.

 

Xbox 360 isn't a western thing either, but these games are ported over to the Xbox 360.

 

FF games were put on PC starting with FF VII, though they didn't port X, XII, or XIII over admittedly.

 

What's more interesting are the games that are huge on consoles these days but not so huge on PC (even with ports) that got their start on PC, such as COD series and such.

 

 

This is the kind of thing that makes your arguments more of improvised connection-making than a well grounded suggestion. Final Fantasy has never had anything much to do with the PC in terms of sales, fanbase, porting, whatever. The fact that FF7 and 8 were ported very badly, neglected for years, etc. has very very little to do with the position of the PC in the market; anyone who's ever followed those games/ports will be able to tell you that. That example only works in the particular way you portray if we choose to ignore all the facts regarding that specific game/situation. 

 

I'm not sure why you're not doing the one thing that would really convince - focus on the central claims you made (PC $ as much as porn, PC AAA titles steadily decreasing, PC sales decreasing) and provide some numbers/cases/etc that are sure and solid. 

[AwesomeOcelot]

Japanese people don't play PC games, Japanese developers don't know how to develop PC games, meaning they'd have to outsource to South Korea or Eastern Europe, something they may be unwilling to do. I also wonder whether there's necessarily a market for them, Japanese games fill gaps in the console market that are already filled on PC with better western games.

 

We would have saw a decline in FPS games regardless, because it was a fad, the console FPS explosion has only meant instead of a decline in FPS games we've got many ****ty console FPS games. iD and Epic were already making mediocre games, and that had nothing to do with consoles, they were PC led developers still. Saying that, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (PC led), Black Light: Retribution (PC led), Tribes: Ascend (PC exclusive), and Planetside 2 (PC exclusive), are good FPS from 2012 onwards, soon there will be ARMA 3.

 

Multi-platform releases were always going to happen because it makes business sense, it's not a sign of any market declining. Many of the console exclusives you can list are exclusives because the console manufacturers paid for them to be, or they made them. There's complex histories that aren't necessarily about the market growing or declining why certain developers started on PC and then were bought or stayed independent but were contracted to work on console.

 

None of this is evidence that PC gaming is smaller in anyway than it was previously, PC gaming has only grown.

[rjshae]

 

Is there a AAA title that was released on multiple consoles and was NOT released on the PC?

 

The PC is still getting most of the big blockbusters.

 

Red Dead Redemption? Not sure that was released on both consoles though, but definitely not on PC.

 

Yes, that was one of those very rare titles that gave me console envy. But I got over it.

[Elerond]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/09/tech/gaming-gadgets/console-gaming-dead

http://wccftech.com/konami-consoles-dying/

http://www.itworld.com/node/140484

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51431304/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/why-console-gaming-dying/

 

 

PC gaming is dead, console gaming is dead, so what is left? Mobile gaming?

 

[Bokishi]

Red Dead was a classic, probably the game I played the most on PS3

[Keyrock]

Red Dead Redemption and the two Super Mario Galaxies are the only games of the past console cycle that truly gave me console envy.

[alanschu]

 

 

FIFA 2013 was released on the PC though, so not all hope is out for sports games on PC. Though personally I never liked playing them on PC, their controls always felt very clunky with a keyboard. I guess you could buy a controller though (but that's never been a preference of mine).

 

It was a bit of an outlier in this regard though.  I don't know how successful it was.  EA Sports handicapped their PC sports games when they kept releasing Gen2 versions of games while the PS3 and 360 got the Gen3 versions.

[ShadySands]

As long as 2K Sports keeps releasing their NBA games on PC I'll be happy