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[DJ]

Prettiness is subjective. I think Far Cry 2 looks far better than FF XIII.

[G-Flex]

@G-Flex:
You're saying that as if AAA crashing is a bad thing.

Ha ha. Trust me, I'm not. I think the industry needs a pretty good shakedown.

[Djohaal]

If you ask me I beleive the PC gaming industry is well alive and kicking. Aside from a rather appaling lack of creativity from Big Game companies, and the plague of "causal" games that is terrorizing us at the moment, we can notice several sucess cases. To name a few I've seen personally: Starcraft 2, tropico 2, sword of the stars, distant worlds, settlers franchise, the sims franchise (as wicked as it may seem), and of course the emergence of indie developers.

Digital distribution free from the claws of publishers is starting to take off at the moment, and its potential for allowing more creative games is something that must be taken into account. Usually publisher approval is the big bottleneck that is making the computer game industry to sitck to tried-and-true formulas, but if you can sell your stuff directly to the end user, who cares if the publishers aren't impressed. Notch's a millionarie and I doubt minecraft would be considered a good idea by any big publisher out there...

A 15% share of the gaming market isn't necessarially something bad if the companies still can turn a profit. We need to take into account that console gaming became a form of mass media. Compare it to hollywood movies if you will, profitable but doesn't necessarially mean there's something good behind all the special effects. 
The upside is that now we can act as mac owners and say PC gaming is becoming a more "exclusive" market. 

Also for anyone who's moaning that elemental is going to make stardock go bankrupt due to its flop, brad wardell mentioned on the IRC (I think on a dev blog too) that they already are running on black with it. Still doesn't fix his molyneux complex though...

[Cheese]

I reckon that if AAA/mainstream companies completely move over to consoles and abandon PCs, indie companies will take their place as the big companies of the PC. The size of the PC gaming community probably isn't any smaller, or at least much smaller, than it was before the awful-generic-console-clone-game revolution, rather the consoles just got a lot of people more interested in casual gaming to play them. So smaller, PC based companies could perhaps become as big as current mainstream companies.

[Djohaal]

Yes, the point is, the gaming market didn't shift into consoles replacing computer gaming. It expanded into consoles

[Soulwynd]

Actually... You guys miss the point that while the gaming market is increasing, the PC gaming market is decreasing. As in, it went from 2bil+ in the US to <600mil from 2000 to 2008. I have no idea what 2009 or 2010 have been like, but if the trend went on, it was less than half a million and probably under 15% market share.

[Mandaril]

Actually... You guys miss the point that while the gaming market is increasing, the PC gaming market is decreasing. As in, it went from 2bil+ in the US to <600mil from 2000 to 2008. I have no idea what 2009 or 2010 have been like, but if the trend went on, it was less than half a million and probably under 15% market share.

Is this retail sales, because I highly doubt they are able to track digital downloads. For PC I have recently bought digitally (means I have no physical media of them):
-Humble indie bundle
-Minecraft
-Starcraft 2
-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
-Call of Duty: Black Ops
That is just recently.

[Soulwynd]

No idea. I know most of those values were gross estimate. PCGames used to post them every year and I think there's a wiki that still has them with the link to the sources.

Edit: NPD, which has been doing the statistics since 2008 isn't tracking micro transactions or digital revenue... Makes a bit more sense, considering black ops alone sold more than 1 billion. The retail is still failing it seems.

[Zai]

NPD, which has been doing the statistics since 2008 isn't tracking micro transactions or digital revenue... Makes a bit more sense, considering black ops alone sold more than 1 billion. The retail is still failing it seems.

I wouldn't doubt that retail PC sales are failing. The last time I bought a PC game from a physical store was in early 2009. Since then, I've spent a couple hundred dollars on PC games from Steam, GOG.com, and GamersGate, as well as directly-ish from indie devs (ex. Humble Indie Bundles, Minecraft, Gratuitous Space Battles's DLC). My games from Steam alone now number over 100 (thanks to sales featuring packs of games instead of individual games). Most people I know (who play PC games) have switched from retail purchases to digital download purchases. Since I mostly buy games during sales (-33% or more) and my computer is unable to play a lot of modern AAA games, I don't plan on returning to buying PC games from retail stores anytime soon.

[Kitsunin]

The thing is, stores don't really try to get money from PC games.  Last couple times I went into a store, wanting to buy a PC game, they just didn't have enough variety, I mean, I walk into Wal-Mart and there are a total of ten different games for the PC, there's a very high chance I'm going to just decide "Never mind" then never bother to try getting a PC game physically again.

I'm sure they're better off just stocking console titles anyways, it's not like a lot of PC gamers are likely to care to go to a store.

[Djohaal]

We have the internets! no need to go to a physical shop.

Last time I bought a boxed computer game was in 2007 with simcity societies (bad choice to end the sequence too), ever since, only digital orders.

[Soulwynd]

The last 3 physical games I've bought were Spore (preordered... T_T never again), World of Warcraft when it was new, and Warhammer online, probably the most fun mmo I've ever played.

[G-Flex]

Yes, the point is, the gaming market didn't shift into consoles replacing computer gaming. It expanded into consoles

Very untrue. Games are developed these days primarily with consoles in mind, and these considerations (especially having to conform to console controllers) limit what they do for the PC, period.

[Majestic7]

I've noticed either my taste in games or the supply of games have changed a lot during the years. I can't even remember when I bought a game from a big studio. Well, I suppose L4D2 counts as big? Five euros, big investment, yay. Before that..uhh... no idea. Games I buy nowadays are mostly indie stuff or from small developers like Paradox and the-polish-dudes-who-made-Witcher. More and more indie stuff, like GSB. So I don't really feel sad at all about mainstream game industry streaming to consoles. They have nothing to offer me nowadays, it seems.

I'm not being elitist and saying mainstream games are crap. I'm just saying they don't interest me. I suppose eventually there won't be but us niche gamers left on PC.

[Sergius]

Anyone else looked at the picture and thought: Max Payne 3, starring John McClane?