Pachter: Publishers have abandoned PC platform for most console-games due to Piracy

In a recent episode of Pach Attack on Gametrailers, Michael Pachter had some harsh words to say about PC gaming.

[aquamala]

that would be true if most multi platform games are not on PC anymore, which is clearly not true. Red Dead Redemption is a rare exception, not the norm.

[Mikefizzled]

I would say Patcher overstretched it by saying abandoned but they certainly don't focus on it. Regardless of piracy console based games suffer from poor sales on PC.

[EVILDEAD360]

Just watched it. He said actually that 'kind of abandoned' PC for console ports.

But he said he was also suprised that 'Red Dead' wasnt on PC because all Rockstar games seem to end up there in 2-3 years.

If you see the Game Trailers episode it's not clearly as bad as this makes it out to be.

Actually was a good episode, especially about the Japanese localized games.

Evil

[decrypt]

@Lolchter

Funny i see PC versions of games more optimized than their console counter parts.

For every bad Port the PC gets there are 10 console versions that dont run well.

Even the Bad ports the PC does get are fixed by the community, no such thing on console. On console the gamers are at the mercy of the devs to fix games, if the devs wont fix it nothing can be done.

Games like GTA 4 which was bad on the PC for the first 1-2 months of release later on got fixed and is the best version to play.

However games like Skyrim, Dragon age, BF3 (input lag), Mafia 2 (no grass) etc are still a mess on console.

Piracy isnt really a problem anymore as platforms like Steam are taking over, Games are made affordable hence many people are buying instead of pirating.

Hell i would go as far as to say, Steam is an ever growing beast, its now topped 6 million CONCURRENT users. Which is currently comparable to any top console. Though food for thought, in afew months when the PS4 and Xbox 720 launch, the new console base will start from 0, Steam will retain its base and will only grow. Consoles will be playing catch up(It will literally take them years to catch up to Steam), hence i would think the smart devs will support PC more. Lets not even mention the next consoles are essentially locked down PCs, which just means more optimization for the PC platform next gen.

[IaMs12]

If anything id pirate because they arent focusing on it. Why pay for a half-ass port, you get what you pay for.

[showtimefolks]

I don't think and abandoned is the right word maybe they don't focus more On PC as much as consoles. This is coming from a ps3 and xbox360 owner, let's not ver look the fact that piracy is also a huge issues on xbox360 yet devs are ok with that

You Make a great game and it will sell on PC just as well as consoles. I say in 2012 PC actually had the best year out of all gaming platforms

Alan wake on xbo360 sold poorly yet on pc sold so well so who is to say anything.

You make a great game support it well on pc, what I mean by that is don't just port a game that looks just like console counterparts and doesn't really take advantage of mouse and keyboard. because than all you are doing is releasing a bad port than expecting pc gamers to act stupid and buy it and keep their mouths shut

HERE IS MY HOPE:

Going forward developers actually take advantage of each system and it's hardware strrenghts and workaround it's weakness

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

This is the first and only time I'll ever agree with Pachter unless he makes a similar comment again in the future.

When it comes to multiplatform games the PC gets treated like turd and rightfully so. PC gamers are pirating pricks. Why do you think the PC isn't getting GTA5 the same day of consoles? Well it's because R* and Take2 want to maximize their profits. Once they feel they made a good return then the PC will get a GTA5 release. I expect at least 6 months to a year before the PC gets GTA 5.

Even CoD, the biggest selling game out there, failed to get good sales on the PC at launch. CoD on the PC barely outsold CoD declassified at launch, a supposed "horrible" game on a supposed "dead" platform. What the hell does that tell you about PC gamers? I'll answer that for you, THEY LOVE TO PIRATE. Hell, several PC gamers expressed joy that the Wii U wasn't an extremely powerful system on the spec front because that would mean easy emulation so that they could steal games and play them on the "Dolphin-U."

Not surprised at all that developers like R* are extremely hesitant on selling their games on the PC as they practically aren't selling when it comes to that platform, but instead they are practically giving it away for free.

[Ravenor]

CoD is a bad example, the PC crowd largely abandoned it long ago. It should also probably be pointed out that a very large portion of what CoD does end up selling is on Steam, not retail.

You assume, far to much about the PC gaming crowd as a whole. I wish I could make sweeping generalizations about a whole group of people, but some people require more than "A few PC gamers" before making statements like yours.

[cyguration]

Couple of things (because I hate wasting time but I also hate when people spread misinformation)

1.) PC gamers gave up on CoD when CoD stopped allowing for mods

2.) Many PC gamers aren't stupid enough to pay for something that isn't good (see no.1)

3.) Games with mod support sell consistently well but not like CoD/AC/Halo

4.) Arma II has been selling better on PC than CoD on PC because of mods. It's been in Steam's top 10 consistently almost every week of 2012 save for during holiday sales

5.) Piracy is worse on Xbox 360 than PC because publishers, developers and retailers lose BIG money when physical SKUs do not sell.

6.) Some Xbox 360 gamers are pirated up to 1 million times, which is about equivalent to the average AAA titles pirated on PC.

7.) Publishers don't lose money on digital PC titles that are pirated because they stopped selling SKUs in North America. SKUs are only sold for PC in Europe, despite Russia and Brazil being the two countries with the highest piracy rates.

8.) Steam alone makes between $3 and $5 billion a year.

9.) Publishers like EA and Microsoft have been making most of their money from digital distribution these days.

10.) As mentioned above, games like Super Meat Boy, Alan Wake, and XCOM sold more and sell consistently on PC than they did on console.

Also, google, stats and education is your friend. Spend some time with them.

[bumnut]

COD doesn't sell on PC because they removed half the features, lowered the player count and increased the price to match the console version = poor sales (well deserved imo).

Also, I own hundreds of PC games so watch who you're calling a pirating prick.

Why do we not get GT5 1st? Thats easy, they want to sell it to console guys like you for full retail with day 1 dlc.

[ATi_Elite]

1. RDR was not released on PC cause it didn't have a Team or Budget in Place for a PC release, End of Story

2. PC makes more money than PS3/x360 combined

3. PC may have less publishers which i seriously doubt but the PC is the place to go to SELF PUBLISH your own games without a Greedy middleman telling you what to do!

See Minecraft for a perfect example of Self Publishing.

4. Pachter is a console guy and knows ZERO about PC Gaming!

5. All is well with the Master Race, actually things couldn't be better right now!

6. I have too many PC Exclusives to play and not enough time to play them. It's Good Game overload on the PC right now!

[Linsolv]

Note: Pachter isn't a console guy who knows zero about PC gaming. He's a moron who knows zero about gaming of any kind.

[3-4-5]

This just in:

Intelligence has abandoned Pachter.

[Ezz2013]

pachter, you are damn lucky
you get money for saying wrong BS all the time
you have the best job in the world

[araman]

He's like a weatherman with no credentials that people inexplicably trust.

[Megaton]

6,203,883 concurrent users on Steam today, and growing constantly. The PC market is stronger than ever, with everyone and their mother competing for PC gamer cash via sales through their respective digital distribution outlets.

[Qrphe]

Well said

[superterabyte]

Steam is a good service that cannot be denied. However it also cannot be denied that PC elitists overhype Pc beyond belief. They concentrate on the advantages of PC but never list the disadvantages

for example although PC's are upgradable (pro) and extremely powerful(pro) they don't have the games to show for it. Yes they have games with good graphics but they don't have killzone, uncharted etc (con)

[solid_warlord]

Also remember there's too many MMO/RPG types of games that PC Gamer's predominantly play that mostly does not interest console Gamer's and they are usually subscription based.

PC Gamer's are hardcore, the masters of RPG/MMO, Keyboard & Mouse fanatical superior beings. Take this genious(below) for instance:

http://pixeljudge.com/image...

[Trunkz]

Uhhh FPS is far better on PC ~ more graphics, bigger maps, more players expect on games that Port them like CoD.

[solid_warlord]

Yeh exactly, more poligans, better resolution, bigger maps but there are numbers of PC gamers lack social skills and getting a descent mate and PC Gamers tend not to be much of a lookers. But PC Gamers are MMO Gangsters with high level of magical powers, virtually speaking. U are the master race.

[superterabyte]

@solid_warlord Bro do you even lift (decent) (polygons) (who after PC gamers) (I will stop there you can't even construct a sentence) (Bring shame to console gamers).

@Trunkz Jr That may be true but some people don't like or cannot change from controller to mouse/keyboard. also killzone on the ps3 and halo on xbox are very popular and not available on PC.

[Chug]

Hmm, never knew piracy was exclusive to PC...

[muttonface]

Yes but the prevalence is much higher on PC.

[Chug]

It is, but even with that considered there's usually still plenty of room for profit.

[papashango]

All it takes is a good idea on pc. Dayz sold 2 million Arma 2 copies. A game that sold only 200k before Dayz came out. This was two years prior

the biggest selling release other than cod in its first week belongs to Diablo 3

the main reason publishers have a hard time on pc is because console ports are games that don't bring anything new to the pc side. Pc gamers generally don't buy into mediocrity

[Somebody]

I don't know about that. Most of my friends who own the PSP play pirated games. From I've seen it's far easier than the PC: a software update and then just copy and paste the games into the memory card. A lot of them who owns Android devices have the Black Market App that allow them to unlock Apps without ever paying which in a way similar to piracy.

It's weird that the big companies are losing focus on the PC due to piracy while at the same time smaller MMO companies have millions of loyal players. Suddenly, those big companies are crawling back to the PC when they see F2Ps can make money quickly than the traditional subscription-based MMOs at a lower cost.

The next gen are coming and they are rumored to have always online DRM and F2P capabilities so we'll see whether those big companies will stick with the F2Ps on the PC or repeat what what they did when current gen came out by running back to the consoles again.

[FlyingFoxy]

B.S article, it was bad also on DS and that never stopped games being made for it.

Also a lot of great PC games now are most fun online, so if they pirate a game they are missing out since they won't be able to play multiplayer.

[deadfrag]

shit head!

[0pie]

well... the piracy on pc isnt the same thing as a DS. Everyone have a pc so basicly everyone can download a game illegaly. Its not like the DS which you have X millions of people who got a ds and a small % of people pirate games.

I would say pachter is right when he say that. Look at rockstar for an exemple, red dead redemption isnt on pcq and it seem that gta 5 will not be on pc too. Why? because they probably realised that its not worth the effort when a small part of the people buy the game and most of the rest of the people steal the game on piratebay.

[ExCest]

Without evidence, your point is invalid. We could also say that only a small % of people pirate on PC.

Let's go to your DS argument... ANYBODY can grab an R4 from the local Chinatown and pirate the hell out of it.

It's actually a loss to not port a game to PC. Even if 50% of the people pirate the game, it's not hard to make a profit off the other 50% who buy the game and support it thoroughly.

Only @sshats pirate a good game and then not support it by buying it later. And I'm pretty sure the population of PC is mainly not @sshats.

[BanBrother]

You only need to look at the 5 million pirates of The Witcher 2. And that was from a good company, who has some of the highest ethical standards. So, in response to your last sentence, I'd say a very high amount of PC users are "@sshats".

Besides, why else did EPIC, Id Tech and Crytek (among many others) focus on co soles more than PC? It kind of answers itself really. Not saying all PC users, but surely even PC users can admit that there are a lot of dirty thieves in the PC crowd, more so than the Xbox and PS combined.

[Somebody]

Even so, CDP still make PC games regardless of the millions of @sshats. They made an amazing game engine from whatever amount of profit they accumulated from the first The Witcher game and still made the second game a PC exclusive while they learn how to port it to the X box 360.

All the while Id Tech and Crytek need PC to promote their next gen engines and keep their games alive months after launch thanks to the persistent modders (thanks to Skyrim and Day Z).

Really, all you hear in the console side of Skyrim is the timed exclusivity DLC controversy with 360 version and the PS3' inability to play all those DLCs while we seeing amazing mods keep churning out from the PC side. There are a lot of @sshats in the PC but they are very important @sshats.

[Ravenor]

Can you really make the assumption that a pirated copy, means the user who downloaded that copy never purchased the game legally?

There was no demo available, how many pirated copies were purely to see if peoples systems could run the game?

[Qrphe]

@BanBrother

You'd first HAVE to prove all those 5 million pirates WOULD have bought the game if it wasn't for piracy. Then you'd have a valid point.

[BanBrother]

@Ravenor
"Can you really make the assumption that a pirated copy, means the user who downloaded that copy never purchased the game legally?"

No, but I can make the assumption based off the fact that The Witcher series only just announced it had reached the 5 million games sold, which includes The Witcher 1, and The Witcher 2 PC/360.

Also, the 5 million pirated copies is old news, there could be even more. So yes, a very large majority of those who pirated The Witcher 2 DID NOT pay for it. I myself, am not a dirty, filthy thief, and I supported them. Out of all the companies to pirate from lol.

[nypifisel]

@BanBrother

You really believe 5 million people pirated The Witcher 2 cause the developer said so? That would mean that it got pirated 500% more than it got bought which is idiotic. Where would they get that number to begin with? Seriously start applying some critical thinking to that brain of yours.

The notion of piracy as a problem is widely over exaggerated by the industry. If a game is good it will sell, the PC gaming market is generally more mature than the console market cause you need a bigger lump sum to get it started (though eventually it gets cheaper with games costing 20% less on PC), but also you need some technical proficiency to actually install a pirated game (at least if you're to believe the stupid questions for some torrents)

Average Joe rather not bother with the hassle, neither do those with the right knowledge to pirate games. I used to pirate games when I was younger and didn't have any money, then came Steam and an income, now why would I pirate when I get better service by paying for it?... Jerk

[MegaLagann]

Is that why almost every multiplatform game is on the PC?

[Treian]

stop trolling patcher

[josephayal]

What a great article, PC gaming is dead

[tachy0n]

so dead that it has more exclusives than the x360 and PS3 combined. /s

[solid_warlord]

MMO and RPG's Dont Count cause 99% of them are not popular and console gamers don't care about them.

[dalibor]

Well I like RPG games and I only game on consoles. I hate that so many people buy a lot of FPS games a la COD. What the crap happened to trying out other genres of games. No variety what so ever. Personally I like all genres out there. I don't like MMO's though, feel like I never really own the game, don't like subscription based games to be honest. But that doesn't mean that it's bad it's just not my thing.

[SuperShyGuy]

Oh Pachter,

Nintendo is doomed
PC is doomed
MS is doomed
PS4 will be "hyper realistic" and run games 240fps @4K

[GROTSTOMPA]

This is exactly why I don't watch him, ever. Every time I've TRIED, but I've cringed at his comments about PC and games in general. He's just as useless as Cliff Blezinski.. and I quote this travesty of ignorance - "I will never make a PC game again, Gear of War was pirated and lost too many sales". Yep.. Let me clarify your fail logic Cliff and Pachter.
-
#1. Cliff ported Gears of War over for PC and added content including DX-10, very nicely done, we appreciate it, you got my money. Ok now I bought GOW.. excited to play online with my friends whom just bought theirs too at 50$ (before games went 60$ for PC). Okay guys log into the multiplayer...... wait whats wrong guys? You can't get in without a gold membership you have to pay for every month just to play CO-OP or MP online? You mean the service XBOX people have to pay for once a year is actually once a month for PC users? MMO pricing too?. -End-
-
2. Now, Mass PC populations of people raging, they're raging on the forums.. and rating the game as garbage, telling people not to buy it, they make you pay for everything. Hmmm, what happened? Did EPIC lose money to pirating you ask? Whats with all these rumors and Cliff going public about PIRACY ruining his little game?? and console developers are in a rage!
-
3. Oh now I get it!... CLIFF and EPIC FAILED to see what they did to PC users... when they finally understood, they REMOVED the monthly pricing and made multiplayer/CO-OP free. Imagine that?! Could they have seen their mistakes? Nope apparently not according to Cliff.. Pirating ruined the PC port, no one pirated it for any other reason than just because they hate Cliff's rat teeth and RAT face, and his Less than NON-Manly way of carrying himself and attitude. Clearly it has nothing to do with how you PACHTERED the fudge into the PC users to siphon money, clearly no one is mad about that, even though the entire internet forums were littered with GOW PC rage.
-
4. Recent news, (I called it several months before BTW) Cliff jumps on the GIANT-PC HYPE train and leaves EPIC, because everyone is about PC now, and how old consoles are.. and how amazing the community and modding is, not to mention the graphics are a minimum of 5 years in advance in comparison.. whats not to like on PC? Nothing. So of course, I know this in my mind.. I'm a hardcore PC gamer and check the news everyday, so I said, "friends that hate Cliff, know that Cliff will join this HYPE train and try to cash in on the PC market. Sure enough.. he went public saying he can't wait to make amazing PC exclusives, and how amazing PC is. Fuck you Cliff, we don't want your money grubbing trash,, or your face. The end.
-
5. As for you pachter, you're just like Cliff in this manner, you fail-search, or (non-intelligent research) half the crap you're talking about, and I quote you sir, "I'm not that great at understanding, or knowledgeable with certain platforms and one of them are definitely the PC, so stop getting mad at me". You couldn't of said it better myself Packer.. so please stay out of PC news and your completely unintelligent and non-researched opinions, if you say something about PC and you're FALSE, no matter your excuses... people will get mad.
-
6. Sorry guys.. a bit ranty, too long, and smart ass.. but people that didn't go through these events, and didn't see them for themselves, need to be aware of these IDIOTS behind the scenes spouting trash, I refuse to watch and read lies and see people believe it. Don't ever forget about Cliff's story, use logic and knowledge to deflect morons from good games and spread "truth" (now if we can only do that with our government)! :) Thanks for reading.

[BoNeSaW23]

"Pirating ruined the PC port, no one pirated it for any other reason than just because they hate Cliff's rat teeth and RAT face"

LOL!!!!!Agreed and bubbled the second after I stopped laughing!

EDIT: Loved this one too! "Fuck you Cliff, we don't want your money grubbing trash, or your face. The end."

That was funny as Hell! Loved every word!

[GROTSTOMPA]

Thank you very much for reading all that! :) Appreciate the response.. it's nice knowing there are people with a brain on the internet. I love how the people who disagreed didn't even bother to explain why. There's a simple answer to this, because they are full of shit, and/or trolling. Thanks!

[WeAreLegion]

What is wrong with this guy?!? Obviously, Steam has shown us that developers CAN and DO make money on PC sales!

[GROTSTOMPA]

agreed a thousand times, this is yet but one example you mentioned of 100's for PC.

[KrisButtar]

Pc gaming died for me, not due to piracy.. Due to me buying games THAT I CANNOT PLAY, why you ask, well cause Internet is not offered where I bought my house and I can't seem to play diablo 3 among others

[WeAreLegion]

Is this a common problem? Where are you buying these games? If you need some help, there are tons of PC gamers on here who would probably be willing to help. :)

[KrisButtar]

I buy my games at eb games/best buy/future shop. My problems with the games which I know now which I didn't then was they require an Internet connection, considering I am only online when I drive to tim hortons or drive to the city. Internet just is not offered to anyone within my area. That's the problem. I searched for ways to play my games offline but it's there damn DRM. Whig I didn't know what it was at the time. You live you learn, just a little sour about it still as I had to cancel my simcity preorder as it has the "must be online"

[WeAreLegion]

I'm sorry to hear that, man. :( I hope you guys can get some time of internet out there, in the near future.

[RuperttheBear]

I'm going to play this and think of you -

[JD_Shadow]

Nice to see you can troll without getting the point the person you trolled is trying to make.

Good for you to completely miss the point and be immature about it.

[Canary]

This happened in 2005.
Why is it still controversial?

[Sharius]

sure 6,203,883 users on Valve compare with +70m on ps3 and +75m on xbox, that so many number, lol

and not count every member of "master race" don't want to upgrade their belove PC to play new game

[Ravenor]

Because the entire PC community is 6 million users, and focused entirely on Steam. The actual active users is somewhere in the neighborhood of 54-55 Million (On Steam) and the number you tried to downplay was users online at one time.

*Golf Clap*

[talisker]

I have 3 Steam accounts but please exclude me from a "community" which calls itself "the master race".

[RuperttheBear]

What's the point in having 3 Steam accounts?

[aliengmr]

@Sharius
You really thought you had something there huh?

I felt that thrashing through the internet.

[WeskerChildReborned]

I don't think that is the case, i think that the reason most devs concentrate on consoles are because more casuals would buy a console over a gaming PC, usually i think somebody who is more interested in gaming getting a PC but people who don't care about graphics or the other technical details may just prefer consoles.

[Sharius]

so if i want to play those game like vanquish, ninja gaiden, demon's soul.... i better go with PC

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entri...

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

Pachter is only right when he Disses Nintendo...

>.>
/Sarcasm

[BoNeSaW23]

I disagree.

Pachter is ALWAYS right when he disses Nintendo.

>.>
/S

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

I disagree with you Sir!
but for some reason you made me laugh!

So, I will Angrily give you this "Funny" Bubble-up vote!
ANGRILY!

[zpoc]

it's sad but true - *all* recent and upcoming big ticket console games are skipping PC...

dead space 3
far cry 3
assassin's creed 3
Alien Colonial Marines
Call of Duty Black Ops 2
Dishonored
Bioshock Infinite
Hitman Absolution
XCOM
crysis 3

the list goes on and on. clearly PC as a gaming platform is "ABANDONED"...!!!!

[porkChop]

You really shouldn't have mentioned Dead Space 3. It's not a proper PC version, just a port. Not only that, but it's a STRAIGHT port, no upgraded graphics or anything, no graphical options. The port is horrible, and their excuse is that they want everyone to have the same experience and that they don't care what PC gamers think they're entitled to.

[RuperttheBear]

Um, it has actually got graphic options, and looks quite lovely on my pc. 60fps goodness on a screen.

[zpoc]

dude, ds3 has has plenty of graphics options ( as much or more than than most PC games). you may have read a misinformed article stating otherwise, but here are a few of the tweakable options:

post processing
motion blur
light quality/accumulation
anti aliasing
shader quality
shadow quality
antistropic filtering
depth of field
SSAO

...and more

and it's really well optimized - on my i5/radeon 4890 rig i can play the game maxed out at 1080p and it's smooth as butter.

[danny818]

Patcher is sexy

[DomceM]

they focus on the more gullible public that is willing to buy online passes, and DLC, and generally be nickel and dimed. They also want an audience that has lower standards... Its easier to sell games that way.

[landog]

too bad 98% of every multiplat pc game ever made outshines it console couterpart by 10 fold

every game that is on pc/360/ps3 is BEST on pc

double, triple, quadrouple the native resolution

double, triple, quadrouple the anti aliasing

double, triple, quadrouple the textures

double, triple, quadrouple the physics

double, triple, quadrouple the performance

say whatever you want old patcher, pc makes more money than ps3/360 combined....

http://www.engadget.com/201...

pc has insanely better looking games and the prices make console game pricing look like a twisted joke

and come next gen, pc will still be getting the best version of every multiplat game for less money with mods and all those tasty extras

ps4/nextbox will NOT be able to deliver what pc can today, bet on that!

[dalibor]

Hey I'm a console gamer only and what you wrote hurt my feelings.
Psych!
My feelings are not hurt but I am a console gamer only.
But you are correct in that the new consoles would not be able to compete with the behemoth of raw power known as a computer. But they will produce some great games though, well at least exclusive wise. I should venture and get myself a gaming rig, I've only played consoles thus far, might be time to try something different and venture into a new path.

[e-p-ayeaH]

Patcher is simply a bad joke

[just-joe]

So what does it take to be an analyst? Just say random crap and pretend it's fact? Hey everyone, let's all be analyst!

[aliengmr]

So how does Steam having more than 100% sales growth annually since 04 factor in to the decline? Why does EA bother with Origin?

PC gaming will always be around just like it always has.

[ninjahunter]

Big, well developed games on pc get pirated thats a fact, they also turn a profit, thats also a fact, I cant speak for everyone, but this isnt like the wii, where there was something like a 95% piracy rate on "hardcore" games. Game still sell on PC, and actually copy for copy, theres a bigger profit on PC sales. You dont have Microsoft double dipping, and a massive requirement for huge expense publishers.

[DigitalSmoke]

Oh thank you Mr Pachter for stating a 10 year old obvious, your vision in the industry is mind blowing. . .

Now pls stop posting he's crap plz thanks.

[mmj]

Nothing to do with the following benefits then?

- Games sell for £35-40 rather than £20.
- Can rob console users blind with DLC, often 'content' cut out of the game.
- Less headaches with compatiblity and support.

No of course not, it's just piracy to blame which doesn't exist on consoles... /sarcasm.

[kingPoS]

Hahahaha! doesn't he know it's 2013?! The xbox & wii have been cracked long ago, and the ps3's been like that a for couple years now.

Just where does Patcher get his info from???

[TheOneEyedHound]

Patcher is a visionary.

[Tzuno]

Cuz DLC bringz monay!!!

[Coach_McGuirk]

this article ought to stir up some conflicted emotions in the anti-pc crowd.

[kostchtchie_]

ha ha piracy REALLY, still using that OLD SHIT, stop paying publishers and share holders millions and ripping gamers off to pay for it, DLC / online passes / PAY to play multiplayer, and stop the rehash of games again and again and again

they jumped on console for one reason MS cash and now they are stuck here pushing out 70% garbage games for 2 times as much cost to buy on PC... blaming piracy fuck off

[cleverusername]

Piracy? They're 'elite' gamers for crying out loud you can't expect them to pay like the rest of us!!

[HonestDragon]

Piracy has been a huge problem in general. PC is no exception to piracy. If anything, it's worse because of the number of channels people can go through to get a game for basically free on PC. That's why publishers avoid making their multiplatform games available on PC. There's always the risk of wasting money on production for PC ports and not seeing that revenue back to break even and then earn profit from that platform.

There are a lot of games coming out this year that are PC exclusive and even a good handful of multiplatform games going to PC. The question is how are those games going to be affected by piracy? How many people are going to torrent and mod the games? If a gamer truly wants to support the industry, they will buy the game instead of download it for free. If they are unsure of a game, researching a game's performance is not out of the question either.

PC gaming is growing. Piracy is, however, not going to stop. Unless you, the gamers, make the effort to show publishers that PC is worth the investment for console ready games, then you must support the game new rather than pirate the game. If you're unsure of a game, do your research and see what friends and reviewers are saying. If you can invest in a gaming PC, then you can invest in good games for that PC.

[Triggytrolls]

I've only just started gaming on PC, (recently built one)I really wanted to play DayZ.. also looking forward to SimCity, and love all the RTS games (something consoles do not have)

[ChillOut707]

Custom Firmwares on PS3 and PSP , Jtag on Xbox360 , R4 on DS and all the hard mods that were in the past consoles generations all say hello

At least PC has steam which is the cheapest market in all those platforms which may convince console gamers to buy a mid-range pc equivalent to their consoles in order to save a lot of money in the long run due to the difference between games prices in PC and consoles with more decent graphic and FPS and that mid-range PC may survive in the first years of Next Gen Consoles without the need to transition , Steam sales also may convince the one patcher called pirates to buy the game to play the online features of their pirated games in a nice price

[ufo8mycat]

Some of it is due to piracy, but I believe some of it is simply due to people not bothering to buy games on PC anymore, simply because you can already get them on 360 or PS3

Me for instance. The last game I played on my PC was The Witcher 2. Now I know that it is now available for 360, but at the time I thought it was going to stay PC exclusive and not come to PS3 or 360, so I decided to buy it for PC (awesome game btw). Ever sine then I have not touched my gaming PC, simply because I could play all the games on 360 or PS3, kind of leaving the PC irrelevant.

Bit hard to get high sales on games, when the more dominent platforms have the same games also.