PC Games Sales 80% digital In 2009.

PC Games sales now 80% digital. The Digital Trend is taking over. PC Games revenues are up 3% in 2009. Meanwhile PC retail is getting hit hard.

[champ21]

Steam did annouce their sales were up 200% for the year 2009. Digital seems to be going strong.

[Raf1k1]

True but it seems cheaper to buy PC games from online stores. Steam had BC2 on for £35 while I was able to get it from play.com for £25 which is great as I don't need to keep waiting for it to download whenever I decide to install it.

The one thing I think Steam and other such services are missing is the ability to sell on your games to other people. Even if they charge a small service charge I think it would be a great feature to have.

[t850]

but but, pc gaming is supposed to be dead.

Looks live and strong to me.

[Nathan Drake2]

crysis-the most hyped PC exclusive in last 3 years-1 million sold

PC is dead.

[TheIneffableBob]

You mean 3 million sold.

[Letros]

And they profited off those 3 million...managed to make the most technologically advanced game ever and made money off it, go figure, what were their intentions, crazy Germans.

[tdrules]

you do make a good point and I can agree slightly.
But Steam for me anyway is all about convenience, the Steam Cloud, the fact I can install my games onto different PCs quickly is what i see as something they could very well charge monthly for.
Also, the problem with Digital Distribution is that the service gets a cut, as does the Publisher, therefore the Publisher increases the RRP to make sure they make the same profit they would do if they were selling retail.

[XxRoosterxX]

@raf1k1

The whole point of digital distribution is to eliminate the used games market.

Download-only games are cheaper to make, that's why steam has so many sales. And they are harder to pirate, especially if you buy from a client like Steam.

In summary, no selling your games would never happen. You could sell your account, but that against Steam's ULA, and they will in all likelihood ban your IP.

[EvilBlackCat]

@ NathanDrake

"crysis-the most hyped PC exclusive in last 3 years-1 million sold. PC is dead"

well more like this

"crysis-the most hyped PC exclusive in last 3 years and still kicking today games ass"

LONG LIVE PC

[Raf1k1]

@tdrules,
I understand your point of view and Steam is a great service but TBH when it comes to new (just released) games it's usually cheaper to buy from online stores.
Some games allow you to activate on Steam (e.g. UT3) which is great as it gives you the benefit of being able to install quickly from disk while still having the option to download if you lose the disk.

@XxRoosterxX,
I don't know about getting rid of the used games market but I personally don't see anything wrong with allowing people to trade their games. The service can include a service charge which is fine by me but it's likely Publishers will want a cut too so I think such a thing should be trialled first to see if it works out for everyone involved.

As for download only games costing less the only thing they save money on is the cost of getting the game onto disk and maybe shipping. Actually making the game would cost the same either way as far as I know.

[pangitkqb]

And yet hard copies still make up roughly 50 % of my PC gaming Purchases. I bought a copy of Battlefield Bad Company 2 from Best Buy.

[FragGen]

@1.5: Right! And that's why they're making Cry2 a console game! Oh wait... nevermind.

FWIW, 100% of my PC purchases last year were digital (Steam). I tend to bargain shop for the PC on Steam, though. I rarely buy day one or preorder PC stuff. Maybe BF3, I will.

[avengers1978]

PC is dead, just look at what goes on, games are developed for consoles first and then ported to pc, the games on steam, and gametap, and other services like that all have console games, and sometimes you have to wait for a month or a year to play games that were launched on the console. Plus pc games mostly fit a specific fan for a specific game, WoW, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, The Sims.

The only thing that keeps pc gaming going is the fact that basically everyone on the planet has a pc.

[ryuzu]

So much ignorance about PC gaming in some of these comments - if you think PC gaming is dead then you are not a gamer; it's as simple as that.

r.

[XxRoosterxX]

@raf1k1

There is nothing wrong about trading games,but it's not in Valve's or any publisher's best interest to let people trade games, even if there was a small fee.

Why let a person buy a game for $50 and charge them like $20 to trade when they could just force the two of you into buying a copy of the game for full price ($50 X 2 = $100, $100 > $70)

And also have you ever seen a Gamestop sell used PC games?

The answer is no, because they'd have to keep track of CD Key and other stuff they don't want to deal with.

[Raf1k1]

I live in the UK so we don't have Gamestop here but you're right I don't see it in Game, Gamestation or any other store we have here but I do see games being sold at CEX.

What you've said does make sense but it would be good to be able to have that option. It's just a shame that it's not something that's likely to happen.

[Letros]

Wonder if Valve will ever release sales quantity for Steam, seems to be really no need to other than to debunk the myth that PC gaming is dying.

Steam has streamlined PC gaming, granted it wasn't long ago an unfamiliar person might have frustrations with it, but now it's so easy a caveman could do it, but a PC made of stone might now power up so well...

[Captain Tuttle]

More money for developers. Cut out the middle man.

[Wikkid666]

What... what? Games can be digital? According to PS3 fanboys a good game can only come on Blu-ray. Digital downloads and streaming are the future... and I welcome it.

[AssassinHD]

Congratulations on being the first person to make mention of a console in this PC article. The link to the Xbox 360 section can be found on the blue bar below the ad space up top.

[Wikkid666]

AssassinHD

Congratulations on not being able to read. It's under the Game Industry Section! and it was sarcasm. FNR!

[AssassinHD]

It was not sarcasm. It was an attempt at trolling. I don't care what section it is under. The fact that this article is in the industry section does not make it ok to make off topic flame bait comments.

[Corrwin]

I remember the days when game stores were halved - one half (if not more) was PC games, the other was ALL of console games. Nowadays you'd be pressed the find a store that has more than one wall dedicated to PC games.

It's a shame. I loved browsing all those large boxes, it just seemed magical compared to the uniform SNES, Mega Drive boxes. It was like browsing in a book store - you're eyes being caught by a peculiar box.

Now they all look alike, and in many ways, with the death of many a genre, they're all starting to play alike too :|

[Nathan Drake2]

i was wrong.crysis 3 million sold.PC is not dead.

[AssassinHD]

Even if Crysis had only sold 1 million, the PC would not be dead. There are more people playing games on PC every day than all of the consoles combined. Granted I am considering every game from Farmville to World of Warcraft, but a game is a game. There are many very talented developers creating great games for the PC, and on top of that there are many incredibly talented modders who work to extend the experience of the games. PC gaming is not going anywhere.

[Eternally33]

It dies tomorrow.

[champ21]

crysis sold slow initially cause no one had the hardware to play it.

Though anyone who had the hardware to play crysis in 2007, can still play any of todays games maxxed out.

Digital sales are going strong. its a hint for developers even if the retail is dieing digital is more then making up for it(steam alone being 25million). PC gamers vote with their money, make good games and they will sell on the pc platform.

[PotNoodle]

The core PC audience is among the very hardcore. They won't follow trends or hype half as easy as much of the console audience, and i don't mean that in a bad way, because i'm in both those audiences.

But what i'm saying is that while many of you lot think Crysis was the be-all and end-all for PC games, you're completely wrong. Many bought it just to see what the graphics were like and dropped it, its rare to even find a PC gamer talking about that game when they speak /best/ PC games.

There are other games that are more hyped within the PC community, and will probably sell more. The only reason the media picked up on crysis is because of its pretty graphics.

[Revvin]

High street games stores have forsaken the PC gamer for years. It used to be the dominant format for shelf space not in my local stores it gets just a few half height shelves. That said I still have a hard time believing the 80% figure I know a lot of my gaming friends still like a physical copy but even more so like to have a bargain and the online stores like Steam etc still often sell games at their full RRP. As another poster said Steam had BFBC 2 for £35 but I bought a physical copy online for £25. I really like Steam for its convenience of not having to swap DVD's but I don't like it enough to pay £10 extra.

[nilamo]

I really don't like this trend of everything going digital download. If everything went digital and there were no hard copies, game prices would be dictated by publishers and not market competition (which means no more cheap deals take a look at xbox live originals, psn and live arcade store, steam seems the only exception in this). Stores lower game prices because they need to get rid of stock, with digital there would be no point doing that. Game stores will go bankrupt. Besides you would not own the copy, you wouldn't be able to sell it, rent it, trade it, loan it to a friend etc. For that reason I love that sony is marketing blu ray so heavily and hate ms for wanting to go all digital next gen (if they really want digital to take off they really need to stop overpricing those cheaply made HDD's)

[champ21]

thats because PSN and MS network have no competition. You wont find another online store selling sony games niether will you find another store selling Xbox games.

For the PC steam has competition to worry about.

Hence i agree consoles going online would be bad for the console user.

Also its Microsoft selling overpriced HDD's they sell 60gig for 100usd or so. on pc you could get 1.5tb for 100usd.

[mrv321]

'What... what? Games can be digital? According to PS3 fanboys a good game can only come on Blu-ray. Digital downloads and streaming are the future... and I welcome it.'

Hmm... the Final Fantasy 13 games was 36gb... that's large believe it or not. I get 200kb/s on my connection which is good for online play but not downloads.

Oh wait your a 360 owner and your games are limited to 8gb.

[avengers1978]

Except all the games your getting on STEAM, right that's what there really talking about, or gametap, anyway all those games were developed for console gamers, and almost everygame that comesout is developed for the console first and then put onto pc. Then when something bigger comes out like WOW, or Startrek online, or starcraft 2, if or when diablo 3 comes out you will not be downloading these games you will go to a store buy them and then load them into your computer. Console gamers have taken over the market of gameing and the developers are thinking of there needs before the needs of pc gamers.

[dredgewalker]

As long as everyone has a pc it will simply not die. No one can deny the huge number of people who owns pc's than consoles.

[Omega Zues]

Currently Nvidia has been in a long battle with Intel, Then of course Intel is working on their own graphic card and ATI just seems to be rolling along casually.

But it never helps that with any new Graphic card there comes that premium cost. It also doesnt help even developers keep jumping around development across video cards so not one single "card" will ever be truly maxed out. Currently I own a 5870 and I doubt there will ever be a developer who will truly use it to its fullest.

So on a price point for a consumer theres around a bajjilion options out there which makes it confusing at times. For example do I get a cheap rig to play 80% of todays games, or do I invest more and have a longer lasting system with out constant upgrades. Thats just 2 of many battles people have on a day to day basis for Pc.

However I do see a medium in the Pc world finally coming, Its what Valve and Blizzard are doing. Making good looking games, fun to play but by no means considered High end benchmarking crushing material. This is of course obvious so more people can play with lower end systems but does beg the question. "So whats the point of high end cards today?" The answer is...."very little."

eh, just my 2 cents.

[ATi_Elite]

I totally agree as I'm running 2 XFX HD 4890 in crossfire @ 1ghz each and I can run through any and every game MAxed out 8x AA 16x AF no problem. Only Crysis Stalker and Arma II run below 100 FPS.

Waiting for Doom 4 because Doom 3 made gamers upgrade

[MrBuffalo]

I wouldn't be surprised if the next round of consoles dont have a disc drive at all. All our homes will soon be barewalled with empty shelves with all our films, books, music, photos and games stored on a console. Well maybe not by next generation but I definately see this as happening eventually.

[champ21]

that would be very very bad for the console gamer. since there would be no competition for online DD for consoles. It would just be sony and microsoft, prices would stay stagnant.

Steam gives very good deals because it must compete against other DD services.

[hoops]

Sony and MS have said they would not be surprised if the next round of consoles have no optical drive like Blu Ray or DVD.
Even Carmack thinks so

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/3...

The better option for the next round of consoles ar SSD or massive faster HDD. These are better then optical media.
You use optical meida or SD cards to install the game. You have the hard copy but you play the entire game on the HDD or SSD

[GrilledCheeseBook]

they'll have drives for the markets where internet hasn't penetrated to a high degree yet. Plus all the little kids who like to walk into stores and buy the box wouldn't be able to which would lessen impulse buys. I'm pretty sure publishers like those impulse sales from kids without credit cards

[ATi_Elite]

The next round of consoles wont be consoles but cheap PC's that say Sony or Microsoft. in all actuality the Wii is the only console.

If it has a optical drive a HDD a Cpu a 10/100 ethernet card Usb ports and a graphics and sound chip with a OS I'm sorry but that's a PC.

[kraze07]

I still buy retail copies of PC games whenever I can find them for a lower price than what's being offered for the DD version.

[chak_]

I've actually made a comment on steam's forum about digital second hand market

you can call me a fool here if you want : http://forums.steampowered....