Mark Rein of Epic Games recently told the story of the shift
in gaming from the PC to consoles.
“When Call of Duty 4 came out, I heard
some of our guys sitting around talking about the great game they'd had last
night and I'm like, 'Hey guys, what server are you playing on? I'd love to come
and join you,' and they said, 'Just send us a friends request,'” he said.
“It was at that point I realized they were all playing it on
console. Plus, the sales of the console versions are something like ten times
the sales of the PC versions,” Rein continued. “I'm a real fan of the PC, but
yes, consoles are definitely stealing a lot of hardcore gamers from the PC.”
The controlled nature of consoles, along with the
multiplayer capabilities of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, are enticing former
PC gaming faithful with their relatively hassle-free experience. The open,
uncontrolled nature of the PC, is both the platform’s strength and weakness.
According to Dean Takahashi’s blog on Mercury News,
the major powers in PC technology will soon announce a fellowship amongst them
called the PC Gaming Alliance. The reveal is said to take place at next week’s
Games Developers Conference, and will include Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, AMD and
several other computer companies.
The aim of the PC Gaming Alliance is to keep the PC as a
viable and attractive platform for developers, and to remain competitive with
the console industry.
This comes shortly after NPD revealed its data showing that
PC game accounted for only 14
percent of retail game sales in 2007. NPD, however, did not track digital
download or online subscription sales for 2007, a now considerable factor in
the PC market. NPD announced recently that it intends to begin collecting
information on game subscriptions for online games such as MMOs.
Blizzard with its online model seems to be flourishing even
with the rise in console sales. “We believe that the PC gaming industry is
strong when you look at everything together,” said Mike Morhaime, president of
Blizzard Entertainment, last week at the DICE Summit. World of Warcraft currently has more than 10
million subscribers pouring money into PC gaming, but the monthly revenue
generated isn’t counted as part of retail sales.
The Games Developer Conference 2008 runs from February 18 to 22
in San Francisco.