Pc gaming is almost obsolete. Everything is mobile or console...

 

I'm afraid that your'e absolutely right, Ryan. Business goes where the money is. General public don't buy desktop computers. Laptops, tablets and smartphones is where the money is, and MS/shareholders are very much interested in where the money is.

 

But who cares about MS. I'll keep my Win7 Pro DVD at a safe and secure place

Microsoft will eventually end up like IBM, as some support company for enterprise computing. Here's my view of MS:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0yXqU-w9U0

I'm afraid that your'e absolutely right, Ryan. Business goes where the money is. General public don't buy desktop computers. Laptops, tablets and smartphones is where the money is, and MS/shareholders are very much interested in where the money is.

 

But who cares about MS. I'll keep my Win7 Pro DVD at a safe and secure place

 

Game developers and publishers will certainly follow the money. PC game sales hit $20 billion last year (and have been climbing for several years now), with more than 1 billion gamers worldwide. Perhaps not as large as the combined console market, but I don't think many developers would turn away from a piece of that $20 billion.

 

http://www.techspot.com/news/52070-pc-game-sales-hit-20-billion-last-year-no-signs-of-slowing.html

 

And laptops still count as PCs.  :smile:

Microsoft is not getting out of the PC market, Operating Systems for PC Clients is what makes them the $$$$$, it is their life blood and Gates would likely pull all his 45% shares out from MS if they stopped developing Operating Systems for PC's (this would be due to huge economic consequences that would follow that line of idiocy). As for MS developing games, that they might PUBLISH games but not develop as they would have more control and still make money with less risk involved. 

 

If you think Consoles are the future of gaming you would be more wrong than the people that believed 2012 was going to be the end of the world. PC Gaming is what FORCES your consoles to have better graphics, lots of Console games are also developed on PC. Still think PC gaming is dead, go look at STEAM's economic profile, it economically smashes some of be biggest gaming companies in the world hands down. Fun Fact, EA tried to buy out STEAM for 5 BILLION USD in cash and it took the CEO of STEAM less than 12 hours to flat out reject John Riticello's offer. PC Gaming is still the future of all gaming out there as the PC Gamers are the reason the hardware companies push products so hard, if PC gaming was dead companies like ASUS and EVGA would be dead, and they are not only far from dead, they are very very successful.

PC gaming is not going away as long as Steam and games such as World of Warcraft and the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online are raking in the cash.

 

World of Warcraft still generates at least 8 million x $14.99 per month in revenue. And lots of those subscribers do server transfers or buy mounts at $25 a pop.

LOL Yes, that doesn't look obsolete at all. ^_^

And furthermore, who says you can't do both?  I don't think the desktop market, worldwide, is something to scoff at, though increasing demand for mobile devices has chipped away big time at desktop PC domination for many years.

When WOW and LoL and Dota no longer have 10's of millions of fans, that's when pc gaming dies. LoL was just licensed as a sport so people can get visas to come to the US to compete. When we no longer use pc's, pc gaming will die. The PC is the heart of the business world, so it's not going anywhere. Ipads replace computers for the average suburban tard who uses it for facebook, email, and twitter. Like your mom who plays candy crush. That consumer is not buying consoles or games. It drives me crazy when gaming journalists decry the end of consoles because of social or mobile gaming. Or that console manufacturers need to dumb down their console for the casual crowd. That consumer is not buying a $400 console or building a $3k gaming pc or buying games at $60 a pop. Both markets can coexist together. And the current and upcoming consoles are PC's at their heart. The PS4 was designed with more of a pc architecture to be easier to code for. And with the prevalent use of third party engines like Unreal or now Frostbite, it becomes very very easy to port games to any platform at very little cost. And offering your game on all consoles and the PC only increases sales. And oh yeah, games are created on PC's. I don't see DICE building the next Battlefield on an iPad.

 

I agree Nathan, when Steam no longer generates a billion+ in revenue a year, pc gaming dies.

Part way through these posts I realized how little I really know (despite thinking I did) about any of this, or where it's going....

 

...as opposed to almost everyone else who seems to have time penetrating radar and can read the not yet existing tea leaves.

 

Kind regards,

I had no idea there was still so much money in PC gaming. But then again it makes a ton of sense, judging by the size of Steam etc.

 

I've only used Steam once to get the latest sim city, the only other thing my desktop is used for is flight sim.

 

I have never bought a download console game though, for some reason I always go in and buy it. Might change that for the upcoming FIFA 14 and new Tom Clancy Rainbow coming out. Although with my Internet running to Best Buy might just be quicker....

 

Lee

Pc gaming is almost obsolete. Everything is mobile or console...

Sorry, buy you couldn't be more wrong.

 

The current versions of The Elder Scrolls series, or the Fallout series for example, stretch modern hardware to it's limits - the next generations will require even more powerful PCs. You do not, & will not, see them running on tablets.

I think that there are certain genres that will always be done best on the PC, that is of course simulations, I do think that it has become more of a niche market but its a very healthy one and will last for as long as people buy products and encourage new users into the hobby.

 

Its all about money and maximum profit and with the new consoles coming out for both Sony and Microsoft there is still serious money to be made. I own a PS3 and like to use it when i dont have a long time to sit down and do something which requires more effort.

 

However, I feel nothing beats the PC experience for immersion and I will be building a new PC next year to hopefully enjoy it even more.

PC gaming won't die, it will continue doing just fine thanks to services like Steam which offer very flexible and easy way to digitally obtain and use huge amount of different games. 

 

Also many of the most popular games, such as Minecraft have started as small indie projects, something that really exist for PC only as making them for consoles would be too expensive and complicated for small scale low budget game developers. 

 

Modding is a big factor too, very popular games such as DayZ which will soon be released as a standalone game started as mods for existing games, something that simply isn't possible with current console games which are more or less closed from all editing. 

 

Console gamin won't replace PC gaming even if it grows faster and the idea of mobile games replacing PC gaming is plain ridiculous, you simply can't play any complicated game properly on a small screen without proper controls

 

Also, no one buys PC games at retail stores anyway - it's all through digital services like Steam, Origin, Battle.net etc now. I seriously can't remember the last time I bought a boxed game. 

 

 

Lately I've been doing that quite a lot actually, it's possible to find many great old games as boxed products from retail stores, it gives me good memories to play a PC version of a game I played on PS2 when I was a kid...

 

I even found used FS98 which I bought for 2 euros, it doesn't seem to function properly on Win 7 (scenery turns black quickly) but I think it should work fine on my old laptop with Windows XP, going to test it soon. 

You should change your stance on Steam. Sure when it first launched people were unsure. What if it shuts down? What will happen to my games? It will not shut down. A huge benefit is having all your games localized in one place. No discs to lose or go searching for when you reinstall or rebuild your pc. No disc needed to play. No patches to go searching for. You don't have to drive to the store or wait for the mail. You've got a friends list like Xbox Live or PSN, achievements, play time.

 

Yeah, it's just so much more convenient. I recently put all my physical copies of games in storage because they were taking up too much space in my apartment. Even most games I used to have on discs, I've re-purchased during Steam sales for €2 - €8 each just for the convenience. With my current system, the only time I used the DVD drive was when installing Windows, and I could have done that via a USB key. When my current optical drive fails, I won't buy another (though it's unlikely to fail since I never use it).

 

The social aspect is also important vs offline-only games. Though I'm not a fan of it myself, that's where we're headed.

STEAM is THE PC JUGGERNAUT, many have tried including EA, Ubisoft, and Gamestop to rival STEAM and so far the only minor successful one is Gamestop and even they sell steam codes in their stores and on their website. STEAM has got it ALL RIGHT, unlimited amount of downloads for all your games, Greenlight that lets the community decide what new games will be made available, fairly decent customer service, and to top it all off the best gaming sales in existence every 6 months plus so really good random deals through out the entire year. This last summer sale I picked up 7 games at 66-75% off and some of those games were only 6-12 months old, spent around 80 bucks easy. Here is what I think of steam sales.......

 

OMG I love that pic. That's the truth for sure. Deep discount sales definitely get you spending. Before you know it you've spent over $100 on games you might not play for years. But you got them for $2-5 each; you can't pass that up!