PC games market declining

The U.S. PC games market will continue its decline, with PwC eyeing a contraction from an estimated $969 million in 2006 to $840 million in 2011

That's too bad, I really enjoy gaming on the PC. In particular, LAN gaming with a friend on two PCs is so much more enjoyable than playing on a console sharing a television screen, no matter the size, split screen is just awful. And first person shooters with KB+M can't be beat!

The reality is though, that decline isn't overly massive, so there should still be some decent games out on the PC in 2011, and online PC gaming will no doubt increase (not that I personally care about online gaming much - don't care for MMOs). With current hardware, industry standardization (at least attempts), tools such as XNA, cross-platform devices (360 controller for example), gaming on the pc should get much easier for both users and developers, so who knows what will happen!

Then again, games like Star Wars Force Unleashed seem to already be casualties of a small PC game market, and Microsoft's LIVE implementation for the PC sounds like it was intentionally bad...certainly not helping the cause :?

However, the main point of the article above is that the video game industry overall in the U.S. will surpass the music industry in 2008. Interesting, but not too surprising :P

Makes no difference, not in the long run. So the console market is on an upswing, and the PC market, a bit of a dip--so what? So long as there are computers, and so long as people like to have fun, games will be developed to feed my hunger. How big the game companies are, and who funds them, will always be in cyclical flux; there may be a phase when the slickest, most innovative stuff is, in fact, entrenched in the console market.

And, so history goes, somehow, some way, a new wave of game innovators will swoop in to fill the PC market gap.

No worries; just keep enjoying your stuff. More will always be on the horizon.

This is just temporary. It is inevitable that console hardware will just get surpassed. Sure, the consoles are powerful now, but give it a couple of years, and we'll all be having terabyte hard drives and 8 gigs of ram. Since consoles are not upgradable, PCs will always surpass them, especially now with the addition of DX10. Maybe in a few years we'll see DX11, while consoles are still running what we see today.

SO this rise in the console market and fall in pc market will even out in a couple of years.

As I see micro soft wants to control the pc game market. mirco soft needs to try harder they never ever own the pc market LOl

micro soft knows pc games are just better so they tryed to buy out the game devs. I guess it didn't work.lol now they trying are to force them in vista. I wonder how much they payed the writer to write this artle. console suck end of story!

so sony and mirco soft when is the next junk on sale! lol

It is suprising to see just the number of PC games that are on the shelves. I went in the other day to EB and there were only two racks of games.Los9090

There is a difference reason for that....EB games does not rent out PC games....but they do console games.....and make a huge profit off that.....go to somewhere like Best Buy (which doesnt rent) and from what I saw, the PC section was larger then any individual console sections.

As I see micro soft wants to control the pc game market. mirco soft needs to try harder they never ever own the pc market LOl

micro soft knows pc games are just better so they tryed to buy out the game devs. I guess it didn't work.lol now they trying are to force them in vista. I wonder how much they payed the writer to write this artle. console suck end of story!

so sony and mirco soft when is the next junk on sale! lol

blackdreamhunk

first off its mircosoft

and microsoft is trying very hard to control the pc market, espesially with vista out

This has been proven wrong many times, 1) thats only US , 2) It doesnt include MMROPGs or Digital Downloads (becoming very popular) or games sold over ebay ect.Meu2k7

I don't think anyone, anyone intelligent anyway :P is saying the PC game market is going to completely vanish. However, it does appear that the PC game market is shrinking --- shrinking more into a niche market.

This does not mean people aren't playing games on their pc though, but they aren't buying many, or as many, games.

Look a the sports genre for example, there is still no MLB baseball game for the PC, the latest version of Madden still does not use next-gen graphics engine that has been available for the 360. If the demand was there, things would be different.

You have a point about digital downloads not being included though, but at this time, digital sales are less than retail sales, but not having them included in the numbers is definitely a misrepresentation overall.

Maybe this is indeed just cyclical as some people have suggested. Maybe MMOs are just a trend (IMO they are here to stay), where people are spending more time with fewer games, which is helping shrink the market with less game sales. Subscriptions from some MMOs are profitable, but that helps drive the PC to a niche style market. Time will tell...

[QUOTE="Los9090"]It is suprising to see just the number of PC games that are on the shelves. I went in the other day to EB and there were only two racks of games.cobrax25

There is a difference reason for that....EB games does not rent out PC games....but they do console games.....and make a huge profit off that.....go to somewhere like Best Buy (which doesnt rent) and from what I saw, the PC section was larger then any individual console sections.

First off, Most of those PC games just flat out suck. At my Best Buy, they carry only the newest releases, and the most popular games. Try finding a good one or two year old game that didn't sell a million copies there. You won't - period. Wanna play Splinter Cell? You can choose from the worst one to date, SP IV. Want to play prince of Persia? You don't. Want to play SWG? Well, you can buy a game card, which is worthless without a Key, which you can't buy there. Not tat you would want to anyhow. Want to play a goo RPG? Well, there's Silverfall - nothing else exists there. Not even NWN2. oh, you can buy the strategy guide though - that's still popular. Want to play an FPS? Well, you have about a million different choices, and they all suck. Want to play Jewel Quest 2? NO PROBLEM! How about Barbie's Grand Makeup Parade? You're in luck! Beethoven's 23rd (about the dog). Sweet, cuz you can sign up for some of that too.

The best way for the PC Gaming market to really pick up steam is for the developers to stop making crappy games. Even better, Publishers need to start allowing the Developers to make those good games and stop hounding them for release dates. On top of that, PC Developers need to stop "Breaking the current benchmarks!" Why do they always feel the need to create some new engine with cutting edge technology, when there is plenty of good stuff out there now? Not a single game used the Doom3 Engine except for Doom3. i remember when every FPS out there used the QuakeIII engine, and they all were better than the previous. PC games were good four years ago when they spent the money to buy a liscense and spent the time making those assets their own. What do you get when you build your own proprietary engine? A buggy, crappy, dense, game.

Not a single game used the Doom3 Engine except for Doom3. i remember when every FPS out there used the QuakeIII engine, and they all were better than the previous. PC games were good four years ago when they spent the money to buy a liscense and spent the time making those assets their own. What do you get when you build your own proprietary engine? A buggy, crappy, dense, game.

crimson_axe

Prey and Quake4 used d3 engine. And really..it's just ID that's not popular anymore in engine licensing. We saw lots of Unreal2.0, Gamebryo and Source licensed games and now we're seeing the same with UE3.0

and devs mostly use their own engines in two cases: either they don't have money for a new one or none of existing engines is suited for their needs.

PC 'till I die.

8)

[QUOTE="Meu2k7"]This has been proven wrong many times, 1) thats only US , 2) It doesnt include MMROPGs or Digital Downloads (becoming very popular) or games sold over ebay ect.Nitrous2O

I don't think anyone, anyone intelligent anyway :P is saying the PC game market is going to completely vanish. However, it does appear that the PC game market is shrinking --- shrinking more into a niche market.

This does not mean people aren't playing games on their pc though, but they aren't buying many, or as many, games.

Look a the sports genre for example, there is still no MLB baseball game for the PC, the latest version of Madden still does not use next-gen graphics engine that has been available for the 360. If the demand was there, things would be different.

You have a point about digital downloads not being included though, but at this time, digital sales are less than retail sales, but not having them included in the numbers is definitely a misrepresentation overall.

Maybe this is indeed just cyclical as some people have suggested. Maybe MMOs are just a trend (IMO they are here to stay), where people are spending more time with fewer games, which is helping shrink the market with less game sales. Subscriptions from some MMOs are profitable, but that helps drive the PC to a niche style market. Time will tell...

Didn't you even read his first point, they were US only figures. And US isn't the biggest market for pc games.

Didn't you even read his first point, they were US only figures. And US isn't the biggest market for pc games. froidnite

Personally, I don't have a problem with that article discussing US PC games market

1) I'm very interested in the US market, it has direct impact on myself, and has the games I'm most interested in

2) I absolutely, no question, appreciate the Euro market! It's nice to see so that many Europeans embrace gaming on the PC. However, all the data I've read indicate even the European market has stagnated, so it makes no difference that data was left out of the article. However, AdrianWerner seems to have found data that indicates 2006/2007 retail have actually improved, not sure if this is referring to any market in specific though, but that's good news.

3) I'm not that interested in the Asia Pacific market at present. For the moment anyway, that market very heavily favors online and MMO type of games. I just don't see that market driving any broadening of the pc games market overall.

Anyway, that's cool so many of you are optimistic!

[QUOTE="froidnite"]Didn't you even read his first point, they were US only figures. And US isn't the biggest market for pc games. Nitrous2O

Personally, I don't have a problem with that article discussing US PC games market

1) I'm very interested in the US market, it has direct impact on myself, and has the games I'm most interested in

2) I absolutely, no question, appreciate the Euro market! It's nice to see so that many Europeans embrace gaming on the PC. However, all the data I've read indicate even the European market has stagnated, so it makes no difference that data was left out of the article. However, AdrianWerner seems to have found data that indicates 2006/2007 retail have actually improved, not sure if this is referring to any market in specific though, but that's good news.

3) I'm not that interested in the Asia Pacific market at present. For the moment anyway, that market very heavily favors online and MMO type of games. I just don't see that market driving any broadening of the pc games market overall.

Anyway, that's cool so many of you are optimistic!

It doesn't matter what you are interested in. How can you come to the conclusion that PC games market is declining considering only US sales?

We seem optimistic to you cos ur a peccimist (Assuming that you actually care abt PC gaming).

However, AdrianWerner seems to have found data that indicates 2006/2007 retail have actually improved, not sure if this is referring to any market in specific though, but that's good news.

Nitrous2O

last year US retail pcgaming sales improved by 2% additionaly they started to add online revenues and the whole US market was told tobe 1,4billion/year. Additionaly this year the Q1 improved by 40% over Q1 2006.(of course WoW: BC is mostly cause of that, but not the sole cause). Also... while online was merely 100mln$ in 1999 worldwide, it was 2billion in 2004, before the Wow and Steam insanity started. Pcgaming is doing well, it's just in transistory state, moving towards more idependent forms of game distribution.

They still dont count digital sales on NPD numbers....which is a huge difference....because as we all know Steam has 13 million memebers...and WOW....well do I even have to mention its popularity.....yet those are still not counted.cobrax25

First off, Cobrax25 your sig is hilarious.

Yea last time I was at gamestop, they had a small rack allll the way in the back of the store for PC games and all the games were stacked so tightly together. I'm not very worried about the "decline" of pc games. It just means we wont get those junky bullsh!t titles. I don't think we are missing out on much. PC gaming will never ever go away.

This is just temporary. It is inevitable that console hardware will just get surpassed. Sure, the consoles are powerful now, but give it a couple of years, and we'll all be having terabyte hard drives and 8 gigs of ram. Since consoles are not upgradable, PCs will always surpass them, especially now with the addition of DX10. Maybe in a few years we'll see DX11, while consoles are still running what we see today.

SO this rise in the console market and fall in pc market will even out in a couple of years.

FragMonkey09

Except for the fact that game sales don't relate to system power....

Take the PS2 for example, 120 million systems sold and it was the least powerful of the 3 consoles. Also, this generation, look at thw Wii, it's doing very well and is very underpowered. The only people who care about power are hardcore pc gamers.

blah blah blah blah blah.... hm?.... blah blah blah blah BLAH! as whoever said ^ "isn't this horse dead yet?" only add an exclamation point after mine:Isn't this horse dead yet?!Reesicup

Keep those blinders on.....

Anyways, I have to head to my local EBgame and check out the half rack of pc games they now have. Cya

Those figures do not take in account online purchases/downloads like Steam, Direct2drive, etc etc.. So this topic fails.

And its gonna be odvious that those retail figures are gonna go lower when more and more people from the already substantial amount buy games online directly.. Those retail figures NEVER include that ever. Nor do they include the massive amount of MMO subscriptions either.

[QUOTE="Reesicup"]blah blah blah blah blah.... hm?.... blah blah blah blah BLAH! as whoever said ^ "isn't this horse dead yet?" only add an exclamation point after mine:Isn't this horse dead yet?!Endgame_basic

Keep those blinders on.....

Anyways, I have to head to my local EBgame and check out the half rack of pc games they now have. Cya

If you didn't know this already EBgames/Gamestop have their own direct2drive on their website where you can buy direct downloads to numerous titles so your point is moot.

So I'm Guessing No1 suspects the gradual decline of the market is an effect of Piracy....(first post)Projekt_Enigma

If you have a PC, you can copy PlayStation games (for example) just as easily... So I don't think that is the main reason for the decline. I think one of the main problems with PC gaming is the system requirements thing... When you have an Xbox, you buy Xbox games and you play them, if you have a PS you buy PS games and you play... But if you have a PC it's not as simple as that. You have to check out if your CPU can handle the game, than check out if you have enough RAM, than look at the GPU requirements... and you get pissed off when one of these things is not good enough. Also, console games can be ran much more easily (no installing...)...

Meh, for one it's a best-guess.

PC gaming is more common than any console in many parts of asia, including korea. So we aren't going to see any shortage of games anytime soon. I wouldn't worry... at all. Right now, there is a dry spell for games... but I'm looking foreward to quite a few on the horizon.

It's just more expensive to keep a high performing PC up, but even if there are fewer games... PC games are just more fun (imo of course). I like a good platformer... but they get old with time. I'll take my PC first person shooters, RTS's, rpg and mmorpg's over console games anyday.

PC 'till I die.

8)

nightharvest

couldn't say it better.

i was thinking really hard whether to goto consoles... and even at my age of 26 and finally making real money, i just can't imagine switching over ... PC gamers are the hardcore gamers for a reason. i aint going nowhere.

As I see micro soft wants to control the pc game market. mirco soft needs to try harder they never ever own the pc market LOl

micro soft knows pc games are just better so they tryed to buy out the game devs. I guess it didn't work.lol now they trying are to force them in vista. I wonder how much they payed the writer to write this artle. console suck end of story!

so sony and mirco soft when is the next junk on sale! lol

blackdreamhunk

Ever heard of a pronoun? BTW it's Microsoft.

The dude obviously didnt see how much Dgital Downloads sell for pc games..

Wow, an old article from 2007 that does not use citation. What year is today again?

lock this please.

oh another analyst predictionnutcrackr

[QUOTE=but at this time, digital sales are less than retail sales

Nitrous2O

No its not