Pay To Play - Can We Save PC Gaming?
June 13th 2008 06:06
The news for the gaming industry could not be better. Sales have overtaken Hollywood and more recently the music industry. This golden era has been brought about by the changing of the guard - PC's, once the bastion of the gamer, is now seemingly relegated to the internet cafes and basements of the hardcore Starcraft or World of Warcraft player. The ease in which casual gamers can pick up and play the latest title without the fear of hardware issues or constant patching, combined with the quality of next generation graphics and gamplay has opened the console floodgates. Only Superman flying around the world against its current rotation could change the fact. Opinions vary as to the health of PC gaming. Sales figures for 2007 state that the PC platform consists of 14% of the market and with the recent console success of titles such as GTA IV this can only have dropped. Those with a vested interest in the PC platform site the lack of digital distribution sales data being included as the reason.
Valve has also stepped into the debate, taking a leadership role by explaining the situation to journalists. "You've got these new models that are coming out of Southeast Asia," Newell said. "Let's look at microtransactions and character customization and free-to-play, because that seems to find a certain kind of customer. [Nexon's] Kart Rider and Maple Story are completely invisible to the vast number of business press and to stock analysts who are looking at this market. What you end up getting is coverage of the gaming industry that is very much driven out of English-language retail packaged goods sales... If you have your United States and UK blinders on you're going to see one thing, but as soon as you start looking into the bigger picture you're going to see something very different."
As long as the game balance is unaffected, single player games continue as they are and we don't have a situation where games end up costing twice as much for something we are already used to, it can only be a good direction for PC gaming and its long term health.
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