PC gaming has been around for longer than I have, and it's still a reasonably strong competitor in the video gaming market. But lately, it has started dwindling. Consoles have exploded in popularity and gaming on a whole has shifted towards a casual focus; more kids and older adults are playing games than ever before, especially with the release of the Nintendo Wii and DS. Consoles are simple and have mass appeal. PC gaming however can be unreliable and expensive. Epic Games, always behind the PC in the past, has expressed it's doubts over the format now, and has announced it will be releasing the Unreal 4 game engine on consoles first. Unreal Tournament 3 sold disappointingly on PC and games like Crysis have caused a lot of gamers frustration over not being able to play it on their computers. Add that to a slightly disappointing release list for this year and it may look like the PC is going downhill. These are some of the problems that PC gaming suffers from today:
System Requirements
PC gaming is constantly evolving. Graphics just keep getting better and better, and people are in more and more need of dual/quad core processors, several gigabytes of RAM, and beastly graphics cards, perhaps even several in SLI. Unfortunately, most PCs come with budget graphics cards or even have it integrated. Yes, graphics add to the immersion. But it's really starting to seem like they are the most important factor, and this causes a lot of problems. Not only do customers constantly have to update their computers to play a new game well which is very expensive, but the gameplay and overall quality of the product can suffer. The game could be short, like Crysis was - albeit fun while it lasted, or unstable. Computers are fickle things and it's very important a game is made as reliable as possible for a wide range of systems. Frontlines: Fuel of War is a good example. A very entertaining game, but at release it didn't even work on a lot of computers running Vista.
Consoles have grown in popularity, with many PC gamers migrating to them because they're so user friendly. World of Warcraft is the most popular PC game despite having graphics that are functional at best. In my opinion, continued development of better graphics should be put on hold. There needs to be more of an emphasis on new, exciting gameplay and innovation. Audiosurf is a fantastic game released lately. The game looks smart enough, but the visuals are still basic. The game is a music/puzzle/racing hybrid that uses your own music to make the levels. It's extremely addictive, I've clocked 25 hours of gameplay out of it so far, and it only cost £6 from Steam. We are in need of more ingenuity like Audiosurf.
If the constant improvement of graphics is put on hold and more innovative and fun games are released, it only makes sense that the state of PC gaming will improve. By working on gameplay and reliability instead of graphics, over time people will have time to catch up because gaming-ready computers will be cheaper and the PC user base will be drastically expanded, resulting in a lot more sales. And if optimization and stability of games is improved, there will be less headaches from PC gamers from trying to make their games work. There will always be deadlines and games can come out rushed, okay maybe not all are as bad as Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing, but it really does seem like there is a "release first, patch later" mentality, where content is missed from the game and it ships incomplete and buggy. Sure, this may be later sorted out in patches but customers have to wait and it really hurts their trust and satisfaction.
Battlefield Heroes comes out later this year, and looks very promising. A free to play online shooter, with money generated from in-game advertising and microtransactions. It has the potential to be very popular, so we shall just have to see how successful it is. One crucial fact is that in an interview the system requirements were stated to be just a 1ghz CPU, 512mb RAM and an integrated graphics card, something even a bog-standard laptop could play. Because of this, almost anyone with a computer would be able to play it. As a result, a huge potential user base attracted by the cost (free!) and a massive potential for profit. That's as long as the game turns out good, though.
A small note. I seem to be advocating more 'casual' games. I myself am a gaming enthusiast, and in no way am I suggesting less games to appeal to the 'hardcore' demographic. Instead I propose that these games are built solidly, with brilliant gameplay rather than with photorealistic graphics that may come at the price of stability and having to update your computer with a small nuclear reactor and several godly graphics cards to be able to play it.
Piracy
Illegal bittorrent usage is rampant nowadays, and a lot of people would rather download the game for free than buy it. It's hard to determine how much of an effect this has on the industry. Yes, there are a lot of people stealing the product for free, but how many of these would have actually been potential customers in the first place? And of course some may use BT to 'try-before-they-buy.' However, it's obvious that piracy has to be hurting PC game sales to a degree. Not only is a pirate copy free, but sometimes it's even better than a legal copy because it lacks:
DRM
Digital Rights Management has always been a thorn in the side of PC gaming. Bioshock is a recent example of where it can go horribly wrong. Not only does it force a limited amount of installs of the game, but at release some had difficulties even playing the game because of the copy protection. Yes, it makes sense to want to protect your product. But a game is usually cracked within days of its release and put straight up on bittorrent anyway. Some customers have to resort to actually downloading an illegal copy because their bought copy doesn't let them play, thanks to DRM. Sins of a Solar Empire is a recent game with no copy protection that has been very successful. Paying customers are the only people who are hurt by DRM, it really isn't helping at all.
In conclusion, PC gaming would really benefit from less of a focus on graphics, and the eradication of copy protection certainly wouldn't hurt. Perhaps piracy can never be stopped though unless an "Invincible Copy Protection" is released that is completely un-crackable (unlikely) or the whole internet is monitored to stop any illegal downloading (even more unlikely.) But by expanding the user base of PC gamers and releasing games with more of a focus on creativity and originality, PC gaming will undoubtedly thrive.
