What happened to the PC gaming industry?

[PrincessFrosty]

The answer is simple, this last 10 years has had some of the biggest PC stagnation we've ever seen.

The PC industry is used to progressing at light speed, CPU and GPU solutions are nearly doubling in power every 18 months and the software follows providing newer and better technology to make use of that new hardware.

However the last 6+ years consolization has slowed the PC advancement to a crawl, developers have noticed the console gaming market which is largely casual players has way more money, so almost every game is now a multi-platform title, this brings all the limitations of console games to the PC. It's why MW3 looks like MW2 looks like MW1, the platform it's targeted for has not changed.

PC exclusives are all but dead, it's a crying shame but it's just the reality of the situation, before Hard Reset, I can't remember the last PC exclusive I played...

 

[s44]

Rage and Dead Island have already been released.

Full of fail.

In the week before Rage's release... it had a quarter of the pre-orders of BF3, which wouldn't be out for a month. Same for Dead Island.

Just because the smaller games *you* were interested in disappointed doesn't mean the industry is crapifying. It means you're picking bad games.

 

[Dankk]

Those games I listed were some of the most hyped games of the past couple of years - Rage, DNF, Homefront, Brink,,,,,,. DNF was one of the most hyped games of the past decade, and go look at the reviews.

I'll give you Rage and Brink.

People should've seen Homefront coming from a mile away. After playing Kaos Studios' previous game (Frontline: Fuel of War), it was clear that Homefront would be the same thing... another military shooter with ambitious storyline and premise, that would fail just about everywhere else.

As for DNF, after Gearbox acquired it and started releasing footage of the game, it became increasingly clear that it would not live up to hype either. Then again I'm probably more critical and observant than the average gamer. Just my two cents though.

 

[Texashiker]

Full of fail.

In the week before Rage's release... it had a quarter of the pre-orders of BF3, which wouldn't be out for a month. Same for Dead Island.

Just because the smaller games *you* were interested in disappointed doesn't mean the industry is crapifying. It means you're picking bad games.

Lets not judge a game by its pre-sales figures.

BF3 has not been released. Come back in a week or 2, after some quality playtime, and then post your opinion.

 

[terry107]

I'll give you Rage and Brink.

People should've seen Homefront coming from a mile away. After playing Kaos Studios' previous game (Frontline: Fuel of War), it was clear that Homefront would be the same thing... another military shooter with ambitious storyline and premise, that would fail just about everywhere else.

As for DNF, after Gearbox acquired it and started releasing footage of the game, it became increasingly clear that it would not live up to hype either. Then again I'm probably more critical and observant than the average gamer. Just my two cents though.

While everything you said is correct, I don't understand if this thread is supposed to be about hype vs. actual or just good games that have been released in the last couple of decades. The focus of the OP seemed to shift from "Look at all of these awesome games released prior to 2010" to "These games were so hyped and turned out to be bad". This completely ignores the fact that there have been good releases thus far in this decade - many being mentioned in the thread and completely ignored by the OP.

 

[s44]

Lets not judge a game by its pre-sales figures.

BF3 has not been released. Come back in a week or 2, after some quality playtime, and then post your opinion.

I've played it that long already in beta...

But the point isn't that it's great, it's that it's a much bigger release, more representative of the state of the industry, than something like Dead Island.

If the PC games big enough to bat with the consoles on the pre-order chart -- TOR, D3, BF3, and (ugh) MW3 -- all suck, that will tell you something. If they succeed, no one will remember the smaller stuff that failed.

 

[Texashiker]

many being mentioned in the thread and completely ignored by the OP.

Bring your examples out so we can discuss them.

Post your top games that have been released in the past 5 or so years. Then think back to the late 1990s and early 2000s and post your favorite games from that time period.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

stop living in the past, stop reposting your own drivel

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2180487

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2198516

no one shares your beliefs, and your assertions are fundamentally flawed.

cherry picking random past years to compare against your recent memory doesn't prove anything and undermines what little validity you might have.

the closest you have come to making a cognizant point would be in saying that new games get much more hype, marketing and they don't live up to (giving the illusion they aren't as good). instead, you just come off as another good-old-days whiner.

your breadth of knowledge and experience with PC games seems very limited, specifically to FPS, yet you try to make broad sweeping generalizations about and entire industry. you furnish no evidence, all you are really saying is that you personally dont like some of the new generation of games. having your own opinions is fine, continually extending that to be some commentary on the state of pc gaming, and trying to argue that point is just retarded.

 

[Texashiker]

<snip>

your breadth of knowledge and experience with PC games seems very limited, specifically to FPS,

Limited? I was playing Doom on the PC with windows 3.11 in 1995; from there I have played numerous FPSs over the past 16 years - Quake, Quake 2, Quake 3, quake 4, Doom II, Final Doom, Half-Life, Blue Shift, Sin, Opposing forces, Half-Life 2, Quake Team Fortress, TFC,,, all the way to fallout 3, portal 2, fallout new vegas, metro2033, left 4 dead, left 4 dead 2,,,,.

I even went to Quakecon in 1998 met John Romero, got an autographed picture and had a nice talk with John about Quake, Quake II and Doom.

you furnish no evidence, all you are really saying is that you personally dont like some of the new generation of games.

And? I like everyone should be entitled to post my opinion.

HardcoreRobot, instead of posting any evidence to dispute my post, all you offer is personal attacks. Why dont you post a link to your Steam profile so everyone can take a look?

 

[terry107]

Bring your examples out so we can discuss them.

Post your top games that have been released in the past 5 or so years. Then think back to the late 1990s and early 2000s and post your favorite games from that time period.

This is top-of-the-head first five without checking specific dates (can't at work):

Recent
The Witcher series
Mass Effect series
Dragon Age: Origins
Portal series
New Vegas

Old
Monkey Island series
Baldurs Gate series
Duke 3D
Diablo series
Quest for Glory series

 

[Texashiker]

Recent
The Witcher series
Mass Effect series
Dragon Age: Origins
Portal series
New Vegas

Old
Monkey Island series
Baldurs Gate series
Duke 3D
Diablo series
Quest for Glory series

Good examples from both time periods, thank you.

 

[Joemonkey]

Minecraft not listed? or is that because it's still technically in beta?

 

[Josh123]

Mass Effect should definitely be up there on the list and the next one will be out next March.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Limited? I was playing Doom on the PC with windows 3.11 in 1995; from there I have played numerous FPSs over the past 16 years - Quake, Quake 2, Quake 3, quake 4, Doom II, Final Doom, Half-Life, Blue Shift, Sin, Opposing forces, Half-Life 2, Quake Team Fortress, TFC,,, all the way to fallout 3, portal 2, fallout new vegas, metro2033, left 4 dead, left 4 dead 2,,,,.

I even went to Quakecon in 1998 met John Romero, got an autographed picture and had a nice talk with John about Quake, Quake II and Doom.



And? I like everyone should be entitled to post my opinion.

HardcoreRobot, instead of posting any evidence to dispute my post, all you offer is personal attacks. Why dont you post a link to your Steam profile so everyone can take a look?

Yes I said your knowledge is limited to FPS, thank you for reiterating that for me.

What does my steam profile have to do with anything? I am not saying anything about any games, just that your analysis at the industry level is unfounded and wrong.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

OP may not have presented the case well, but we all understand what he's saying and can anyone deny that PC gaming is dying?

Even the biggest PC game this year, BF3, at its heart is still a console port, just with more effort put in to optimize/customize it for PC.

Nominated for worst post in internet forum history.

 

[Texashiker]

I am not saying anything about any games, just that your analysis at the industry level is unfounded and wrong.

Do you have anything to contribute to the discussion, you have posted nothing but personal insults.

How about some of your favorite games from the late 1990s, as compared to today?

Do you work for a PC gaming organization and are here only to fling insults at people who call into question the quality of the products being released?

If you want an example, take a look at Quake and Rage.

Various multiplayer modes:
Quake - yes
Rage - no

Deathmatch:
Quake - yes
Rage - no

Can run on a wide range of hardware:
Quake - yes
Rage - no

Besides the graphics, its like Rage went backwards in time 16 or 17 years.

What does my steam profile have to do with anything?

To call someones knowledge "limited", you should have more experience then the other person.

As far as I am concerned, you are the one with limited knowledge, because you are posting nothing but personal attacks.

 

[Jschmuck2]

HardcoreRobot, instead of posting any evidence to dispute my post, all you offer is personal attacks. Why dont you post a link to your Steam profile so everyone can take a look?

You have an odd obsession with Steam profiles. What's that about? :\

 

[Texashiker]

You have an odd obsession with Steam profiles. What's that about? :\

Shows a persons level of experience.

If someone is posting how terrible left 4 dead is, and they have 30 minutes playing time, they do not have very much of an argument.

I joined Steam the day half-life 2 was released, that tells people that I was keeping up with PC gaming news back in 2004.

 

[FuryofFive]

Shows a persons level of experience.

If someone is posting how terrible left 4 dead is, and they have 30 minutes playing time, they do not have very much of an argument.

I joined Steam the day half-life 2 was released, that tells people that I was keeping up with PC gaming news back in 2004.

ummm lol ok...
look at my profile..does that make me a guru. i actually think it makes me feel like a crack addict heh

 

[Jschmuck2]

Shows a persons level of experience.

If someone is posting how terrible left 4 dead is, and they have 30 minutes playing time, they do not have very much of an argument.

I joined Steam the day half-life 2 was released, that tells people that I was keeping up with PC gaming news back in 2004.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Jschmuck2

I joined in September 2003. Does that mean I win? Can I boss you around?

If so, stop posting these threads.

 

[Texashiker]

ummm lol ok...
look at my profile..does that make me a guru. i actually think it makes me feel like a crack addict heh

If you are going to talk to someone about the fine details of a game, would you rather talk to someone with 20 minutes playing time, or 2,000 hours playing time?

I joined in September 2003. Does that mean I win? Can I boss you around?

That tells me you were probably an old school counter-strike player. CS players adopted steam before its release with half-life 2 in November 2004.

If so, stop posting these threads.

No.

 

[FuryofFive]

If you are going to talk to someone about the fine details of a game, would you rather talk to someone with 20 minutes playing time, or 2,000 hours playing time?

im not disagreeing, your saying that someone who plays more games makes them better at discerning a bad game from a good game.

im just saying

 

[Red Hawk]

2010s
Fallout New Vegas
Brink
Dead Island
Homefront
Duke Nukem Forever
Bullet Storm
Rage

Mass Effect 2
The Witcher 2
Portal 2
Total War: Shogun 2
Civilization V
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Crysis 2
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Alpha Protocol

What happened to the PC gaming market? We went from the 1990s and early 2000s where there were lots of good games hitting the market, to it seems that every-other game is overhyped or a flop.

I reject your premise. The PC gaming market hasn't gone anywhere, at least regarding quality.

From the games I have seen since 2010, Fallout New Vegas has to be one of the best.

Brink turned out to be overhyped
Homefront was a flop
Duke Nukem Forever,,,, well, I do not know what to say about that one
Rage reviews are not coming back too good

Funny, each game you mention came out on consoles as well as PCs. So their flops reflect upon the gaming industry in general rather than just PCs.

Has the PC gaming industry lost its ability to make anything new, or to come up with new ideas?

No.

Its like the console kiddies from the 1990s are grown up, making games and the games are crap.

Console games weren't bad in the 90s, you know.

Or, are PC developers making games more towards the console fan club?

I would say that console development and PC development have converged. Games can easily be developed for all platforms, rather than in the 90s when console games were rarely seen (outside of emulators) on the PC and vice versa. I don't really think this is a bad thing.

 

[Texashiker]

Mass Effect 2
The Witcher 2
Portal 2

<snip>
I would say that console development and PC development have converged. Games can easily be developed for all platforms, rather than in the 90s when console games were rarely seen (outside of emulators) on the PC and vice versa. I don't really think this is a bad thing.

Why can't more people make post like yours. If they did, this would have been a pretty awesome thread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wonder how much of the console deployment side has hindered PC development?

Take a multiplayer game, any game, how many can cross-platform between pc and consoles in multiplayer? Do consoles have rentable servers like PCs do?

How many console multiplayer servers can have modifications, new maps, add-ons,,,,?

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Seriously, two decades of games compared to nearly two years of games.

Come back in 8 years.

Honestly this decade so far has had some amazing games.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Portal 2
Bad Company 2
The Witcher 2