“The death of PC gaming” is a rusty old saw that never quite goes away. Like similar predictions about the death of Apple Computer, it never quite comes true, but nevertheless it does continue to worry not only PC gamers but also PC game developers.
This was in evidence at the latest QuakeWorld, where id co-owner Kevin Cloud talked about some of the problems he feels the industry will face in the future. While he emphatically stated that id will remain primarily a PC developer and that the company loves the PC both as a platform and for the unique community it has created, he has one major concern about the future. In a word: piracy.
“Piracy is hard,” Cloud said, in a response to an audience member’s question about the issue. “It’s really, from my opinion, destroying the PC market.” He said concerns over piracy were the biggest factor in PC gaming’s shrinking presence in many retail stores. However, he maintained that he felt the PC gaming market as a whole was not in any danger. “I don’t think the PC market is shrinking at all,” he said. “I think there’re tons of people playing games on the PC. I think World of Warcraft is a good example.”
World of Warcraft is indeed a good example, and has been so successful that other PC gaming companies have even used it as a reason for lackluster sales of their own products. It is true, and I can personally attest to this, that adventuring in Azeroth can definitely take time away from other games. It’s also a good example of how a game can successfully combat piracy. The fact that the game requires a subscription to play has meant that it has enjoyed sales success even in markets such as China.
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what they need to do is figure out how to bring development costs down. i personally dont get much time to play all the games i want to own. so when i buy somthing new at $50 its already $20 before i even open it. i would buy more games at $20 than at $50 if thats what they could release them at. and i dont care about the HL2: episode shit. those arent whole games.
The games industry needs to evolve into magazine publication of software titles. For $20 dollars you get 10 games a month There is no incentive for me to play games that take 100 hours each to solve and cost 50 to 100 dollars each. If you make games that are disposable even if they are pirated after the release date of the magazine you at best create a product that has real consumer purchasing power.
Games will have to be made fast cheap and addictive. The magazine format also could include an ad or two before or preferred after gameplay before the system reverts back to windows or is turned off. A Zelda adventure serialized is more interesting to me as a player than a $75 cart. A $20 magazine bi-yearly or bi-monthly would be much better for the industry imoho.
It seems like the biggest way to battle piracy would be to bring the prices down. Also by changing the distribution model to one where u DL them from their server instead of purchasing with all the associated packaging and distribution costs.