Nvidia, Microsoft leave the PC Gaming Alliance

[Jos]

The PC Gaming Alliance suffered a bit of a blow when Activision left the organization in 2009 and now two more of its founding members have decided to follow suit: Microsoft and Nvidia. PCGA president Matt Ployhar confirmed the news to Big Download in a telephone interview, but wouldn't comment on the companies' reasons for exiting the non-profit consortium, which was formed in 2008 to promote the PC gaming industry and the PC as a gaming platform.

Ployhar said he doesn't believe that the departures will affect the PCGA, which counts with names such as names Epic, AMD, Intel, Dell and Acer among its supporters. We've yet to really see anything major come out of the initiative, but they are reportedly shifting from being a research-led group to an organization that will be more active in trying to assist game developers, publishers and hardware companies in creating better PC games.

In a recent blog post, Ployhar mentioned that it was "premature to speculate" on the PCGA's next set of objectives but it would likely involve streamlining hardware requirements, tackling piracy and DRM. On that note he also argued that PC game piracy is actually in decline as new business models make it less viable or at least less attractive, even though the past few weeks have been marred by more than a couple of high profile game leaks.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/42501-nvidia-microsoft-leave-the-pc-gaming-alliance.html

 

[thatguyandrew92]

NOOOOO
*bullet to head*

 

[brianmsu]

^ he was a good man

 

[yRaz]

/rage quit

 

[EXCellR8]

worlds biggest PC software company along with the biggest graphics manufacturer leave... hmm i wonder why?

...oh yea they are both greedmongers and probably left due to mutual profit margins.

 

[Archean]

I think likes of steam has showed that PC gaming can thrive and in the process everyone involved can make lots of money, and as long as there is money in it I don't think this will mean much.

 

[Timonius]

The PCGA had no real focus, no real goals. What exactly were they there for? If it is all about tackling piracy and DRM, then I think that companies like Valve/Steam, Stardock/Impulse, etc. have shown us a better way. You won't eliminate piracy completely because there is always going to be someone out there who can't afford (or won't afford, or has no access to, etc.) the latest high profile game. And it's usually a high profile game that gets all the attention. I don't hear too much about independent lesser known games getting pirated. And of course if the game element requires a legitimate online play element (like WOW and the upcoming SW:TOR) we're given another business model that both works against piracy and 'forces' the developer to actually support their work in a timely fashion without excuses.

 

[Cota]

^ Agree, i hadnt see a thing done to take up PC gaming, mostly the developers do that (like Crytek), but its a good aidea that some one takes the spot to give PC gaming what it deserves. Maybe Steam paints his face blue and white and take us to an epic battle? who knows, but im thirsty to pwn for the good of gaming.

 

[dividebyzero]

worlds biggest PC software company along with the biggest graphics manufacturer leave... hmm i wonder why?

Lemme guess...
From the article:

"We've yet to really see anything major come out of the initiative"

then maybe there's a clue hiding here also:

they [PCGA] are reportedly shifting from being a research-led group to an organization that will be more active in trying to assist game developers, publishers and hardware companies in creating better PC games.

Mmmm, doesn't Nvidia already have a very successful SDK/Dev program in TWIMTBP ?...Come to think of it, I think MS have a little project in a similar vein - Windows Live I believe it's called

...oh yea they are both greedmongers

Of course! Whereas everyone knows that the remaining members of the alliance are paragons of virtue. The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the names Intel, Dell, Capcom, Sony, Logitech and AMD is the altruism inherant in the human race.

...and probably left due to mutual profit margins.

How dare they leave a non-performing promotional organisation to concentrate on their own higher profile (and successful) programs! I'm outraged!! I'm running out of exclamation marks!!!

 

[Relic]

Has the PCGA really done anything to benefit us gamers? Most of their goals seemed pretty universal to begin with and no one really opposing them. I guess on the outside it doesn't look that good with two big named companies leaving, but I doubt anything would impact us.

On that note he also argued that PC game piracy is actually in decline as new business models make it less viable or at least less attractive, even though the past few weeks have been marred by more than a couple of high profile game leaks.

I would agree with him on that. Most numbers I've seen from gaming piracy has been on the decline, especially in developed/western countries where we now have so many options available. I guess it's more understandable that developing countries that might not have access to the game or even full support would have higher privacy figures.

Even the major Crysis 2 leak, which was portrayed by some gaming bloggers as the end of all things in regards to PC gaming has been quite lackluster in terms of actual numbers [LINK]. And those who did get an early sneak peek at the game have been posting some pretty positive feedback, so this blunder from EA/Crytek will not be the end of all things.

 

[RoyalKnight]

Sounds like Microsoft & NVIDIA left because they didn't want to be tied down by procedure, rules, and obligations in a group that ultimately hasn't done anything and isn't likely to do anything new for them in the future.

PC gaming has a lot to do with its user base culture and developer creativity, and developers / publishers / hardware manufacturers aren't going to take well to a group telling them (in essence), "You're not helping to build the PC gaming arena, so here's a list of things you can do better." Either that, or the PC Gaming Alliance ends up doing all the creative work for companies that are supposed to be doing this sort of stuff in the first place.

Now, if the PC Gaming Alliance got together and was able to bring the hardware functionality of associated with console or handheld gaming (motion/camera tracking control, touch screens) at affordable prices (Dell did a lot to help bring down the prices of LCDs, so this isn't just wishful thinking), set and enforced minimum system requirements among its members so that it doesn't lock out a good portion of the PC-owning population, and kept it affordable and/or flexible pricing on their content (micropayments, episodic / expansion content built around a core software product [decreasing production time]) for a variety of different genres (not just FPSes and MMOs), maybe they could get somewhere.

Or, maybe this will start and end with just ideas, like what Microsoft and NVIDIA might have figured. In any case, I'll take my gaming wherever it best serves my tastes.

 

[gwailo247]

Macs aside, if you're talking about PC gaming, you're essentially talking about gaming on the Windows OS, so to me PC gaming = Windows gaming.

And if MS is not on board, I don't really see what much good the rest of them could do alone.

 

[jeffz6]

I've never heard of PC gaming alliance.

 

[treeski]

dividebyzero said:

worlds biggest PC software company along with the biggest graphics manufacturer leave... hmm i wonder why?

Lemme guess...
From the article:

"We've yet to really see anything major come out of the initiative"

then maybe there's a clue hiding here also:

they [PCGA] are reportedly shifting from being a research-led group to an organization that will be more active in trying to assist game developers, publishers and hardware companies in creating better PC games.

Mmmm, doesn't Nvidia already have a very successful SDK/Dev program in TWIMTBP ?...Come to think of it, I think MS have a little project in a similar vein - Windows Live I believe it's called

...oh yea they are both greedmongers

Of course! Whereas everyone knows that the remaining members of the alliance are paragons of virtue. The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the names Intel, Dell, Capcom, Sony, Logitech and AMD is the altruism inherant in the human race.

...and probably left due to mutual profit margins.

How dare they leave a non-performing promotional organisation to concentrate on their own higher profile (and successful) programs! I'm outraged!! I'm running out of exclamation marks!!!

Lol... this made me chuckle, thanks.

 

[stewi0001]

never heard of them either. All I can say is that someone forgot to press the locked alliance button XD

 

[Archean]

And if MS is not on board, I don't really see what much good the rest of them could do alone.

I don't think MS is leaving the group and hence the PC gaming arena, it is like someone shooting themselves in the foot, I am sure you know what that mean. The question is what good is being served by staying in this group?

 

[red1776]

Okay, now where do I sign up so i can terminate my membership?

 

[Luay]

"they are reportedly shifting from being a research-led group to an organization that will be more active in trying to assist game developers, publishers and hardware companies in creating better PC games."

There you go. Conflict of interest.

 

[Rick]

I've seen their branding on some high-end laptops and I think that's about it.

I am unsure what their purpose is I suspect Microsoft and Nvidia are too...

 

[Night Hacker]

Oh no, now they won't be able to... to... what is it they do again? Oh right, they're not sure themselves. I can see why Microsoft and NVidia left if they've done NOTHING since they started and now they're shifting into something else. Microsoft and NVidia provide support for developers, Microsoft has a their Visual Studio Express, free compiler for multiple languages as well as MSDN etc... NVidia also has similar support. I don't think we need more developer support, and I question the meaning behind "streamlining".... how would that effect Microsoft and NVidia and does it involve something they're not on board with? There seems to be lots of unanswered questions here. I don't see this as a blow to anyone if the group hasn't done anything... LOL.

 

[lipe123]

The pc-whatnow alliance?

I never even knew it existed, whats capcom and sony doing in it?

Honestly PC gaming is in a VERY sad state currently with every second developer jumping into the console highway of millions of dollars. All we PC gamers get is console ports with lame graphics that still run bad on state of the art GFX cards.

If this "alliance" was any good they would have done something before things got this bad, to late now. It's a useless organization that contributes nothing to PC gaming.

 

[gingerbill]

how can you say PC gaming is in a sad state ? record sales , lots of good games , especially lots of small developers making great cheap games . WOW making more money than god and steam grossed 900 million last year.

This gaming allaince seems a waste of time . If they have done anything its been kept very quite . Not surprised microsoft left , they tend not do well outside a monopoly .