Weekend Open Forum: Is PC gaming really dying?

[Shawn Knight]

We’ve been hearing for years that PC gaming is on its deathbed. Next generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony are just around the corner while Nintendo’s Wii U is already on the market (although it’s hardly a threat). The more pressing matter, however, is the influx of mobile games on tablets and smartphones.

Even the platform itself is facing pressure like never before. Earlier this week we published a report from IDC highlighting the fact that sales of personal computers dropped 14 percent during the first quarter of this year – the worst quarterly slump in history. The decline isn’t really a surprise as tablets and smartphone have cannibalized a market once dominated by the PC.

With the cards seemingly stacked against the PC, we have to wonder how this might impact hardcore gamers. Will you stick with PC gaming for the foreseeable future or are you planning to retire the trusty beige box when the PS4 / Xbox 720 drop?

Is PC gaming dead or is there still some tread left on the tires?

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/52234-weekend-open-forum-is-pc-gaming-really-dying.html

 

[Guest]

NO, PC gaming isn't about to drop dead.
Your article from earlier this week saying personal computer sales are on a decline is irrelevant toward PC gaming (for the most part) if you consider most PC gamers build their own machine.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Not when I am breathing!

 

[Lurker101]

Wasn't there an article on TechSpot recently proving that PC gaming is just as profitable as it's ever been?

 

[SalaSSin]

Wasn't there an article on Techspot recently proving that PC gaming is just as profitable as it's ever been?

Exactly.

Well, that's it for this Weekend's Open Forum, glad we got this one solved.

CU next week everyone!

 

[Guest]

NO way...
Love playing Tomb Raider at 1080p with maxed out settings... looks great!

 

[lipe123]

The real thing thats dying is the games being developed for PC's by all the major publishers.

Anything and everything that was released in the last 3 years I can think of by the likes of EA/Activision/Blizzard turned out to be worse or on par with games that was already around in the early 2000's.

Story lines in games are terrible, the graphics is deliberately handicapped because of console ports and there has been next to no improvement to gameplay at all. Infact with most "always online" releases gameplay has been going downhill fairly steadily.

 

[hahahanoobs]

"Is PC gaming really dying?"

It must be, because I keep reading that it is every year.

 

[9Nails]

Oh no no no no no!

There's plenty of room for both, PC and Console gaming in my house.

 

[PcGraphicFanboy]

I will never stop playing on Pc until I can no longer play on Pc. There are so many things that you can do on pc that you just can't do on console or some mobile device. The real problem for pc's future is that if Nvidia/Ati/Intel/Amd etc slow down and eventually stop making performance parts for pc because they no longer think the money is there.

 

[TomSEA]

Interesting timing - in this month's "PC Gamer" magazine (sorry TechSpot - I know that's a competitor) the editorial was about this topic. I'll take the liberty of posting the first paragraph of that editorial and leave that as my opinion:

"In a survey of North American game developers gearing up for their annual pilgrimage to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, 49 percent reported they were developing their next game for PC's and/or Macs. Compare that with the rather embarrassing figures for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and the next generation of both platforms at 13.2 percent, 14 percent and 11 percent respectively. OUCH."

 

[cliffordcooley]

Is PC gaming really dying?

Not as long as IGP has less power than nVidia Titan. Even then there will be game titles pushing the envelope even further, requiring more power than a tablet will provide.

 

[Guest]

No PC Gaming is not ending but satisfaction with 32 bit games is at the end of it cycle
in order to go beyond the memory, audio, and video limits of 32 bit encoding we must drop 32 bit games and embrace 64 bit games
yes I know this would drop a lot of game in the dust but if we build a 64 to 32 bit sandbox for older games they could still exist

 

[mikeymike]

I bought a $600 HP laptop last Christmas. Within three months the audio jack busted and the hard drive failed. Even then, it could barely run any games I wanted to play.

Recently purchased $1100 laptop. It's robust, sturdy, and well built. And it runs just about all my top end games at max video settings in full resolution. This thing will last me years. This was purchased from cyberpowerpc, and the equivalent laptop from Alienware (made by Dell) would cost almost twice as much.

PC gaming isn't dying. Sh*tty computers are.

 

[metalSHOCK]

Unlike kids in this generation, I grew up in the dot com boom and bust, where kids innovated and got rich. We needed the latest and greatest hardware. I will always continue to need the latest and greatest. Enough to ***** my graphical power over games. I know what it was like to play games with a 56k modem. I appreciate all the gains hardware has made so far. I hope they continue to make massive strides so I won't be forced to play games on a 10 inch tablet in 10 years. That's crazy!

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

PC gaming is booming right now, steam is doing great, and now even though I don't like them there is Origin, UPlay, capsule all because the PC gaming market is ripe.

 

[treeski]

More likely it will start converging with other gaming platforms.

 

[Benny26]

No chance.

My "beige box" aint going nowhere. That said, I also own a PS3 to have best of both worlds, but PC gaming is so much more rewarding for me.

 

[SchtoltheimR]

Install steam and rewrite this article

 

[TS-56336]

Not really. It's just the beginning.

 

[grip_2_go]

I've said this before. Whatever MS and Sony have been waiting 5 or 7 years to introduce to you will be overpriced, and outdated less than a week after release, if they aren't outdated before. I just recently spent almost 600.00 on a graphics card, and almost before I could install it there were a half a dozen newer, faster cards released. That's just how it goes. As long as peripheral manufacturers are cranking out new goodness, and as long as game developers are re-writing code to take advantage of that hardware, then I'mma gonna be a PC gamer. **** consoles. Aside from the odd "Exclusive" game title which may or may not rock,the only good they serve is internet connectivity and Blu-ray playing. Any fool who posts about the next gen consoles being the shiznit of shiznits is sadly under-informed.

 

[grip_2_go]

Unlike kids in this generation, I grew up in the dot com boom and bust, where kids innovated and got rich. We needed the latest and greatest hardware. I will always continue to need the latest and greatest. Enough to ***** my graphical power over games. I know what it was like to play games with a 56k modem. I appreciate all the gains hardware has made so far. I hope they continue to make massive strides so I won't be forced to play games on a 10 inch tablet in 10 years. That's crazy!

Aye!

 

[Timonius]

http://youtu.be/gvdf5n-zI14

Nope! Besides its also a definitional problem. By PC gaming do you mean traditional desktop windows platform computers?

Seriously I consider PC gaming to be anything on a Personal Computer whatever format or OS. In the gaming arena the real comparison is versus 'consoles' and/or dedicated 'handhelds'.

 

[VitalyT]

This is the wrong place to ask such a question. Most people here are PC enthusiasts who will defend PC right at gaming no matter what. I, for one, will not do so. I started playing PC games with Z-80 in 1988, and finished in about 2010, just getting old for that.

PC gaming is all about dedicated hardware, with the graphical card in the lead. The level of graphics that Sony PS4 will offer, for instance, according to numerous videos, is so impressive that to have the same on a PC one needs to invest a lot more money into the hardware to achieve a tiny improvement over PS4, if any at all. If you are primarily a gamer, you will be better off with PS4, and then have a cheap PC for internet, if needed. Although I hear PS4 may offer Internet browsing on its own.

The new generation of gamers will be finding less and less incentive to buy a PC for gaming. So, to answer the subject - yes, I for one believe PC gaming is in decline.

 

[Guest]

My PC entertainment value is crushing Mobile and Consoles 4 me.

My 360 is just collecting dust and my Samsung is back 2 beeing a fancy camera and gps toy
The last Consol thing I waisted money on, was that Rockband thingy

My PC ... the last yr or so
Defiance, Farcry3, Deadspace3, Mass3, xcom, Borderla...... + more

And near futurte CoH2 and BF4 is a "must have! 4 me"
And not 2 forget Chris Roberts star-citizen.

Hugs my PC.....