News - Global PC games market revenue overtakes consoles

[HEXUS]

DFC Intelligence points out that the PC is a necessity that can also play games.

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[shaithis]

Wow, I am surprised by some of the statements in there....

Many of us have known for a while that TCO can work out roughly the same, given time and software/subscription costs.....but to actually see that philosophy reflected in market analysis is another thing.

I still find their reasoning odd though....PCs now deemed a necessity outside of gaming? Seems odd with the sales of tablets....

[crossy]

I still find their reasoning odd though....PCs now deemed a necessity outside of gaming? Seems odd with the sales of tablets....

Not unusual at all in my experience - everyone I know who has a tablet also has a laptop or desktop PC. Invariably the reasoning given is that their iOS/Android tablet can't run the software that they "absolutely got to have" - which usually comes down to Office to be frank.

Other thing that's been mentioned to me is that document creation on a typical tablet is not a rewarding experience with editing being a particular annoyance. You can select text etc faster/easier with a keyboard and/or mouse, and typing on a tablet screen - even with the likes of Swiftkey - is a less engaging activity than with a "proper" keyboard. I know a couple of folks who have tried add-on keyboards but invariably the comments are that they have poor feel and - more importantly perhaps - they're very much an "add on" with little support in the OS or applications for anything more than basic features.

The other aspect that's been mentioned is that some other "key" software - especially mail clients if you're not using those free services like Outlook, gMail, etc - are pretty dire compared to their desktop-resident counterparts.

I'm going to sound like a stuck record, but Microsoft managed to miss out big time by overpricing the Windows RT tablets (Office bundled and has proper OS support for a keyboard). Plus I still maintain that if you want to see a tablet "done right" then look at an Asus Transformer - netbook style keyboard and Android was enhanced to properly support that keyboard. Of course though, the Transformer still lacks a desktop-grade mail client.

Anyone fancy giving up their gaming PC, or even their PS3/4, Xbox for a tablet gaming experience? Not me, tablet gaming is okay, but I don't think I'd want to have a long FPS session on any tablet at the moment.

No, what was more baffling to me about this was that consoles weren't the #1. I'd assumed that because these were relatively cheap and easy to setup etc that they'd be most people's gaming choice. I'm a example though of multi-platform gaming - Friday I did a big of PvZ's on my Galaxy Note tablet, then later in the evening a bit of CoD on the PC, but the following day the XBox got fired up for a quick shot at MoH.

What might be interesting is to see if the SteamBox/SteamOS makes any headway. After all, that's a "console-ized" PC, so there's arguably scope there for it to take some sales from PS4/XBone - making the PC games market's lead even bigger.

[cheesemp]

No surprise to me. I've always PC gamed on the cheap - My current build was £300 using old case/HDD/SSD and a hand me down GPU and it plays everything at 1080p! I've also got a £313 lenovo laptop with dual graphics (A8-5550/8550G with 8570m) that plays most things well enough (No 1080p but plays most games I throw at it). The days you had to spend £1000s to PC game have gone (You can spend more of course - just like a car but is it really necessary to enjoy a quick gaming session!).

[Amantus]

I think it's not so much that the PC is a necessity, rather than a proper computer keyboard is a necessity.

[LeetyMcLeet]

All hail the pc master race!

[Brewster0101]

Surprised the Global PC games market revenue didn't overtake Consoles a long time ago. Pc's or laptops are in most homes, not the case with consoles.

Quality of PC games has always been better than consoles (since the 386 days) -

Wonder what the driving factors are.

[abychristy]

PC's are actually consoles and it can do a lot things and we can customize it to an unlimited level where other consoles fail.

[kingfoo]

PC's are actually consoles and it can do a lot things and we can customize it to an unlimited level where other consoles fail.

true

[Amantus]

And consoles are becoming much more like PCs

[wasabi]

i game on the PC because I'm a cheapskate and I prefer mouse control. Consoles are for rich kids.

[RT-XD]

i game on the PC because I'm a cheapskate and I prefer mouse control. Consoles are for rich kids.

Even then, a PC player is still able to get a controller for their PC. I don't see console guys being able to use a mouse...

[o00oo00o]

I have PS3 (used for bluray), iPad, Media Player, PC and Laptop. When I bought brand new custom build PC everything else becomes almost redundant.

PC is still the king in my opinion, connect that to 55" TV it is my man cave.
I still use iPad when I'm in the toilet and before bed, no longer uses my laptop.

[VijaySathyan]

The possibility to be able to upgrade your hardware,year after year is what I love about PC gaming!

[mbx737]

We all knew it was just a matter of time until the master-race took it's rightful place

[crossy]

Even then, a PC player is still able to get a controller for their PC. I don't see console guys being able to use a mouse...

Same here - and there's some games where I'll usually use a controller (XBox style) for most of it, and switch (seamlessly) to mouse when I need that fine control.

Big plus (to me at least) of the console is that it's more "immediate" - you just power it up and you're shootin' 'em up in seconds. Updates are also easier - it just does them, my input being limited to saying that "yes - please do that now". It's also easier to get physical console games - since most supermarkets sell them.

PC on the other hand, you've got to wait for power up and login. Then wait for all those "essential" services like anti-malware to do their thing. Then if it's "patch Tuesday" you'll get told to reboot (repeatedly in some cases). Plus there's the "fun" of optimizing settings for your rig plus applying game updates. Although these days, there's "optimizers" out there that seem to do okay, and Steam/Origin handle updating in the same hands-off way as consoles do. Getting software for PC's is now a lot easier with download stores like Steam, Origin and uPlay.

Problem for console folks is that with less "console exclusive" titles, more expensive consoles and the latest gen consoles being pretty much PC's, why would you chose that over a more flexible PC? Which might account for those stories I've read about the PS4/XBone not "flying off the shelves" the same way that the PS3 and XBox360 did.

In which case I'll suggest that next years figures are going to look even worse for consoles.