PC Games - Where have they gone??

[ZaO]

The problem is nowadays only "true gamers" play on pc while kids play on consoles.

That's hilarious! What's a true gamer? I agree that in general there is a more mature crowd on pc, but that was a pretty funny statement to make!

[PowerPie5000]

The problem is nowadays only "true gamers" play on pc while kids play on consoles.

I'm not a kid and i still enjoy playing consoles games, and have done since the 8/16-bit days when i actually was a kid . You're a gamer no matter what platform you play... A game is still a game on any machine at the end of the day .

[kalniel]

That's hilarious! What's a true gamer? I agree that in general there is a more mature crowd on pc, but that was a pretty funny statement to make!

It is an odd statement. Probably the biggest area of PC gaming is casual gaming..

[Willzzz]

Consoles are better if you have a few mates around, PC is better for everything else.

[MattEvansC3]

I wouldn't say its got that small its more a case of that you can't sell them 2nd hand and thats where the stores make their money now. There's less incentive to sell them compared to a console game because console games can be traded back in and resold.

[ZaO]

I wouldn't say its got that small its more a case of that you can't sell them 2nd hand and thats where the stores make their money now. There's less incentive to sell them compared to a console game because console games can be traded back in and resold.

That's changing though. Last time I had a console all EA and THQ games were worthless once you'd used them due to pc style serial keys. They're killing the secondhand market and then not even charging cheaper prices for digital download games to make up for that, or the fact that a huge load of money has been saved on packaging and distribution. Greedy B*******

[MattEvansC3]

That's changing though. Last time I had a console all EA and THQ games were worthless once you'd used them due to pc style serial keys. They're killing the secondhand market and then not even charging cheaper prices for digital download games to make up for that, or the fact that a huge load of money has been saved on packaging and distribution. Greedy B*******

Actually store like GAME and Gamestop killed the 2nd hand market by making it their core business and using 2nd hand titles instead of buying in brand new copies forcing a reaction from publishers.

[ZaO]

Actually store like GAME and Gamestop killed the 2nd hand market by making it their core business and using 2nd hand titles instead of buying in brand new copies forcing a reaction from publishers.

Well I totally disagree. second hand shops just sell secondhand games. That is part of the secondhand market. It's the publishers who lock the games to the original owners that have killed it.

[MattEvansC3]

Well I totally disagree. second hand shops just sell secondhand games. That is part of the secondhand market. It's the publishers who lock the games to the original owners that have killed it.

And stores like GAME and Gamestop were not 2nd hand stores. They were primarily brand new stockists but started cannibalising their 1st hand sales by selling 2nd hand games at a small discount, thus they bought less from the publishers.

[ZaO]

And stores like GAME and Gamestop were not 2nd hand stores. They were primarily brand new stockists but started cannibalising their 1st hand sales by selling 2nd hand games at a small discount, thus they bought less from the publishers.

I don't think these places were all that great for buying secondhand games but they were still part of the secondhand market - something that's dying. The publishers are the one's making serial keys that can only be registered to one user - they're killing it.

[Oswald]

I have a ps3, a 360 and a pc. I prefer the consoles because I don't have to sit behind a desk, and can play more splitscreen games when I have friends over.
But consoles really can't match pc when it comes to graphics. Which is understandable when you compare the price of a console vs a gamepc.

[Champman99]

Seems to have gone OT a bit but I thought I'd throw 2p in on the second hand games debate. I think the big problem with second hand games is that essentially you are getting exactly the same product as new, wheras with most markets the used product is inferior (ie it won't last as long).

This means that publishers could sell 1 copy especially of single player game, and yet actually 5 people buy it, so publisher makes 1 sale wheras Game/Gamestop made money on every subsequent trade-in and used sale. Publishers as I understood it wanted to negotiate a slice of the profit used sales, which I think is completely fair enough (wasn't a huge % from what I was reading), but the retailers were playing hard ball. As I read it this was actually a factor in EA refusing credit to game (sent it into administration).

The alternative that some publishers are using with console games is to make the used product inferior. Often this is in the form of Day1 DLC. Ie only new customers get Dungeon X, or extra multiplayer maps etc. Therefore for the extra features you are willing to pay the £5 extra to get the new copy even though Game are offering you a used version cheaper. With PC games the used market has always been a lot less significant. But to be honest I don't really miss it, I was never really into the buying of used games for £3 less just after release (on consoles), and the buying super cheap a year or two after release is replicated by the massive sales on Digital Distribution sites

[PowerPie5000]

I prefer the consoles because I don't have to sit behind a desk

Wireless keyboard & mouse + large HDTV + sofa =

[Gunnzie]

Wireless keyboard & mouse + large HDTV + sofa =

I've been trying this out and it's pretty rubbish to be honest. Wireless gamepad on console wins comfortably.

[ZaO]

you can use wireless 360 controllers on pc games and to control the mouse lol....

[Pob255]

yep a lot of pc games are compatible with a 360 pad and a 360 pad is compatible with windows.
So nothing stopping you using a 360 pad for games while still also retaining the functionality of a mouse & keyboard

on the whole 2nd hand market there is a bit of an issue, publishers have price gouged a bit in the past, however they are in a tricky situation atm, the complexity and time needed to develop games has increased, which have pushed production costs up, but prices of games haven't risen as much.

They've not had the multiple staged revenue streams that other media has (eg films, first box office, then exclusive TV broadcast rights, then DVD sales and then rerun/repeat TV broadcast rights a year or more down the line)

Low cost digital distribution is helping make a more diverse revenue system (we did have companies like take2 before who'd release older games under license but it still cost more than digital distribution), as are small DLC packs but it's still not as large and places such as game actively selling 2nd hand copies along side retail copies (and they where actively selling) have hit publishers hard.

Granted it's hard to have a great deal of sympathy seeing as they had price gouged in the past and as they've found themselves struggling with the changing environment they've acted like stropy children more than once blaming everyone but themselves.