News - PC gaming revenue to overtake consoles' in 2014, says report

[HEXUS]

Bullish picture for PC gaming.

Read more.

[kalniel]

The NVIDIA-provided graph,

So no conflicting interest there then?

but the mere fact that PC gaming revenue is in the same ballpark is heartening if, like us, you love GeForce and Radeon graphics cards.

I don't follow the card comment - surely this revenue is largely made up of facebook and browser gaming, the likes of which don't exactly require a powerful GPU?

[shaithis]

I find it hard to beleive those numbers....

[Tarinder]

So no conflicting interest there then?

I don't follow the card comment - surely this revenue is largely made up of facebook and browser gaming, the likes of which don't exactly require a powerful GPU?

It all depends on what is classified as PC gaming, which is what I'm determining at the moment. One would hope that increased software revenue would at least keep AMD and NVIDIA interested in pushing the boat out with successive GPU launches, though AMD's undeniably going to be in a better position to harvest any gains through its range of moderately-priced APUs.

Perhaps I'm just a techno-oldie who wants reasons, whoever implausible, for NV and AMD to continue racing each other.

[Brewster0101]

The console is king of gaming numbers not because of lack of games on the PC , but the high price a gaming PC costs compared to a console that has a life span of around 5 years.

[wasabi]

The console is king of gaming numbers not because of lack of games on the PC , but the high price a gaming PC costs compared to a console that has a life span of around 5 years.

Depends on the game and what you consider acceptable. You can build a budget PC for about £300 that'll play pretty much everything at better settings than you'll see on the 360 or PS3.

[Brewster0101]

Depends on the game and what you consider acceptable. You can build a budget PC for about £300 that'll play pretty much everything at better settings than you'll see on the 360 or PS3.

A basic pc set up at £300 is still twice as much as a basic Xbox 360, and you won't be gaming in hd on a 40" tv on a £300 pc. Hardware price is why pc gaining will always see lower numbers ygm console gamers.

Although at least we don't have to pay to play online with the pc.

[shaithis]

A basic pc set up at £300 is still twice as much as a basic Xbox 360, and you won't be gaming in hd on a 40" tv on a £300 pc.

You can, as long as you do it the same way as the XBox and PS3 does:

Render in 720p and then upscale to 1080p

Having recently done a number of A/B tests between console and PC games on the same TV....the thing that struck me is that in a lot of cases the console version seems at least 2 generations behind.....there really is no comparison between them in terms of visual quality.

[warejon9]

A basic pc set up at £300 is still twice as much as a basic Xbox 360, and you won't be gaming in hd on a 40" tv on a £300 pc. Hardware price is why pc gaining will always see lower numbers ygm console gamers.

Although at least we don't have to pay to play online with the pc.

I'd just like to say, how much did a brand new ps3 or Xbox 360 cost when they came out? Also how many times has the average person had to replace their 360 due to RRD? That and factor in the extra 10-20 quid per disk and subscriptions like Live, they slowly add up.

I've managed to get a few of my friends to convert from consoles to PC gaming, and they just couldn't beleive the difference. All that said consoles are better for casual stuff with mates, but if more people get pc's that could change.

[Roobubba]

My mate who plays on consoles only has pointed out to me before that he plays on a 40+ inch TV, so it's much better than my 24" monitor.

I pointed out that I sit a matter of 2-3 feet from the screen, and the dot pitch is more than correspondingly better. Coupled with the massively increased resolution and graphic detail, I find gaming on my PC a much, much more immersive experience.

That and those awful bloody controllers... Geeesh how do you console gamers use them? A button to turn 180 degrees? What?! Mouse and keyboard all the way for me

[Dareos]

Bejeweled Blitz Extreme Edition, Farmville HD and Mafia Wars Deluxe will require Dual Nvidia 580's or 6970's in Crossfire.

Thus, the research is justified!

Anyways, in the PC versus Console war....

Buy a PS3/Xbox, take it home, plug it in, possibly configure wireless or stick in a network cable, insert disk and play game/watch film/scream prepubescent racial hatred down microphone, job done

Buy a £300 pc, take it home, go back to shop, buy multipoint adaptor, plug in mouse, keyboard, speakers, monitor. Boot up windows, configure wireless/plug in cable, update windows, restart computer, update windows, restart computer, upd..... rinse and repeat till windows is updated. Put in disk and pl...install Steam/Games for Windows/EA or equivalent service/download numerous patches for game, play ga.....find server for game, realise that server for game requires a specific addon, cry. Finally get logged on to game, play game, get kicked from server by host for not responding, realise that you need a mic, go back to shop, buy a mic, spend 3 days working out how to use mic without deafening feedback, go back to shop, get new monitor and keyboard as current ones are embedded in wall....


I spend a lot of time on Xbox Live, and have to say that the majority of people I deal with there know very little about *real* computers, but they are very happy to spend their money and time on a console, so can't see the *serious* gaming market on the PC (and by that I mean games you dont play on FB or Bingo sites etc) overtaking the console market any time soon.

[aidanjt]

A basic pc set up at £300 is still twice as much as a basic Xbox 360, and you won't be gaming in hd on a 40" tv on a £300 pc. Hardware price is why pc gaining will always see lower numbers ygm console gamers.

So £150 + £1,000 +£? for peripherals < £300? Console gaming isn't really cheap when you actually add it up.

[Defiant]

Few reasons I still wont buy a Console:
720p
Still no digital main stream large games (Sorry we do have 1TB drives these days)
Crappy controller and no real 100% game support for a mouse or keyboard.

PC is still King these days and if these figures can be believed the PC still has bright future.

[.havoc]

Buy a PS3/Xbox, take it home, plug it in, possibly configure wireless or stick in a network cable, insert disk and play game/watch film/scream prepubescent racial hatred down microphone, job done

Buy a £300 pc, take it home, go back to shop, buy multipoint adaptor, plug in mouse, keyboard, speakers, monitor. Boot up windows, configure wireless/plug in cable, update windows, restart computer, update windows, restart computer, upd..... rinse and repeat till windows is updated. Put in disk and pl...install Steam/Games for Windows/EA or equivalent service/download numerous patches for game, play ga.....find server for game, realise that server for game requires a specific addon, cry. Finally get logged on to game, play game, get kicked from server by host for not responding, realise that you need a mic, go back to shop, buy a mic, spend 3 days working out how to use mic without deafening feedback, go back to shop, get new monitor and keyboard as current ones are embedded in wall....

Wow - so many flaws here I can't even begin to count.

So im just going to reflect your PC method to a console method. Buy £300 console (when they were released), take it home, plug it into TV, surround sound, connect controller. Boot up, configure user preferences, avatars, personal settings, wireless/ethernet, update console, restart, update console again, put in disk, update game, restart, find server for game, rejected connection because you dont have the DLC, log onto game but get kicked because of no dedicated servers and extreme latency, plug in the mic for no point because you still havent found a server and have given up on life. Update console. *Sequence shortened*

And the comment regarding *serious* gaming, how many 'pro' gamer tournaments do you see being played on consoles? Or LAN events? Or just any type of competitive gaming other than your casual bouts on xbox live...

Sorta balances your argument a little I think...and lets not even start on having to update Blu Rays - FFS PLAY THE MOOOOOVIE!

And one last thing! The whole consoles are cheaper than pc argument is now completely void. IF the onLive service takes off you will no longer need a PC which costs more than the US debt to run new games, full resolution and maximum graphics etc on whatever you want to run them on. You now only need to invest in one machine, and you will NEVER have to upgrade it. Not for me personally - I love building my PC's, but for the casual gamer it will be more than enough for them! And how many consoles are offering as many games as you want for £6.99 a month (not the only service offering this either...metaboli for example). Admittedly I have yet to try onlive but i have an awful little laptop sitting around with less graphical grunt than a stale fart - perfect to test with. If it sucks - i shall come and retract that statement but for now, PC (and mac) gaming is looking peachy!

I dont think those stats are too far fetched if you consider all the variables.

And just to clarify my position, I have a gaming PC, PS3, 360 and Wii.

[Brewster0101]

And just to clarify my position, I have a gaming PC, PS3, 360 and Wii.

You need to get a woman in your life!

[Rob_B]

Well since a lot of people are probably going to go down (or already have) the route of replacing aged desktops with netbooks/low powered Revos etc I don't think the old argument

"well people need a PC so might as well get a good one rather than a crap one + a console"

works anymore, I only see it declining due to the emergence of cheap, low powered desktop replacements & the huge push into consoles as the target for development. But I could be wrong. I'm certainly not saying "PC G4MING IZ DED OMG!" but I don't see it taking over consoles.