Gamernode: News - Apparently, the PC (and gaming) is alive and well

Apparently, the PC (and gaming) is alive and well

Category: PC, Posted: 04/21/2008 at 04:57PM CDT by Chris Abiuso, Staff Writer

I'm not dead yet! In response to earlier accusations that the PC is dying, Games for Windows boss, Kevin Unangst, has stepped up to the plate to announce that PC gaming is not kicking the bucket. Rather, PC gaming is fine, and is not going to pass on anytime soon.

Unangst declared recently that there is no physical obstacle that the PC must overcome. No more attention is needed by retailers and developers to boost sales. "The roadblock, if any, is the perception that there is a roadblock in PC gaming," Unangst wisely declared. He went on further to say that the idea of PC gaming death is near ludicrous, and those who believe so simply haven't looked at the facts.

However, when one does look at the NPD numbers, as Unangst recommends, it can be seen that for both 2006 and 2007, PC sales for The Sims and World of Warcraft soared. These must be the only numbers Unangst saw; Call of Duty 4, for example, the fourth game in a series that was started on the PC, sold 383,000 copies for the PC. This dramatically pales in comparison to the 360 version, which sold a whopping 7 million copies. That's one hell of a difference.

But Unangst had an answer for this, as well. He was more than ready to point out that consumers spent more money on Windows games than on PS3 games, and bought more Windows retail games than Wii games, in 2007.

In addition, Unangst states that you need to see the growing online market sales to truly understand what's going on. Microsoft is now working with NPD to do just that. "I think you're going to begin seeing what's a more accurate picture of what's really going on in PC gaming, and then people can stop judging the success or failure of the segment by monthly reports from NPD and retailers," Unangst stated optimistically.

So, is PC gaming on a decline? Perhaps. Is PC gaming really alive and well? Maybe. However, at this juncture, it is quite difficult to forecast the future vitality of the PC gaming industry. In the future, we will know what happens, but for now, everything is guesswork and assumption.

[via Next Generation]

Posted by jambo on 04/21/2008 at 05:12PM

You have to remember that those NDP numbers only account for retail sales. With CoD4 on Steam and D2D they would've sold a lot more than 383,000 copies.

Posted by NavMan on 04/21/2008 at 05:37PM

They should really update PC sales figures to include Steam purchases.

Posted by Requiem on 04/21/2008 at 05:40PM

Good to hear, seeing how I'm going to be building a new gaming PC.

Posted by Sersoft.corp on 04/21/2008 at 07:51PM

PC gaming was always limited by the cheap bastards who prefer to download all their games from torrents.

Posted by KindGalaxy on 04/22/2008 at 04:06AM

It's just as easy these days to do it for consoles, I was actually shocked when I heard it from this casual at work, he just downloads Xbox 360 games, a firmware-modded X360 plays them; with multiplayer... I was just shocked, then asked him where he got it done.

Posted by Leonick on 04/22/2008 at 09:41AM

yea its might be easy to download games for the 360 but not at all compared to the pc, and look at the ps3 its almost more expensive to pirate thanks to the cost of blueray drivers and discs

pc gaming is far from dead.... its still the best alternative for gaming its just that some game producers gets scared away by the pirating