Right Cobra. The piracy measures have not all been successful, and just end up being frustration for us, the actual buyers.
Its not just about piracy, I don't pirate any of the new PC games anymore. Its not because I don't want to, its because my computer can't handle it. I can't keep up with the spec requirements, having to update every few months isn't worth it. Thats why the console games are beating the PC versions, all you have to do is buy the system and put the game in.
You are right, it is a wide variety of factors, but I feel piracy is the major one. Right now is the honeymoon period for consoles, but that lasts a year or two after release.
But sure, people like you, who can't run PC games properly, check them out for the curiosity factor. But I am talking about guys spending $600 on their video cards, and then pirating ten best selling games etc.
There needs to be a solution for this.
I personally like what Bioshock did. I can't think most people were inconvenienced by that measure, and the game sold well for a PC title. Initially it had 3 activations, that could very simply be reactivated.
Also it is highly unlikely that one would install Bioshock, have to format because of a crash, reinstall, format again, and then reinstall and format a third time to find his copy locked, while at the same time being totally unable to send out an e-mail to regain his activation. I am sure that happened to a
few people but surely not the majority. I was surprised how that whole thing snowballed.
I am happy with the 5 activations. And it isn't like they can't be replenished either.
I'd second Cobra's above comment. It's disheartening watching, for instance, Aquaria get pirated all over the place. It's almost painful. This will dictate whether or not the two guys who made it ever get to make another indy title like it ever again, and Alec has been very vocal about his frustration at how little they've made.
Seriously? I had no idea. Now that's kinda depressing. What sort of scumbag would pirate an indy game? It is almost shocking because you'd think fans of that title are the ones that have been closley following the hardwork put into its development.
You almost think they should just go into a partnership with STEAM. I realize most of us here dislike it, but it has a more favorable base on the rest of the internet. Plus Introversion Software went from failure to success because of that online distribution.
What is funny to me is that people go to the cinema and pay $10 for a 2 hour movie. Most of these are college students are probably watch a movie in he cinema a week? These people can't pay twenty fucking dollars for a game like Aquaria?
Crysis doesnt sell well, but everyone knows its a system killer with its requirements. Whos going to pay $50 for something that, unless you upgraded in the last month, won't run very well? UT3 seems to have a similar problem. Also, those games came out during a very heavy game release season, both PC and consoles. Wallets are empty.
I agree that there are other factors, but UT3 is very scalable. On my sister's 7950GT, it runs beautifully.
Sure there are a number of factors, but you'd think at least ONE AAA title would sell in big numbers on the PC.
Sales numbers generally dont factor in digital sales such as steam or direct2drive. How many copies REALLY sold then? Hard to say.
Yes that's what PC gamers like myself have been telling each other for comfort. But some sort of unfortunate estimation was released on online distribution, and it isn't looking as good as people expected. I've read at a number of places that online distribution is accounting for 2-5% of PC gaming.
Here are some quotes from another forum:
Also, market analysts project digital downloads make up 3% of the PC games industry, and not one single company has come out to challenge that notion. Meanwhile, every single music download company that are making a smidgen of what itunes does jumped at the chance to have their sales included in NPD and the UK numbers. Why? Because they want every possible chance to show major labels that their business model is a viable one and to continue getting releases from them. Meanwhile, publishers are moving away from PC because they can't justify making games on the system that sells a tenth of the units, requires ten times the amount of testing, and is the easiest to pirate. No numbers are needed, even coming out and saying that 5% of Orange Box or Crysis sales were made through online distribution services would shock the industry to its core. And yet every single game download company won't say a word about how well they're doing. Meanwhile, PC Gamer magazine won't stop releasing their magazine with a disc because their market research continously shows that their audience don't download demos due to how big the files are. Which is in line with what Jeff Green said on the GFW podcast about how he was shocked when their research revealed a lot of their audience don't even have broadband or even visit gaming sites. Doesn't sound promising that these people are downloading 6 gig games off Steam.Theres plenty of people that play PC games simply because they can play them for free. Those people wouldn't buy the game in any case. Its just impossible to judge that, though...so whatever. I think it would be more people than not.
I agree, but at the same time you compare sales for games like Orange Box, UT3, Quake Wars, Need for Speed... tons of other cross platform releases and you will note PC versions outsold 3 to 1 or even 4 to 1. Sure it isn't all an indication of piracy, but people on the consoles are buying those games because they can't pirate them.
I just hope things freakin' pickup this year.
Hopefully with games like Spore, and Starcraft 2 other PC titles will gain momentum as well.
Speaking of incentive, as I said in IRC: Its obvious people want these games. They have the rigs that run them, and the time to download them. I wonder if there is some kind of incentive that developers could add to make people want a real legit copy over a pirate copy.
Like you said, better packaging is one. I think the only way most people will buy a game is if they can't play it for free.
