PC Gaming Dies Again: Part 1

Are the days of gaming on the PC numbered? That's the perennial question put forth by Jimzzor on the You NEWB blog.

This is a huge, complex subject rife with fanboy bias, armchair speculation and gross exaggerations. I'd like to tackle it from a broader perspective of the overall games industry before commenting on it from a more personal standpoint. Come, let's peer into our smudged crystal ball...

Remember that awful buzzword, convergence? Yeah, I cringed a little too. Buzzwords can die a slow, painful death for all I care, but this one applies to the current state of game consoles versus PCs more than ever. With each successive generation of consoles, the technological divide between them and your typical gaming PC narrows. Microsoft is spearheading their Games for Windows program to close the gap even further offering, among other things, the promise of cross-platform play experience between computer and console gamers.

So what lies ahead for PC gaming? Will the platform eventually be absorbed into the console world or maybe vice-versa? Games for Windows appears to be Microsoft's best attempt to bring console-like features to the PC games experience: ease of use, plug & play, standardized packaging and... Windows LIVE. Whether PC users will warm up to these new initiatives is still up in the air, but the outcome will have profound effects on the evolution of the games industry.

As development costs for B- or even C-list titles continue to climb, more developers are looking to release their product on multiple platforms to ensure profits for their years of hard work. And while piracy is a problem for all forms of electronic media, nowhere is it more rampant than on the "open-system" PC. How do publishers and game studios recoup the costs on their multi-million dollar titles? MMO juggernaught, World of Warcraft has established the model for a successful online game, never mind single-handedly propping up the PC as a viable gaming platform. But surely not even this game, 8 million subscribers strong, can keep PC gaming alive through the next generation and beyond. What will it take to ensure survival?

Survival is a non-issue. The way I see it, computer games have long been the domain of the hardcore and a breeding ground for the newest innovations. Developers with innovative, ground-breaking ideas thrive in the PC market, a market that is bereft of prohibitive licensing fees and a comparatively mainstream mindset on what constitutes a successful, profitable game. Although programs like XNA and Live Arcade are bringing that "indie" spirit to the console stage, it's still a far cry from the unregulated world of modders, open-source applications and bleeding-edge hardware you can only get with the PCs. THIS is what always has and will continue to set the PC apart from its console brethren. It's the grassroots, DIY-spirit of computers that will always keep them around as a perfectly valid option to gamers. Not to mention that small, yet passionate set of consumer who will always demand the best hardware to drive the latest technological marvels. Crysis anyone?

Hey, it can't just be the "1337" hardcore gamers sticking with the PC. I mean, look around you. Look at your friends. Your buddy, he just waited in line at an obscenely early hour this morning to snag a Wii, yet he still compulsively logs on to WoW to level up his second Blood Elf. Your other friend, he still plays hours of Battlefield 2 and Counter-strike (Source version... blasphemous!), but every so often he'll fire up his 360 to pull off crazy car stunts in Crackdown. To them and to a growing segment of the gaming-buying population, the issue of console and PC games is not an either-or proposition.

The question of whether PC gaming is dead or alive is practically the wrong question to begin with. Gaming continues to move into the mainstream and the average consumer is getting more savvy and accepting of games, regardless of platform. Unless the PC goes the way of the dodo bird for its myriad of other uses like, accounting, design, commerce, Internet, word processing, etc. etc., people are unlikely to stop using it to just goof off.