Pack your bags, we're leaving to Consoleville.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22878
It's deader than it was before!
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22878
It's deader than it was before!
PC gaming officialy dead.
- Thread starter Black
- Start date
Did they include Steam sales?
Mikael Grizzly said:
Did you even follow the link? Black was being ironic, and linking to PCGA's highly overestimated estimate of what the PC industry produces - 11 billion dollars, by far the biggest single platform out there.
It's an over-estimate, it has to be as it is coming from a highly biased source, but it serves nicely to counter the retail-only ignoring-MMOs NPD.
NPD really doesn't ignore MMOs. It counts retails sales for the actual game purchase and any expansions. It just doesn't count gametime cards. Counts that as a subscription and not a game purchase.
Retail is NPD's game. They make money delivering those numbers.
Retail is NPD's game. They make money delivering those numbers.
For all intents and purposes, Kilus, any tracking of PC game revenue that ignores MMO subscription sales as well as digital download sales is invalid, tracking at most 40% of total revenue, if that. PC retail is dead, and that makes NPD useless for tracking the state of the PC industry.
I think the problem is there is no real way of tracking DD. There is so many players out there and most of them don't like releasing numbers.
The real meat and bones of NPD's game marketing data is console sales. But even there they do miss out on a bit. Xbox Live Arcade is getting close to 100 million dollars in sales per year. Halo 3 is about to launch a 3rd map pack and GTA IV has a second DLC expansion pack coming. All 3 map packs and both GTA IV expansions are each estimated or projected to do 20-30 million dollars in sales. Rock Band and Guitar Hero have hundreds of song DLC. Burnout Paradise and Warhawk were released oven PSN.
The real meat and bones of NPD's game marketing data is console sales. But even there they do miss out on a bit. Xbox Live Arcade is getting close to 100 million dollars in sales per year. Halo 3 is about to launch a 3rd map pack and GTA IV has a second DLC expansion pack coming. All 3 map packs and both GTA IV expansions are each estimated or projected to do 20-30 million dollars in sales. Rock Band and Guitar Hero have hundreds of song DLC. Burnout Paradise and Warhawk were released oven PSN.
Brother None said:
I did, Dutchman, I am simply genuinely curious if he knows whether or not Steam and other digital distribution is included.
My sarcasm meter isn't broken yet.
most likely, they did.Mikael Grizzly said:
i also think they counted MMO subscriptions, which not always goes from vouchers in retail stores, but is mostly paid by credit card online.
SimpleMinded
Vault Fossil
Kilus said:
Are there really that many players that make a significant difference? I feel like even just targeting the 4 or 5 biggest players probably wouldn't be that bad. And likely easier to follow than trying to track 1000 different Best Buys around the US.
SuAside said:
Valve is pretty tight-lipped about Steam numbers, tho', and they're not a part of the PCGA, so at best it's a guesstimate.
S
Stag
Guest
PC gaming is official dead?
S
Stag
Guest
PC Gaming is official dead.
Black said:
Exactly.
Though, seriously, why are people usually so quick to make critical claims about PC gaming? It's never been the same as, or as big as console gaming, it's a different kind of animal. It's also much less specific in targeting certain groups while consoles market to a definite and limited audience.
The companies who make consoles also underestimate PC power. Imagine how much more money Nintendo or Sega would be making if they were selling "official" roms for their older cartrige systems and official emulators to go with them, instead of encouraging piracy.
superstartran
First time out of the vault
Verd1234 said: