[quote name='Nogib']I realize the OP may like his soapbox here or w/e, but piracy is
NOT the reason for the downfall of PC gaming.[/QUOTE]
It is not the sole reason, but it is a large part. I worked on two PC projects that got canceled because of concerns over piracy. The previous version of the game had sold poorly, but the patches were being downloaded at 10 times the number of purchased copies, and the built in ticker, that reported back to the companies servers, were reporting an even higher number of games being played. It was ashame too, because we were working with the community sites and had plans to expand the scope to include international leagues. Piracy does hurt the PC market and is markably easier to do then on the consoles. No company wants to take the risk and not be able to profit from their work. Hell, that is why the most popular PC games today either are not focused on the enthusiast (Sims), or give away the game for free to get you on subscriptions (WoW).
[quote name='Sporadic']
Again, that has nothing to do with pirates. It's easier/cheaper for the developers to push out whatever shitpile on console (maximum 3 different pieces of hardware) then trying to optimize their game for the PC market. [/QUOTE]
Yeah, this is not true at all. It is much easier to develop/publish for the PC. Think about it, PC still has no real certifications, you define your requirements and in the worst case scenario, say it will take several years for the PC building industry to catch up to your Opus of a game. Consoles you are working inside memory constraints and if the user is an HD or SD user, etc.
[quote name='Sporadic']
Nothing to do with pirates. A place like Wal-Mart still stocks PC games, a place like Gamestop that depends on used sells don't because...[/QUOTE]
Roughly 38% of Gamestops business is used (up 18% from the previous year are used sales (citation * & #). Gamestop stopped selling used games because they say a large drop in purchases. Wal-mart stocks some PC titles, but the PC pool is much larger and anything they do not like, does not go on their store shelves.
*
http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/0...utive-argues-used-games-drive-new-game-sales/
#
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...e_Of_Purchases_Comes_From_Top_5_Companies.php
[quote name='Sporadic']
the majority of recent PC games have 0 resell value since you have to tie it to an account (Steam or otherwise) or track the use of the CD-key[/QUOTE]
Yeah, Valve F$&ked this one up. Their actually used to be a 5 dollar transfer charge to transition a license of a Valve game from one user to another, but they amended it in the first year of production.
[quote name='sendme']Piracy isn't the only thing killing gaming. Corporate greed is also killing it. Back in the 90s you could buy a game and you would have all of your game. Sure you had to unlock it or the developers blocked out some code because they didn’t want to use it. So then you had to buy the cheat device of that time and unlock the code. Or for the PC you had to download a hack for it. Now you have to buy the stuff again that is already on the disc. Console gaming was great back then because like I said I got everything on the disc and never had to buy the rest of it... Sure that content is not always already on the disc but think about the games that it is on them already. Sure it is only a few bucks but didn’t you just pay 40-60 bucks for the game already.
On the PC side do you remember mods and dedicated servers? I do and it was great. Hell I also remember the time that when I bought a game and a new map was out I didn’t have to pay for it. Sure you would have your expansion packs every what 6 months to a year and that was not bad. They gave almost a new game and added to the old one. Sure they are just like DLC today but something was just different about them. Could be the fact that you had a hard copy of it. Also like someone else said worse case scenario you had to have a CD key for a game you bought and maybe if you had it installed on more then one PC you could not log into both and play online. Now you have a limit to the amount of times you can install it or you have to uninstall it from one PC to install it onto another one. Thank you piracy. Companies have to put so much shit into the games to keep piracy at bay but it ends up hurting the customer that is getting their copy legit.
.[/QUOTE]
I really do not get the complaint about limited installs. I have 5 computers in my house and I can install BioShock or Spore or whatever the latest DRM outrage game is without an issue. If I want to install it on another PC (which would be odd,since I have 5 already with it) then yes I have to uninstall, just like if I want to play a game in the Xbox over there, I have to take my disk out. If you want to throw a stone at limited accessibility, how come I have to have the disk in the tray, when I use the "Play from Harddrive" feature on the Xbox or install the game on Ps3
And as for the DLC, you do not like it. But, I think we might be remembering expansion packs with rose colored glasses. For every good expansion (ex. Half-Life: Opposing Forces) , there is a cash in (ex Half-Life: Blue Shift or Star Trek Elite Forces: Virtual Voyager). Yes, having to pay to unlock on disk content sucks, but if a company is relying on that, is that a game you really want to play?
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