report

report

Advertising at gaming websites only captures the attention of existing PC gamers, it doesn’t bring non PC gamers into the fold (my concern). PC gaming is a hobby, and like all hobbies people set them aside when the times demand it (kids turn up, more responsibility at the office, yadda, yadda). There is a constant flow of people who come into PC gaming, and those who move onto other things. Quite a few of the people I knew when I was younger and were avid PC gamers, have either crossed over to consoles (because they are less hassle) or just don’t have the time for gaming any more, or just don’t have the inclination to buy back in (state of the art PC). When these people were playing games on the PC, the platform was king in terms of public presence. PC games were widely available and everyone took it for granted that they’d need to configure this and that to get things to run ok. Sure right now, new people get into PC gaming everyday, but as the wider public presence disappears (as magazines disappear off our shelves, and PC shelf space diminishes) the take up will invariably lessen. Certainly I’m not predicting a massive drop off any time soon (unlike some rabid doom mongers I could mention), but 10 – 15 years and a couple of console generations in things might be significantly different in terms of market.

I think one of the interesting things to consider is, whether the present monopolising of the retail gaming space by the console manufacturers would of have occurred if DD hadn’t happened. What if Sierra had won that court case against Valve and Steam had never seen the light of day? Would we be seeing the PC still being squeezed on the high street, or would the retail market still be healthy, and how would it be faring against the monoliths of the 360 and PS3?

report

report

I’d happily take about 30-40 of those games off your hands, seeing the likes of Crusader, Dungeon Keeper, Delta Force, System Shock, Deus Ex, Mechwarrior etc. etc.

What a fantastic collection!

uhm, hmm, but thats not even going to make a dent. Its just going to leave a gaping hole in my shelf that I’m going to be tempted to fill up – with something.

Anyway, send email to me at dsmart at 3000ad dot com and we’ll see. My mail is protected by ChoiceMail One. So as soon as you send me email, give it five mins and check your email or spam folder for the challenge/response question. If you don’t respond – to prove that you’re not a bot or something – I’ll never see your email.

Give me a list of what you want – even if you don’t see it, I probably have it. e.g. I have ALL the Infocom games. Every last one.

@ kadiya

Do you think the lack of high street retail presence for non multi-platform titles is going to detrimentally impact upon future PC titles, or do you feel that the PC buying public are sufficiently digitally inclined these days (both through portals and etailers such as Amazon & play) that the market is really just transitioning?

I don’t think ANYTHING – other than a dearth of good games – is going to affect PC gaming; neither at retail nor online. Heck, even retro games, back catalogs etc are making a comeback. What does that you? It tells me that we’re doing just fine.

report

What will save games is when games are made by developers again not marketing company’s.

report

Just wanted to say thanks for reporting back on this. Put the numbers you reported to some work myself.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10291692-1.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

- Rich

report

Advertising and presence is king, don’t think otherwise.

report

report

report

For now. But my point is will that self reliance continue to hold up over the next 5 – 10 years against a retail environment that seems determined to erase it? I don’t think one can naturally assume that people who aren’t presently active PC gamers are going to find themselves clued up or clued into a market place that we are presently aware of.

Everyone reading this thread/site is undoubtedly familiar with Steam & impulse & D2D, but there are plenty of PCgamers out there who either eschew anything but boxed goods, or are blissfully ignorant of these distribution portals (bizarre as that thought may seem).

report

I think PCgamers are generally self reliant. I mean plenty of games sell well and yet when was the last time we saw a big advertising campaign for any PC game? PCgames also get shunned by mainstream gaming sites. And somehow we manage. Heck… even casual gamers are like this, those games sell like crazy despite close to zero advertising or any info/reviews/previews at major gaming sites.

report