PC gaming should adopt a console approach to regain momentum.

M

MRORANGE

Member
I think it's safe to say that PC gaming is trailing behind looking at these figures from one publisher, while it's doing beter than before it's still get it's arse kicked by ps3/xb360 which is quite frankly embarrassing.
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In this thread we will discuss on how PC gaming should approach a console cycle approach like experience to gain growth.

The number one problem with PC gaming is still the fact that a for a beginner it's very hard to get into, Now before we being we must first tell ourselves what a beginner PC person is.

- It is not a person who knows the inards of a PC
- It is not a person who is tech-savy enough to build a PC.
- It is not a person who can tell the difference between enthusiast hardware
- It is not a person who has time and patience to install hardware/software

Now hopefully this has cleared the air and we won't get derailed by comments on how 'easy to build...blah.blah'

Now if a person went into a electronics store they would have no idea on what to buy by looking at the specs, thier best option would be to buy something like this:

acerpredator.jpg



While that PC isn't bad spec-wise, gamers can easily get duped by flashy gear that does not do much, one example:

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Not only is the fact that it is a poor gaming pc, the specs will confuse any beginner. A user will buy this hoping to run the latest games and get terrible performance or they will get a game and not understand why it's not running on their system, this is a big turn off for people who are used to games just working, like they do on a console.







The solution?


The easy way to lift this barrier is to ged rid of specs. developers and manufacturers should comply with what they think is the spec for PC games should be that year, for example in 2012 they could assume a dual core with a 1GB GPU with 4GB ram would be sufficient and that would be the baseline standard, but a 2016 PC could be specced as quad core with 8GB ram and 2gb GPU. .They could then label this badge on the PC, stating it's capability:

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But what about if people wanted choice like on a PC?

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well we could colour code each year with different colours, even go to the extent of colouring components to match performance to give an idea of people who need to upgrade as well, by albelling them as slow/medium and fast.


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4K 45fps GOOD
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Okay 1080P 60fps
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Slow - 720P

Publishers could comply and start adopting this easy to read format:

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The company that could have implemented this was Valve with SteamOS but for some reason they wanted PC builders to do their own thing, which to my knowledge caused more setbacks and confusion and the poor amount of sales of Steamboxes.


The benefits:

- A lot easier for people to buy a gaming pc and understand how it will perform
- publishers and devlopers can understand what systems people will have
- clarifies easily on what games are compatible.


Thoughts? How else could PC gaming be simpllified to beginners?
 
That seems more confusing in a number of ways. I agree that the platform should find ways to offer a wider variety of Alienware Alpha-like entry products, but I dont know about this solution. I actually think Valve in on track towards a handful of baseline standards driven by their hardware survey, they're just doing it at usual Valve speed and with the usual Valve marketing budget of roughly $0.

I also think it's just a platform that people will need to accept requires a couple hours of additional work to really nail down what's best for them. Its a side effect of the advantages of the platform.
 
Making a 'mimum spec' for every year makes no sense for developers on strict development schedules. Neither does what you suggest for settings considering there are a plethora of components of every make and model for every setting under the sun for any particular game at a time. Not including drivers and OS's and such.

Personally speaking as a console outsider, consoles as closed boxes are the antithesis to the PC ecosystem and go against what makes PC's so loved by the PC community, which is open source, open everything.

That's why i don't think Steam boxes will do well at all. Making PCs like consoles and vice versa when each platform's users like the approaches by each experience don't really work.
 
I do agree that some unification/simplification of PC gaming requirements is needed. The year, high/mid/low categorization is something i could see working if there is total buy in from devs, hardware and distributors. Good luck with that last part though.
 
As a mid-90s to mid-2000s PC Gamer, the one thing that would really get me back is a simplification of the naming and numbering system for video cards and CPUs. Things can get really confusing and unless you don't do the proper research you could possibly be paying more for a product that you think is better but is actually worse than an older, cheaper product.
 
Also, lol at PC's having to "regain momentum". PC gaming is more user friendly and open then it ever was, and that's without having to compromise the PC experience, just from what i've heard from PC users and what i've personally witnessed myself from friends.
 
lowhighkang_LHK said:
It's got 17% of the market. That's pretty good for what is considered "enthusiast hardware."
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Well, those are figures from a single, PC-centric publisher.
I mean, they even have a special PC client/social network for all of their games, of course they will sell a lot of PC games.
One almost fear what the data must look like for other, less PC focused publishers.
 
Stuff like Steam Machines (SteamOS and otherwise) and Windows Experience Index were set up specifically to handle this. They have had approximately zero impact on the market.

Two, PC is a massive business. If you look beyond Ubi, Atvi, and EA, and look at, say, Riot, Valve, and see that they're handling $1B+/a businesses just on PC, it'd be hard to say that PC is "trailing behind". You're only looking at the data of western audiences on western-focused platforms.

Third, why does PC need to be bigger? Given the options available for a large percentage of consumers, consoles are a very sensible choice. Low cost of entry, low barrier of entry, ease-of-use across the entire platform, etc. PCs can do everything consoles can and more but there are extra costs - monetary and otherwise, e.g. user experience - to obtain those benefits. If those benefits are not compelling, then a console is a perfectly satisfactory experience.

Knurek said:
Well, those are figures from a single, PC-centric publisher.
I mean, they even have a special PC client/social network for all of their games, of course they will sell a lot of PC games.
One almost fear what the data must look like for other, less PC focused publishers.
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Ubisoft is a PC-centric publisher?
 
NormalFish said:
Regain momentum lol.
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While a drive-by, this is true. PC has had pretty decent momentum and that's only going to get better going forward. It's going to be some time, but the writing it on the wall.

I say this as someone who owns every console and a gaming PC, so I'm not trying to shit on anything.
 
NOLA_Gaffer said:
As a mid-90s to mid-2000s PC Gamer, the one thing that would really get me back is a simplification of the naming and numbering system for video cards and CPUs. Things can get really confusing and unless you don't do the proper research you could possibly be paying more for a product that you think is better but is actually worse than an older, cheaper product.
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A i7 is faster than a i5. A i5 is faster than a i3. It's not that complicated.
 
Knurek said:
Well, those are figures from a single, PC-centric publisher.
I mean, they even have a special PC client/social network for all of their games, of course they will sell a lot of PC games.
One almost fear what the data must look like for other, less PC focused publishers.
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You sound really "concerned". The top grossing games in the world are PC games, mostly f2p shooters, MMOs and MOBAs and such. The nature of the platform is evolving, but overall the market share is pretty decent. It's just where different types of games foster, AAA console-style games won't do as well on PC. I'll look for the chart and post it when I find it.
 
The thing is, PC doesn't "need" much. Steam has done an amazing job of promoting the consolification of the platform. Sales are healthy because their is no giant advertising overhead and physical distribution model to cut into profits. Companies spend millions advertising games, but the PC platform just uses steam greenlight and early access. In turn, steam has steadily kept increasing its user based every year, which is really impressive! Lastly, this has spurred enthusiast sector sales of GPUs.

Not much to complain about on the whole aside from the occasional Arkham knight situation. Then again, even with that there are opposite explains like Just Cause 3 that ran better on a moderate PC out of the gate than either the PS4 or X1.

In short, PC gaming is looking better and better every year! 2016 will give us big titles like Star Citizen as well as high end VR options. I think PC is doing just fine...
 
I fail to see how your ideas address the lack of a comfy couch and the inability to plug a PC into a television set.
 
Looks at the title. Looks at the the thread creator - *this should be fun*.

Anyway, while the thread isn't serious (going by the original poster), it'd be good to talk more about how it's like to become a PC player if you've never been one before. I've been a PC gamer all my life, but if I had been a console gamer only, it wouldn't be an easy thing to do.
 
Note that MMO and social also means PC in this chart:

That puts PCs with higher market share than consoles overall. PC revenue is also higher than consoles.

Global_Games_Report_Infographic_v1_tn.png
 
To me one of the biggest issues with PC right now is it does a pretty poor job as a platform of holding any kind of player base on multiplayer games. Unless its a MOBA or Blizzard or Counter Strike. PC players by and large seem to stick to a small set of games and just basically play nothing but those. Its to the point now I buy every major multiplayer title on consoles
 
Obliterator said:
To me one of the biggest issues woth PC rogjt now is it does a pretty poot job as a platform of holdong any kind of player base on multiplayer games. Unless its a MOBA or Blizzard or Coubter Strike. PC players by and large seem to stick to a small set of games and just basically play nothing but those. Its to the point now I buy every major multiplayer title on consoles
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PC players just have good taste.
 
I totally agree, the future IS consoles. There's no getting around it, You can buy a PlayStation™4 for only $299.99 MSRP which is more powerful than most p c's plus it has exclusives like Bloodbourne, and others while the p c doesn't really have any that aren't already going to be PlayStation Plus games that I can get totally free.
 
DizzyCaffeine said:
A i7 is faster than a i5. A i5 is faster than a i3. It's not that complicated.
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If it were that simple, that would be awesome. But taking a glance at the "i7" page of NewEgg I can see:

i7-4790K
i7-5820K
i7-5930K
i7-5960X
i7-4790
i7-4790S
i7-4770S
i7-6700
i7-975
i7-4771
i7-870
i7-6700k

Are that many varieties necessary? Then there's that many (or more) of the i5, the i3, the Pentium "Dual Core" models, the Celeron, plus others and AMD's offerings.
 
SkeptiMism said:
Looks at the title. Looks at the the thread creator - *this should be fun*.

Anyway, while the thread isn't serious (going by the original poster), it'd be good to talk more about how it's like to become a PC player if you've never been one before. I've been a PC gamer all my life, but if I had been a console gamer only, it wouldn't be an easy thing to do.
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are you sure it's not serious? because it makes even less sense to me if its intended as a joke.
 
I honestly have no idea how you could look at those figures and come to that conclusion.

Knurek said:
Well, those are figures from a single, PC-centric publisher.
I mean, they even have a special PC client/social network for all of their games, of course they will sell a lot of PC games.
One almost fear what the data must look like for other, less PC focused publishers.
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Why, is this Valve? Because if this is EA or Ubisoft, that's not what I'd call a PC-centric publisher. Using a single publisher's data is pretty skewed, I agree, but that's because it underestimates the PC market, if anything.
 
A big hurdle PC really needs to overcome is the keyboard and mouse. Someone ought to get a standardized controller and include it with the PCs MRORANGE is suggesting. Maybe it's just me, but I think Devil May Cry 4 plays better with a controller!
 
NOLA_Gaffer said:
If it were that simple, that would be awesome. But taking a glance at the "i7" page of NewEgg I can see:

i7-4790K
i7-5820K
i7-5930K
i7-5960X
i7-4790
i7-4790S
i7-4770S
i7-6700
i7-975
i7-4771
i7-870
i7-6700k

Are that many varieties necessary? Then there's that many (or more) of the i5, the i3, the Pentium "Dual Core" models, the Celeron, plus others and AMD's offerings.
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Yes? What's wrong with having options? Remember that PCs aren't only for gaming, video/audio producers, businessmen and scientists also use them.
 
NOLA_Gaffer said:
If it were that simple, that would be awesome. But taking a glance at the "i7" page of NewEgg I can see:

i7-4790K
i7-5820K
i7-5930K
i7-5960X
i7-4790
i7-4790S
i7-4770S
i7-6700
i7-975
i7-4771
i7-870
i7-6700k

Are that many varieties necessary? Then there's that many (or more) of the i5, the i3, the Pentium "Dual Core" models, the Celeron, plus others and AMD's offerings.
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You don't need to know anything about them though. It takes 30-60 minutes of research to find a few popular recommended builds and components.
 
Obliterator said:
To me one of the biggest issues with PC right now is it does a pretty poor job as a platform of holding any kind of player base on multiplayer games. Unless its a MOBA or Blizzard or Counter Strike. PC players by and large seem to stick to a small set of games and just basically play nothing but those. Its to the point now I buy every major multiplayer title on consoles
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um.. not really

multiplayer longevity on PC far outpaces console multiplayer
 
YianGaruga said:
are you sure it's not serious? because it makes even less sense to me if its intended as a joke.
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It's MRORANGE. This is what he does (sorry OP).

I dunno though, there might be something in it that's half serious at least (and nevertheless, there is talk to be had), but at the very least some of the things are just jokes/trolling (like the momentum regaining).
 
Obliterator said:
To me one of the biggest issues with PC right now is it does a pretty poor job as a platform of holding any kind of player base on multiplayer games. Unless its a MOBA or Blizzard or Counter Strike. PC players by and large seem to stick to a small set of games and just basically play nothing but those. Its to the point now I buy every major multiplayer title on consoles
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Yea, I've noticed that. My co-workers only ever play DOTA or LoL for the most part.

I'd be interested to know what percentage of the PC market actually purchases multiple games and/or have hardware comparable to something like the PS4.
 
orochi91 said:
Yea, I've noticed that.

I'd be interested to know what percentage of the PC market actually purchases multiple games and/or have hardware comparable to something like the PS4.
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Probably just go look in the Steam sale thread where you can see people with hundreds to thousands of games in their Steam account.
 
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