Thursday 30th August 2007

77 per cent of online gamers use PCs

Posted at: 4:29am 30th August 2007 by Ben Hardwidge

We all know that you can’t play a first person shooter with a gamepad, but now it’s official – PCs are the preferred machines for online gaming

Any serious online gamer will tell you that you can’t beat a PC with a keyboard and mouse if you want a night of wasting noobs, but that hasn’t stopped the mainstream media from concentrating most of its efforts on the console market. However, in a recent survey it turns out that over three quarters of online gamers use the PC as their games machine of choice.

ISP PlusNet conducted a survey of its high-use broadband customers, and found that 77 per cent of them preferred playing games on their PC online, compared with just 23 per cent who preferred a console. On top of this, a massive 64 per cent of those questioned claimed they never used a console for online gaming at all. Predictably, the most popular console was Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which has a similar games catalogue to the PC.

PlusNet’s products director, Neil Armstrong (yes, we’re sure he’s heard all the moon landing jokes already), challenged the perception in the media that consoles are the dominant force in gaming. ‘The console market is dominated by high-profile companies, backed by huge marketing budgets,’ said Armstrong, ‘so it’s easy to think that this is the way most of us like to game online. However, our research shows that most serious gamers prefer a PC and broadband connection as their entry point. The fact that nearly two-thirds of people questioned don’t even own a console shows how strong and diverse dominant PC gaming this group is.’

According to PlusNet, the respondents in the survey cited a number of reasons for the PC being their preferred games machine, which included ‘the breadth and diversity of PC gaming communities,’ and ‘the quality of the graphics.’

PlusNet clearly has a soft spot for online gamers, and Armstrong claimed that ‘like sports cars require specialist oils and equipment, a high quality gaming experience demands good traffic prioritisation and a high quality of service – both of which we’ve dedicated significant time to throughout our history.’ PlusNet has a policy of prioritising traffic for games on its network, as well as prioritising VoIP traffic for TeamSpeak and Ventrillo.

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Comments

But Still

If you had run this poll 3 years ago, prior to Xbox360,ps3 and wii, the percentage of online gamers not on a PC would have been <5% ? so in 2 years since this new console gen has started they have already claimed 23% of the online market and by the looks of current climates it's only going to grow. just my 2 pence.

Comment by illF8d at 8:02am 3rd September 2007

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For fps games and rts's(and mmorpg) yes, PC owns consoles @ online. But , sport sims like Pro Evolution Soccer and driving games/ fighting games like tekken are all better on the consoles because of the pads. But that being said the 2 largest played online types are fps and rts :P ( and mmorpg )

Comment by slash at 12:12pm 31st August 2007

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Cable

ive got 20mb cable from virgin and i get stupidly fast download speeds and pings, and yeah never used a console online, as F_A_F said tho online games can be so in-depth its amazing.

Comment by MDK_UK at 3:41am 31st August 2007

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I think it's a mixed bag with plenty of people being unaccounted for on both sides. One big factor is that Plusnet is a common ISP for PC gamers to use as it's a decent, no frills, reliable service. It's more likely that console gamers will choose services with TV/Cable like Virgin media etc and use that for their Xbox live. PC gamers will usually make a more informed decision (as they are more likely to be of the geeky type) if they are chosing boradband for gaming. That said I'm a keen PC gamer and I use Virgin Cable broadband, I swear by it's pings too and I've never played a console online...

Comment by combatus at 9:22pm 30th August 2007

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Games charts are now pointless and I haven't used them in years. How does one measure purchases of online games such as EVE? How many WOW players have bought a second account online? How many HL1 players downloaded CS when it was a free mod? How many HL2 owners have never played the core game, and only bought it for CS:S? The console market is still massively immature in my opinion. The only thing that differentiates 2006 games such as Motorstorm from 1994 games such as WipeOut is prettier graphics, better effects and more realistic physics. The last really revolutionary console game was GTA3. Online gaming rewards the time input massively, whether through improved gaming skill in FPS games or in items and gold in RPG's. Your average console owner only wants a cheap thrill, quick and fast, and doesn't want to get too deeply involved in one particular game.

Comment by F_A_F at 4:36pm 30th August 2007

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