PC gaming ‘in tatters’ says Peter Molyneux

The problem you have on the PC and seems to be ignored, is that this piracy thing is real! It's worse on the PC than the console...by far!! It's not only the gamers saying this, it's the PC's own developers and publishers saying it!! These are the people on the inside who make and sell the damn games. It's coming from the PC's own side. If "these" people start losing confidence in the PC, then they'll release games late, or take their games else where as they are starting to do. Ubisoft DOES NOT want End Wars on the PC because of piracy...thats the truth! EA and Epic have also boycotted the platform for the same reason and said as much. Believe what you want but wishful thinking and fanboyism won't change reality.

Comment by Warrior24_7 at 4:19pm 10th October 2008

the sims was the first game designed for the non-gamers that took off, my sisters both play The Sims and was the first game they ever owned. Since they have so little choice there bound to settle for the same game. As gamers we have lots of choice of games to play therefore all spread our money around, if we only had one game to choose from I guess that also would be within the charts every week. I dont believe this is an issue with the PC chart being messed up, rather than the non-gamers want a piece of the pie therefore we need to make room for there games too. The DRM issues are a different issue.

Comment by nickuk at 10:12am 10th October 2008

Why are so many talking PC gaming to death? I just don't understand it. Sure the consoles are very strong at the moment, but so is the PC. As for DRM, piracy is just as big an issue with the consoles as the PC anyway - in a way bigger because piracy for them is so profitable. Sure the DRM on Spore was bad but its a mistake EA are paying for in the backlash from users. The position against piracy now is far better than it was in the past. If there is a problem with games its the long term lack of creativity and original thinking and that is affecting all platforms equally.

Comment by lucien86 at 3:58am 10th October 2008

Listen, believe what you want. But as piracy goes on unabated and PC gamers rail against any form of protection for the developers, the more confidence that is lost in the PC, then out right avoidance becomes the only alternative as fear sets in. Ubisoft is the latest company to get cold feet about PC development. I know, there will be a ton of "get out of here", "we don't need 'em", "their games suck anyway", "I've always hated Ubisoft" ect responses. Just throw them on the wood pile with EA, id software, Epic, Infinity Ward, Crytek, Sports Interactive, Iron Lore Entertainment, Peter Molyneux, anyone who ever complained about piracy, and eventually PC gaming and we'll all have just one big bond fire! http://pc.ign.com/articles/917/917438p1.html

Comment by Warrior24_7 at 10:50pm 8th October 2008

so there's more people buying simulation games then shooting-the-crap-out-of-everything games and the market's in tatters? gimme a break! That's like being pissed off because the highest grossing film is a comedy and not an action flick or becuae rock music outsells techno...most things have categories and some are more popular than others and then they're not. If you own games that you like there's nothing to complain about and if you're a developer/publisher and you want to get to number one then make a better game. No-one complained when SimCity was top of the charts, or Civilization. There's choice out there and you may like some of the choices on offer and you may hate others. I thought SimCity 3 & 4 were excellent, Societies is like drinking tequila with Bill Oddie. So i don't think PM is right on that one, I think PC gamers have as much variety now as ever they have and for some reason PM and maybe a few others are annoyed because alot of people enjoy buying endless expansion packs for the Sims or because 'families' are buying games. Grow up and get over it

Comment by EdArch at 2:40am 6th October 2008

... took it on the chin and accepted that the average pc owner does not have a massively powerfull graphics card in their system. Games need to start being developed with the average pc as its target spec, and concentrate on getting the most out of these specs... sorry, but we cant continue to have the majority of games only able to run on a minority of machines.

Comment by NewParadigm at 7:00pm 4th October 2008

I'd say it is fragmented and changing and that having a single publisher or development house try to cover the full spectrum of PC gaming is unwise and the DRM vs Piracy debate (though solved for MMOs, Steam and Online FPS) scares the often uninformed money men.

Comment by Initialised at 12:44pm 4th October 2008

He is the creator of black and white, which to be honest wasnt very good, he just wishes he was on the Crysis or COD4 team... Cant believe a single person can shout such a normative statement, for the pleasures of getting a free PS3 for doing so...

Comment by Lightning_Pete at 10:36am 4th October 2008

They may be plenty rubbish game companies out there *cough*EA*cough*, but as long as we have some decent ones like valve, pc gaming will still survive, and even if they fail, there are still mods and other free games.

Comment by dimasoft at 12:01am 4th October 2008

I've been here before... This reminds me of the old PC vs Console debate that raged here earlier this year. Many of the same things that Peter Molyneux said here were said then. It seems like the PC development community is screaming at the top of it's lungs and nobody is listening. In fact, there even seems to be a backlash from the gamers when this type of news is delivered. The PC development community and the PC gaming community seem to be turning on eachother! The rampant piracy charges, the DRM debate and now the boycotting of the platform by prominent developers. The developers are now starting their own backlash! The same responses are given everytime there is bad news about the PC...everytime! Just read the responses about EA, Epic, id software and now Molyneux. Guess what, Molyneux is right!!! Just look at that top 10 chart. That says it all. It's all Simulation, MMO, RTS with a couple of old shooters thrown in. Yes, PC gaming is in tatters. The list is full of sequals, old games, one company (EA) totally dominating the entire top 20 with 10 games, COD4 and Crysis are almost a year old now! There is no new blood pumping into the PC. PC game development is stagnating. The PC is being pigeon holed into a platform for only certain types of games, MMOs, RTSs and Sim games...THATS IT!! There are more shooters on the 360! Of those (MMOs, RTSs and Sim) only the cream rises to the top. Thats why the Sims, WoW, Civilization and Command & Conquer aren't going anywhere, they'll just continue to repeat themselves. It costs $180 per year to play an MMO, not including the cost of the game itself. So most people will only play one! It's risk vs reward on this platform and that is whats keeping people away. Agree or not, the fact remains PC gaming is down and getting worse.

Comment by Warrior24_7 at 4:29pm 3rd October 2008

Hm, let's see.... is it about eight years now that I've been hearing the PC games market is "dead"? Or is it nine? I keep forgetting.

Comment by rahneshin at 8:33pm 3rd October 2008

I thought the gunplay in Crysis was excellent married to some pretty expansive levels. The orginal was far more than just a pretty tech demo imo. But hey each to their own. Personally I dont mind if the Sims is selling well as it means its still got some mainstream users. Not for me mind, but no harm in the choice being there. The music I listen to isn't top of the charts either and that's fine by me. I know that allot of the rock I listen to has a strong following and thats good enough imo.

Comment by KingDazza at 5:34pm 3rd October 2008

I think to much is made of the graphic advancement. At what cost does the development come? The developers spend more on creating advance and integrated gaming engines, this brings to life the environment and immerses the playing into the games feel and texture. Does that increase the actual playability of a game?? I wonder, as someone that's only been a PC Gamer for the last three years, having left the Playstation and nintendo worlds behind. I was first and foremost dragged in by BF2, fly, drive, run, command, really whatever you fancied. Did it have the best graphics and engine ever? No, but the longevity of the game is testament to it's playability. I remember when this was a key factor with the graphics coming as a nice to have. So what has been the sacrifice, in my opinion we've opted for the plush environments and lost sight of what makes a good game excellent, Crysis is definitely not excellent, but for the graphics you'd argue it was good, and I'd agree.

Comment by Clockedtohell at 4:34pm 3rd October 2008

If they didn't have any security then every Tom Dick Harry and Ethel would be copying games for their mates etc. So I say - yes, use the codes and so-on, but don't make it bad for the honest Johns out there. Like making them log into Steam for an offline game when they don't want to, or restricting their installs. I also think that they just don't do enough to combat piracy. I've reported lots of websites for offering pirate downloads to the developers and those sites are still there, doing their illegal thing. In addition, whenever I type a game name into Google, I get lots of results for torrents to download retail games. Why aren't Google held to account for promoting piracy? It's what they're doing...

Comment by Xonerater at 4:58pm 3rd October 2008

i may sound like i am deaf and blind to you as i say this, but i havent heard people mention sims for YEARS. i live in the US so im sure it is different from what you guys see over there, but nowadays the xbox 360 and wii are just about the only thing i hear people talking about in regards to gaming. but i fail to see how sims could be 'dominating' the market if i don't even hear it's name in a country that im sure represents a strong percentage of the market. though i can see what he means about companies not wanting to invest as much in pc games, how many crappily made games that need continuous patching and updates and still run like sh*t?

Comment by yougotkicked at 4:41pm 3rd October 2008

He is well known for doing his research and doesn't just come out with crap. The problem isn't DRM or cost of development though it's simply down to lack of new ideas, people are copying old ideas and not creating anything new so like stated above "if you're a FPS fan" you got plenty to choose from but outside of that there ait a lot going on. Having said that the PC gamer is now more of an MMO gamer preferring to play online all the time as opposed to your console gamer who is either more of a casual gamer or someone like your average sports fan who buys games like "fifa". If people put as much effort in to coming up with new ideas for games as they do in to complaining about them then we would have a booming gaming industry, hopefully the attempts being made at Microsoft through XNA, DX10 / DX11 and the .NET framework we will start to see some boundaries being blurred soon with gamers on both platforms competing against each other in these new innovations

Comment by Wardy at 4:32pm 3rd October 2008

What about half life 2?

Comment by bazzakay at 3:58pm 3rd October 2008

Perhaps the fact that half the world is female might go some way to explaining the Sims. And Molyneux's games are an acquired taste anyway - either you're into casting spells or you're not (like the Sims really). If you prefer shooters & RTS there's not a lot to complain about, what with Crysis 1&2, Stalker 1&2, Calls of Duties, Bros in Arms, World in Conflict, Total War etc. And Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2 are well on the way. Molyneux just needs to get his head out of his arse.

Comment by Cybersciver at 1:18pm 3rd October 2008

I can see why consoles are winning over PC's at this moment in time - cost of entry. Look at the cost of a PC rig which can play a recent game with all the settings on high (i.e. how it's meant to be played) at a resolution of 1920 x 1200 (i.e. just over full HD). The cost is enormous compared to that of a console, even if such a PC exists - find one which can play Crysis properly at this resolution!!! At the same time a console can play at full HD resolutions, admitably not with the same graphics quality, without any slowdown in speed and it costs less than a decent graphics card does and doesn't need patching every 5 seconds. A number of my friends have taken the console route because of this. Personally I love the PC as a platform, but an Xbox 360 is looking more and more tempting as I can spend the extra money on a holiday for the family!

Comment by bujo1 at 1:23pm 3rd October 2008

...but your site waited until AFTER I'd typed three paragraphs in to let me know that I *pointlessly* have to register in order to comment. ***Edited by moderator: No strong swearing in the comments section please.

Comment by Lawson at 1:36pm 3rd October 2008

The bottom link is for the source where we found the story, which in this case was Kotaku. We linked to Videogamer in the main story as the source of the interview too

Comment by hardwidge at 1:10pm 3rd October 2008

... Fable 2 is out in October ... exclusive to Xbox360. Cheers Molyneux. I wonder why PC gaming might appear to be in tatters ... is it because you sold your soul to Microsofts console department? How the hell did he get his OBE? lol

Comment by CSQuake at 1:02pm 3rd October 2008

http://www.videogamer.com/news/02-10-2008-9538.html Kotaku did not write the original story.

Comment by finlay666uk at 12:56pm 3rd October 2008

hype sells games. release previews of the game before it hits the market and people will buy if its any good. Spores has had massive hype and they have sold many copies even with DRM but it has also been hacked. DRM is a waste of time and as we all know software/games get been hacked.

Comment by dmc_dc at 12:51pm 3rd October 2008

I can see pc gaming beggining to die out, partly due to piracy and companies no longer wanting to develop when they are losing money compared to console sales. Then there is the tech complications for different hardware. Molyneaux points out well that DRM should not be used....but people will always steal PC games because they are the easiest to do so, you dont need special hardware and to mod it to work is normally very simple

Comment by finlay666uk at 12:56pm 3rd October 2008

OK I can get away with it mostly on the Wii but that's it. It's either PC gaming for me or nothing. Problem here is that PC gaming is being neglected by developers. I really don't think it's all piracy either, they just don't sell enough or market the PC as the best visual experience over the Xbox or PS3. Portal was a star on the PC but I felt it just didn't work on the console as effective. Developers just don't get it that PC owners can't all go out and buy the next top GFX card (GTX350 btw) so they go with what they know and that's the specs of the Xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii.

Comment by crazyceo at 12:56pm 3rd October 2008

If piracy is so big that company's are running to the 360 (epic) Why not the ps3 i don't know of any one with a cracked ps3. I'm sick of all this. The PC is the platform for innovative and creative games DRM is like chemotherapy trying to kill cancer but really just slowly killing the pc market

Comment by pcn00b at 12:30pm 3rd October 2008

These stories seem to come up a lot from the old school developers, people who haven't been connected with a decent game in a long time (ahem, Epic as well). Bottom line is they are just yesterday's men. Sure the Sims charts well, but that isn't because it's the must have title for hardcore PC gamers. Ditto for WoW, it, like the Sims, made the crossover to non-gamers and that's why it's sales are relatively massive. The good games are still being bought, the MMOs are still racking it in. The future is, as ever, bright because even if new games stop raising the bar (have seen no evidence of this however with the likes of Left4Dead incoming) we can at least run the oldies in higher res.

Comment by Grotmonkey at 11:56am 3rd October 2008

Want to take a crack at WoW or the SIM's take a number and get i line.

Comment by Cool_CR at 11:52am 3rd October 2008

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