Is the PC games industry dying?

Posted on March 15, 2007
Filed Under Fun on the Web, Games, Rants, Techie stuff |

Id software’s Todd Hollenshead seems to think so, rampant piracy being to blame according to him (BBC). Doug Lombardi of Valve says otherwise (GamesIndustry.biz).

Hollenshead seems to think that some developers dropping the PC as their primary market is a result of piracy. I would argue that piracy is just as rampant on the consoles and what is really driving devs away from the PC is the phenomenal costs involved in producing games for any of the current generation of PC’s and consoles. No wonder we get sequels, franchises and the same game over and over again with different pictures. As an example, the upcoming Command & Conquer 3 from EA games uses the same graphics engine as Command and Conquer: Generals, which was released 4 years ago. EA is by far the most guilty of this lack of innovation which is endemic in the industry. They haven’t produced a game which wasn’t either a sequel, part of a movie tie in, or an already successful franchise since American McGee’s Alice in 2000. Everything since then has been based on existing IP. ID software is just as guilty, take a look at the games mentioned on thier website and see if you can spot the similarities. They are all sequels, or based upon existing IP (with the exception of Orcs and Elves, which is a mobile title whose market works slightly differently). No matter the technical and technological advances involved in bringing you ever prettier pictures, if the gameplay doesn’t innovate and can be achieved elsewhere for a fraction of the cost to the gamer, or for free, then that’s where the gamer will go. This is one cause of piracy, why pay £40/$40 for a game when you can get an almost identical version for a quarter of the price? If you’re willing to rationalise that far, it is only a small step to rationalise downloading the full game for nothing.

Another reason which is driving piracy of games on all formats is the cost. To buy a game on its release can cost anywhere between £30-£40 ($30-$40) - I’ll be getting to the currency disparity in a moment. Not everyone has that kind of money to spend, and when you take into account that the games are generally nowhere near finished upon release and are more often than not reliant on a patch or two to get them up to scratch, then being expected to pay that much for an incomplete or substandard product is slightly ridiculous. You wouldn’t buy a car and be expected to wait for the wheels. Also many retailers will no longer allow you to return PC games if you are not satisfied with them, this is due to pressure from the publishers who want to prevent people buying games, copying them, and then taking them back. If you get the game home, install it, and find that its buggy, won’t run, or installs some invasive anti-piracy measures on your machine and want your money back you’re left with an empty wallet and an unplayable game. Publishers seem to be punishing owners of legitimately bought games rather than the pirates, who manage to get around any anti-piracy measures. Would you pay to be treated like that?

The disparity between the cost and release dates of games between Europe and the U.S. is another major driving force behind the piracy scene. Games are generally released in the States first, usually by about a week, which in todays global economy is indefensible. Localisation issues are often cited by the publishers as the reason for this, which is plainly preposterous. Translating an entire game from english into other languages should take an awful lot longer than a week. It is my opinion that the delay in the release between one side of the pond and the other is a holdover from the film industry. It used to be that the majority of films made in the states were released anywhere up to 3 months before a european release this was due to the fact that the money made by the films U.S. release was used to pay the european distribution costs. If a film flopped stateside it rarely made it over here. Nowadays, because of the use of digital distribution in at least some of the links in the chain, big movie releases get a simultaneous worldwide release. Because games are a purely digital medium, negating the need for digitisation processes simultaneous releases are possible but rarely utilised. Another disparity between the U.S. and europe (the U.K. at least) is that of price. A game selling for $39.99 in the U.S. will sell for £39.99 in the U.K., due to current exchange rates this means that we brits are paying almost double what our American counterparts are paying. Valve Software has done away with this outmoded business model and offers all of its titles (and many from other developers) through its Steam distribution service at U.S. prices. This means that I can get Jade Empire (U.K. retail price £29.99) for $39.9, or approximately £20, a full £10 cheaper than retail. Doug Lombardi also says (in the above linked interview) that offering free trials through Steam actually drives retail sales as well. If all publishers were to adopt this model not only would piracy have some legal competition, gamers would get a better deal. With a Pirated game you often find that its a hassle updating to the latest patch, requireing you to uninstall, re-install, apply the patch and then apply the crack for the patch (if there is one). Steams model automatically updates any game you have without any intervention from the user being required. I personally would play alot less pirated games if they were distributed this way.

Much has been made of Id being irritated at bad reviews of Doom 3 on the PC, citing its linearity, lack of innovation, and glitchyness upon release as reasons. I’m thinking that this has provided alot of the impetus behind Hollensheads derision of the PC market. Console gamers tend to be alot less picky while PC gamers expect alot more from their games. Piracy will always be there, there is no way to wipe it out completely without alienating the people who pay good money for your product, which most games publishers are well on their way to doing already. Valve has the right idea, rewarding its paying customers with a service which is, in my opinion, exemplary. If Id want to pull out of the PC market, let them, they may have an esteemed history developing for the PC but lately there output has been less than inspiring. Valve, and their way of doing things, looks set to be with us for some time. Their continued support of the gaming community should be an example to all.

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