0
After visiting my local Gamestation to check up the charts this Christmas, I was horrified to find that there was no shelf for PC games any more. After scanning the store and finding nothing, I asked the sales assistant behind the counter what had happened. He seemed pretty pissed off suddenly. "The higherups have decided that PC games are not profitable enough and have taken them off the shelves until after Christmas" he told me in a rather pained tone of voice. I couldn't believe it. He asked if I was looking for any particular game, they still had them in the back room.
THE BACK ROOM.
PC games are now stored from the back room of your local Gamestation. Larger stores will more than likely still stock them on the shelves, but honestly, I never thought I'd see the day.
The shelves where PC games once stood are now filled with Wii games and 360 games for your little tykes this Christmas. Games like World of Warcraft, Crysis, Command and Conquer, Dawn of War, F.E.A.R and Company of Heroes are now replaced with party games and casual shooters.
Yes, I know they will be putting the PC games back out on the shelves after christmas, but will this be an annual thing from now on? Will other game retailers catch on? Is this the start of the gradual eradication of the PC gamer? Will they eventually remove PC games from the market entirely? These kinds of questions just popped up into my head as I left the store, I was just completely lost.
I know that the number of console gamers vastly outweighs the number of PC gamers, but PC gamers aren't exctinct. Unfortunately this comes at a time that PC gamers are starting to feel forgotten by the industry. Lets hope that this isn't the start of the industry gradually pushing us out of the loop, leaving us to feed on what games we have and jump between Indie games and Mods to keep ourselves going.
Is the industry to blame though? Is it the industry that wants to cut us out entirely, or are we getting tight with our money? Maybe there just aren't enough games for the PC worth playing any more. Or maybe it's the growing number of games purchased, downloaded and installed through software like Steam that pushes PC gamers away from owning actual hard copies of games.
Lets look at the facts.
In this blog posted back in January this year by Matt Peckham over at PCworld's website, it was reported that Retail PC games sales fell 14% throughout 2008, And has been dropping since 2006. The same has happened this year, in an article at My Gaming it stated that sales fell a further 38% between October 2008, and October 2009, and that's a lot of percent!
So my fears have been confirmed, PC games are becoming less profitable for retailers who are relucatant to sell them, but lets take a look at possible reasons why;
- First up, we have onlines sales agents available like Steam and Direct2Drive. These online sales softwares and websites require no purchase of a physical copy of the game, you can pay and then download a copy very legally. They remove the effort of going out and buying a game, and require very little waiting unlike purchasing a physical copy of the game from the internet. It is very possible that gamers are turning to purchasing games this way.
- The Second issue could be the number of unwanted software bundled in and required to play modern PC games. This could incude hostile software such as DRM, and SecuROM. These are programs that are installed to the drive without the gamer's consent, used to monitor and track actions of gamers to try and crack down on theft, or the illegal installing of games. SecuROM and DRM software are known to be used by EA, and legitimate gamers have been angered by the discreet installation of these programs without consent onto their computers.
Some gamers are also annoyed by games requiring third party software to be played. Games such as Dawn of War II, and Modern Warfare 2 require Steam to be installed, software used to purchase games online. While gamers that already have Steam installed won't see this as too much of a problem. Those that have never used the software before may be unsure, or find it frustrating to navigate trough Steam just to play their game. These reasons may put gamers off buying for PC as it seems more trouble than it's worth just to play. Some retailers don't even stock Modern Warfare II for PC simply because people may as well just buy it off Steam. - The third factor affecting this could be online retailers such as Amazon or Play.com, Obviously, PC gamers are a little more literate with the internet, and as such know where to find gamers at a discounted price online as opposed to highstreet retailers. It is very possible that gamers are turning to ordering their hard copies off the internet.
- My fourth and final point, consoles.
Yes, it pains me to say it, consoles be stealinz all our gamers. Modern consoles can do everything your run of the mill gaming PC can, with a much more mainstream audience, and vast online communities. People are turning to consoles more and more what with unwanted software bundled in with PC games, as well as the decreasing shelf space in retail stores for PC games forcing gamers to turn to their consoles for answers. It's almost like a vicious circle.
So there you have it. PC game sales could be in decline, and unless the industry gets their game on (pardon the pun), there may be a chance that we could unfortunately lose PC games forever. On the up side, sales may not be in decline. Gamers may just be turning toward new methods of purchase, and making us all just look generally too lazy to leave the house, or even the computer.
Article by --
Nidmeister
