No consoles in my house, we have 7 PC`s 4 tablets. 3 Ipod touches and a Ipad 2. No need to buy a console.

There are many free to play games on console, many of the same that are on pc. Steam sales are great, but they only cater to the gamer that does not buy new games at release.
I own both BTW, not biased. But to count out consoles, especially the PS4 is crazy talk. First year next gen games are far and few between as well. There are more factors involved.

Very week article really.

Agreed WT - PC's are doing better but they are still a much smaller market than consoles. Here's some revenue numbers and projections:



[1] http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2614915

Turn out the lights, this thread is over.

Truth be known, I prefer PC to console.

If my 360 had the variety of games I have on my pc, I'd probably stick to that to have all players on a level playing field, everyone has the same comms, no question about how well things will run.....but that variety just isn't going to happen.
Console....my son will remain on there until he shows more interest in pc's. I'm glad to help and teach, even instruct on building, but I know the interest isn't there and I'm not going to be tech support. He's been told until that changes, he's console-only. We've been down that road before but I couldn't get him interested.

These numbers are not accounting for online sales. Digital distributors (Steam in particular) will publish sales figures and membership numbers but never the units sold.

I am sure that taking those numbers into account the rate of growth of PC game sales is currently on par or higher than consoles.

A rare example was the disclosure of sales for The Witcher 2 - http://kotaku.com/5858589/a-rare-glimpse-at-steam-sales-figures


See this too: http://www.gamefront.com/by-the-numbers-steam-leaving-consoles-in-the-dust/

Yes, Steam saved PC gaming.

Are you sure? The full report breaks down their 'gartner guestimates' I thought? Could be wrong though. Also, if it's just physical sales then the mobile sector would be a little lower?

I agree they do probably low-ball the PC, and also 'by revenue' on console titles (at $69.99!) helps.

What about mobile gaming? Isn't that beating both PC and consoles? I'm talking about the total consumer market here.

IMHO mobile gaming is a time killer at best. For some real gaming satisfaction you need (a) separate controller(s) I think - PC, but I can imagine that a console is good as well.

One counter-intuitive thing is that nearly all the sectors (mobile, PC etc) are growing, when it's natural to think that one is taking business from the other. Those housewives buying next-level-cheat purchases on Candy Crush previously didn't spend any money on games at all.

Mobile is cannibalizing the hand-held sector a fair bit (3DS etc), but the real measure is profit/costs vs revenue. It costs typically $5 million to make a console title that will sell $20 million today (which is why they are so risk adverse and sequel driven), while a mobile app can be churned out for $200,000 but then sells for 99 cents a pop. Getting storefront coverage is a lottery, so that market is certainly consolidating into bigger and bigger studios, mainly because they cross-advertise in-game.

Projecting forward, with iPad/Androids getting more powerful (those GPU's are catching up, currently about 2005 in mobileland) then we might see more mobile/console/PC single releases eventually. Unity and the various platforms are headed that way for sure.

Jeez! Cut your hair man!! You're not a teen anymore.

Thank you. Somebody had to say it.

I think the so called next gen consoles have been pretty underwhelming so far. I've thought about getting one but realised it wasn't worth it because there just aren't enough good games available for them to justify buying one.

I know it's still early days for them, but I seem to remember by the summer of 2006 there were a bunch of decent games available for the Xbox360 that made buying one worthwhile. That doesn't seem to be the case with the XB1/PS4.

I don't really consider mobile gaming to be in the same field as PC and console gaming. They're two totally different fields that I don't think compete with each other. I find it hard to imagine that someone would say "I'm not going to by the new call of duty for my console/PC, I'm going to get angry birds instead". I think mobile has about as much to do with console/PC as board games do.

I can't post the link now but there is marketing data showing that many consumers have dumped the console for a tablet for gaming. These of course are mostly casual gamers. Your hardcore console gamer won't be going to a tablet or smartphone for gaming.

I think it's fair to say that most people are considered casual gamers. Smartphones are a huge part of the equation too.

What's funny is after years of people calling console gamers the "casual" gamers and PC gamers the "hardcore" gamers, recent articles are now calling console players "hardcore" (because they actually bought a device dedicated to gaming) while those on tablets/phones are "casual".

I don't know what that makes PC gamers, super-uber-hard-seriouscore?




The Jedi Master

Consoles used to be associated with kids, but now many adults own consoles. I mean, even go back in the SimHQ archives and you will find many a thread condemning consoles, now many of these members own consoles and enjoy them.

Nerds on the level of Sheldon. In other words, uber-nerds.