Founder of Epic Games: PC Will Be a Growing Part of the New ...

As non-core gamers flee from video game consoles to smartphones and tablets, hardcore gamers not only continue to use consoles, but pay more attention to personal computers due to simplicity of getting titles via online distribution services. As a result, the PC will not only remain a popular gaming platform, but will actually gain importance, says the founder of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney.

?There is no question of whether gamers are going away; the question is, do they move to different platforms? There is some plausibility in that, but the console is a very immersive way to play games. They are more immersive than sitting in a chair in front of your computer with a mouse in a bright room. I have a hard time seeing that experience going away, but I think a lot of these games that are being developed now exclusively for console are going to become more important also on the PC,? said Tim Sweeney in an interview with Gamasutra web-site.

^{Screenshots from Unreal Engine 4 demo}

Several years ago many game developers complained about piracy on the market of PC video games. The majority started to design titles primarily for consoles and then port them to PCs, which greatly slow downed the evolution of PC games, some even completely ceased to make PC releases. However, in the recent years numerous AAA-class free-to-play PC titles with in-game purchases options emerged and demonstrated viability of the business model. Moreover, thanks to convenient online game distribution services like Steam, Origin or Uplay, PCs finally gained usability edge over consoles.

?Most of the companies shipping games on console are also shipping them on the PC ? and doing extraordinarily well, especially through services like Steam, where it is all online and there is no hassle of going into a retail store. So certainly the PC will be a growing part of the new ecosystem,? said the legendary game programmer.

^{Screenshots from Unreal Engine 4 demo}

Due to rising popularity of ultra-portables, gaining importance of PCs and increasing cost of game development, it really becomes unclear what will happen to exclusive titles that are developed specifically for one platform. Considering all the factors, such titles are going to either become extremely rare, or will cease to exist.

Tags: Epic, Epic Games, Xbox, Playstation, Wii U, Wii, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Windows, Mac OS, Apple

Comments currently: 1
Discussion started: 12/29/12 12:14:45 AM
Latest comment: 12/29/12 12:14:45 AM

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1.?

Those are good words to repeat but PC gaming market is reducing not increasing. Many titles are now completely console exclusive.

PC/laptop sales are falling, not everyone is a gamer in the world. World wide sales matter to chipmakers not a small market of gamers. They can always build workstations and have a gaming system in the near future, but that means more cost than what it is today.

Bad but the reality.

Those are the trends. These sweet words are not going to change the reality.

As long as console gaming exists in a big way, PC gaming will be just overwhelmingly majority console ports.

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Source: http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20121228140415_Founder_of_Epic_Games_PC_Will_Be_a_Growing_Part_of_the_New_Video_Game_Ecosystem.html

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