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General: PC Gaming Revenue Grew to $18.6 Billion in 2011
Amana
Moderator UncommonPosts: 3,912
I'm sure you've heard that PC gaming is dead or dying, but a new report out today from the PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA), a non-profit industry organization that is dedicated to driving PC gaming growth, released its third annual "Horizons" market report.
Among the findings:
The PC gaming market reached a record $18.6 billion globally in 2011, marking a 15% increase over the 2010 numbers.
No region that the report tracked showed a decline in overall PC game revenue last year.
China continues to dominate in the growth rate, growing its market 27% over the previous year, but Korea, The US, Japan, the UK, and Germany all showed growth of 11% in combined revenue.
Much of the growth came in the free to play space, with several F2P games and companies like Zynga, Riot, and Nexon having huge years in 2011.
More at the PCGA website.
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Comments
Revenue would be twice as high if not for piracy which in the end hurts the smaller developers and publishers. Why make a PC game when you can just make it for a console and not worry about piracy.
Anyone who has ever thought PC Gaming has been dead or slowly dying are {at least IMHO} just jealous they don't have a proper, custom built PC and can't fully grasp the epicness that is PC Gaming! [mod edit]
Glad to hear it. I've lately been moving further away from console gaming onto the PC (although some games just play better on console, admittedly).
I have to say though, its hard to take any PC-related site which has a positive story (on the front page, no less) about Alienware's overpriced trash PCs seriously.
Edit: I must also add that I'm not happy with the elitist attitude many PC gamers have. Seriously folks, knock it off. Just because you chose a certain gaming platform doesn't mean you're any better than someone who chose differently.
Disappointing to see that the aforementioned growth is powered by the trashy end of the gaming spectrum.
Ya, but they do have to consider the secondary market instead.
And from what I've seen, that is a pretty big revenue killer itself.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
you do know most multiplatform games gets pirated 1-2 weeks before on consoles than its pirated on pc and in reality most people pirate games because they are too expensive, so if it took 5 mins extra to get it done on console compared to pc, they still would, even if there was no piracy people without money wouldnt buy games anyway
[mod edit]
why was pc gaming 30% of overall gaming media profits in 2010 ( not sure how that changed in 2011, feel free to find that info for me ) considering that there are 3 major consoles, tons of portable devices, dying pc breed had 1/3, sure thing, piracy killed all profits
That has to be one of the most BS statement I've ever read, as piracy on Consoles are just as bad if not worse than on PCs. And if you look at the real numbers behind piracy and actual game sales, its barely hurting the major gaming developers! The only numbers they look at are initial pirated DLs and assume those people will never purchase the game and immediately scream its a loss.
There are a ton of gamers, {and yes I'll admit to doing it too} that like to try a game first or see if it'll run on their PCs before purchasing. And for some ridiculous reason most PC games don't get demos anymore. In the past there were always demos to DL, or you could get a disk with 1/2 a dozen of them or more from a magazine purchase, etc!
In all honestly though, I believe the biggest reason there are very few demos lately are because a large majority of PC games just suck or are a shoddy console port, {and yes the developers know this}, thus they don't release a demo because they know people wouldn't buy their crap then, and then when said title doesn't sell they blame piracy instead of owning up to releasing a crappy, unfinished game! Le Sigh...
Anyway~!
Ah yes, the piracy card. Here's some food for thought: Perhaps revenue would be twice as high if they actually made better games?
pc gaming growing up with online gaming genre eventually console dudes face this truth
reports from sept 2011 showed PC gaming overtaking consoles
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/97047-thank-you-farmville-pc-gaming-will-soon-overtake-consoles
EQ2 fan sites
True, dat.
Even at 3 years old, I love my baby. When she starts slowing down, there's tons I can do to speed her up again; and when THAT can no longer be done, I'll start over and keep the old as a file server.
Meanwhile, the console folks can look forward to yet another box collecting dust down in the basement...
Consoles have their place, but they'll never have the versatility that PC's have. And they're always advancing.
+1up for pc
Or make them cheaper, quicker. The Steam guys talked a while back about how they'd heavily discount newer releases for weekend sales and make more profit than they did at launch.
Like when Subway introduced the $5 footlong, there IS a magic number for the cost of a game that will make up in sales numbers what they lose from the lower price. Soon as they figure that out, they'll expand hugely, and kill most piracy right along with it.
This. Many PC gamers are intolerant folks. Sometimes it gets so bad that I feel ashamed to be a PC gamer.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Seriously. I'm most recently going back to consoles more and more lately and no, not because I think their games are better than pc game offerings. The particular games I'm into are better for me on the consoles and most of the games I've liked for the past several years on pc have been of the MMO style. Since I'm rather burnt out on MMOs and I don't see them getting much better of late, I'm taking a haitus from them temporarily (we'll see with GW2, disappointed in SWTOR). But to my point.
I hate the elitist attitude from either perspective, it lacks good judgement and wisdom. The fact is that first off, I don't see either platform going away and gaming itself is just going to keep growing on all sides, if you ask me. Again, some games are better IMO on console and others on PC. I don't think anyone is ignorant to play on either exclusively that's their choice and I personally try to do both. Just my 2 (or 3) cents!
Yes, those PS1 games in Kosovo, the ones with the faded scanned covers in a music CD case were original games.
how much did blizzard alone general 1.5 billion 2 billion!i would say probably around 10% were generated by blizzard !then add activision!and they probably generated close to 15% of the revenue lol!
A 15% increase? That's good.
However, it would take at least a 400% increase for most developers to realize that most direct console to pc ports suck.
Piracy is real you can be ignorant about it, but until you put your hard work and 16 hour days into making a game you have no room to talk. You're not making the game your lively hood isnt relying on people BUYING this game. The fact is piracy is real and to think its bigger on the console is absurd because you obviously have no clue what you're talking about.
Fact a higher % of PC gamers pirate games over the % of console gamers. You see the key there ? % more people may pirate on the console because millions more use them, but a higher % of the PC market loses revenue because of piracy.
Piracy hurts the PC market more because the market already generates less revenue. Im not talking about the people who download it and buy it, you know dam well a VAST majority download it and NEVER buy it. You say oh the game sucked then and I say our lively hood is in making games and people buying them you like your house ? I sure like mine and piracy cost the small people the devs,artist, producers jobs.
I do agree that PC games are generally overpriced and the right price should be 39.99 but slowly the prices are reaching console level and that wont help the PC market if you want people to buy the games make it reasonable.
I find it interesting to see people, on this site especially, call someone an elitist.. Mercy..
"Sophisticated" ignorance is still ignorance, and I don't think the PC or it's games have anything to do with it.
But moving on..
Piracy is of course one of the main killers of the PC right now, but it is not to the point where a developer makes nothing at all.. Consoles are not immune but are a bit more difficult to the untrained theif who is used to just double clicking on a compressed file or cracked exe in a folder..
I think for consoles today, the biggest draw has to be online play, and in many cases it seems that they have ways of detecting false copies as noted from one of my friends being banned and his xbox blacklisted from Xbox live just for being illegally modded to play them. This can be bypassed but like I said, you will have to educate yourself a bit more than the average pirate bay flunky.
Piracy is getting a little easier to track now with digital retailers and networks like STEAM (which small-time hackers hate and will not hesitate to let you know), that give every product a unique code used to access the product everytime you log in. You could just use off-line mode but the only way that i have ever seen to update a steam product or even play online is through STEAM online mode.
I'm not pro at all this pirating and hacking stuff, but I am wise enough to know that if you give someone enough time they will make anything possible, especially under the cover of anonymity..
Everyone knows this is false. Haven't we been repeately told by the expers on MMORPG that the genre is dying. However you got the information, sold you a load of crap.
I self identify as a monkey.
PC gaming revenue extends far beyond the markets of MMORPG's.
"This is life! We suffer and slave and expire. That's it!" -Bernard Black (Dylan Moran)
Hmmmm, I bet the Government are looking at the numbers to...
I retired retroactively..Haha
PIracy. Hah!
Most game developers already have agreed that used game sales are denting their wallet more than piracy ever has.
And guess with platform has virtually zero used game sales?
But it's easier for developers to blame piracy etc. than actually make PC games that are worth buying. Battlefield 3 is a good example of a decently made multiplatform game. The engine squeezes maximum juice of a tuned up gaming PC and looks absolutely stunning. Meanwhile, it still manages to look good on consoles too, considering what pieces of junk those boxes are today.