Cliff Bleszinski, also known as “CliffyB,” of Epic Games and a major figure in the PC gaming world, has made some controversial comments about the state of the PC gaming industry. Bleszinski is quoted in Gamasutra as saying “I think the PC is just in disarray.” He further comments that “what’s driving the PC right now is Sims-type games and World of WarCraft and a lot of stuff that’s in a Web-based interface. You just click on it and play it. That’s the direction PC is evolving into so for me, the PC is kind of the secondary part of what we’re doing. It’s important for us, but right now making AAA games on consoles is where we’re at.”
While one can say that he may have made these comments simply to help drive up sales on his console games, which he mentions in the quote above, does Bleszinski’s statements speak the truth about a larger argument? That is, what is better, PC or console games? Besides, what is he future of the PC gaming market?
I have been enthusiastically playing console games for nearly 20 years, ever since as an eight-year-old being introduced in 1989 to a pair of mushroom-eating, koopa troopa-stomping Italian plumbing brothers named Mario and Luigi. Since that time, I have watched console gaming grow up from 8-bit games to multi-effect environments into which players are incredibly immersed. The beauty of all this? These console games can be played on self-contained systems that increasingly appeal to most every demographic imaginable. While some may laugh at the cost of buying some of today’s high-end console game systems, like the Playstation 3 (which was at one point easily selling for more than $600), compare the costs of game systems to those of computers, both desktops and laptops, which can cost in the lower thousands.
Of course, there are many great PC games, some of which I have played myself over the years. I loved a game called Coaster, one of my earliest PC titles which I played back in the mid 90s. My father and sister are both Freecell, Minesweeper, and Riven fans, and Dad liked Doom. Sis loved the King’s Quest series.
PC games have their audience, but that’s just the point: PC games seem to be filing a niche role while console games are taking off. That is because console games are self-contained, portable (Traveling? Simply take along the console, some games, and a few cords and connect the system to most any relative’s, friend’s, or hotel’s television), and offer dozens—even hundreds—of titles. Console games today are so super-powered, they can literally bring the player into the imaginary video game world thanks to dazzling special effects, ever-improving sound technology, and crisp resolution.
PC games will always have a market, but it will increasingly become a niche market that targets young adult males; meanwhile, console games will continue to reach and entertain game players of every age, including seniors, who now are looking to games like Nintendo’s Brain Age to help keep their minds sharp. With the Atari, ColecoVision, Nintendo, Sega, and Playstation all major players in the console gaming market, the industry has thrived for thirty years. Meanwhile, the PC gaming market has had to work hard to keep players interested in their games over a period of time when computer operating systems have changed dramatically, making it difficult for many people who simply cannot afford to constantly be updating computer systems to play the multiple sequels that some titles, like those stemming from Myst, Doom, and King’s Quest, which have been released over a number of years.
While console game systems also have over the years undergone technological changes which require players to buy whole new systems to keep playing new titles, at least once a game console and its games have been purchased, one can go back and enjoy the games practically forever.While the desktop computer my family now has is based on a platform to large too handle my decade-old, floppy-based Coaster game, I still can and do play games on our Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64, and Playstation 2. Ah, the joy of owning a self-contained gaming console.
