A game players snapshot of Modern Warfare 2
The widely anticipated game Modern Warfare 2 was just launched with expected fanfare. Yesterday the record sales figures were released to an unbelievable $310 million dollars. What does this mean? In short, it shows the market for video games that continues to grow into new levels of profitability even in the midst of a recession. However, there remains several questions about this high sales figure.
The combined sales of Modern Warfare 2 is a result of PS3, Xbox 360, and PC versions being sold concurrently. According to Matt Peckham in an article on PCWorld, both PS3 and Xbox 360 versions outsold the PC version by large margins. For the general gaming community this is great news. For PC gamers it might well be a harbinger of a difficult gaming future.
Modern Warfare 2 was released with both fanfare and a great many concerns for PC gamers. Like many new games released recently, MW2 was built for gaming consoles. It has a higher price tag of $60 which higher than most PC games and lacks PC gaming features such as dedicated server support. It also comes with DRM integrated with Valve Steam. Like console owners, PC gamers will have to use the Steam service to play the game. According to a blog post on PCWorld by Matt Peckham, many PC gamers are upset over these issues and some are actually boycotting the game.
For many video gamers, this phenomenal launch is great news for the gaming industry as a whole. However, as many have stated online, it also spells a potentially dark future for PC games.
Update:
Read a commentary article about this launch and the PC gaming market
More articles are available on computers and computer games
Comments
How does it spell a dark future? It just means if we want to boycot a game because you take common features we won't support you.
It wasn't so much my intention to create an impression that boycotting PC games would lead to a dark future. For me it would come more from the trend with companies releasing console ports with limited PC gaming features.
Many console ports may lack customization features and support for mods. Burnout Paradise is one example. While it is a great racing game, the interface is built for a console controller and not a PC.
In my view, boycotting PC games is not negative and it needs to be done more often for titles that are released with too many bugs or crippled with DRM.
how is this bad for pc gaming Infinty ward is not the only game dev in the Industry. Maybe youshould get your facts before writing junk.
here pc gaming has the must game in the entire Industry.
adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2010/
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7960498.stm
I think it just shows that they lost a whole lot of oney from PC gamers because they ignored our call for dedicated servers. As long as they ignore us we will boycott them and purchase other games, plenty out there to choose from. Aparently were not missing much anyway cause they're iwnet sucks and is causing huge lag issues, way to go IW ya dumbass.
This is certainly an interesting news story. The PC gaming market has certainly changed in the past several years. Rather that portends to a trend that is a downward spiral in PC game sales or just a change in the format (ie online versus solo) of games can be hard to say. Online gaming has really blossomed beyond expectations and hopefully will mean that my prediction is wrong. However, one cannot ignore that retail versions of PC games are being sold less often on store shelves as well as through online retailers. Then again this may just mean that people are buying PC games from different sources for different reasons.
One reader did make a comment that the PC gaming market may not be in declined as it is in the US. I truly hope this is the case and I have noticed that many European publishers are creating excellent games.
dreamhunk - where is the link to YOUR articles? I find this article quite informative and factual. As an IT professional I really enjoy this writer and appreciate his knowledge. Keep up the good work, Bruce
I gave links, maybe you sould try them before speaking.
Don't even get me started, i could post alot more links on the subject if you want.
Are willing to put your creadalility on the line.
I found a funny video on youtube about pc gaming dying lol, I find it funny pc gaming is 60 billion dallor Industry and every chances console gamers get they keep saying it's dying.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsTwgUo9Blw&feature=related
when pc gaming clearly has the must games made for every year.
kotaku.com/5037023/more-developers-working-on-pc-xbox-360-titles
news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10291692-1.html
adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2009/
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7960498.stm
techradar.com/news/gaming/why-the-future-looks-bright-for-pc-gaming-589422
Oh by the dark future for pc gaming oh really
them console game devs and consoles are in a major decline. In fact console game devs are going bankuprt
If any wants to fight with over creadiabiltiy I say bring it.
Wow this article has spawned some interesting discussions. It was not my intent to start a heated discussion. While I do not think the PC gaming industry is dead or nearly dead, it is rather disturbing when some of the top games are released are almost entirely console ports. Burnout Paradise and Borderlands come to mind. Both are good ports but they act and look like console games. However, online gaming is still a strong suite on PCs, especially for MMORPGs.
Oh by the way pc gaming will never die it's the world largest platform with billions of game devs and gamers
that is fact for you. If it's anything this ismaybe the lasst generation of consoles
I mean consoles game devs are going abnkuprt. Sony and microsoft have lost billions on consoles.
then there is the fact big publiskers like EA is moving to DD and onlie gaming.
On top of that you have free games and systems like onlive that will kill console gaming for good.
Thank you for all your comments...The article was based on several sources which are listed within the article and credited there. I found it interesting that this article created so many interesting comments. As an avid PC gamer myself, I was really trying to look at several trends but may have have painted a different picture than was my initial intention. For me I tend to enjoy strategy, role playing, and simulation type games which are stronger on the PC side. Luckily there are many developers still producing titles, if not in the US than in Europe. However, I am still concerned that many new titles are arriving as simple and direct ports of console games. While it is certainly great that publishers are porting the games, it also appears that PCs are no longer the first tier of development which appears to have switched (for some companies at least) to console development. Just my thoughts.
yes thereis alot of ports but there still aot of good games out there.
great list here
adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2010/
MW 2 haked news up date
crunchgear.com/2009/11/15/modern-warfa...
MW 2 haked
Now, it’s not this blog’s intention to post every little bit of gaming news (or is it?), but this is a more signal event than all the PR out there. Modern Warfare 2 for the PC, which infamously lacks dedicated servers, a console, the ability to kick players, and other things integral to a good PC game. Infinity Ward, maddeningly apathetic to the needs and requests of their users, has said that no changes to the stated areas are forthcoming.
Well, you can’t keep a good PC gamer down. Certain cracks already allow some online play, and now the console has been enabled, allowing players to kick, change POV and FOV, and presumably do most of the stuff Infinity Ward decided had to stay in the cookie jar. Tut tut, developers. You didn’t see this coming? You could have made it easier on yourselves, but instead you turned a whole segment of your market against you.
Now, everybody knows that Modern Warfare 2 grossed a whopping $550 million worldwide in first five days of launch. But how much the game cost to produce? According to latimes.com, Modern Warfare 2 cost $40 million to $50 million to produce, but if you add marketing expenses and the cost of producing and distributing discs, the launch budget was $200 million.
Infinity Wards latest FPS game has managed to set a new record for entertainment media, beating Hollywood epics like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which earned a mere $394 million. Also, it managed to beat its nearest rival in gaming media, GTA 4, which grossed $500 million in the same time frame.
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