Home Gaming Flamebait Friday Debate – Is PC Gaming Dead?

Flamebait Friday Debate – Is PC Gaming Dead?

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Happy Friday everyone, it’s time for the weekend which also means that it’s time for the *loud echoing voice* Flamebait Friday Debate.

Is PC gaming a dying breed, or is it dead to many of you already? With the latest amount of issues involving piracy and DRM, a bitter taste has been left in the mouths of both the gamers and the publishers.

PC’s always require upgrading, while consoles guarantee around 5 years of solid gaming with no need for spec upgrades. PC’s still have a lot going for them though, in terms of graphics technology and more, not to mention certain genres that just don’t work properly on consoles.

So we ask you, is PC gaming dead? Hit us up with your thought and comments below.

Last Updated: May 7, 2010

28 Comments

  1. No it’s not. PC gaming is the back bone of the gaming industry, mainly because of the upgrading . Gaming hardware wouldn’t be as cheep and affordable (please not these terms are being used loosely) as it is today. The simple demand for PC Hardware has pushed its development in high gear, and consoles are profiting from that development. If there was no PC gaming we would prob be stuck with PS1 graphics. The problem is the DRM killing the gaming on PC. It gives to much trouble and hassles that ppl would rather switch over to Consoles. DRM is also inadvertently pushing piracy up. If you cant play a single player game of line then why buy it legally that will force you to do so. Well that’s my 5c

    Reply

    • Bobby Kotick disagrees

      May 7, 2010 at 11:02

      I disagree old sock. It used to be the backbone of the gaming industry, now it’s the annoying and embarrassing uncle who used to be a war vet, but now insists that you sit on his lap.
      :sick:

      Reply

  2. Gavin Mannion

    May 7, 2010 at 10:56

    I hope it’s not dying, we don’t get to see the sales figures on the PC thanks to things like Steam not reporting sales.

    But I lived and breathed PC gaming for years and I would be sad to see it leave.

    In all honesty I think console gaming is just adding to the larger gaming community, not eating away at PC gamers.

    Reply

  3. Milesh Bhana

    May 7, 2010 at 11:02

    Blizzard are pretty much the saviours of PC Gaming. Yes, it’s fell behind alot now, but the MMO players keep it alive, and SC2 and Diablo 3 will reclaim a few that were lost to consoles.

    Reply

    • Bobby Kotick loves to drown his sims

      May 7, 2010 at 11:16

      Don’t forget the Sims players, they (and the WOW subscribers) have practically kept PC gaming alive.

      Reply

  4. D4RKL1NG

    May 7, 2010 at 11:03

    Yes it is, and thank god. There’s no pc game and never will be that has the graphix of uncharted 2 and gameplay of Halo Reach.

    Reply

    • WitWolfyZA

      May 7, 2010 at 11:10

      Crysis maybe???

      Reply

      • D4RKL1NG

        May 7, 2010 at 11:19

        Crysis is just a overhyped tech demo. ;p

        Reply

        • Ladunia

          May 7, 2010 at 15:08

          BS man, go play Bad Company 2 on a 275 with 3D glasses and a Quadcore. You’ll come back with your eyes melted into their sockets.

          Reply

  5. WitWolfyZA

    May 7, 2010 at 11:08

    Like many of you guys here, i grew up with PC games… refusing to touch a console. We all knew at some stage we would get tired staring at our 23inch… monitor. So we evolve into the next age… THE CHEAPER AGE!!!

    Console gaming never really a pealed to me. But damn it was awesome playing games at full spec not worrying of upgrading anymore or worrying about corrupting personal files when downloading a patch. My GF on the other hand is addicted to strategy games.. so she is still pro PC… Well she puts viruses on it and i have to fix it. Let me rather put it like that

    Reply

  6. Lupus

    May 7, 2010 at 11:16

    PC gaming isn’t dying, it’s become the ugly red-headed step child to Console games. The most recent games I bought on my PC are ports from consoles, horrible interfaces, buggy etc…
    If they can start making games for PC’s and only PC’s it will be fine.

    Reply

  7. Someone

    May 7, 2010 at 11:24

    Here’s my take.
    PC gaming is slowing down. (not gone)
    Reason is the upkeep of it all.
    Console is simpler and the masses prefer simpler.

    The gaming rig will become more and more rare as PC become smaller and more for the people one the go.
    Not to mention that high end parts cost a F* load

    There will still be oaks who build mega rigs (me for for one) but… why..?

    Most of the games I want comes out on console and granted getting them for PC would be abit cheaper and possible look better the effort of the BS DRM and having the right specs and HDD Space and so on and so on.

    Dont get me wrong but PC has its exclusives just like console.
    Forza for XBOX – GT for PS3 – and WOW for PC.
    (kak list but hey)

    I’m still playing Fallout 3 on PC. Because there is so many mods for the game it totaly recreates it.
    This is something you cant do on Console.
    But on the flip side… who wants to mod the game to have Modern guns or extra chars and homes?

    So I think PC for the Harder Gamers and consoles for the simpler folk. (gamers all but ease of use)

    :blink:

    Reply

  8. ewie

    May 7, 2010 at 11:26

    Pc gaming is still tops, although I have not played a new pc game for the last few years, I still use it a lot for older games, and in future when I upgrade again in a year or two I most likely will play some of the newer games I missed out of, and this have nothing to do with my pc not good enough / quad core with 4 gig and a 8800, so it can handle decent games It is just that I enjoy most of the games on the console – ease of use.

    Just wish they ported more older adventure games over to the consoles.

    Reply

  9. eltonriley

    May 7, 2010 at 11:45

    Not dead. A beefy PC on a decent monitor KILLS anything on console.

    I have recently defected to PS3 from X360, but the PC will always be king over console. Graphics and speed wise, the PC is, and always will be superior to console despite what hardened console fanboys say (and much to their irritation) but don’t let them fool you. Also, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my console (PS3), and use it regularly and will never get rid of it for all the weed in Jamaica, but there is very little on the console that can compete when it comes to performance and graphics potential. On PS3, games like Final Fantasy XIII and Unchartered 2 are great competition for the PC, but these kinds of titles are a few only. Play Bioshock or Wolfenstein or whatever on the console then play it on PC. PC will win. No debate.

    But at the end of the day, personally, I cannot live without any of them. I need and love both my PC and my PS3.

    Reply

  10. Fox1

    May 7, 2010 at 11:50

    PC gaming has been around for so long but there isn’t a racing game like PGR3 or even a game like Forza 3. It may have the best graphics but it’s a few genres short of being a complete gaming machine.

    PS: A R1000 graphics card can you give you between 720p-1080p graphics on a game but for R2000 you can get a XBox 360 Arcade with 2 games and it comes with a controller,

    Reply

    • Bobby Kotick rubs money on his nipples

      May 7, 2010 at 12:02

      Don’t forget Fox1, that 3-6 months from now you’re carefully planned PC hardware upgrade, with a new expensive graphics card, memory, motherboard and CPU would be utterly out of date, and the hardware hamster wheel would have to spin anew. :whistle:

      Reply

  11. uberutang

    May 7, 2010 at 12:34

    I have never been a PC gamer.

    never bought a gaming pc,
    sure I Lanned at work and varsity, but those where stuff like half life and CS (shudder).

    I have had every major console since the PS1 and frankly I can never see myself be a pc gamer.

    Sitting in a chair vs lying on the sofa… Sofa wins.

    Easy VOIP, EASY online, Easy auto patches. Consoles have surpassed PC in everyway that matters for most gamers.

    For the cost of a gaming PC a year I can buy a 60″ LCD/Plasma… every year….

    And it only does Everything! (well almost)

    Reply

  12. mitas

    May 7, 2010 at 12:51

    well , pc gaming is not dead…but slowing down like someone here already said….but now what if ie mercer re alases a supergaming rig and call it the “nexus 1 ” and it would be a consule but almost a super pc at the same time , so instead of upgrading to nexus 2 , u simply upgrade the parts within nexus 1 to make it a two….
    think of it as a cross between a consul and a pc with the option to upgrade every 5 years either by buying a whole new rig or just certain parts….?
    would that work?
    otherwise just have the ps3 with a mouse a keybord and a lank cool os system …. happy friday mfkers

    Reply

  13. Aequitas

    May 7, 2010 at 12:54

    Ok, so here’s the non-WoW type game that’s still *super* popular on PC: Team Fortress 2.

    This game is *still* getting content updates, and the community for it is *still* growing on PC. The console version is hardly played anymore, but the PC version now has more new free content that shipped with the original game!

    I also play L4D2 on PC, where it is just as good as the console version.

    Then there’s Starcraft 2 and Command and Conquer. I’d only want to play these on PC, cause let’s face it, RTS games on consoles have *crap* controls.

    The PC will always have a community that games for it, and it’s also where the vast majority of cool indie games are, cause it’s much easier to make a small game that you can run on a PC and put out there, than getting it onto a console. XNA has made it easier, sure, but there are still tons of great indie games that are only on PC.

    Reply

  14. bboy

    May 7, 2010 at 13:49

    This is all very short-sighted. The future of PC gaming will lie in services like gaikai and onlive. (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6233974.html) no more upgrades needed… just one helleva internet connection.

    Reply

    • Bobby Kotick is Bobby Kotick

      May 7, 2010 at 14:12

      Cloud computing and gaming services like onlive will NEVER reach the levels of hardware proliferation as what we currently have. I hate to break it to you, but services like onlive are too dependent on sound and reliable global infrastructure. It won’t be possible for a long time, especially for us living in the southern hemisphere (Aussies, Kiwis and Saffers).

      Reply

  15. 0rk0

    May 7, 2010 at 14:40

    I would like to point out that with this specific generation of consoles it has become more difficult to maintain the cost advantage of console gaming vs gaming on the PC, since we are plagued with YLOD and RROD issues.
    Also our games are sometimes double the price of the PC version.

    But at the end of the day, the ease of use with a console will always win.

    Reply

  16. Ships

    May 8, 2010 at 05:14

    The day they bring out a Mouse, Keypad and Quake3 on XBox … I,m in! Until then I’ll stick to my PC for competitive FPS and RTS Gaming.

    Reply

  17. Apocalypse ZA

    May 8, 2010 at 09:57

    I’ve learned from experience when it comes to PC gaming, if you dont have a good income dont both been a hardcore pc gamer, stick to console. I gave up the pc gaming to move to xbox, nothing beats the sofa and the choice of games it offers. I kick my own ass if i had to take myself on pc vs console. I find the controller better for FPS now, some will argue but lots will agree. Final name one PC racing game that can offer better graphics and handling to the xbox counterpart, you cant. PC is over sensitive and graphics overly smooth to the point that the cars look boxshaped.

    Reply

  18. darknight

    May 13, 2010 at 06:02

    pc gaming is not dead idiots you do not need hardware upgrade every 6 months a 4 year old 9600 gt still plays all games that consoles can play better than console most of the people already have computer in home for web,msword,video editing and otherpurposes .so just a 50$ 9600 gt added to that computer will play games better than consoles.you can use the xbox 360 controller or ps3 controller on pc and can hook it to tv.so it plays like the same on console with better graphics.but i think world of warcraft is killing pc gaming because many people only play wow on pc for hours because of that other games are not selling well on pc.

    Reply

  19. darknight

    May 13, 2010 at 06:13

    idiots pc gaming is not dead.you do not need hardware upgrade evey 6 months. a 4 year old 9600 gt can play games that console can play better than consoles.many people already have a pc for web,ms word ,video editing and for other purposes.a 50$ 9600 gt added to it will play games better than consoles.pc is not only for gaming.it is used for many other purposes.you can also connect xbox 360 controller or ps3 controller to pc and can hook the computer to tv with hdmi and it plays the same as consoles with better graphics.i think worl of warcraft is killing pc gaming because many people only play warcraft on pc for hours.because of it other games have been not selling well on pc

    Reply

  20. big guy

    July 30, 2010 at 06:53

    Completely agree with that. For me it’s about control and PS3 controller simply doesn’t cut it for RTS or FPS my two favorite formats.

    Reply

  21. jerm

    September 13, 2010 at 06:16

    Well i have a pc with a quad core processor, an ATI Radeon 4850 1gb DRR3, 8 gigs of RAM(way more than one needs), i can seriously say for the games coming out now it will not be obsolete ANYtime soon. The card has the 256bit interface also, unlike some of the newer cards still running 128! Thanks. I hace PC, Ps3 and xbox so i’m set for whatever i want.:D :blink:

    Reply

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