The advantage of PC games is clear, whether or not you’re a console gamer: PCs can constantly improve their specs, and therefore they outpace development of consoles and play more computer-intensive games. It’s easier to buy and distribute downloadable PC games, and much easier to add modifications to games to make them new again. A huge texture, lighting, physics, and architecture boost are all possible when developers make mods or games specifically for the PC–however, despite all this, console games still receive priority. Developers target consoles rather than PCs when they develop their games, and then when the PC release finally arrives, it’s not optimized like it should be. Watching developers scramble to get their games out on launch day for the PS Vita, Nintendo 3DS, and now the Wii U just brings to light how neglected the PC is, even though it outpaces all of these systems.
Fear of the piracy that plagues PCs is warranted, to say the least–but that does not mean that the best machine available to developers should be neglected, or that their game will not be successful if they publish it on the PC. ‘Piracy’ takes form with physical copies of games as well–rentals and used copies are an easy way for gamers to save money, as well as borrowing from friends, and while these are not necessarily permanently owning the games, it’s odd that this form of game purchase goes unnoticed by developers, while preventing online piracy is their priority.
It’s true that publishing for the PC at the same time as the console games may cause more people to pirate the game–assuming it can be cracked that quickly–but it should not affect sales any more than rentals or used purchases would. There would still be a large influx of purchases from customers who do not own their own console or simply prefer gaming on their PC, rather than their consoles.
That said, while the threat of piracy is there, it’s not a good excuse to explain why developers are neglecting the PC when it comes to multi-platform games. Because consoles tend to have sub-par specs compared to the PC, games that were made for the XBOX360 and PS3 and were simply ported to the PC often keep their (comparatively) low-quality textures and lighting, and do not perform as well as games which were made for the PC in the first place. The amount of high-quality games from large publishers developed specifically for the PC is slim–although the indie game market for the PC is thriving, large developers are still neglecting PC releases and opting to publish primarily for consoles instead. While it’s true that fans of a game series can create a mod to make a PC game look great and optimized, it would be better if developers had made the game fit its full potential in the first place.
The most peculiar part about this is that the PC offers plenty of perks that consoles do not. Adding mods, adding patches, and adding new content are all incredibly easy and cheap, compared to console tweaks to already-published games. The PC is the most widely-owned gaming device (is there anyone that doesn’t have one, in this day and age?), it is the easiest to program for, and it’s where those fancy next-gen graphics begin. Those real-time demos of next-generation game engines on display at E3 or the Tokyo Game Show? Those weren’t running on consoles, they were running on PCs. We don’t have to wait until next generation to see those fancy graphics–if large-scale developers would pay the PC a little more mind, we could already be running those games on our home computers.
Nice article, Sara. You presented some very valid points. “The PC is the most widely owned gaming device” is somewhat misleading, though, considering that most people own laptops, and most laptops aren’t capable of running all but the most basic of games due to integrated graphics.