I’m sure some of you (probably not if you don’t ever play PC games) have read and found this particular article interesting. Basically, it speaks to the decline of PC games due to piracy. The article also points out that it’s notable to see none of the online subscription based games on the list, such as Pixel Crack err World of Warcraft on the list.
The PC gaming sector, at lest for single player games has apparently been in trouble for some time and the companies have blamed this on piracy. I don’t think that’s entirely true, and I don’t think it’s really accurate to say that piracy is solely to blame or even the majority contributor to PC gaming decline.
The games that have come out of many of the studios since I was a child have been a serious pain to deal with. Also, there is the hardware requirements. I’m not sure about everyone else, but I tend to not buy games my system isn’t going to play well, and that means after a few months of gaming the next new game requires me to purchase another 150+ USD video card. I don’t want to have to buy more hardware to play a new game every few months. I think many people who enter the PC gaming market soon discover that they don’t want to be on that treadmill either, and so seek out calmer waters. Those calmer waters are called consoles.
Consoles are simple and tend to hang around for a long time. I know I’ve had my PS2 for more than 6 years. I believe I got mine back in 2001 or something like that. There was and still is a steady stream of games and they were/are pretty fun. Hardware changes every year or few months? Nope. The PS2 just works. I now have a PS3 and the games are simply beautiful. Not a lot of RPGs for my liking, but that is changing and I’m excited about being able to get some real good gaming done without the hassle I run into with PC gaming. In particular, Windows. Most games only run on Mac and Windows. I don’t run either of those things, so I’m forced to do some emulation (and my PC is fast enough and loaded with enough memory that it’s not a problem) just to play any PC game of which I happen to be a fan. If the game is too new, then I need another video card. I don’t want another video card, that means no more buying PC games. Tough luck for the PC gaming studios.
If the trouble I happen to run into is DRM (and I’ve had this problem on a couple of occasions) such as the game refusing to run the next day when I get ready to play after installing it. Or, such as having the game tell me I’m not allowed to play because I don’t have an Internet Connection (let’s say DSL is down or I am on a laptop on a plane) then what exactly am I supposed to do then? It means I just wasted 60 bucks on a game that I can’t play whenever or where ever I want. If I’m traveling and I can’t play because my CD/DVD is stashed in my luggage, no joy for me. Well that sucks. It means I need to recoup my loss. It means going to get the No CD crack or some other tool to play the game I bought with money I worked hard to get.
Now, since I’ve already bought the game, I’ve contributed to the studio who made the game; however, I’m going to tell my friend what I had to go through in order to play it. That friend is going to tell someone else. Eventually this happens with everyone that purchases the game and this really unpleasant feeling gets shuffled around and it eventually makes it to the ‘Net. Now the gaming studio has to fix it, but usually they don’t. Instead they whine that because of pirates, this is the sort of thing that has to be done. So what do people do who feel like they are going to be wasting their time and money? They pirate it. They ask their friends for a copy and the crack, they go to sites that have them available (or tell you where you can find the available files) and then obtain them. If the studios would treat their customer base a little better and maybe make some really good games (have you seen the crap that’s been put out in the last 5 or so years?) piracy wouldn’t necessarily be such a huge issue. Note: Piracy != Lost Sales.
I personally am a fan of piracy, because it funds terrorism. No really, someone said that. M.I.A. has an album called Piracy Funds Terrorism. I pirated her cd _and_ bought it. I’m a good member of society that way 
