Gartner Says PC Will "Cease to be Important Game Platform"

[cmi86]

Lol all of the info I can find suggests PC gaming has steadily increased every year for the last decade..

 

[shin0bi272]

Anyone remember when netbooks were going to be the next big thing and no one would have a pc because they could carry a checkbook sized laptop with them everywhere? Yeah no one has one of those do they? I guess this is yet another bunch of yahoos claiming the death of the pc. Its sad really that people think that just because console games cost 60 bucks each and pc games go on sale for as little as 5 bucks on steam once a year that that means no one is playing pc games. MONEY ISNT EVERYTHING!

 

[bystander]

Anyone remember when netbooks were going to be the next big thing and no one would have a pc because they could carry a checkbook sized laptop with them everywhere? Yeah no one has one of those do they? I guess this is yet another bunch of yahoos claiming the death of the pc. Its sad really that people think that just because console games cost 60 bucks each and pc games go on sale for as little as 5 bucks on steam once a year that that means no one is playing pc games. MONEY ISNT EVERYTHING!

Well, you do realize that tablets have taken up that role to some degree, and for the same reasons netbooks were supposed to take over.

 

[MidnightDistort]

What are people smoking these days? First they say that desktops are dying and that has been false. Now someone says that desktop gaming is becoming irrelevant. People want to say anything these days. PC's are still top in performance. I mean why else would anyone buy a PC for besides work? Gaming. Why else would so many suckers download a fake copy of GTA V (which is malware)? You can't simply predict what people will do. While consoles are becoming more complex you can't swap out a graphics card or add more memory. Consoles are fixed. PC's can be upgraded or scrapped for parts.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

This is not the first time this "Gartner" company comes up with complete bullshit. Ignore this nonsense.

 

[dustructo]

what a fuck wit! PC is the best, most powerful gaming platform...ever!

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

Keep in mind that if they are using PC sales as part of this that people building PC's out of parts doesn't count, because parts are considered peripheral sales. Not sales of PC's. More people who are getting interested in PC gaming are either learning to build or having others build their machines rather than getting any type of prebuilt. I've run across a few expressly building PC's because they'd rather have that than get any of the next consoles.

 

[InvalidError]

Lets just forget about the fact that PC's ALWAYS have the best hardware available to them. Lets forget that PC's are the most upgradable.

PCs may have the POTENTIAL to get the best hardware and the option to upgrade but most people are not running on the latest hardware nor bothering to upgrade to it.

If you look at the Steam hardware survey, 47% of Steam users are still running dual-core CPUs VS 44% for quad-core/thread.

If you look at GPUs, Intel hogs the top two slots with 4.15% of people using HD3000 and 4% running on HD4000, followed by the GTX560Ti at 2.37% and a dozen of other mostly low/mid-range GPUs. There are about ten mid/high-end GPUs (670/HD78xx or better) in the top-50 weighing in for a total of about 11%. Since the top-50 accounts for only ~65% of all GPUs on record, this means about 16% of people on Steam have GPUs roughly on par or better than the PS4/XB1.

Potential is one thing. Actually investing in getting it is another.

 

[dozerman]

Who is this Gardener douche and why Iis he always wrong?

 

[buzznut]

All those people shelling out money for BF4 will tell you different. There is simply too much money to be made currently.

Gaming is technology driven, always has been. It will continue to do so, and the most powerful platform by far is the PC.

 

[InvalidError]

Gaming is technology driven, always has been. It will continue to do so, and the most powerful platform by far is the PC.

The best graphics and physics in the business are no good if the underlying game mechanics are no fun.

Personally, I have had a lot more fun in recent years playing low-spec games that bring new game mechanics to the table than worn-out traditional game types with nicer graphics.

 

[gorfmaster1]

The PC industry has so much more variety than any console, the only way they would make PC gaming irrelevant is if they stop making PC games. then they would be dumb. PC has so much more variety than Hollywood right now even, so many movies that are coming out right now are absolute crap, so they try to reboot something old that was successful and it also is crap. PC gaming will always be around unless you hunt us all down and kill us.

 

[laststop311]

PC's and game consoles each have their place in gaming. They will both continue to be very relevant.

 

[pocketdrummer]

Who the hell is Gartner?

Sounds to me like they're already unimportant.

 

[mortsmi7]

The Gartner report shows no loss of PC gaming market share from 2013 to 2015. Did they not read their own report?

 

[bystander]

The Gartner report shows no loss of PC gaming market share from 2013 to 2015. Did they not read their own report?

I don't think you understand what they are saying.

They aren't saying PC users will become irrelevant. He said the gaming industry on the PC will. This could be due to piracy, or just more and more people will choose to use consoles. They may even consider SteamOS boxes as non PC's.

Now, I'm not saying I agree, but it isn't simply about how many PC's exist.

 

[taptempo]

Just.....what?

 

[gatista1234]

look at these pc fanboys ^

 

[tobalaz]

Every year I hear how PC gaming is dead or dying, how Moore's Law is dead or dying and how the console is going to be everything regarding your entertainment in the living room.
Every year consoles become more like PCs, Moore's Law still stands and HTPCs still fill your entertainment needs better than a console (and with Steam OS, that could become truer than ever).

 

[billgatez]

I am guessing they did not see that Steam passed XBL in subscribers.

 

[basroil]

Considering the next gen consoles ARE pcs, I think we know these guys are trolling

 

[stephenpate]

Gartner is wrong year after year but lazy media and internet sites report the stuff like it was true. No one does research on "how accurate is Gartner". The point is also well made that they are paid by their clients.

 

[tinmann]

Who?

 

[NuclearShadow]

Once major overlook here is the fact that you cannot predict innovation and break troughs that can cause surges in the market. For example Steam Box could be a major leap forward for PCs to really start taking over the living room. In-fact just imagine how appealing the major sales on Steam would be to the now console gamer. Valve is basically trying to make a best of both worlds and I for one think it will succeed and you will start seeing PC games start taking the market share of the consoles.

 

[s997863]

why're ya'all flaming about how fun or better PC gaming is? the topic's about money, not quality. In which case, PC never ever was as inportant gaming platform IMHO. In the early 90s, lots of friends had consoles, but NOBODY had the knowledge/money to use those difficult/expensive "office" machines, except maybe IBM floppy boot-loaders or cart games on MSX school machines. Those netless days, you were an elite geek if you figured out how to install a game without accidentally formatting your dad's home PC. There was like 1 shop in the entire city that imported "game" stuff for computers (100$+ for a gravis gamepad, but oh god I haven't seen anything as good since ...).
So, yes I wish it stays unimportant always. For when the masses pour in, you lose the magic quality of groundbreaking stuff lovingly made by pioneering programmers who love games, and you get big companies on the bandwagon diluting the market with business-driven trash that makes LOTS of money (i.e. important) but hated by you & critics & forgotten next year by the tasteless masses spending on the next uninspired release. I call it the "mass effect". Do you really want PC gaming to become so "important" that everyone including your illiterate jock neighbors can enjoy it? Just look at the colorful icons on the latest "easy OS" next time you get such destructive desires.