One of the innovators in the world of PC gaming has declared the end of PC gaming is inevitable.
id software, who gave us Doom and Quake among others and his one of the innovators when it comes to PC gaming, recently said that the future lies in the console games.
“We do not see the PC as the leading platform for games. That statement will enrage some people, but it is hard to characterize it otherwise; both console versions will have larger audiences than the PC version,” says company frontman John Carmack.
This comes after the PC version of id’s most recent game, Rage, sparked controversy among hardcore gamers. They complained of poor frame rates and sloppy rendering on their high-end PCs, while people playing the console version of the same game had no such reaction.
At first, id dismissed the issue saying any PC problems were the fault of the PC owner. But now it seems to be changing its tune.
Carmack explained, “We knew that all older AMD drivers, and some Nvidia drivers would have problems with the game, but we were running well in-house on all of our test systems. When launch day came around and the wrong driver got released, half of our PC customers got a product that basically didn’t work.” He added that he was “not happy with the experience on what should be prime platforms.”
Of course, the highest-end gaming PCs are much more powerful machines than Xbox 360s or PS3s. However, the market of highest-end PCs is an exceedinly niche one, leaving game makers to serve the common denominator of game consoles.
I wouldn’t say they can declare pc gaming at an end unless it’s just for their company…The Witcher 2 did incredibly well in it’s sales and a lot of people are going with the pc version of Skyrim just for the modding potential alone. I buy for pc as well as Xbox and PS3…to me it just depends on the type of game as to which one I will go with.
Don’t think you will see any major MMO’s on consoles anytime soon, nor Real-time strategy. ID just want an excuse to go console exslusive. And I for one, won’t miss them.
As a PC gamer spending money on games, I say ID is dead.
Sounds like a load of crap from a 2nd string company on the skids.
ID simply doesn’t want to invest in PC gaming anymore because of the variety of PCs out there, it is far easier (cheaper) to design for one or two systems that have very little in the way of variation.
The PC is the only platform I use for gaming. In the immortal words of Monty Python players, ‘not dead, yet.’
You don’t need a high end PC to beat the power of a console. Even moderately powered computers from 3 years ago had more muscle. There are only two “advantages” in consoles, a specialized OS and standardized parts.
QQ some more Id, Rage failed because you havn’t had an innovative idea since Doom and PC gamers panned you for it.