UT3 sold poorly, but the PC version still outsold the PS3 version. Perhaps it wasn't piracy and system requirements at fault, but the game itself? Fewer gametypes than previous versions, no real new interesting gameplay, a pretty shitty UI. Players went back to UT2004 because of it.
UT3's PC bare minimum requirements weren't too ridiculous for the time upon its release, either.
Gears was released a year later on PC. Even *I* played through the game before then. In co-op, no less. The PC version seems to have had (and still have) bugs and issues that aren't getting fixed.
Still, the stuttering issues remains. I wish Epic would just freakin fix that,
When it launched it needed GFW Live which PC gamers weren't exactly thrilled with. Because of that the multiplayer was hampered with the whole Gold/Silver shit.
Exactly.
Now Gold is free on PC but its way too late for Gears.
Agreed.
Even when I played Gears PC (not too long ago), nobody was playing the MP online. You'd be lucky to find 5-6 servers going, if that!
And I did like the MP, too, I might add.
Yea Cobra, 8 million 8800 series video cards sold last year worldwide.
2.5 million 8800GTs alone shipped in North America during its first three months. I can guarantee the bulk of these 8800 video card owners have played Crysis, yet from the PCG podcast interview of Cevat Yerli last month, Crysis has sold only 1.5 million units worldwide to date.
Of course, Crysis was a PC exclusive and came out around the time GoW PC came out. Most people already played GoW on the X360. And there wasn't too many real PC-only extras on the PC version to sway X360 owners to pony up for the PC version, either -- a few new chapters in SP mode and the SDK.
I know that games like Crysis have longer legs, but honestly, the major profits come in when the game is sold at full price. Years later, when the game is in the bargain big at half price, the impact isn't nearly as significant.
I finally had a 8800 GT and once I saw Crysis hit $20, made sure I got it.
I would've bought Crysis: Warhead by now, if EA didn't include the limited installs on it. I would've bought Crysis: Warhead, if it came w/ revokes (on the SP).
Mass Effect selling 2 million copies on the 360 during its first month is far more profitable than it selling 3 million on the PC in a period of two years.
Of course it is -- b/c ME X360 was probably popping for $60 on the X360.
Here is a rough comparison between the two flagships of 360 and PC:
Halo 3 units sold: 9 million
Xbox 360s sold: 15 million
Crysis: 1.5+ million
8xxxx series cards: 8 million (heard this on several podcasts... read about the 2.5 million 8800gts in North America myself)
9xxxx series cards: not sure
GTXxxx series cards: not sure
High end Radeon cards: not sure
Even if you put the total high end cards at 12 million, 1.5 units of Crysis is a bit unacceptable.
Crysis got a reputation -- and still does -- for not being optimized too well; yes, even on higher end PC's. And once that word of mouth got around, forget it. The game is going to have to bargain bins for $20 or people are going to have to buy new PC's to go buy Crysis, to take a chance on such a game. I think, the bargain bin is the more likely answer.
I'm sure many Crysis: Original owners -- like myself -- would like to see a patch put out so where Crysis: Original has been optimized to the (supposed) lengths that Crysis: Warhead has been optimized to.
Remember the Chris Taylor rants? While he came off as a jerk, and his games aren't that great, his point struck a cord. He basically said that Nvidia raked in record profits last year, and what angered him about it was that the video cards sold 10 times as many as the most popular games. He was flabbergasted.
I just do think the hardcore are the ones most likely to pirate. A game like Spore, which was received with much anger by the hardcore, and pirated up its ass, managed to open with 2 million units in its first month, and is expected to sell 6 million within the year.
I do agree to an extent that the hardcore PC gamers are more likely to pirate. It's very likely they know how to upgrade their video card, so they can do it themselves. Since they can do that kind of work on their own PC (Software related for dealing with vid cards drivers and hardware related for changing out parts), they also probably know plenty about bit-torrents and how to pirate games, too.
When I was at college -- and this was back some 3-4 years ago or so -- most of the gamers I knew at the college did pirate games. They didn't care if it took forever to DL it. I'm betting they found others things to do, while it DL'ed. But, they would always buy a $300+ or higher priced at the time they were ready for a new card, with intentions of not buying any PC games.
When it comes to pirating games, especially if it's a big-as-hell sized game, I just feel I ain't got that kind of time to DL something of that nature. For all that time it takes to DL a huge game, I could be already playing something else.
So the question is, how significant is the hardcore PC gaming crowd?
Depends on the game. If it's a hardcore game -- which is what Crysis is -- you better find a way to aim for the casual crowd, too. There better be some very easy difficulty for them, which is a good way to try and grace them in. Or else, well...your sales might be disappointing. Especially if your requirements upon release are VERY stiff -- which Crysis was, you can also expect disappointing sales.
Somebody mentioned CoD4 last year sold well on the PC (I don't feel like looking for the quote and I forgot who said it). Remember, CoD4 was dropped for all systems at once, while GoW PC was not. GoW PC would've probably sold much better on the PC if it was dropped along side of the X360 release simultaneously; of course, the 360 sales for GoW probably wouldn't have been as big as they were if PC and X360 GoW were dropped at the same time, either.
EDIT:
Bioshock (PC) was released on 21 August, and its sales record indicates 77,374 copies sold as of 13 Sep 2007 (according to Voodoo Extreme). By June 2008 Bioshock PC had sold over a million copies.
Despite piracy and the fact the game is singleplayer-only, it sold very well on the PC.
My PC which was the bare minimum on the vid card at that time (6600 GT) -- but way beyond on everything else for the specs -- ran it like a dream and still looked good, despite many things being turned down. Bioshock was EXTREMELY well optimized for min-spec systems.
Was there a spike in rising sales once Bioshock PC pulled the install limit count recently (which was also the time it began selling for $20 retail)?
Also, Bioshock got incredible reviews, as well. I'm sure that helped, as well.
