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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 3024970" data-attributes="member: 20741">There will always be PC Gaming - if for no other reason than the installed base is massive and there are no barriers to entry by a developer as there are with consoles.Windows Vista will improve the PC side of gaming as well - how much - we will have to see.The real issue is whether or not there will continue to be Triple A PC game development.  The answer for the time being appears to be a qualified "yes" - but only as multi-sku titles. (Meaining there is also a 360 and/or PS3 version of the game as well).The reason that consoles are getting the money has nothing to do with hardware or technical support. That's a side-show. The issue is this, and only is this:The publishing industry accepts as a FACT in terms of its decision making process that for evey copy of a PC game sold, 15 copies of it are pirated.  This stat is not open to your disagreeing with it or claiming foul or that those don't represent real lost sales, etc. The FACT is that number is the accepted touchstone among the PC Games publishing industry.  Even if the real number of true lost sales is 7:1 or 3:1, the decisions are made based on the accepted 15:1 for solo games. (multiplayer games are lower due to enhancd piracy protection via unique keys and have other considerations. MMOS have essentially no piracy and are 0:1. That's why the industry finds MMOs so attractive (along with continuous income streams)).The other important FACT that game publishers assume is that the ratio of piracy on consoles is vastly lower. The ratio is that for every 20 copies you sell, you get one pirated copy.So, to recap:15:1 vs 1:20That's the only statistic that matters, other than the risk/reward potential of a console vs PC title, which is wholly dependent upon the piracy ratio. Because reduced piracy on consoles results in even marginally successful console games selling enough to break even - (while PC games have to do very well to overcome the piracy effect) that's the whole of the industry in a nutshell. That's what matters. Nothing else really does. And that's why Triple A PC Game development is on life support.</blockquote>

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