Chris Remo wrote in an opinion piece on Gamasutra about the constant complaint of weak PC market. His article highlighted the fact that certain companies like Stardock and Valve can carve out a niche from this troubled platform. These developers embrace the difference of the platform compared to consoles. He said:
And as much as consoles and PCs are converging technically, the platforms are still very different, both with respect to their input methods and, just as importantly, their underlying principles. As an open platform in contrast to the manufacturer-controlled consoles, the PC is a place where developers and publishers can be the ultimate gatekeepers of their own games.
He then went on to say that these PC centric developers focused their development on smaller teams and bigger returns. He closed his piece with this:
The lesson seems simple, but it's often overlooked in our NPD-obsessed industry: return on investment is a lot more important than units sold, especially as budgets continue to balloon dangerously.
I have to agree with Chris that looking at units sold as the sole statistic to measure a games success is a little short sighted. I believe the future of PC gaming lies in its strengths as an open system rather than stringent DRM that restrict users.
Systems that protect the intellectual property of developers while adding value for the customer seems to be a big hit with the market(yeah it is still DRM but no the draconian type Securom DRM).
It is a great piece. Read the entire article here
No comments:
Post a Comment