By now, the decline of the PC gaming industry should be evident to PC gamers around the world. Part of the decline was due to the new interest in next-generation gaming consoles (XBox 360, PS3, Wii), but sadly, another motivating cause is the continuing piracy of PC games.
As far as I can tell, this demise started sometime in 2007, but it had a large noticeable impact in 2008. In 2008, we saw a shift away from PC gaming and much more towards console gaming. Games like Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and Fallout 3 were all released on consoles before being released on the PC. The fact that three big name first person shooters were delayed to the PC really says something. Before the next-generation consoles, first person shooters generally favored the PC before the console; now it's the other way around. Fallout was originally a PC game series, however; the tide has turned and Fallout 3 was released to consoles months before it became available for PCs. GRRRRRRRR. . . keyboard / mouse >>>>> controller, damn it!
If that's not enough, how about an FPS and (drum roll please) an RTS game released exclusively for consoles? The two games in question are Battlefield: Bad Company and Tom Clancy's End War. Discovering that Battlefield: Bad Company's PC development was nowhere to be found, I was predominately pissed. Battlefield 2142 was long due to be replaced, but EA lent us PC gamers a blind eye. What an insult! They're holding out on the very people who made the Battlefield series a success.
End War is another story – (to the big wigs who thought of this) what the hell guys? You know what gamers think of when you put RTS and console in the same sentence? Starcraft 64 (what a huge blunder that was). However, the fact that End War is actually a half decent game should leave you to believe that the PC was in the immediate works. Sadly, that is not the case. Although PC development is underway, creative director Michael de Plater blames piracy for the delay.
So, fellow readers and PC gamers, support the industry you so dear love. We shoud consider ourselves lucky that Far Cry 2 was simultaneously released on both the PC and consoles, but that may not be the case in the future. How would you like it if Far Cry 3 was a console only game? I hope you see the trend the PC gaming industry is taking. One of the only ways to revive the industry is to stop pirating! Bottomline: Either buy the game and look forward to better games or pirate the game and not even think about a sequel.
