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Will the decline of the PC hurt MMO's??
Atrocitus
Member UncommonPosts: 85
Massive declining sells of the PC are making news articles columns. The death throes of the pc are in full effect
as the smart phone and tablets take the vacated throne.
Will this switch effect MMO gamers? Is buying a gaming PC going to become difficult?
Comments
I would guess the "Decline in sales" numbers are from major manufacturers like HP, dell, gateway and so on. Most PC gamers build their own. I wouldn't declare the sky if falling unless Newegg files for bankruptcy.
mt 2c
The decline in sales is due to a slow down in the speed of upgrades for the PC. It used to be once you owned your PC for a year it was out of date and you probably needed to upgrade soon. The technology has just slowed down. PC games themselves aren't seeing that much of a decline, they are just moving to a more free and indie model.
PC's are also very modular, so upgrading them is often just a matter of popping in a new GPU, not exactly difficult and something even a novice can usually be capable of. For games upgrading the GPU is often more significant than upgrading the CPU/Mobo
to phry i i would acctully like to buy a pc and run games with it for 4 years then having to upgrade every year coz not everyone have the amount one money
I'm willing to bet most of the declining sales in PC's comes from people who weren't using them for gaming in the first place, and now they are able to use their smart phones and tablets to accomplish the tasks formerly handled by the PC.
Until they invent a gaming tablet, the PC will remain a solid platform to deliver new titles, especially MMORPG's and they will continue to thrive.
I think gaming on laptops will continue to increase somewhat, and like people said, more dedicated gamers build their own desktops for serious gaming.
Gaming on PC's has been dying for over 20 years... and yet here it is more popular than ever.
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With PC's being very good for low cost of course there is a decline in sales.
I don't believe there is a significant decline in PC gamers though. Mainly because this has been offered for years and yet somehow we are still here.
HEck, GTV is reported to be coming out for the PC. And the New Dark Souls.
Will console ever become good enough to seriously rival the top end PC? Well, someday.
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Actual PC sales may be declining but PC Gamers are not.
The cause of the decline is that the people that never really knew how to use a computer but bought one anyways so they could Facebook are now buying tablets.
I see no real problem with this. With the advent of Desktop Powerful Tablets like the Surface Pro, we are finally getting away from giant clunky boxes with huge amounts of wasted space. The new Haswell Processors with extremely powerful built in graphics is going to mean that someday we will have a single device that does everything and it fits in your pocket.
As it is now you can transfer 1080p video wireless to your bigscreen TV. When all these things truly come together you will have one device that you use for everything. I can't wait.
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You can build a PC and not have to upgrade for 4 years and the price to build is cheaper then buying one from retail with the same specs that would last 4 years without an upgrade if you know what to look for.
There has been a 13.9% decline in PC sales in the last quarter (year-over-year). That's a fairly dramatic decline. And it's at the tail end of a 3-quarter decline, which establishes that decline as a trend. I can see why you'd get all doom and gloom over that, but there are many other factors to consider...
With that decline, for example, it's not "segment wide". That is to say that the decline isn't represented across all levels of PC hardware, and there are still areas of growth in the market as well as areas that are projected to grow in the future despite current stagnation or decline. For example, low and mid range hardware targeted at home users has declined considerably (and is projected to continue to decline into 2014), but high end hardware sales (the "gaming segment") are projected to grow by ~6% by year end. In addition, business and corporate sales are currently stagnant however they are projected to grow moving into 2014 as XP hits end of life.
In addition, the type of decline we're seeing in the PC market is also being represented in other industries (such as car sales), so it's probably accurate to say that the overall "economic climate" is having an adverse effect on PC hardware sales, even if it's only slight.
It's not all doom and gloom though: software sales, broadly speaking, are up. The PC gaming market in particular is really very, very healthy at the moment, and seeing consistent and steady growth.
There's loads to it, to be fair. Seeing the decline in sales and predicting the death of the PC is a tad disingenuous. The issue is far, far more complex than that. The PC won't die, and the smartphone/tablet won't take over; they'll converge.
As overall PC market declines, growth expected in gaming hardware
http://techreport.com/news/25197/as-overall-pc-market-declines-growth-expected-in-gaming-hardware
Although casual PC users may be switching to tablets and other mobile devices, hard-core gamers appear to be sticking around—and prepared to spend. According to JPR Senior Gaming Analyst Ted Pollack, the upcoming Arma 3 will inspire $800 million in spending on PC gaming hardware. Interestingly, Pollack contends that PC games are putting additional strain on the CPU, encouraging users to upgrade more than just their graphics card.
Forbes did some additional digging and found that sales of ultra-high-end graphics cards appear to be particularly strong. The GeForce Titan is reportedly the highest-selling graphics card at boutique PC maker Falcon Northwest right now. Impressively, "a huge number" of customers are reportedly ordering systems with multiple Titan cards. Falcon Northwest has observed a 16% increase in GPU spending versus last year, too.
related Forbes article
For Struggling PC Market, It's PC Gamers To The Rescue
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2013/08/07/for-struggling-pc-market-its-pc-gamers-to-the-rescue/
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This is mostly a SUBJECTIVE observation but most of the people I know that are gamers are either upgrading or buying/building new PC's for gaming. Many have consoles but very few plan to purchase either the PS4 or the XB One. I also look at the number of PC games coming down the pike and do not see ANY slowdown.
I really think the "death of the PC" hype is just that HYPE. I think it is being put out there by tablet and console makers to boost their sales and does not reflect actual health of the PC gamer market.
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Yeah it is insane. I know a guy that claims to have TRIPLE TITANS running in his comp. That is $3000+ just in video cards. Insane!!!
I really can't wait until the computing market converges into a single device for everything. At some point there will be no need for multiple devices like we have now. Smart Phone, Tablet, Home PC, Work PC... it is crazy.
There are a tons of reasons for decline in sales.
I buy a new PC every 4 to 5 years now instead of every 2 years like in the past.
People with simplistic needs don't really need to upgrade their PC until it dies and even then it is more of a want than a need.
Laptops and Tablets took part of the market.
Thin clients have taken over a huge part of the business market.
I don't think any of these would hurt MMOs though.
They are learning from the Politicians that the truth is not important. All that matters is what they want you to think.
Facts disagree with theory and doom sayers...
PC gaming is far from dead, and many people still prefer the adaptability and upgrade possibilities of a real computer compared to a rigid gaming console that is less powerful than an average gaming PC even at its release.
My computer is better than yours.
No.
Mobile devices don't have the capability to do what we need to do for gaming, or even to some extent, work processing and spreadsheets. Mobile devices are a convenience, and aren't meant to replace the more powerful desktops and laptops.
Let's be honest, if you can use a mobile device to replace your everyday use desktop/laptop, then you really aren't a power user nor are you a gamer.
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One of two things should have happened to tip the scales in either direction. And neither have happened yet for whatever reason although the opportunity hasa been there for decades now. Either a keyboard and mouse becomes universally accepted in the living room, or a gamepad becomes universally accepted at the desktop.
So for now, its two viable markets and I have no idea if/when one of the things I said will happen. If it hasnt happened yet, I dont see it happening any time soon.
Sales of PCs for gaming haven't slowed down. If anything they've picked up. If you consider this, and also that PCs really can be fine, especially if the user upgrades the video card or even the processor, it doesn't seem like new PC sales are going to have an impact on MMORPGs for some time to come.
It does seem likely that developers are going to look for other markets though. If a market isn't expanding, then it's not doing it's job. MMOs and MMORPGs on consoles, phones and tablets is a thing that's going to happen, because the PC market isn't going to expand. It can't. It's already reached the saturation point.
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If the traditional desktop PC dies off you will see the death of MMOs as we know them today. MMos are designed around the keyboard and the mouse which makes it possible to have things like 30 skills quickly accessible without slowing down gameplay. One of the few genres that even the gamepad cannot handle let alone the touchscreen.
If/when touchscreens become the norm and nobody uses keyboards again all we're going to have is a lot of swipe to cut the rope or swipe to jump type of games.
Is not so much the computing power that will hurt gaming rather than the input method.
This craziness comes up every few years. Actually, it usually comes around a new generation of consoles to be honest. PCs are not dying. Not even close. In fact, I find it funny that the computer I am typing this out on right now smokes the PS4 and XBone in capability or comes pretty damn close.
I have been around PC games long enough to know that every time someone declares that the bottom if falling out from under the PC market, they are wrong.