Dear Editor,

John Breeden's interesting article on which way a publisher should go: High end graphics that most gamers haven't got, or slick gameplay, like Sid Meier's Pirates that do not have high end graphics, as well as the problem of PC gaming and the temptation of moving to console got me thinking"

In a gentle way he has hit on what will decide the future of the PC gaming format. Last year was the crossroads. And this year and next will decide whether PC gaming turns the corner or carrying straight on to oblivion (to coin a word!).

2007 maybe showed better than most the disjunction between gamers and the media/most of the PC gaming industry. Firstly we had the Medieval II Total War Kingdoms expansion relying on content with it's 4 expansive campaigns and getting a good response. We also had the surprise hit of STALKER, with it's 'dated' graphics but excellent expansive gameplay.

On the other hand, we had all the media hype for Crysis and Bioshock – games that most gamers would not be able to run on their PC! In response to this, last year we saw huge growth in retro, independent and casual gaming (ie games that run on current PC's) and we saw the fewest number of PC game titles released. We've also had the recent NPD numbers showing flat/negative PC game sales, and we have recently heard that STALKER has outsold Crysis in North America.

All this says to me that consumers are giving up on AAA titles that need upgrades to play and are being more and more turned on by the gameplay and the fact that a game doesn't need an upgrade to play (STALKER's success is a good example of that, along with growth in retro, independent and casual gaming). 2008/9 will see whether publishers see this change in PC gamers attitudes or continue down the same road they have gone down.

Mr Breeden hit the nail on the head. Are gamers going to spend money upgrading to play high end AAA titles like Splinter Cell Double Agent (that's money going into the current mainstream PC games industry and growth), or are they going to go to the ebay retro section or to independent/casual game publishers on the web and buy either a game like Sid Meier's Pirates, second hand or on a budget label, or an independent/casual game they download directly for $10-15? (That will shrink the money coming into the mainstream PC games industry and cause decline.)

I think that over the last couple of years the consumer has spoken. The Sims continues to dominant single player PC games sales and World of Warcraft dominants online gaming. Both are designed to not demand a high end PC to run them. As you go down the list, you see that the more 'high end' a PC game was last year, the less it sold. Neverwinter Nights 2 was No 16 in the Top 20 PC games as a new entry, three weeks after release. The following week it was thrown out of the chart by a re-entry of Bejewelled – a casual game. This is the market today. Hardcore gaming is on the decline, and with most PC games being hardcore, and with the fewest number of genres(ie more eggs in the one basket), it is being hit harder than the consoles with their much wider range of game types (Guitar Hero anyone?).

If the PC market is going to continue to be high end hardcore titles like Crysis and COD4, that give 5-25 hours of single player gameplay for your $50 plus regular expensive upgrades, and thereby disappear in a couple of years, or is it going to learn from STALKER and MTW2 Kingdoms and even The Witcher (utilizing the Neverwinter Nights engine and therefore not needing a high end PC) and put more effort into gameplay, storytelling, AI and slowing down on the graphics and other options that force high end PC requirements for it's games?

With games like STALKER: Clear Sky and Far Cry 2 with with their open world, non linear gaming and therefore high value for money, the release of '2D' 4x strategy titles in the mainstream marketplace and the extra content going into games like Dawn of War: Soulstorm, maybe we are seeing the marketplace begin to change.

But with the advent of DOSBox and the XP compatibility options along with more professional emulators it has never been easier to play older games, like Pirates, on modern PC's. Casual gaming has also now made a breakthrough into the mainstream media with independent games following quickly behind. So maybe the genie has been let out of the bottle never to go back in? With less shelf space being given to PC games in 2007 and less PC titles released, along with a 50% plus decline in PC game sales over the last 8 years or so, PC gaming needs to look carefully at how it's going to survive as a gaming format.

Mr Breeden's gentle little article showed the battle that's going on for the survival of the PC as a commercial gaming format.

Yours,

John Ingrams

London, UK