Online Services: The end of the first generation?

[Thriller]

I thought this deserved its own thread.

Pretty much ever since PC gaming went mainstream people have been predicting its fall. Sometimes its due to some new console feutures, or expensive hardware. But most of the time people, mostly developers (both console and PC), talk about piracy.

Almost anyone with a broadband connection can steal PC games today, and I guess piracy has reached its peak (unless any copywright laws changes of course). So, what have the last years of piracy given us?

1) Too many games. All the time I hear people say that every game feels the same now a days, and that they are tired of gaming. Of course they are! They might still buy 3 games a year, just like they did before. The difference is they play 103, and doesnt give anyone of them full attention. Games doesnt give very much if you dont invest yourself in them. There has been a huge inflation in the gaming industri thanks to the ease of piracy. Sales have hurt more becuase people have become jaded than because of individual piracy of certain games.

2) Developers have tried harder and harder to come up with decent copy protection. The answer lies in online services similair to Steam*.

But what group is these services mainly targeted at today?

¤ People with a broadband connection
- Has had the ability to download games for free (ilegal copies)

¤ People with decent computer skills
- Probaly knows where to find said games

In general these services are targeted at... The jaded gamer. So what happens when these online services becomes a fullblown reality? Will the jaded gamer still buy three games a year, and go back to playing each game for 2-3 months straight? I think he will tire of PC gaming all toghether for a while. At the same time, suddenly it will be a much bigger hassle to buy, install, and play your games wich wont do much good to attract the casual gamer.

I dont think PC games will ever die. However, I think the market is looking for some cold years, something that has never happend before as far as I know. And I dont think it has anything to do with consoles.

Some people insist in dividing earlier years of PC-gaming into different generations, but I´d say we have just wittnessed the trembling steps of the first generation of a new entertainmant system. Who knows what we will be playing on the next time it decides to peak?



* I know Steams protection is pretty bad, but its definatly possible with other services.

[consonant]

Interesting thread.
One general thought popped into my head just now:
While online distribution and authentication seems like it will suck right now, think about how young this concept is. I believe it's just taking its first baby steps, it could very well evolve into something more userfriendly and overal better. Most technologies do.

[PlayfulPuppy]

Okay, you're making a few assumptions which may affect your point.

First of all, it's not the developers (Usually) who are concerned with piracy, it's the publishers. Most devs have come to realise and accept that people that pirate games generally weren't going to buy them anyway. Well, that's on the personal side of things. Commercial piracy is a different kettle of fish.

Secondly, copy protection is another publisher thing. While, left to their own devices, most devs would have some form of copy protection on there, it probably wouldn't go past a simple "CD in the drive and CD Key" check, for the pure case that anything more sophisticated normally gets cracked in a matter of hours after the games release, meaning that any downfalls of the copy protection software (Not working in all drives, conflicting with legal software, etc) only affect the people that pay for the game, rather than those that seek to steal it.

Third, the benefit of online services such as Steam has little if nothing to do with copy protection. The benefits come from not having to go through a publisher to get onto the consumer radar, and also getting a bigger cut of the game they created.

Getting a game onto store shelves without a publisher is both incredibly difficult and pretty much pointless. A lot of publishers/distributors have contracts with most of the major chains to ensure they get a certain amount of shelf-space, meaning that your happy little indie game is going to be shoved into the back corner of the store. On the left. Down some stairs. In the dark. In a locked filing cabinet with "Beward of Leopard" written on it.

If services like Steam and Game X-treme (God that's an awful name) become mainstream, it means that independent products will be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the big boys. It also allows many developers to be free from market graphs, sequelitis and the whim-of-the-suits that's killing the games we love on PC.

Now, while I'm not a fan of Steams implementation, the idea itself is grand and I'm hoping it'll catch on in future.

[consonant]

It would be great if online distribution systems could pull indie development into the public eye. By the way, does anyone have any idea how much it would cost to sign up with an online distribution system like xstream?

[Twin]

hmmm...i tend to find that my pc games get my full attention all the time...

it's strange because i hardly ever buy pc games, but when i do then that is all i ever play...because i only bought about 6 pc games this year (which isn't much compared to the load i got for my GC and Xbox) but the thing is i've been playing those pc games to death where'as my console games havn't really been touched yet and probably won't be...and to be honest, alot of the time i'll wait until i can buy a used copy of a console game (kind of like piracy i guess) just because they're ALOT cheaper than buying them new...

i dunno i guess i kind of care about my pc games more...they tend to have cool packaging and a reason to want to buy it rather than buy it copied or used...

you know publishers and developers need to give the buyer a reason to actually want to buy the game brand new rather than used or copied...all we get (with console games) is just the same old boring box (be it green for x-box or purple for gc) and the game inside with nothing else but i just think people want more....especially with a highly anticipated game...

i loved my copy of san andreas on my pc because the packaging is just THE best packaging i've ever seen on a game...even games like painkiller have cool packaging... so i dunno... i think it's a matter of giving people what they want...it may cost a little extra in bringing the product out but it could bring piracy down a little more (in my opinion that is anyway)

[Kristian Joensen]

consonant said:
It would be great if online distribution systems could pull indie development into the public eye. By the way, does anyone have any idea how much it would cost to sign up with an online distribution system like xstream?



What do you mean by sign-up, if you mean use, then the cost is 0$. If you mean distribute a game using it, then I don't know what the answer is, however if it is like steam then there is no upfront cost to it, however they get X$ per unit sold.

[consonant]

Yes, I ment distributing games. Thanks for that bit of info.

[Thriller]

Kristian Joensen said:
however if it is like steam then there is no upfront cost to it, however they get X$ per unit sold.

Yeah.. I find it funny in a non-funny way that Steam (valve) is "the middle man". http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/redface.gif


Playfullpuppy,
Good point. When I wrote the topic I was pretty tired and cought up in my own thinking. There is still much talk about piracy from developers as well though. Last I heard was Id software talking about developing games for consoles because they cant "afford" all the piracy going on on the PC platform. As for Valve, well, piracy has probably sold them atleast a milion units. Just think of anyone that has played Counter Strike via lan, only to later realize that their ilegal copy cant run on internet servers... and bought the game. For some developers, piracy has given them the best word-of-mouth marketing there ever was. I do think there is a big market for PC games, CO-existing with the piracy scene, however its hanging by a thread and I think that thread will be cut by coming online services.

I dont really want to say that the companies shoot themselves in the foot. Because it is bound to happen. Piracy is ilegal and thats not about to change. I guess you have to do something even if it means destroying the current market just to build it up again.


Consonant said:
One general thought popped into my head just now:
While online distribution and authentication seems like it will suck right now, think about how young this concept is. I believe it's just taking its first baby steps, it could very well evolve into something more userfriendly and overal better.

This is what I think will happen. While the market for PC games is sleeping, there will still be companies and gamers there to finetune every program and set the standard for how the market should be handled. This way, I think the new generation will be ready for the next peak, just like it was ready in the 90´s.

[PlayfulPuppy]

Thriller said:
There is still much talk about piracy from developers as well though. Last I heard was Id software talking about developing games for consoles because they cant "afford" all the piracy going on on the PC platform.



That doesn't sound right. There are many good reasons to move over to console development, but piracy protection has to be the worst reason ever. Piracy on consoles is just about as rampant as that on PCs.

The reasons they'd be moving to console is because they're far more lucrative (Mainly due to the wider audience) and also they run on fixed hardware, meaning that devs can spend more time focusing on the game and less on trying to fix the thousands of compatability issues present on the PC platform.

Also, due to the fixed hardware, it means that they can do fantastic little hacks for cool effects that will be stable across all consumer hardware (Some of the stuff I've seen the PS2 do is just insane, bloom via bitshifting for example).

[Thriller]

^ It was Tim Willits that said it if im not misstaken. I´ll see if I can look up the quote.