Poll: PC Games: A dying retail market?

[Hero in a half shell]

So I went into my local town today to buy a particular game for my PC, and, as it lacked any dedicated videogame store I went to a huge Asda, which had a large gaming and dvd section taking up several rows of shelves, but they didn't sell any PC games.
So I went to Argos, which stock ruddy everything, but again, while they had about 10 pages of their catalogue dedicated to Xbox, PS3, Wii, DS, games etc. the only PC gaming objects they sold were controllers for PCs and gaming chairs.
So I went to a small DVD retailer, that also sold Xbox, PS3, Wii, DS games, but again was in despair that they didn't stock any PC games. There is literally not a single shop in my town that sells PC games!
The Tesco branches that I went to during uni (shopping on a budget!) sold all the consoles and handheld systems, and their games, but never any PC games. (An extremely limited number of Modern Warfare Preorders were the only exception I ever saw.)

So are PC games becoming a niche market, only sold by specialised videogame shops, superceded by the more popular consoles, and why do you think this has occured?

 

[Quoth]

Amazon, Steam and Blizzard.

 

[David VanDusen]

Depends on your country. Walmart, Gamestop, Best Buy, and Target all sell PC titles in the US. Currently, we are seeing a transition where PC is more digital than physical outside of "AAA" titles which will be physical for a long time to come.

However, developers and publishers are learning that access such as Steam gives them more money in their pocket at a much better low risk investment. I have a feeling that in the next decade or so, we'll see the Console market move more towards this too.

It won't take "too much" longer for EA and the other giants to realize that there is a greater profit market in this model.

 

[Worgen]

I prefer to get a physical copy of games but it really depends on price, I will never pay full price for a digital game but Ill get one if its on sale cheap, physical I will pay full price for.

 

[TRR]

I haven't bought a game from a store in years. I do everything through Steam.
Just another way in which PC's are ahead of consoles.

 

[Dexiro]

I haven't bought a game from a store in years. I do everything through Steam.
Just another way in which PC's are ahead of consoles. *consolewartroll*

PC's are ahead of consoles because PC is becoming digital distribution only? .-. I shan't even bother.

PC's are doing just fine. There's a bit of fuss over piracy at the moment and digital distribution is becoming more and more common but it'll always be a strong platform.

 

[Ken Sapp]

I would assume that it is more profitable for most general retailers to sell consoles,. console titles, and console accessories than PC games. It is even difficult to find a decent selection of PC titles in specialty game stores in my experience. Of course this may have something to do with the fact that PC titles are more difficult to turn around since once opened there is no way to know if the registration code has been used thus making it unsellable if returned.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Amazon, Steam and Blizzard.

/thread right here.

If I want a physical copy, Amazon. If I want a digital copy, Steam.

 

[TRR]

I haven't bought a game from a store in years. I do everything through Steam.
Just another way in which PC's are ahead of consoles.

PC's are ahead of consoles because PC is becoming digital distribution only? .-. I shan't even bother.

I can buy and download a game with about 5 mouse clicks, so yes, PC's are ahead.

And apparently you can't read because I stated that this was ANOTHER reason why PC gaming is better.

And don't get me started on your use of "shan't"...

 

[BRex21]

I still love the boxed copy too much not to buy it when available, besides earlyer this year I switched to a 4G network for my internet access (and actually saw a marked improvement in speed) I hate having to download games for 10 hours before i can play them.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I'm apparently one of a minority who still like to go to an actual store to buy copies of games.

Last game I bought was Modern Warfare 3 (PC), which I picked up at a Best Buy. I'll likely be doing the same soonish with Skyrim (PC), then The Old Republic (PC) when that comes out.

I'm not a particularly big fan of digital distribution. I can respect the pros of using it, but not having a physical copy in my hands is a pretty massive con to me. I also don't have a particularly fast internet connection, so it'll probably take me longer to download the game than to just hop in my car and drive 15 minutes to Best Buy.

I suppose I could order a physical copy online and have it shipped to me, but I'd prefer not to since I've been burned in the past. I've had long shipping delays (had to wait an extra week for my copy of Fallout 3 a few years back because of a shipping error on GameStop's end - notably the last time I did business with them), I've had games arrive with the disc bouncing around inside the case and getting all scratched to hell because it had become dislodged during transit, I've had the wrong item sent to me a couple times with Amazon (though only once with games), etc.

So yeah... PC gamer here, and I will be continuing to buy physical copies from stores for as long as I have the option available to me.

EDIT:
That said, I'll continue to buy games that go on sale for like 50% to 75% off on Steam if it's something I've been interested in for a while, but not interested enough to pay full price. That's one case in which I really do like digital distribution quite a bit.

 

[isometry]

I've always preferred digital distribution, I don't like keeping track of game discs or having a DVD running in the drive.

 

[Scarim Coral]

It look like there is no GAME in your town but now I think about it, only GAME got pc games over here.

As to your question, I guessing most gamers get their games in one of the consoles. There nothing wrong playing games on PC per say but the thing is with PC is that you got to have the suitable specs to run the game in the first place so it require more money and maintenance. However with the console, it just a simple insert disc and load without the hassle of installing or troubleshooting if the game isn't working.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Depends on your country. Walmart, Gamestop, Best Buy, and Target all sell PC titles in the US. Currently, we are seeing a transition where PC is more digital than physical outside of "AAA" titles which will be physical for a long time to come.

And even then, BARELY.
My local Best Buy and Mal-Marts carry maybe a shelf of PC games compared to 6+ aisles of console titles.
I don't even know if my local Gamestops even carry ANY PC games now (friend quit his job at Gamestop when he found full-time employment, so I can't get my research without actually going into one of those holes now).

But this isn't surprising; on average, online distribution is a fair bit more practical in the short term for PC gaming. But it also has something to do with how nearly every AAA Publisher has tried as hard as they could to make PC gaming the less appealing option (either by lazily porting titles, or flat out neglecting the PC market entirely).

Consoles make the Publishers' Investors feel more secure, so that's what got green-lit; with the biggest exceptions being games that are online services by their very nature (WoW being the obvious elephant in the room).

Honestly; if not for the stronger indie market in PC gaming, I'd have wrote off PC gaming as a market that's entirely derivative of console gaming at this point.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

Uhhh... i don't see any games for the PC in shops, so off the internet and digital distribution is what is going on i believe.

 

[Dexiro]

.

I haven't bought a game from a store in years. I do everything through Steam.
Just another way in which PC's are ahead of consoles.

PC's are ahead of consoles because PC is becoming digital distribution only? .-. I shan't even bother.

I can buy and download a game with about 5 mouse clicks, so yes, PC's are ahead.

And apparently you can't read because I stated that this was ANOTHER reason why PC gaming is better.

And don't get me started on your use of "shan't"...

You can download most retail games on consoles already but for the most-part people prefer physical copies, I've yet to choose downloading over getting a physical copy for consoles. With PC's it's a different story but it doesn't necessarily make then superior.

I guess what I'm trying to say is; get off your damn high horse because they're equally great platforms. I own both and I love them both equally ;3

 

[Matthew Kjonaas]

Reason why PC games are still alive
1. Gaming computers constantly update their hardware so they can handle bigger and better games.
2. Indie games have the largest market on PC
3. Almost ever PC is backward compatible
4. Custom servers
5. Free with internet
6. Mods
7. Cheater PCs and PC games since there is not a monopoly on it.
8. Great games only for PC
I am not saying that one system is worse than the other because what I am saying is it is like comparing Horses and hand grenades

 

[Avaholic03]

Before Steam, I pirated PC games. Since Steam, I pay for them. So for me the retail market has been dead for a long time. It's just easier to just download the games, so why wouldn't I? Especially with Steam sales, my game library got pretty large just in the past year.

 

[theonecookie]

Why would big name supermarkets stock a huge number of pc games its dead weight to them your average PC gamer is fairly hardcore and if they want a game odds are they have have it already seeing as you can get them with out leaving the house

where as there are a greater number of console users that might just buy something on impulse when there doing there shopping that and maybe its just you but I can get pc games from asda , tesco and the like

personally i wouldn't worry about it as its all going to be like this when the golden age of digital gaming kicks in in a few years