Opinion: PC versus Console

[Tinman]

In terms of raw figures, which has sold the most and why?

Opinion: PC versus Console

[Keldarza]

PC will always be better than a console.

The only counter arguement is that PCs are more expensive than consoles, but that's like comparing a Ferrari to a Toyota Yaris. Of course it's more expensive.

As for the games between the two, well I've always felt console games are more polished compared to the PC counterparts. But again, the games are more expensive but you get a better product.

But over all, a PC will always dominate a console unless the console becomes more like a PC [which it is doing every generation]

[pcfourie]

Mmmmmm in regards to games : I would say console. yeah the games are more expensive but at least you dont have to buy new part for your console every 2nd month to play the latest games...and consoles dont "blue screen" ! Pc is more multimedia,,,music, office, solitare etc.

[Solitude]

Oops the person made a big statistical error in the article. He compared the sales of PC games against all consoles. A fair representation would have been PS3 game sales vs PC and XBox 360 game sales vs PC.

He also does not take causal gaming into consideration. There's a huge amount of people who play casual games on the PC where income is largely generated from ads.

Then there's also MMO's which brings large amounts of revenue in each month. But I guess we got to discount that because it wouldn't make sense in the article.

Nope.

You can't take some stats and exclude others. I can prove anything if I do that. It renders the article void.

*edit*

For instance: 33% of US Game Revenue comes from MMO's: http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24557

Oops I guess we got to discredit that! Article is silly. Sorry Dr Manhattan.

[Dr Manhattan]

Oops the person made a big statistical error in the article. He compared the sales of PC games against all consoles. A fair representation would have been PS3 game sales vs PC and XBox 360 game sales vs PC.

He also does not take causal gaming into consideration. There's a huge amount of people who play casual games on the PC where income is largely generated from ads.

Then there's also MMO's which brings large amounts of revenue in each month. But I guess we got to discount that because it wouldn't make sense in the article.

Nope.

You can't take some stats and exclude others. I can prove anything if I do that. It renders the article void.

*edit*

For instance: 33% of US Game Revenue comes from MMO's: http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24557

Oops I guess we got to discredit that! Article is silly. Sorry Dr Manhattan.

1) I don't think that's a statistical error. If anything comparing console numbers to PC would favour the later. The console market is more diluted and games are often released on Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3, in comparison the PC enjoys an undiluted revenue stream - what affects it most significantly is piracy.

2) This article was never about casual games, it was purely about game sales numbers. In the same way you could argue that Xbox 360 arcade and DL titles on Xbox Live were not taken into consideration - these make a lot of money and they are hugely popular - Shadow Complex is a good example, it sold some 200 000 units in just over a week.

3) MMOs are a significant source source of income for PC - I give you that. But in the interests of keeping the argument trim and making a point I opted not to bring that up because there are similar membership services on console as well - such as Xbox Live Gold.

So all in all perhaps the article is not as silly as it seems Be that as it may, it is an opinion piece and I appreciate your input

[Solitude]

Those are all valid points and I have to agree that by adding these points the article loses some of its silliness.

[Stefan9]

1) I don't think that's a statistical error. If anything comparing console numbers to PC would favour the later. The console market is more diluted and games are often released on Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3, in comparison the PC enjoys an undiluted revenue stream - what affects it most significantly is piracy.

2) This article was never about casual games, it was purely about game sales numbers. In the same way you could argue that Xbox 360 arcade and DL titles on Xbox Live were not taken into consideration - these make a lot of money and they are hugely popular - Shadow Complex is a good example, it sold some 200 000 units in just over a week.

3) MMOs are a significant source source of income for PC - I give you that. But in the interests of keeping the argument trim and making a point I opted not to bring that up because there are similar membership services on console as well - such as Xbox Live Gold.

So all in all perhaps the article is not as silly as it seems Be that as it may, it is an opinion piece and I appreciate your input

1. When you compare one plat form against four its quite clear who will win.

3.Pretty sure World of Warcraft would dwarf xbox live gold by quite some margin on its own.

Does VGAcharts include the sales of steam,d2d,ect in their sales figures or are these figures only retail. If its only retail the numbers are skewed the pc sales market in the us and large parts of europe has moved away from retail sales and onto digital distribution.

[Keldarza]

and consoles dont "blue screen" !

They just red ring of death

[Necuno]

round 9358140145958 FIGHT !



imho pc is better for things that you actually need an OS + keyboard + mouse for like MMOs, DTP, programming, but apart from that consoles are king for just gaming...

[pcfourie]

well compare blue screen to rrod ..... the former wins by far