Simulations a dying breed... No says Paradox Interactive
 

Simulations a dying breed... No says Paradox Interactive (publisher of East India Company & Ship Simulator Extremes), they may be right it was recently announced by Ubi the SH series had collectively sold over 1.5 million copies, whilst this doesn't compare to the GTAs of this world these are apparently healthy numbers for niche markets like simulations.

I believe it when I see it. The dying thing that is. Few years back, they said PC gaming was dying, point+click adventure games were dying (they might be on life support, but they arent dead yet!:stare:) and yaadiyaa.

Well it certainly looks like it is still a profitable area otherwise Ubisoft wouldn't be working on SH5 and I know the Ship Simulator is very good because my son has them both.

Well they better do better than the previous ship simulator or they will be dead :rotfl:

The east india trading co. is a title I have been considering however my disposable income is pre-disposed.

I dont think the simulator market is 'dead' but it is at best a niche albeit a large one.

But the signs point to a decline... Microsoft Train simulator (dead), Microsoft Flight simulator (in a coma), Microprose (dead and buried), the list goes on.

I really hope for strong success for UBI and their upcoming title. Maybe it will show the gaming industry that there is still a profitable market in this 'niche'.

Yeah baseless rumors propagated by console companies who would love to see the death of a competitor.

On Microprose...
I actually think Microprose failed because they moved away from simulation and over reached themselves.

On Microsoft...
Microsoft on the other hand I think actually want to kill off PC gaming all together in favour of the XBOX. They buy out good PC gaming studios and spoil them as highlighted just today here. Then they start the "Games for Windows Live" initiative a buggy and ill-supported pile of poo that has all but killed off the fledgling "Battlestations Pacific".

Since ten years now I get told that simulations are dying.

Falcon 4. Steel Beasts Pro. Flight Simulator. Sub Command/Dangeorus Waters. Silent Hunter. Armed Assault. Plius many strategy and tactics simulations.

Rumour says Falcon 5 is under secret developement since longer time. Verified is that there will be Silent Hunter 5, and evident it is that Steel Beasts gets constantly improved.

adding all this together, there is more then I can reasonably play!

What Skybird said. :DL

I'm going through the Janes back catalogue at the minute.
And DID
And Sierra

And finally taking the time to play Allied Force properly.

Simulators will not die. There is always a new gaming engine, new graphics, new way to play. SH5 is just such an example. As long as new ways to play and new ways to visualize, simulation will grown. Hell, we are still waiting on motion seats for our games. I mean real good motion seats. Imagine in rough seas in SH your seat rolling to the water swells! Really, true simulation for the common person like you and me has not reached it peak at all.

I don't think the simulation market is any smaller than it was back a few years ago, I think this impression that simulators are 'dead' is because the recent influx of the unwashed masses into the gaming world has made mindless shooters and the like more profitable, but there are still quite a lot of people who play simulations and other...err...unpopular game genres (Paradox demonstrates this best).

Exactly Mookie, the visual experience is there but the physical has not been touched. :03:

Simulations are ussually made not for kids. Shooters, arcade, racing games are toys for kids deffinetly. But they won't be kids forever and I think with the age, the taste for games also changes, that is when it's a time for starting to know the simulations. :yep:

PC gaming better never die. I hate consoles and their clumsy controls.

Agreed. I'll take a keyboard and mouse over a controller any day.

It does make you wonder why Microsoft & Sony et al are so afraid of attaching a keyboard & mouse to their consoles to allow things like simulation games. Especially when you look back at the massive success of machines like the Amiga and C64 etc which provided a stable, level playing field for developers instead of the configuration nightmare of the modern PC. Do they really think that the addition of a keyboard & mouse would stop people buying consoles? They give their audience very little credit indeed.

Simulations aren't dying off, they're just changing shape.

Before, simulations were designed by small developers, then distributed by big publishers like EA, Sierra, Ubi, and so on. The big publishers have moved on, but the small developers are still there. Instead of getting big publishers to distribute the game, they do it themselves now. The result is fewer copies sold, but also higher quality games.

For example, EA published a series of F1 sims made by ISI. When EA lost the F1 license, they cut ISI loose. ISI stayed together and made rFactor. Similarly, Papyrus made NASCAR sims for Sierra. When Sierra lost the NASCAR license, Papyrus became iRacing.com and produced their own sim.

Attatching a keyboard would make it seem too complicated for their "target market".
I still think that simulation games are in a SERIOUS decline as the younger players seem to "prefer" first person shooters and simple action games. Every year, I see less and less hardcore simulations being released and more of that action crap for the attention deficite disordered non-thinkers being released to fill in the gap.
Most people, even the older gamers tend to gravitate toward those action, arcade type games. Of all my friends who I grew up gaming with, I can't name a single ONE who enjoys simulation games, yet they all LOVE their Playstation 3's and Xboxes to the point where using a PC to play a game doesn't even cross their radar.
MOST people today don't want to take the time to LEARN anything complex. I've seen a perfect NON-video game example of this as well over the past years. I've been to various game conventions (board and miniature wargames, Dungeons & Dragons and other RPG stuff, etc..) and the people there are all old like me. There is very few younger people coming in to fill in the gaps left by the older crowd because these games actually require you to do a LOT of reading to learn to play. You have to put EFFORT into learning the games. The first thing the people I know ask when I toss a game out on the table is "Am I going to have to think ?" which prompts me to just sigh and pull the game off the table and shove it back in it's box. Everything is so instant gratification now, that people are missing out on a LOT of rewarding and entertaining stuff !

The market is unfortunately following this "mindless game" trend that the people seem to want.

I agree... well, i'm not a no-life
but i enjoy sims... It seems people can't make the difference..
When i talk of a sim with a friend ( not my best friends tough ) they see in me the little no-life... I'M NOT NO-LIFE :rotfl:

first subsim i bought : Silent Hunter 2, The Guy said : Here's the big book for the hard sub game... I was like, : Cool :)
Time And Effort that's the solution for sims

All my friends play their Xbox and PS3... Fallout3, Oblivion, Fable2 CoD4, Battlefield Series...
forgotten many good action games. Yep they are good, i like them exept CoD4...
They see a sim they say : Uhhh:down: bad graphics=bad game
Hard and long learning= BAd game really bad game... BORING!

I really hate people like that, it seems they can't use their brain like normal people...

I used many minutes to write this

my preference is for PC based games, I play almost no console based games despite owning a wii and xbox.

the wii - purchased for nothing more than drunken party entertainment.

the xbox - for visits from the niece, nephew and occasionally the brother and law and myself will play NFL Fever or something.

i would estimate that 97% of my gaming is limited to PC only. :up:

and of that percentage of PC gaming... 90% falls within the simulation genre