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Originally Posted by macky
I have 2 points to add:
1) According to PC gamer there is no decline in PC gaming, in fact this will be the year of the PC. With dual core being favoured by MS and big game developers as being the breakthrough. Windows vista was made for the pc gamer. Doubt MS would throw away a lot of developing money if they thought the pc market was in decline. Although we dont see a lot of pc games on shelves, apparently the online market (legitamate one not the pirates) is booming. World of Warcraft have exceeded 8million subscribers which is bigger than many countries :p
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Stole this from Wikipedia:
US PC Game Software Sales
[2] [3][4]- 1998 - $1.7 billion
- 1999 - $1.9 billion
- 2000 - $1.78 billion (84.9 million units)
- 2001 - $1.75 billion (83.6 million units)
- 2002 - $1.4 billion (61.5 million units)
- 2003 - $1.2 billion (52.8 million units)
- 2004 - $1.1 billion (45 million units)
- 2005 - $953 million (38 million) [5] + $344 million digital sales [6]
- 2006 - $970 million [7]
I'd say that's a decline, but not in a bad way. Like someone else said, I think PCs will fill that niche for people who want games that are deeper than "if it moves, shoot it." I hate consoles because I feel the games on them are dumbed down for the masses, and that's why I stick with PC strategy and sim games.
As for the people who think that a CD key check will stop piracy cold, look at what happened when Valve used Steam for Half Life 2. It was cracked shortly after release. Granted, it made it harder for the pirates but they did find ways around it. I don't think there's one be all, end all answer to piracy. It's a constant cat and mouse game.