06 Jan Why PC Gaming Will Never Be Number 1

As a highly active PC gamer for 8 or 9 years, I’ve always said that PC gaming is just better. I made explanations, gave people a lecture practically, and in the end, even console gamers agreed with me. The only counter argument I’ve ever been given was that a console is just cheaper, which I totally agree with. Many of you who read this may disagree or agree with the title, but I’m here to give you a reason on why PC gaming will not be number 1 anytime soon.

In 2007 a research project was done, and one of the achievements in this was finding out the ratio between PC and console gamers in America and Europe. To find out how many console gamers there were was typically easy, just look at the sales and estimate how many people bought a 2nd console after one broke, and other situations that the research team may have thought of. For PC gamers it would be difficult, but they came up with a number. The ratio was about 3:1, so for every 3 console gamers, there was 1 PC gamer.  Europe had completely different numbers, it was pretty much reversed, and the ratio was 1:4, so for every console gamer, there were 4 PC gamers. Also, if you’re wondering where I’ve heard this, it was on a HD gaming channel that is no longer around. All I can remember is that Dish Network had the channel, and they played everything related to video games.

So with this in mind, in America at least, it would be very hard to see such a dramatic uprise in PC gamer numbers. So why do people think PC gaming will take over? Because BF3 on the PC looks significantly better than the console? Because PC are getting cheaper by the week? Well for those people who think that, I really can’t think of a reason why you think that could be true.

PC gaming is not dead, I want to clarify that. PC gaming is just as rich as it was 5 years ago, and even a little better. Most of you are probably wanting reasons to why PC gaming won’t be number 1 anytime soon. Well lets start with the 2 obvious reasons, 1 it costs more, and 2 it’s maintenance. Americans hate taking time out of their lives to fix something that deals with technology…this only applies to most people in America. I myself don’t mind fixing a computer because I enjoy working with computers. If something goes wrong with a computer, most people want it fixed in 1 or 2 simple clicks, but most of the time it’s not that easy. Sometimes it takes research time, updating, downloading software, and in the end it just feels like a waste of time to most people. So for PC gamers, they decide to go with a console instead. Some other reasons? PC gaming just didn’t trend for your most popular games…and yes I am talking about FPS games. FPS games sell more than any other genre of games, and it’s the most selling for both PC and console, but the console shooters outsell PC shooters by outrageous numbers. If you’re a console gamer going to PC…FPS games are hard as hell. So most of those players will end up quitting and going back to console.

These are just some reasons I’ve thought of for you guys. If you have any more to add, leave something in the comments below. Also check out The Nerd Hour podcast where we talk everything tech and gaming. For the regular readers, sorry about the past 2 months, been really busy, and I’m writing this before I go to work. I plan on writing more soon though! I’m @zookkz and I’m out