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[Elandyll]

It's a combination of multiple factors really.

* Widespread Piracy in the 90s

Many Publishers drop the PC, but some who remain then turn to

* DRM (most prevalent being a one time use code)

Which prevents resale and rentals (already barely there) which in turn turns the PC physical space into a wasteland and

* Bix Box retailers drop PC games or push them into a "dump all" type shelf

which make Casual buyers either not even consider PC games or

* Massive conversion to Online Purchases with portals such as GoG or Steam, but perceived with lesser value (due to lack of resale possibility/ rental, and crazy sales that happen quite often), and most purchases come with ingrained DRM (cf Steam)

ALSO

* "PC" doesn't have a champion like Sony for Playstation, MS for Xbox or Nintendo for their own platforms.

It was supposed to be MS at some point (GfWL). Valve too (HL, Counter Strike, Team Frotress and now DOTA -are- that big). But one got too busy pushing their proprietary set top box, and the other was busy ushering the new all digital age to make the big game(s) everybody was (and still is) waiting for (HL3 "am cry"). The third big one was still there until recently (Blizzard), but then *gasp* Diablo 3 was ported.

FINALLY

* Cost of AAA developping has ballooned to insane levels

Why do exclusive -at all- as a dev or publisher, if you can release on everything and touch the largest market possible? (cf also the championing problem).



All of the above is my 2cps

PS: As a PC Gamer (mostly) myself, I find there still is a Ton to be enjoyed on PC. whether Indie or AAA. Admitedly I am surprised to see the last bastion of the big AAA PC exclusives making it to console soon (Space sims, cf Elite Dangerous), but it was coming I guess.

Edit: I could add to the above list that now consols are far more PC like than they used to be, so the barrier of entry is probably much lower to do ports, or even lead on console and then do a PC port. Works both ways.

 

[Overside]

The seventh gen happened.

Corporations found it was cheaper to just crap out pc ports of console games, than make games designed for pc's, and do their best to port an experience to the console.

 

[loganclaws]

I have worked on AAA games with budgets in the $50M bracket. Lords of Xulima did not have a budget even a tenth of that. Not even sure it had a budget a hundredth of that.

It's clear to me that you haven't played Lords of Xulima, the game has a day and night cycle and takes more than 80 hours to complete. Just like Skyrim or Dragon Age which people here already confirmed to be classified as AAA.

 

[mclem]

It's clear to me that you haven't played Lords of Xulima, the game has a day and night cycle and takes more than 80 hours to complete. Just like Skyrim or Dragon Age which people here already confirmed to be classified as AAA.

Hah. Nice try.

 

[Atomski]

Honestly like it the way it is. I love my small to mid range niche titles on PC.

I mean look at Cities Skyline.. it makes the AAA Sim city look like shit.

 

[Grief.exe]

PC developers are motivated to support a wide range of specs in order to maximize sales. There is little financial benefit to pushing fidelity, unlike console platform holders who are motivated to show the highest potential of their particular box.

Honestly like it the way it is. I love my small to mid range niche titles on PC.

I mean look at Cities Skyline.. it makes the AAA Sim city look like shit.

Cities Skylines and Pillars of Eternity make the vast majority of AAA releases look like garbage.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Ah, fair point. I was largely thinking in terms of non-Kickstarter crowdfunding, but there is indeed also budgeting from within, which is why I'm curious what PoE finished at in real terms.

Not only that but Pillars has a publisher who may have provided additional funds beyond the KS and the developer's own money.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

Crysis happen.

I think its more like Xbox platforms happened. COD and Bioshock happened. Games that would previously be PC only were now giving Halo a run for its money in its own platform and also on the PlayStation. No incentive to not give their games to everyone.

 

[BibiMaghoo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92xo7r3FQXw

That doesn't answer that question. Now is not then. And that is not an AAA exclusive game.

 

[spekkeh]

Big exclusives are made to sell console. They're often much higher risk ventures than multiplat AAA games. No PC developer is in the business to sell consoles. So there's no point in not going multiplat.

Pretty easy really.

 

[Mandoric]

It's clear to me that you haven't played Lords of Xulima, the game has a day and night cycle and takes more than 80 hours to complete. Just like Skyrim or Dragon Age which people here already confirmed to be classified as AAA.

Dwarf Fortress has a day/night cycle and can take more than 80 hours. Is it AAA?

Call of Duty doesn't have a day/night cycle and can take fewer than 8 hours. Is it non-AAA?

We're not discussing exact feature checklists, we're discussing production and marketing budgets and perhaps the design decisions that flow directly from them.

 

[mkenyon]

That doesn't answer that question. Now is not then. And that is not an AAA exclusive game.

You asked how devs make a game specific to the PC. Quake is one of those. As is Dota. They both leverage the input method that an insanely overwhelmingly large number of people use on the platform.

 

[Denton]

This thread lacks Opiate.

 

[jono51]

Budgets increased to the point where one platform alone couldn't support them. The AAA exclusives that remain on PC are so because they are in markets/genres where there is nowhere else to go (without significant compromise) or they've found a very strong niche.

You see the exact same on consoles this gen. The only AAA exclusives on them are those paid for directly by the platform holder and those aren't exactly numerous (3 per year per platform-ish?). Anyone who can port to other consoles or PC does.

That said, I don't think its exactly bad (for the PC). I'd take the ~40-50 "good & above" PC exclusives per metacritic last year over any of the exclusives on the consoles so far.

 

[BibiMaghoo]

You asked how devs make a game specific to the PC. Quake is one of those. As is Dota. They both leverage the input method that an insanely overwhelmingly large number of people use on the platform.

No, I asked how devs could take advantage of the PC platform, not make a game specific for PC's. Those games cover a considerable range of hardware, they don't push anything, and in the case of DOTA, cater to toasters.

That is not AAA. Dota is free to play, and as of my last game, has a single map.

 

[RK9039]

Cities Skylines and Pillars of Eternity make the vast majority of AAA releases look like garbage.

Yup, Pillars is far better than any recent AAA games I've played. And I'm still messing around in the Gilded Vale.

The same thing happened last year with Divinity and Shadowrun.

 

[Kinthalis]

Consoles have exclusives because they PAY for their exclusives, because they NEED to have exclusives. That's how they compete with each other.

PC has exclusives because the open nature of the platform makes development for it easy, and allows indies and mid tier devs to experiment and iterate in a way consoles typically don't.

It also has exclusives because there are entire genre of games that basically don't work very well without a mouse and keyboard or a joystick.

Also this:

Cities Skylines and Pillars of Eternity make the vast majority of AAA releases look like garbage.

 

[nynt9]

AAA games are expensive and there's no reason to limit your potential audience when you don't need to.

The only reason consoles get exclusives is because the platform holders pay for them, as a marketing point. PCs don't have platform holders.

This post really summarizes the whole thing as succinctly as possible.

 

[tuxfool]

It's clear to me that you haven't played Lords of Xulima, the game has a day and night cycle and takes more than 80 hours to complete. Just like Skyrim or Dragon Age which people here already confirmed to be classified as AAA.

Hah. Nice try.

Yah, I agree. Good troll. I enjoyed that.

 

[Leafhopper]

It's clear to me that you haven't played Lords of Xulima, the game has a day and night cycle and takes more than 80 hours to complete. Just like Skyrim or Dragon Age which people here already confirmed to be classified as AAA.

I'm laughing over here.

This thread lacks Opiate.

It is huh?

 

[Mudcrab]

Cities Skylines and Pillars of Eternity make the vast majority of AAA releases look like garbage.

City builders, CRPGs and space sims are back. Who's got it better than us?

 

[Kinthalis]

Outside of the AAA games that PC does get, I'm thinking we might start seeing more from the likes of Valve. They certianly have a large incentive, just like the console manufacturers, to support or make AAA PC exlcusive (probably steam exclusive) titles.

Will they do it? Who knows.

 

[loganclaws]

April fool's guys!

 

[tuxfool]

Outside of the AAA games that PC does get, I'm thinking we might start seeing more from the likes of Valve. They certianly have a large incentive, just like the console manufacturers, to support or make AAA PC exlcusive (probably steam exclusive) titles.

Will they do it? Who knows.

Err, No.

Gabe has stated that they're looking at future games in the vein of TF2 or Dota2. So multiplayer or community focused. Not games that require the typical single player AAA pipelines.

 

[Purple Cheeto]

The Xbox happened.

With an SDK that was a stripped down version of DirectX it allowed people to develop for console with out having to get into the arcane bullshit that it took to develop on the PS2. Then the 360 came out and same thing, excellent API, excellent documentation, excellent developer tools. Add in the higher degree of difficulty for piracy and it gave most Western publishers what they wanted, a console that was familiar and straightforward to develop on that also had delivery services like XBL for add on content and a decent to great online platform for multiplayer and the impetus and benefits of PC development dwindled.

 

[toddhunter]

* "PC" doesn't have a champion like Sony for Playstation, MS for Xbox or Nintendo for their own platforms.

The main reason (paired with cost).

On consoles you have marketing arrangements and support to help supplement the massive cost of a AAA game. On PC you are on your own. This is why it isn't "dumb" for a company not to release their games on steam, it is just better to keep the home on console for the time being.

Microsoft are probably the only ones with the marketing push behind them who can change that, but I don't think we'll be seeing mass market commercials for a PC game anytime soon.

 

[Haunted]

As soon as you divorce yourself from the mindset that this should be considered a bad thing, you'll see the picture much more clearly.

 

[Tain]

By heavy hitters you mean Star Citizen? Cause that the only game I can think of that has an AAA budget and was crowdfunded.

I was thinking some of the other crowd funded games earned more than they had, my mistake.

Given that these conversations usually involve categorizing games as "AAA" and "indie", I sooner categorize games with multi-million dollar budgets as the former than the latter, and I'm assuming my personal line for what's "AAA" is lower than most.

 

[dragonbane]

Sigh. Really miss games like Crysis

 

[Inuhanyou]

The AAA PC gaming space is basically the same as the AAA console space these days. Unless your supported by and have an exceptional relationship with one of the big 3, there's no real reason to be exclusive. Taking advantage of the platform's power makes even less sense considering how the AAA scene is already dead, going even further in that direction seems stupid.

What's the point of spending a billion dollars on CGI looking graphics and huge ass worlds if your not going to make your money back, go through development pains and get your studio closed after one game? Sorry your spending so much for your PC on scaled up console multiplats OP, but its just the reality of the industry today.

The fall of Crytek says this like no other.

 

[AkuMifune]

This thread lacks Opiate.

Actually it just lacks a few good Derrick01 jabs.

 

[Xando]

I don't understand what pc gamers need AAA games for. If you want the yearly AAA multiplattform game you can get it on PC. Imo the good thing about PC is that it has so many niche games (the old people under us would call them AA or mid tier) that you always have the right game for your taste. Ironically these mid tier games (which almost all are exclusives) have a far better price/value ratio than the blockbuster games AAA games that come out every year. Imo PC gives you more choices, thats why you have a lot of 1-2.5 million seller compared to maybe 10 AAA 5-10 million seller.

 

[loganclaws]

Does the fact that a game is AAA make it more fun? I find that it is quite the opposite.

 

[Game4life]

Because they probably do not sell as much on PC?

 

[DOWN]

You pirated them or aren't that huge of an audience since a PC that beats PS4 fidelity is expensive and less streamlined.

 

[BibiMaghoo]

While piracy does play it's part, as the easiest platform to do it on:

You pirated them or aren't that huge of an audience since a PC that beats PS4 fidelity is expensive and less streamlined.

What?

 

[SonyToo!™]

AAA exclusive 3rd parties are pretty rare with devs wanting extra money/marketing to intensivise them. PC seems to be a good example of what would happen if Nintendo made a powerful console.

 

[Iscariot]

Pillars of Eternity was funded on around 4-5 million dollars. If you think PoE was an AAA game you dont understand the term.

Quite true. I couldn't find it, but I recall seeing an article recently that pegged the low end of AAA development budget at around 30mil USD. Further, I don't think that included marketing.

 

[Lasthope106]

I'm actually okay with how things are on pc at the moment. We get the best version of multiplatform games for those that need their AAA fix. While at the same time we get to be at the forefront of game development, funding, and distribution. Some of these smaller games that get made for pc are where developers are free to experiment, and be free of the shackles that have made it risky for big publishers to fund games that might not get a huge audience.

Also, the it seems to me that the studios that want to make a big AAA game on pc will find a way. Just look at the Witcher guys, and all the output that is coming from Europe. These guys are pushing graphics to the limit. Can't wait to see what 4A games, CD Projekt come up with next. We won't have another home console generation for at least 4 years IMO. The pc is going to be the place where graphics will be pushed.

 

[oneida]

"looks good I'll buy it when it's $5 on steam sale"

 

[UnrealEck]

Part of it is likely to do with how it's an open platform without any real governing company. The console makers probably strike more enticing deals to get games on their system and theirs alone, whereas PC, you have no one really to make those deals.

a PC that beats PS4 fidelity is expensive and less streamlined.

Depends on what you consider an expense. I'm sure you can build a computer that's able to run games a bit better than a PS4 for about $500-600. Better quality costs money but it doesn't necessarily need to be expensive.

 

[Solid Samus]

What has happened to big and AAA Xbox or Playstation only games?

answer - Sony and Microsoft are the ones making them. Which ones? All the ones they aren't paying someone else to make.

PC isn't a closed system built by one 'guy' so it lacks that powerful presence. Makes up for it by having pretty much universally the best multiplats and absolute shitloads of unique exclusive experiences.

 

[system11]

Simple economics, graphics whoring and open worlding has pushed production costs into orbit.

 

[DOWN]

While piracy does play it's part, as the easiest platform to do it on:



What?

What's the confusion? Big PC titles have had much higher rates of piracy than console titles, which has driven industry money away from PC toward console and multiplatform. Ubisoft talked about it not long ago, noting that they are slow to build their PC teams despite demand because of significant piracy and PC players only being about 15-20% of their sales compared to the rest being on console.

 

[Solid Samus]

You pirated them or aren't that huge of an audience since a PC that beats PS4 fidelity is expensive and less streamlined.

are you making shit up? I mean I can't think of very many AAA PC exclusive titles over the years that weren't commercial successes, regardless of piracy. Your logic makes sense because piracy has killed platforms single-handedly before but I wouldn't say that PC is no longer a viable market for AAA-like titles because of it. Maybe it's less viable in the sense that AAA releases are front-loaded for as many day one sales as possible and piracy/Steam sales throw a wrench in that a bit

and yeah, the market for AAA PC games is bound to be smaller than the market for AAA console games, if AAA implies big bombast and graphics and shit. I'd say it's less piracy making it harder to justify, and more the console's closed systems making big budget titles more feasible there.

 

[Lasthope106]

"looks good I'll buy it when it's $5 on steam sale"

There is nothing wrong with that. People that want to buy the game day one, will. People that want to wait are doing nothing wrong. They won't get to play the game when the game is popular. Also, it is much better IMO for game studios. They at least will get some money at some point. Look at Double Fine. In one of the documentaries for Broken Age they mentioned how their old catalog helps them keep afloat. That is a much better scenario that never getting any money, which is exactly what happens in the console space with used games sold at GameStop.

 

[UnrealEck]

"looks good I'll buy it when it's $5 on steam sale"

Console games age too and with that, they also see price reductions. On top of that, you can buy them second hand.

 

[XxRampage07xX]

Ugh I'm still waiting for Dawn of War 3, Supreme Commander 3, new Company of Heroes, World in Conflict 2... Have game developers lost interest in making RTS games nowadays?

 

[Altered Juice]

that age was done the moment seventh generation consoles were out.

 

[Gully State]

"looks good I'll buy it when it's $5 on steam sale"

The PC gamer that bought the game a year after release for $5 at least generated revenue for the developer compared to the console gamer that bought the game a year after release used or on clearance for $20 (neither of which goes back to the company that made the game).