Like a lot of you (I guess) I'm currently weighing up my next-gen options, in a couple of years chances are I'll have convinced myself to buy all the consoles, but for the first 12-24 months all my eggs will be in one basket.
I feel that both launch line ups are pretty lackluster, and of all the stuff slated for 2013 release everything I really want to play will also be out on PC. My PC isn't anywhere near capable of running the likes of Watchdogs at current gen levels let alone next-gen, so the option of investing my money in a new PC instead has become a real possibility.
That got me thinking, what would I miss out on if I put all my console eggs in the PC basket for the next 2 years? Would it be so much stuff that I regretted spending the money? Things seem great now on PC, but how much do console launches affect what gets released on PC?
So I did a little research:
I went back to 1998 (so as to catch multiple system launches), listed the highest reviewed games from metacritic for each year, and picked 10 of what I consider (personal taste warning) to be the ten biggest/most talked about games from each year, the kind of games that you wouldn't want to have missed out on.
I then charted if a PC version was available at around the same time
Here's what I found:
Here's the games I used:
The data seems to show that consoles have the power to bring the PC market to it's knees. The PS2 era changed what the market thought a good game was, and changed what people wanted from the experience, and no one working on the PC kept up. Over the last 10 years the PC market has adapted and crept back into mainstream relevance, and the PS3 era has failed to be as disruptive to the PC, if anything it fed off of what was happening there.
Do you think the next gen consoles have the technical capabilities or the ecosystem to disrupt the market like the PS2 did? Will PC ports drop off the cliff once console devs get used to playing with 8gig of RAM?
Or is the PC running the show in terms of innovation and technical capabilities now?
I feel that both launch line ups are pretty lackluster, and of all the stuff slated for 2013 release everything I really want to play will also be out on PC. My PC isn't anywhere near capable of running the likes of Watchdogs at current gen levels let alone next-gen, so the option of investing my money in a new PC instead has become a real possibility.
That got me thinking, what would I miss out on if I put all my console eggs in the PC basket for the next 2 years? Would it be so much stuff that I regretted spending the money? Things seem great now on PC, but how much do console launches affect what gets released on PC?
So I did a little research:
I went back to 1998 (so as to catch multiple system launches), listed the highest reviewed games from metacritic for each year, and picked 10 of what I consider (personal taste warning) to be the ten biggest/most talked about games from each year, the kind of games that you wouldn't want to have missed out on.
I then charted if a PC version was available at around the same time
Here's what I found:
Here's the games I used:
Code:
1998 PC
Zelda: Ocarina of Time 0
Half Life 1
Grim Fandango 1
Thief 1
Fallout 2 1
Metal Gear Solid 0
Baldurs Gate 1
Starcraft 1
Banjo Kazooie 0
Gran Tourismo 0
Total PC Games 6
1999 PC
SoulCalibur 0
Homeworld 1
Gran Tourismo 2 0
Age of Empires II 1
Alpha Centauri 1
Sytem Shock 2 1
Unreal Tournament 1
Tony Hawk 0
Planescape: Torment 1
Freespace 2 1
Total PC Games 7
2000 PC (PS2 Release)
Tony Hawk 2 1
Perfect Dark 0
Baldurs Gate 2 1
Zelda: Majoras Mask 0
Final Fantasy IX 0
Jet Grind Radio 0
SSX 0
The Sims 1
Virtua Tennis 0
The Longest Journey 1
Total PC Games 4
2001 PC
GTA 3 0 (Late release)
Tony Hawk 3 0
Halo 0
MGS 2 0
Gran Tourismo 3: A-Spec 0
Devil May Cry 0
Paper Mario 0
Final Fantasy X 0
Conkers Bad Fur Day 0
ICO 0
Total PC Games 0
2002 PC
Metroid Prime 0
GTA: Vice City 0
Splinter Cell 0
Warcraft 3 1
Eternal Darkness 0
Super Mario Sunshine 0
Medal of Honor 1
Resident Evil 0
Battlefield 1942 1
Morrowind 1
Total PC Games 4
2003 PC
Star Wars: KOTOR 0 (Late release)
Virtual Fighter 4 0
Viewtiful Joe 0
PoP: Sands of Time 1
Call of Duty 1
Ratchet & Clank 2 0
Panzer Dragoon Orta 0
PGR 2 0
Burnout 2 0
Beyond Good & Evil 1
Total PC Games 3
2004 PC
Half Life 2 1
GTA: San Andreas 0
Halo 2 0
Burnout 3 0
World of Warcraft 1
UT 2004 1
Rome: Total War 1
Metroid Prime 2 0
MGS 3 0
Ninja Gaiden 0
Total PC Releases 4
2005 PC Xbox 360 Launch
Resident Evil 4 0
Civilisation IV 1
God of War 0
SC: Chaos Theory 1
Forza 0
Battlefield 2 1
Shadow of the Colossus 0
Guitar Hero 0
Burnout Revenge 0
Call of Duty 2 1
Total PC Releases 4
2006 PC
Zelda: TP 0
Oblivion 1
Gears of War 0
Okami 0
Company of Heroes 1
Final Fantasy XII 0
Tom Clancy: GRAW 0
MGS3: Subsistence 0
HL2: Episode One 1
Bully 0
Total PC Releases 3
2007 PC Launch of Steam Community
Super Mario Galaxy 0
Bioshock 1
The Orange Box 1
Halo 3 0
Modern Warfare 1 (Less than a month late)
God of War 2 0
Rock Band 0
Mass Effect 0
Crysis 1
Uncharted 0
Total PC Releases 4
2008 PC
GTA IV 0
Little Big Planet 0
MGS 4 0
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 0
Gears of War 2 0
Fallout 3 1
Braid 0
Fable 2 0
Burnout Paradise 1
Left 4 Dead 1
Total PC Releases 3
2009 PC
Uncharted 2 0
Street Fighter IV 0 (Late Release)
Modern Warfare 2 1
Forza 3 0
Batman: Arkham Asylum 1
Dragon Age: Origins 1
Killzone 2 0
Assassins Creed 2 0
Borderlands 1
DiRT 2 1
Total PC Releases 5
2010 PC
Super Mario Galaxy 2 0
Mass Effect 2 1
Red Dead Redemption 0
Starcraft 2 1
God of War III 0
Halo: Reach 0
Civilization V 1
Super Meat Boy 1 (Just over a month late)
Bioshock 2 1
Fallout New Vegas 1
Total PC Releases 6
2011 PC
Batman Arkham City 1
Skyrim 1
Portal 2 1
Minecraft 1
Uncharted 3 0
Battlefield 3 1
Gears of War 3 0
Deus Ex 1
Dead Space 2 1
L.A. Noire 0 (Late Release)
Total PC Releases 7
2012 PC
Mass Effect 3 1
The Walking Dead 1
Journey 0
Far Cry 3 1
Borderlands 2 1
XCOM 1
Fez 0
Diablo III 1
The Witcher 2 1
Sleeping Dogs 1
Total PC Releases 8
2013 (to date) PC
The Last of Us 0
Bioshock Infinite 1
DOTA 2 1
Tomb Raider 1
Pikmin 3 0
Saints Row IV 1
DmC: Devil May Cry 1
Splinter Cell:Blacklist 1
Papers, Please 1
Rogue Legacy 1
Total PC Releases 8
The data seems to show that consoles have the power to bring the PC market to it's knees. The PS2 era changed what the market thought a good game was, and changed what people wanted from the experience, and no one working on the PC kept up. Over the last 10 years the PC market has adapted and crept back into mainstream relevance, and the PS3 era has failed to be as disruptive to the PC, if anything it fed off of what was happening there.
Do you think the next gen consoles have the technical capabilities or the ecosystem to disrupt the market like the PS2 did? Will PC ports drop off the cliff once console devs get used to playing with 8gig of RAM?
Or is the PC running the show in terms of innovation and technical capabilities now?