Alan Wake: Microsoft preparing to leave PC gamers behind (again)

[Richard]

I want to get this, but I also want to boycott it for the way us PC gamers were treated, but that wouldn't do us any good in promoting the platform. If it's a decent port, then I'll consider it.

Why? If you buy it all you're condoning is publishers releasing PC versions many months or even years after the console versions.

No. No. No. No. No.

Remedy, keep your Alan Wake and your console fans like you wanted all along. So they let you down and didn't buy as many copies as you were expecting? Tough. If it has a decent FOV, makes full use of current high end machines and is rock solid I might pick it up on a Steam sale for 10 euros.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

No Richard, if you don't buy it it's because of piracy

 

[Kaotik]

Richard, TBH I believe it was solely MS who decided XB360 only

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

No Richard, if you don't buy it it's because of piracy

That'll be because any hype and advertising is long gone, the game got mediocre reviews, and anyone who wanted it bought it for the consoles. The rest of us don't care and low sales will still be blamed on piracy rather than the bad decisions and poor product that got us to this point.

I guess console sales will always be better than PC if you ensure you cripple PC sales this way.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

Nope, all of those make too much sense. Piracy.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

This game will look pretty great once you quadruple the resolution to 1080p.

Yep the game should look really nice with higher resolution. I wonder if there will be any other improvements. The gameplay was solid, I wouldn't mind playing the game through again.

Richard, TBH I believe it was solely MS who decided XB360 only

Angry mobs want blood not facts.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Ok somebody has to say it: LOL.

And in before they claim it sells poorly on PC because of piracy

I think MS has a pretty good grasp on how a delayed launch will affect sales. You didn't hear them attributing low sales of Fable 3 PC to piracy, for example. And if you do a search on Fable 3 and piracy you come up with things like this.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/18/f...oblematic-than-second-hand-sales-on-the-xbox/

Basically a delayed launch is just to get as many sales as possible before launching on a platform that you know will get pirated out the ying yang. You already know your PC sales are going to suffer due to piracy. But by delaying, the hope is that PC piracy won't also impact your console version.

As well, with a delayed launch of a port you, presumably, can have far less people working on the port as there is no rush to have it hit simultaneously with the console parts.

It's all about reducing the cost of the port and reducing the potential delays porting could cause for launches on the primary platform. A game stopping bug on the PC port for example no longer requires a delay in a, presumably, finished and bug tested console version.

That's where Alan Wake comes in. It was constantly behind schedule and being delayed for one reason or another. Focusing ALL developement time on the X360 version allowed them to at least get one version done to stop the money bleed. They could then either have more people working on the X360 version or just cut developement costs by stopping PC developement and moving those people to other projects.

I have a feeling it's taken this long just because it took so long to recoup developement costs before the OK was given to resume work on the PC version. And/or the PC dev team was so small (to control those costs) that it's taken them this long to finish the PC version and bug fix it.

And just like Fable 3 (66% off on Steam when I got it, yay), I'll probably pick up Alan Wake on the PC once it gets one of those heavy Steam discounts.

Regards,
SB

 

[Daozang]

Now I'll finally play the game, since my 360 is collecting dust because it RRODed again
A little rant...
I'm not ever going to buy a console from MS again...
Their "exclusives" are a handful, and will always get ported on the pc in the end
This was the last game I bought for the 360, and the one that killed it apparently

 

[Richard]

Richard, TBH I believe it was solely MS who decided XB360 only

It wasn't solely MS. It was long after MS picked up the publishing rights that we knew the PC version was cancelled.

Besides, if my wallet contributes a tiny bit to convince developers to either seek other publishers or fight to have the PC version on the publishing agreement with MS then I'm happy.

Same thing with CliffyB and their Minecraft-fame exploiting title.

Vote with your wallet since that's the only language companies understand.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Vote with your wallet since that's the only language companies understand.

The problem is that they don't understand it at all now. Instead of looking at low sales and thinking about what they did wrong, they just blame it on "piracy". This means no one at the publisher or developer ever takes responsibility for where they failed, and it's always someone else's fault. They constantly point the finger at those dastardly pirates, instead of the poor decisions they made or the substandard product they put out.

It's the same model as the movie and music industry that the gaming industry want to emulate.

 

[green.pixel]

Looks like that the Couch Processing Units are finally available on a PC at a reasonable price.

 

[suryad]

Awesome news about the game coming to the PC side of things.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

I think MS has a pretty good grasp on how a delayed launch will affect sales. You didn't hear them attributing low sales of Fable 3 PC to piracy, for example.

You *certainly did* hear them attribute gears to it though! Honestly I think their PR has just learned more than their management.

As well, with a delayed launch of a port you, presumably, can have far less people working on the port as there is no rush to have it hit simultaneously with the console parts.

I'd argue it's far less effort to just develop multi-platform in the first place than to "port".

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand their reasoning for this. But all their comments earlier about why they were doing it are just revealed to be complete and utter BS (console "experience", etc.). Not that we didn't know that originally, but still. Had they come forward and said "yeah guys we don't have the resources to do a multi-platform title" or "we're having tech issues with the PC version" no one would have cared. It's their stupid made-up reasons that people object to.

And honestly at this point I doubt it's even worth them doing the port at all. The PC and console markets aren't actually that disjoint, so anyone who really wanted to play the game already has. Furthermore, there's generally a higher bar for this genre of game on PC (due simply to more competition) so they're already at a disadvantage. They could certainly price it aggressively to make up for these factors, but I doubt they will.

Like I said... I'm just getting in before they figure out something other than themselves to blame the impending poor sales on It's way easier to blame something about the platform that you don't control than take a bit of responsibility, no matter how little sense your points make.

People who are making good games are making money, regardless of the platform.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

The problem is that they don't understand it at all now. Instead of looking at low sales and thinking about what they did wrong, they just blame it on "piracy". This means no one at the publisher or developer ever takes responsibility for where they failed, and it's always someone else's fault. They constantly point the finger at those dastardly pirates, instead of the poor decisions they made or the substandard product they put out.

It's the same model as the movie and music industry that the gaming industry want to emulate.

Except that when you eliminate or minimize the effects of piracy, suddenly sales skyrocket. Hence why almost all AAA pubs have gone to console as the main dev platform with ports to PC (and even ports to PC are being cancelled or stopped for some pubs now).

And that's even true with titles designed with a big eye towards PC (Battlefield 3 for instance), which sells quite a bit better on X360 and even PS3 than it does on PC. Yet I'm willing to bet more people played it on PC (the single player at least) than on the two consoles.

It's easy to try to blame the devs, but when titles consistently sell better on console than they do on PC despite more people potentially playing those titles on PC than console, then you have a problem. And this even applied to titles that were originally developed on PC and then later ported to console.

Digital distribution has helped combat this to some extent (just look at some of the former pirates on this forum who now actually buy some of their PC games due to Steam sales), but piracy remains a large problem discouraging investment in developing for the PC. There's a huge reason why MMO's are the only game titles that consistently sell well on the platform (even the crappy ones) along with some of the managed Online only (competitive online games, FPS/RTS) games.

Either way, Alan Wake's PC port wasn't cancelled originally due to piracy concerns, but due to the fact that they were hugely behind schedule and way over budget.

Regards,
SB

 

[suryad]

Agreed SB. And couple to that the fact that most PC games need many patches and driver updates which consoles do but its just a quick download. You have to upgrade your hardware to take advantage of some new graphics features if you are a PC person and that ain't cheap either. Consoles don't have that problem. So those reasons alone are appealing to more and more people to play on consoles. Also there is something to sitting on a big comfy couch and playing on your big screen tv than on your puny PC monitor. It just makes sense why devs don't target PCs anymore. As sad as it maybe to me because I love PC as a gaming platform it is a demographic reality.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

And that's even true with titles designed with a big eye towards PC (Battlefield 3 for instance), which sells quite a bit better on X360 and even PS3 than it does on PC.

From what I've heard that's not true (at least for previous BF games): it's about evenly split between the 3 platforms, and that's despite a much larger potential hardware base for consoles. And yes, PC gamers tend to keep playing it longer.

It's easy to try to blame the devs, but when titles consistently sell better on console than they do on PC despite more people potentially playing those titles on PC than console, then you have a problem.

That's backwards logic: for AAA games there's more potential console hardware than PC out there, simply because PC is more expensive. For more "casual" games with less demanding hardware... those sell far better on PC (or phones/tablets even)

Either way, Alan Wake's PC port wasn't cancelled originally due to piracy concerns, but due to the fact that they were hugely behind schedule and way over budget.

Agreed. Hence not because they had any reason why they though the game would play better on consoles, unlike the nonsense that they spouted at the time But hey, it produced that awesome alan wake on a couch image earlier in this thread, so I guess it's not all bad!

 

[AlNom]

Isn't not buying the PC version and thus lowering PC sales going to reinforce the notion that the PC platform isn't worth catering towards?

Afterall, if piracy is the reason for delaying a PC port (no matter how false it may be) then publishers will simply see the low sales as evidence of rampant piracy and continue to put the PC SKU in the afterthought pile.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Isn't not buying the PC version and thus lowering PC sales going to reinforce the notion that the PC platform isn't worth catering towards?

Afterall, if piracy is the reason for delaying a PC port (no matter how false it may be) then publishers will simply see the low sales as evidence of rampant piracy and continue to put the PC SKU in the afterthought pile.

That could certainly contribute. And at this point in time it doesn't really matter which side of the piracy debate is correct.

Publishers and Devs., rightly or wrongly, see piracy as a relatively large problem on PC which is difficult to combat. Due to that perception, again rightly or wrongly, developement funds for PC ports are drying up with some PC ports that were in the works being cancelled before the title is released.

I'm betting a lot of pubs and devs are going to see how D3 fares with regards to piracy.

Considering MMO's (unpiratable for the most part) remain big sellers. Even Rift (an average MMO at best) sold over a million copies in its first month, although sales probably died after that.

I'm going to guess a lot of projects might be interested in converting their single player games to be similar to a MMO type of server/client setup. Although the investment in something like that (having to host dedicated servers to run all game logic, and the bandwidth for such) might scare off most devs.

But at least there's some publishers that don't blame piracy for low sales when they delay their port to be multiple months after a console release.

As well, it's interesting that while consoles don't face the piracy spectre to nearly the extent that PCs do, they have their own problems with used game sales. But, IMO, used games won't impact sales nearly as much as piracy. Piracy hits you hardest during the initial week/month of sales when games have their highest sales spike (in most cases). Used sales are always going to be delayed somewhat, so it still allows for a largely untouched initial week/month of sales.

Regards,
SB

 

[pjbliverpool]

Agreed SB. And couple to that the fact that most PC games need many patches and driver updates which consoles do but its just a quick download.

I'm surprised to hear you of all people say that Suyrad. I fairly certain most PC games don't need many patches and driver updates.

In fact, from my recent list of games, I don't recall a single non-automatic patch or driver update being required. That coveres Mafia 2, Lost Platen 2, Assassins Creed Brotherhood and Assassins Creed Revalations.

I'm pretty sure the same was true of the 5, and even 10 games before that. Maybe one or two driver/patch updates but nothing even remotely what I would consider an issue.

I know Rage had serious issues, but that's not a game I'vce picked up yet.

You have to upgrade your hardware to take advantage of some new graphics features if you are a PC person and that ain't cheap either. Consoles don't have that problem.

Now I really don't understand this one. Consoles don't have the problems of DX10, DX11, >30fps (in most cases), >720p, and all the other additional effects PC games get over their console counterparts..... lucky them?

If you want sub 720p DX9 gameplay at 30fps then just stick with your 7 year old 8800GT. I see no reason to switch to consoles if that's what you prefer. You'll still get an equal or better experience in the vast majority of cases.

Also there is something to sitting on a big comfy couch and playing on your big screen tv than on your puny PC monitor.

Like I was doing a couple of hours ago while playing Assassins Creed Brotherhood on my 50" TV with 5.1dd sound at 1080p and a locked 60fps.

Incidentally, despite having a pretty decent sized TV, the field of view on my relatively tiny monitor is still considerably greater. Good job I don't have to choose one over the other.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Regarding Alan Wake, I thinks it's pretty clear that most of the hype for that game was coming from the PC crowd. Hence why when the PC version was cancelled, most of the enthusiasm for this game whimpered out too.

Thats not always the case, Gears of War for example thrived even without the PC crowd hype. But in this case, someone made a serious miscalculation IMO. Releasing a PC version x years later seems like a pretty desperate attempt to claw back some of what they lost with that initial bad decision.