PC: Where All of the Real Gamers Are - The UpStream

PC: Where All of the Real Gamers Are

posted Saturday Jul 21, 2012 by Scott Ertz

PC: Where All of the Real Gamers Are

While Sony prepares the PlayStation 4, and Microsoft prepares the next Xbox, EA prepares for the PC. EA CEO John Riccitiello recently said in an interview with CNBC,

Just five years ago people said that the PC game business was in a radical state of decline because NPD said it was down 10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent, year-in year-out... The fastest growing platform for video games today is the PC, but it's growing through subscriptions, through micro transactions and through downloads.

That is a little hard for me to believe - kind of. It all depends on what we consider PC gaming. If we are counting games like SimCity Social, then I can totally understand why he believes that. SimCity Social has seen huge growth over the past few weeks since launch. Riccitiello also believes there is huge growth in the full title business as well. In regards to FIFA 12,

We had five million players that first week and it's now july, and we've had no fewer than four and a half million players since then.

So, is it possible that PC is gaining traction? Hit the break for more.

With titles like ShootMania Storm coming to the PC, it is possible that we could see a rise in PC gaming. We have been experimenting with the title for a few weeks now, and if there were more titles like that one off the console, then there would be a lot more of a reason to consider PC gaming.

Riccitiello also cites a rise in EA's free-to-play offerings, such as Star Wars: The Old Republic's first 15 levels. Things certainly seem to be looking up for the PC, at least as far as EA is concerned. I look forward to hearing the financial aspect of this growth from their next earnings call.

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