Playing games on the PC is making a comeback
Playing the Xbox and PlayStation from a living room couch isn't what it used to be.
This week, the video game industry will descend on Los Angeles to hold the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, its loudest, biggest and most lavish annual conference. Much of it is a giant advertisement for video game consoles, with some of the most highly anticipated presentations coming from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, discussing games like sci-fi epic Halo 5 for the Xbox One, adventure game Uncharted 4 for the PlayStation 4 and space shooter Star Fox for the Wii U.
From the outside looking in, it may seem like video game consoles are the most popular products in the industry. That's beginning to change.
Sales generated by PC games are poised to overtake those for video game consoles, a monumental shift that is many years in the making, according to data from industry researcher PwC. By the end of 2016, PC game sales are expected to reach $29 billion around the world, compared with $28 billion in sales for the console market.
The gap will continue to widen over the next few years, thanks to the growing popularity of PC-based gaming in other countries, like China and India.
The video game industry is going through rapid change. Gone are the days when people played games only on specialized devices, like a video game console. Smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes and virtual reality systems have begun to change the way video games are played, as well as how we all pay for them.
"You could have said 10 years ago that there were three major platforms: Console, PC and Web," said Brian Blau, an analyst with research firm Gartner. "Now you have TV streamers, mobile devices -- you even have watches today. There's so many more types of devices to play games."
One of the biggest beneficiaries of that change has been the PC, which has become the only way to play some of the best-looking and most popular games in the industry and to enjoy some of the most cutting-edge features online gaming has to offer. And later this year, that will also be the only way to play high-quality virtual reality games, offering players the opportunity to strap on a headset and transport themselves to all manner of imaginary worlds.
The PC won't just be the technology on which players spend the most money playing games, but it will soon become one of the key battlegrounds of new technologies as well.
Recent Comments
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PC gaming is awesome! I remember a few years ago my friends were telling me that PC gaming was lame, and now they all haves PCs themselves. I like consoles as much as the next guy, but I really feel like they are holding gaming back because developers focus their thoughts on optimizing games for the consoles that they can't really be as innovative as they want. I still have a PS4 though (exclusives will make you do things you wouldn't usually do).
Yes im a PC at heart cause there games r unbound. But i still have the xbox 1 and ps4 waiting on battlefront