Epic Designer Says PC Gaming in 'Disarray'

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Long-time PC developer Epic Games is now moving the PC to the backseat in favor of console development, Unreal designer and Gears of War (PC, X360) creator Cliff "CliffyB" Bleszinski (picutured left) has stated.

"For me, the PC is kind of the secondary part of what weÂ’re doing," Bleszinski told MTV Multiplayer. "[PC is] important for us, but right now making AAA games on consoles is where we're at.

"I think people would rather make a game that sells 4.5 million copies than a million and Gears [of War] is at 4.5 million right now on the 360," he stated.

At last year's Game Developers Conference, Epic president Michael Capps attributed the company's increasing number of console projects to PC piracy. "PC gaming is really falling apart," Capps noted. "It killed us to make Unreal Tournament 3 cross-platform, but Epic had to do it."

Bleszinski offered similar commentary in his recent statements, blaming the increasingly casual-driven PC market for the console-focused attitude.

"I think the PC is just in disarray," he explained. "That's driving the PC right now is Sims-type games and [World of Warcraft] and a lot of stuff thatÂ’s in a web-based interface. You just click on it and play it. ThatÂ’s the direction PC is evolving into."

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 15, 2008 10:52 AM

    [deleted]

    • reply
      February 15, 2008 10:57 AM

      I kind of glance over any paragraph which attributes poor sales entirely to piracy. That's kind of a de facto standard for PR speak (mentioning pirates) but, really, I don't think it's as huge as an issue as it's made-up to be.

      I mean, Unreal Tournament 3, for example, didn't sell poorly on the PC because so many people pirated it so much as there wasn't really much of an incentive for most gamers to care about it. If I was going to buy a PC multiplayer shooter that wasn't Team Fortress 2 then I'd buy Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Not a rehashed Unreal Tournament with one of the most visually unappealing art styles I've seen in a game.

      Though I did buy Unreal Tournament 3. I'm not sure why.

      • reply
        February 15, 2008 11:19 AM

        not to mention ... UT3 had to compete with all other FPS that came out for PC in the end of last year, and a few of them were mutch better, like Orange box, Crysis, CoD4, etc. i dont see any problems with the sales of any of those titles, and they had the same problems with piracy as UT3 did.

    • reply
      February 15, 2008 11:20 AM

      Piracy has always been an excuse for a shitty game that sells poorly.

    • reply
      February 15, 2008 11:29 AM

      I think you'll have a hard time finding a company that wants to be benevolent

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