As the “big two” of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 continue to battle it out for next-gen dominance, gamer’s should not be so quick to overlook the dark horse of this competition: the PC game!
A recent study released by DFC Intelligence suggests that games released for the PC are more profitable in the market than their home console counterparts. In a recent interview, Owner of DFC David Cole revealed that “On a global basis PC games have surpassed console games but the new console systems means consoles should show an increase…Among core gamers there is a heavy overlap with most console gamers also playing on a PC. The big difference is that consoles are now the luxury item and PCs are the necessity. Just a few years ago the reverse was true. This means PCs have the broader audience.”
Makes sense right? If you think about it in terms of needs vs. wants, most people are going to choose buying a desktop computer over a video game console if money is tight (and your budget dictates you can only own one or the other). The versatility of what can be accomplished with a PC (word processing, internet browsing and yes…gaming) simply outweighs the needs of a console that only provides one function. This obviously allows for a much broader window of opportunity for PC titles (like the hugely popular MOBA) to find a foot-hold in people’s homes more and more these days.
Speaking of MOBA, the study also reveals that titles like League of Legends or Dota 2 dominate the PC landscape in terms of sheer usage. A slightly different face of desktop gaming than just a few short years ago, where traditional MMO was king of the mouse and keyboard mountain.