We've seen various news articles, editorials and blog posts throughout the HD generation of consoles citing the demise of PC gaming as a direct consequence of the efforts of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.
We all know the reasons why this appears to be the case. Consoles offer a longer term, cheaper initial hardware investment and the bulk of the industry now caters towards making games for PS3, 360 and Wii as opposed to the unfairly neglected PC.
I believe however, a relative decline in PC gaming fortunes may also be due to another variable often overlooked in the debate. I'm talking of course, of Apple and Macs.
Yes, Apple has been the computing story of the last decade. While PCs still outsell Macs globally, with each iteration of the iMac and Macbook families, Apple's computer business is gobbling market share away from Windows based PC platforms. Apple is now the world's largest consumer electronics company, and has outstripped Microsoft in market capitalisation.
In fact, I'm typing this blog on a brand spanking new iMac, and long ago abandoned PCs for Macs way back in 2005.
The significance of this is that Apple computers are not traditionally gaming machines, and are in-fact poor gaming machines compared to PCs. I used to be a heavy PC game, but once I gave in to Mac-land, I literally stopped playing PC games, simply because I didn't have a computer capable of playing any of them.
Yes, a full two years before I bought my PS3 (my primary gaming machine), I was using a Mac that could not use games. So I turned in favour of consoles by default. I simply didn't own a computer that ran games, and my decision to get a PS3 had as much if not more to do with owning a Mac than it did with Sony's promises of next generation bliss.
I think of my friends, all at one time PC gamers, now Mac users all and all have PS3's and a few 360s. Macs are becoming, and are tipped to become, the dominant player in the home computer market, which PC gaming relies upon for survival.
So is it that the rise of Apple also has a direct link to, or at least a strong correlation with, the decline in PC gaming? I believe so. As more gamers turn to the gaming wasteland of Apple computing for whatever reason, they are also finding themselves looking for gaming solutions in a different machine, and thus the popularity of consoles.
I'd love to hear people's thoughts?
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
Uhh, PC sales are up year over year. By a lot. There's no demise. It seems like PC gaming is slowly beginning to experience a renaissance.
Sales are mostly increasing the DD sector through private companies like Valve's Steam. These sales cannot be tracked externally and do not go through the normal retail channels, meaning you can't just log on to VGChartz and get an accurate representation.
You probably should've researched this a little before you wrote it.
The death of pc gaming has been exaggerated for over a decade, it's simply not the case. Every year we have articles about pc gaming dying, and yet it's still here alive and kicking.
As for Apple, well, I'm not sure what you are trying to say really. Have a look at the store and see what games are available -
http://store.apple.com/uk/b...
You can look on Steam as well if you want -
http://store.steampowered.c...
Now look at Steam and see what's available on pc -
http://store.steampowered.c...
There's tons of games available on pc, while on Mac there's a very limited selection. I think you're getting way ahead of yourself thinking that Apple are getting any kind of hold on home computer gaming.
Hmm?
http://www.rockpapershotgun...
bunfighter that was the most EPIC FAIL post I have ever read. PC gaming is growing fast, not declining. Your a complete tool, seek professional help immediately.
For the graphic intensive, "core" games, I'd say it's not Mac-vs-PC that's killing it, it's Laptop-vs-Desktop.
When most people look for a computer these days, they look for a laptop. They just need a productivity/writing/internet machine, and they like to sit at the coffee shop and use it.
Hardly anyone wants a PC tower that has to sit on the same desk in the same room of the house, and that's what you'll need if decide you want to be serious about gaming.