Id Software states the obvious, though I'm sure they'll catch heck for it:
id Software's Steve Nix believes that a significant number of 'hardcore' PC gamers are shifting over to home consoles to get their kicks.
Nix said that id would continue to support the loyal PC gamer, but it couldn't afford to ignore the size of the market for first-person shooters on console.
"I know that I have friends who are considered core gamers, who years ago were just keyboard and mouse guys - now, when a game ships on all platforms, they buy the console version, even though the PC version is sitting there and they have a PC that would run it perfectly well. It's just their preference," explained Nix.
"It's so much money to keep up with the bleeding edge of technology on the PC, and it really just is easier to take a console and say, well, this is good enough. I think that's the way it is for me, and for a lot of people at this point in time."
However, Nix was keen to point out that he's describing a limited trend - and that there's still plenty of space for the PC in the games market, even if FPS games are certainly no longer entirely a PC-centric genre.
"There are plenty of people who are diehard mouse and keyboard guys that may never go to console, and also right now, if you have the highest of high-end PCs, you're generally going to get a better visual experience," Nix said. "There's no console out there that's as powerful as a God machine right now, with a Quad-Core and a GeForce 8800 - it's very hard for any console to compete with that."
"So you still have PC players, and some players are just console guys, but have players moved over? Absolutely. We love PC gaming, and we continue to support PC gaming - but you can't ignore the market realities and the size of the console market these days."
That's for sure. I recall in testing the Xbox 360 back in late 2005 that I was surprised to discover that first person shooters could work, let alone excel, on a controller-based system. Today, first person shooters are pretty much the only reason to own a 360. (Well that and the free in-home heating and white noise it provides.) It's amazing how this changed in such a short period of time.
