Old PC Gaming Dead

Dave Perry’s “Lunch With the Luminaries” the state of PC gaming was discussed with some luminaries, including Molyneux and Gas Powered’s Chris Taylor.

Koster kicked off the debate by comparing web developer speed versus the games industry. “Iteration speed on the web is insane… the base assumptions on speed are astounding. By the end of the day they get 500% improvements on their metrics,” he said, saying that, like Bungie’s heat-maps used to fine-tune multiplayer levels, “Think about what we could be doing — we should be sending back play transcripts.”

He continued by pointing out that while “[In the past I thought that] the interface is where the rubber meets the road… but the web says I have no idea what platform you have.”

“Flash is the next console,” he posited. “It’s pointing its way to the future more than the next generation of consoles,” with capabilities increasing dramatically over the next 12 months. “Retail PC is in dire straits, but… the web is kicking the console industry’s ass.”

Gas Powered’s Chris Taylor seemed to agree that, at very least, digital distribution of any kind is the way forward, saying, “PC gaming as we know it is dead… secure gaming is the future.”

How insightful.