Gears of War 2 Designer: Savvy Gamers Know How to Pirate
Gears of War was a monster hit on the Xbox 360, which eventually made it to the PC after a considerable wait. The game’s sequel, however, will be a console-only title.
Speaking to IGN in an interview from late August, Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski said, “Gears of War is a great franchise first and foremost for Xbox 360, and therefore we’re focusing on that platform for Gears of War 2. We’ve decided we’re not going to do a PC version this time around.”
The decision not to make a PC version of Gear of War 2 is particularly significant for Epic Games’ who has deep roots and history on the PC platform. Due to changing environmental conditions, however, the developer felt it best to divert resources to the more profitable avenue.
Namely, Bleszinski points to how easy it is for “savvy” gamers to acquire illegal versions of games.
“The PC right now is a fair amount different to what it was back in the day, with all the badly integrated video chips,” said Bleszinski to TVG. “Here’s the problem right now; the person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card, is a person who is savvy enough to know bit torrent to know all the elements so they can pirate software.”
Essentially, Bleszinski is saying that Epic Games’ target market isn’t exactly the ones who tend to purchase their software. “Therefore, high-end videogames are suffering very much on the PC,” he added.
but make a great online game, and you'll reap the rewards such as Valve, Blizzard...
PC pirating is going to kill the PC gaming market, except for games like WoW, WAR and other Subscription based games. Or force such radical DRM that no one will want the game on their system.
to my knowledge, correct me if i'm wrong, but i never seen a console game sell 10 million copies. cross platforms for a combined sale, maybe...but one console by itself, i never heard/seen it.
besides if they do cross platforms, they have to port it to the other consoles and often times PC's is in also, but i guess EPIC is changing their ways for GOW2. when UT first came out, it was a great game but i agree with crock on his views as well, UT03,04...etc. nothing really changed much. for the most part the guns were still the same and they added vehicles and such. it wasn't a revolutionary thing and EPIC has used the same formula for all their UT series, which grew stale over time as more great FPS series came out and took the crown away from UT.
GOW was their most recent break and i think it did really well on consoles, b/c consoles lack FPS where the PC HAS TONS. COD IV and HALO was the last FPS on consoles that really made a mark. honestly though, shooting people while using one joystick to move and the other to aim isn't really my cup of tea for a FPS. i'll pass on console FPS. imo, if a console gamer has a choice of a FPS on a console or PC, they would undoubtedly pick the PC version (if they have a good PC at that).
my suggestion i would give EPIC is, make a game that people WANT TO PAY to PLAY, not some recycled cr*p that uses the same formula year after year after year with a face lift. create something like team fortress 2 as a FPS, and they'll rank it millions.
Why the hell does Crysis Warhead is half priced compared to other games? It is much better then 99,999% of the 360 shooters (some say halo, I say only gears). So a good product must be cheap and free of injuries (read DRM) for costumers.
With the current economy don´t expect us to buy U$60 games, pay for live and be happy with it. Good games don´t cost as much, and please do learn something with NFS Pro Street: crappy sales since you have to pay for every single car worth playing.
Only the game companies that make good, new games will make money off of us. People will pirate everyone else's crap games, and they'll go away.
Eventually those that left will see the entire pc gaming market paying huge dough to a small few good game companies, and they'll want their slice.
...and so the cycle shall be. It may hurt pc gaming significantly, and that is unfortunate, but I doubt it will kill it.
Piracy is a reality for console just as much as it is for PC. Design a good game and people will buy it.
If your game only has enough content for users to burn through in 2-3 days of hardcore playing, no one is going to buy it and everyone is going to pirate it.
Quit blaming piracy for bad games getting pirated. People will always pirate games, only the good gaming developers will get the support (EA Spore just SOLD 1 million copies for being a highly imaginitive and anticipated game).
Bad game development companies that just hype up a bad game and release it with barely enough content to keep the gamer happy for a week will in the end fail as development companies.
The desire for games and game content has changed too, but remmeber even successful games in the past (Space Quest, Police Quest) had enough challenges and content for its time to keep people busy for weeks on end.
Its time that gaming companies stepped up to the reality of the requirements of a modern day gamer.
I'd be more inclined to believe poor sales of GOW1 on PC were because of the really bad console port, and the game was rather boring for PC gamers. There are a million better shooter games available on PC than GOW.
Oh yeah, it also seems like hardcore PC gamers are much more selective in the games they buy than the large market of console gamers. Maybe I'm wrong though (I did buy Alone in the Dark and Timeshift :-( )
I am sick of these morons repeatedly releasing their games on a format that they know is not secure and will be pirated and then getting upset. Requiring an internet connection to play is not an issue any more. Who does not have one these days? Protect your executables, only give them to people who hold an online account with you like on Steam and let's move on to the future of PC games.
i bought many of their games. i'm not planning on giving them my money. if they say i don't deserve to play a f***ing game, they don't deserve to take my money too.
i'm going to give more to microsoft for a console, and keep my pc for downloading games.
why upgrade and give $499 for a 4870x2? buy a console, download and play.
easy......
The main reason (i think) games are pirated is because the price!!! i think that if they want to effectively fight piracy they should reduce the price of the games, and not use piracy as an excuse to control the user and the market (SecuRom)
Meanwhile in the console scene, with the influx of game developers and truckloads of games being released every other week. It's gonna be interesting to see how they'll play that one out. Perhaps blame console piracy for low sales?