Why Not PC?

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MR.KAZ

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Why is it that all these great titles for the "PS3",360,etc. not on the "Pc"? Is it a legal thing?
 
No, it's a money thing. PC games do not sell as well for the most part. Most of the newer popular games go the PC eventually, though {Bioshock, Mass effect, Assassins creed, etc}. So everybody is happy :)
 
It is sorta a legal thing, seeing as how a lot of developers are first party/pledged to a console.
 
I would also think that the PC is difficult to produce a game for. There is no standard configuration of the hardware among owners. One would have to decide what peripherals to support, (video cards, sound cards, ram, etc) hoping that enough people out there have it on their PC or are willing to go out and buy it to play their game. One would have to consider if the return profit would be enough to warrant a production run. Besides PC gamers do have a bit different gaming taste than your average console gamer. I think that the Xbox, Xbox 360, and the PS3 are probably bridging the gap between the two.

A console game is easier to produce because everyone has the same exact hardware. And I agree that the game developers have made an agreement with the console makers.
 
There's a number of reasons:

1. As mentioned, the hardware is differnet in every PC, as compared to consoles. As such, optimizing must be done through most possible configurations. Otherwise, the game runs badly on a PC's hardware that's better then the console the game was built on. Look at pretty much every console -> PC Ubisoft port (Devil May Cry 3 is a big example).

2. Piracy. PC games are pirated more then any console. Sure, consoles have their fair share of piracy, but it only takes an ISO and two programs to run a pirated game PC game.

3. Style restirctions. Unless you have a gamepad, PC games are only really confortable with shooters, strategy games, and some RPG's.

4. Sales. Not everyone has a gaming quality PC. Back in the SNES / Genesis days, almost any PC could run any game. As of around 2002, you needed a computer actually meant for gaming. Not just anything would do. Although really, most office style computers nowadays are just short a graphics card from gaming. hence, there isn't as big an audience to sell to.

5. Price range. You can build a good gaming computer for around $500+. Ina console gamers POV, that's about as much as a PS3.
 
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