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As a longtime computer gamer, I was cheered earlier this year to learn of the formation of the PC Gaming Alliance, a group of industry types who have banded together to promote the PC as a game platform.
Last week, Cnet's Crave blog posted a terrific interview with Intel's Randy Stude, president of the PCGA. Among Stude's comments:
Youhave [a PC gaming] industry that's being beat up in the Western pressin terms of... its perceived lack of health, so we in the industry...didn't really like the perception that we were hearing that PC gamingis on a decline. When in fact while certain markets of the PC gamingindustry might be in a decline, others are sky-rocketing like neverbefore.
The PCGA chief also downplayed discouraging NPD numbers:
Ichuckle when I read through the articles or opinion that say that PCgaming is in a decline and they continue to quote NPD's North Americanretail sales figures... NPD decided in the first quarter of 2008 toattempt to quantify North American MMO subscription revenues. And loand behold... they found--under a rock that they hadn't looked atbefore--a billion dollars...
In fact, Stude says that PC gaming generates a quarter of all video game revenues:
Soif you add the billion dollars [NPD] claim to have found in annualsubscription revenues on top of the $920 million that they werepreviously reporting in retail, suddenly the PC game piece of the pieis closer to a quarter of all software revenues generated in NorthAmerica. That's one platform out of eight that's generating a quarterof all the revenues. There isn't another platform generating that bigof a share of the pie. And that is woefully underreported at a billiondollars. That's why we're here.
Stude also mentioned that the PCGA is looking into piracy issues:
We'recollecting research on PC game piracy... trying to have someunderstanding of how big it is, and then hopefully quantify theeconomic impact... We don't intend to become the police force for PCgame piracy. We're not the RIAA, we're not going to become the RIAA.Rather we're a group that's trying to look out for PC gaming, and ifthere's a problem with it, we're going to make industryrecommendations...
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