Is the PC market dying out

[welsh]

I was in two local stores last night, and I noticed a trend also found at some of the local large retailers- Walmart, Toys R' Us. THere isn't much shelf life left to PC games. Worse, the games they have are crappy console wannabes.

Have you been seeing the same where you buy games? Someone also commented that the game designers are dumbing down the games, making them cheaper. That some of the older games were more innovative and interesting.

 

[MrMarcus]

The game stores here are getting the same way all around.

There are two non-electronic gaming stores here in Blacksburg. They used to have a good selection of RPGs, board games, card games and the like. Once Games Workshop and Warhammer stuff started showing up, it started eating up more and more space. Now, they're pretty much Games Workshop stores with the rack or two of other stuff.

The electronic gaming stores (a Gamestop, Software Etc, and EB) plus Wal-Mart are having a similar effect. The PC game space is shrinkng as more and more console titles come out for four systems (XBox, PS2, GC, GBA). Most of the PC titles are the big sellers from big name publishers.

So it's kind of a kudzu effect.

 

[King of Creation]

I don't think stores like walmart or places like that EVER really carried PC games. But as far as the PC market dieing, I don't think so. If anything, it's growing around here. A new EB just opened up in a mall close to here, and they barely have a console section. Bestbuy and mediaplay both have enormous PC sections. However, I have noticed the lack of new quality games. If anything is dieing, its the support for PC games in the publishing companies, even though they still sell like hot cakes.

 

[kumquatq3]

Actually, places like EB games said PC sales were way up for them over the holidays

 

[JJ86]

Walmart? Considering that they don't sell most games having questionable content, I would be surprised if they had any games on the shelf. Last time I went to Best Buy or Compusa, there were plenty of pc titles on the shelf. And those are just the newer releases.

 

[welsh]

Actually Walmart has quite a few games for the causal player. Close to the number of consoles. They did have fallout 1 and 2 for a long time. Actually it's not a bad place to go if you are looking for an old game.

I was in Best Buy recently- yes a good rack but not like the consoles. And I would say probably less than CompUSA used to carry about 8 years ago.

I think a lot of the smaller retailers are giving up shelf space to consoles.

 

[Dove]

So far the only way I can tell shelf space has shrunk was because the game boxes are smaller now. My EB games store still has the same amount of games, console, PC, and assorted classics.