Posted Mar 15, 2008 at 02:10PM by Charles D. Listed in: Opinions & Analysis Tags: Epic Games, Sony, SOE, NPD, SCEI, John Smedley
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Sony Online Entertainment President, John Smedley - Image 1With the recent integration of Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) with the larger Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. (SCEI) branch, SOE President John Smedley was once again making headlines as he talked about the recent state of PC gaming and how he believed that things aren't as dismal as it seems.

Despite the many forecasts about the decline of PC gaming, Smedley begged to differ against the various "doom and gloom" opinions regarding the matter. He believed that PC gaming was "at its brightest point ever". His case in point were the vast number of subscribers playing games on MMORPG titles for the PC.

He also backed this up with how the NPD's positive numbers keep an optimistic track of all the digital and regular sales for the titles appearing on the PC platform. He recognized the efforts of Blizzard's World of Warcraft as the leader in PC software sales for three years running now and how other online games have been keeping the business on top of its game throughout the years.

Smedley even argued against the point raised by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney on how the PC is "good for anything, not just games". He mentioned that the current business model for PC gaming has changed throughout the years and that people shouldn't judge it solely on the hard numbers of software sales.

He ended his statement with this final explanation regarding the matter: "It's not that dollar sales are down; it's just that retail PC sales are the narrow focus that ignorant people are looking at".


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   by Volomon - 2008-03-15
 » He's right

Damn he layed it down hardcore, "It's not that dollar sales are down; it's just that retail PC sales are the narrow focus that ignorant people are looking at", have to respect a man for that.

Technically he is right, its exactly what I was thinking when I first heard this news. Not to mention the fact that developers have been slacking with PC games or only to cater to the console market. Its no wonder the PC market has started to flounder. Console gaming is literally slowing down the PC market by YEARS if not soon to be decades. By that I mean the graphics of the consoles tend to come first before the PC lower the quality. All these people have 3,000 or more comps being put in the back seat to a $250 dollar Xbox 360. Worse yet less and less complex scripts and AI to be easily be put on the console.

They need to work their way down PC > PS3 > Xbox 360 instead of their way up Xbox < PS3 < PC.

Its slowly being realized as far as PS3 and Xbox that the PS3 should come first but now they need to realize the PC needs to come far far ahead. Perhaps even year ahead.

   by Jestor Rodo - 2008-03-16
 » The PS3 is saving Smedleys ass

First off , I have to congratulate Smedley for keeping his companies finances hidden from all under the Sony Pictures.
Oh those were the days my friend when you could run EQ and SWG like a Hitler state and then BAM! WoW had you in a tailspin , bleeding customer left and right. Quick, lets make SWG more like WoW - lets shot ourselves in the head too!
I have to agree, PC games are doing well - just ask the folks over at Blizzard. If someone can not make a good computer game there is always console. Consoles don't have key boards so no news from them is great news for SOE.

Good Luck with that and Love that Jestor!





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