GamerNode: News - Sales of UT3 for the PC stall drastically

I think the problem is PC gamers want more out of a game these days. They want solid storylines and a strong SP experience, not just a mp fragfest.

Regardless, that won't stop me picking up a copy of the next couple of weeks.

You're probably right Kester, but I'd really hate to see PC gaming die. Its really where I play all my games, partially because I like the control scheme better, and partially because I need a computer anyway, but I don't NEED a console.

From the videos I saw, this looks in some ways similar to the original UT gameplay wise, which is good. I'll buy this when I have a capable computer, until then it's UT2004 for me. :P

Yeah, let's all give the traditional PC elitist answers. After all, we know PC gamers have tastes that are so much more refined than consoles.

why waste time with UT when we already have team fortress 2? not to mention call of duty 4 for the 4 seconds of the day when a person might want a break from tf2...

I had intended to buy it but after all the reports (this isn't the first) on how poorly the PC sales have been doing, have decided not to purchase it since in a year I get the feeling servers will simply diminish once the initial player base have moved on.

The UT fanbase has a pretty good record of sticking around, KindGalaxy. if you live in the US there will be packed servers for years.

And YukoAsho, where did any of us give elitist PC answers or opinions?!

I'll be getting this game at christmas time, so put one more sale up there.

Epic really screwed up the release in my opinion. They did a great job demoing it and getting previews written up during the summer but come fall and the actual release and we heard very little about it. Then they release the demo which only has dm and ctf? All year long they had be focusing all their pr efforts on Warfare mode because it was the games potential strength. It was something that differentiated UT3 from the half a dozen other major multiplayer fps games coming out this fall/winter. The demo was pretty buggy on pc too and was referred to as a "beta demo" but generally it left a bland taste in everyones mouth. With TF2, ETQW, COD4, Crysis, etc, etc coming out at the same time they really needed to hit us with a rock solid demo including all gameplay modes and a pr binge. They just threw the game out there in this competitive season and expected it to rake in sales? Utterly insane. UT3 might be a great game but most people don't know that.


As the pc gaming, it is definitely hurting and has been for quite a while but it can't actually DIE. Every computing platform on earth has a games industry for it. Even watches and scientific calculators. With the huge number of pcs in the world there will always be games. BUT! We are in danger of losing a lot of the big budget games. There are a lot of reasons for this but a big one is the focus on pushing tech limits. Most peoples pcs just can't run the latest games and the developers frequently view getting the game to play on low-end systems as an after thought. If the games even run they look like utter crap. Not all companies do this of course. Valve for example is pretty good at designing games that run on fairly low-end systems and still look damn nice on higher end systems but thats cause they put a lot of effort into designing their art that way.

The "high tech graphics is EVERYTHING" was a reasonable way to run things back when processor speed was the only thing that dictated performance. Everyone already had to upgrade their cpus every few years just to use the latest apps. But today you need a top of the line cpu AND a top of the line graphics card AND a lot of ram. Problem is you don't need that badass graphics card for any other apps right now and a 5 year old cpu runs the latest firefox/ie and MS word just fine now.

Slashing your potential audience just to the few tens of thousands of geeks willing to pay out the nose is just bad biz.

Graphics are super important to selling a game but most of the public doesn't care if you lighting model is more realistic or that you modeled every blade of grass. They just care that it looks "cool" and if you take the low end into account you can come up with something that looks cool on the low-end AND lows amazing on the high end.

Damn this is long so I guess I'll stop ranting now. =)

Well written popecodex! I think you nailed much of the reason on why the PC as a gaming platform may be on a decline.

"Posted by Kester on 12/14/2007 at 03:24AM I think the problem is PC gamers want more out of a game these days. They want solid storylines and a strong SP experience, not just a mp fragfest.

Regardless, that won't stop me picking up a copy of the next couple of weeks."


Jambo - This is the sort of thing I'm talking about. Never mind the fact that multiplayer frag fests do well on the PC traditionally (TF2, CoD4), but the implication is that console gamers are mouthbreathers. I wouldn't be surprised if this guy came to bash console gamers if UT3 for PS3 ends up doing well.

"Posted by Kester on 12/14/2007 at 03:24AM I think the problem is PC gamers want more out of a game these days. They want solid storylines and a strong SP experience, not just a mp fragfest.

Regardless, that won't stop me picking up a copy of the next couple of weeks."


Jambo - This is the sort of thing I'm talking about. Never mind the fact that multiplayer frag fests do well on the PC traditionally (TF2, CoD4), but the implication is that console gamers are mouthbreathers. I wouldn't be surprised if this guy came to bash console gamers if UT3 for PS3 ends up doing well.

Are you sending that response to kester, but addressing him as kester? 2 different people, lol

n e way.

They didnt publicize the game at all. I see special editons littered at gamestop, and i even can gett he free complete pack online.

Regardless, i am getting it.

YukoAsho, I didn't mean any offense to anyone inparticular, but the fact is console gamers on the whole are more into social gaming. And in fact most console games are based around a multiplayer element, as it works so well on consoles.

Multiplayer? As if. If anything, I find console gaming to be much more insular, what with the loss of local multiplayer in anything but music games and throwaway party titles and the severe dearth of co-op games. Once you get past the Wii, you don't have a lot of local social options, and even the Wii only really has Wii Sports and (*gag*) Mario Party.

I said on the whole. I'm sorry that doesn't encapsulate you, and you have taken offense to it. But like I said, it was never intended to single any one person out.

I think the age of a game like UT3 is just over. People are done with Mortal Kombat in first person shooter form, they are more into tactical based shooters now like CoD4, which did well on the PC in November, 2nd only to Orange Box, which sold really well on the PC based on NPDs, which don't even show Steam numbers and several larger retailers like Wal-Mart that don't submit their numbers.
Plus, UT3 is, honestly, not that impressive of an upgrade over UT2K4. 3 years later, you've got the same weapons basically, same level design, prettier window dressing, but in the end, it's the same thing, and you are releasing it around the same time PC gamers are enthralled with titles like Orange Box and CoD4. UT3 didn't come in with any angle, anything that really shouts out that it's worth buying. The whole package reeks of UT2K4 Gold Edition, and I think in the end, that's why PC gamers haven't been pulled to it, even with the shiny graphics.

Let's cry over UT3 and Crysis sales drying up, while other PC games like BioShock, the Orange Box, World of Warcraft + expansions, Call of Duty 4, Sims 2 expansions, Age of Empires III expansions, Civilization 4 expansions sell perfectly well.