70°

DFC : Left 4 Dead demonstrates potential of online distribution

5
Chris Remo from Gamasutra writes:

"A new study by analysis firm DFC in conjunction with social media company GamerDNA has extensively compared Left 4 Dead user activity habits across PC and Xbox 360 -- and finds Valve's strategy of combining promotions and free updates may extend a game's shelf life dramatically.

Results of the study were released in the latest edition of the DFC Dossier publication, and are based on the activity of over 180,000 PC and Xbox 360 gamers via Steam, Xbox Live, and Xfire from the time of the game's release until May."
Read Full Story >>   
gamasutra.com
Sangria - contributor
Published: 190 days 17 hours ago | News | Xbox 360 | PC | Industry News
 
 

Showing: 1 - 3 of 3 Comments
Shut this user up Let user speak
Pandamobile - 190 days 14 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
1 -
Wow, 63% more PC activity. Why does this not surprise me.
Agree(1) | Disagree(2) | Report | Reply
Shut this user up Let user speak
evrfighter - 190 days 8 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
1.1 -
pc gaming is nowhere near dead. I'm guessing alot of the old school fps gamers have since moved on to steam.

The last quality online FPS (Crysis is not considered an online game) exclusive to come out on pc IMO was Battlefield 2. PC gaming has been on a downward spiral ever since Crysis was released, when they couldn't accept the fact that its gameplay was mediocre and it launched with horrible sales. It seems like catering to the console crowd, a crowd that will gladly pay for mediocrity has been the new trend.

As an example. Treyarch knows pc gamers don't expect to pay for new maps. They won't release their map pack on pc until a company "Sponsors" the map pack. They know that if they were to release their maps to individuals for purchase. The map pack would find their way onto torrents and they would get jack sh*t. They want an up front lump sum of who knows how many hundreds of thousands of dollars for them to upload it to a server somewhere. You might argue it takes bandwidth for this hence the sponsorship. But uploading it as a torrent would solve any kind of bandwidth problem they encounter.

Battlefield 2 sold 7 million in its first month. The problem is after a pc game is launched. PC gamers EXPECT ongoing support, patches, maps, weapons. For free I might add, as that's been the way of pc gaming since before consoles went online. Console gamers EXPECT TO PAY for this stuff. You can probably guess in your sleep who Publishers/Developers are going to cater to. PC gaming has stalled because of this.
Agree(2) | Disagree(0) | Report
Shut this user up Let user speak
Stoney22 - 189 days 20 hours ago
PM
Track
Ignore
2 -
Finally an article that is actual news rather then just some random joe blogger.
I also have to agree with evrfighter about the reason why the PC market has really stalled.
Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report | Reply
Add Comment (Gamer Zone)
Gamer Zone Posting Guidelines
The Gamer Zone is for members who want a more friendly and civilized discussion. This section is heavily moderated by the N4G staff, so leave your fanboyism at the door please. Members who are unable to behave in a mature and respectful manner will be temporarily or permanently restricted from posting in the Gamer Zone. Using words such as Xbots and Sony droids, or other words from the console war vocabulary, is strictly prohibited in this Zone.
Read More...
 
 
You must log in to post comments.
Username:  
Password:  
 
 
About N4G
N4G is a social game news site that covers the game industry 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
More Info... | Submit News