Quest to Nowhere

Is the PC the Next Home Game Console?

I wrote the previous blog post about Valve yesterday, (even though I posted it this morning,) and shortly after I wrote it videos started rolling in on Razer’s Project Fiona gaming tablet. Now initially after seeing it I was a bit turned off by it, since it looks a bit silly, it also seems to be trying to fill a need that isn’t there. However after thinking about it, especially thinking about it in the context of the previous blog post, I’m thinking that this thing is potentially brilliant and maybe even game changing.

So considering this Project Fiona, Steam’s Big Picture UI, and even OnLive together, it seems to me that there is a move now to take the Gaming PC from the computer room (study, bedroom, or wherever you keep it,) and move it into the living room. And this makes sense not only as a way to attract more customers to PC gaming by making it easier to purchase and play these games without needing to know a ridiculous amount about computer specs and whatnot. Basically make it easier for the average person to play these games without having to complicate things too much, which is what game console do.

Additionally moving the gaming PC into the living room is not only good for customers, but it’s also good for developers. Not only does it open up a larger potential market for them, but almost more importantly it’s a lot cheaper to release a game on the PC then it is on a console. This is because in order to release a game on a console, let’s say the Xbox 360 for example, you need to purchase a dev kit from Microsoft that will allow you to test and build your game for the console, and this usually costs a good amount of money, especially if you need to have more than one.

On top of that when your game is finished you have to pay a licensing fee to the console manufacturer, in this case Microsoft, for each unit of the game you make. This is where console manufacturers typically make most of their money. Now if you are also selling the game at retail, then there are manufacturing costs that go into printing the discs, the boxes for the discs, and other whatnots. Then of course the retailers have their cut as well, since you aren’t selling them the game at full price.

Now if you sell a game on the PC there are no licensing fees that need to be paid to Microsoft or Apple for making a game on their OS. Also if you are selling the game through your own store the PC (like EA’s Origin,) then the entire sale price of the game is profit, and even if you sell it through something like Steam they typically take something like 30%, which is much less than the amount of money you would lose to manufacturing, licensing, and retail.

So how does Project Fiona fit into this, well I think that it has the potential to be sort of the gateway device to get people into PC gaming. I’m not sure it’s really meant for most gamers, but I think is potentially something that would be attractive to new players who want to give PC gaming a go, but don’t want to spend too much money (they are saying it’s going to be under $1000,) or don’t know what they need to make a gaming PC. Or what is even more likely they don’t have the space or knowledge to setup a new PC.

Although as a core gamer I see it as potentially useful to me as something to take with me to play games when traveling, (not during a commute, but on an airplane or a train as well as at the destination I’m going to.) But I can also see it as being useful for when I want to play a PC game, but still want to stay out in the living room to hang out/social with my roommates.

But again for new customers I see this as the first step, especially if someone can put together a small gaming PC that is designed for these new consumers (especially one that is maybe easily upgradable,) which plugs into the TV in the living room. This one is really the hard part, and it is certainly something people have tried to do in the past and failed at (*cough*Phantom.*cough* ) But it seems that as game consoles begin to become more like PCs, that maybe PCs should become more like consoles.