Seated around the renovated third floor of Dogpatch Studios were a group of journalists, each hailing from different sites or publications, but with one common interest: the continuation of PC gaming. Two floors below, over a dozen computers bleeped and blooped as they waited for our writing-cramped fingers to sample their wares - Space Siege, Call of Duty: World at War, Bionic Commando, Civilization IV: Colonization, and more.

Gaming would come later, though. Eyes begrudgingly tore away from the bamboo flooring and returned to Kevin, Senior Director of the Games for Windows brand, who smiled knowingly. With so many great games assembled in one building, how could anyone actually believe PC gaming is one its way out?

"If you look at what's happening to the gaming market from the press perspective," said Kevin, "you see this pervasive [statement] that the PC is dying [as a gaming platform]. This is a constant discussion I'm having, to say, 'No, you've got to look at the actual data, look at what's actually happening.' In terms of the big picture, we're seeing exponential growth, both in the online space. PC gaming has never been better, and it's growing exponentially."

"PC gaming is simply changing," Kevin continued. "We're seeing less sales at retail, particularly in the U.S., although you're seeing strong sales worldwide. You're seeing a massive shift to online, and none of the NPD numbers count subscriptions, digital downloads, or casual game sales."

According to Kevin, the data reported by the NPD is part of perpetuation of the 'PC gaming is dying' myth. "When you take a few slices of data just to say, 'How is the PC gaming market doing?' The one slice everyone has been reporting is the NPD data, which says we've had single-digit declines. But if you do an apples-to-apples comparison, in terms of... let's take the hottest selling, most exciting console launch [from the last two years], the Wii. If you look at PC games versus the Wii on a worldwide basis, PC games significantly outsold Wii games in units. Then you compare the price of Wii games, which are usually lower than Xbox 360 games. If you then compare that to PS3 sales, in terms of dollars, PC generates more revenue in terms of dollars than PS3 games. That's U.S., not worldwide, but if you look at that and say, 'Okay, I'm going to compare apples to apples for a minute,' that's encouraging, especially in a market said to be declining."

In 2007, PC game sales represented approximately 11.3 billion dollars. "That's software sales on a worldwide basis," Kevin clarified, "for PC games. All the consoles combined: 14 billion dollars. That's not a ten-to-one victory. If you were to pit PC gaming against any individual console, you see nothing but an upside. Then you look at the DFC: they're predicting a 73 per cent growth over the next five years for Windows games. Now, a huge part of that [growth] is online, and that's really a theme for us: PC gaming is simply changing."

It's hard to argue Kevin's belief that PC gaming is shifting primarily to the online market. With digital downloads, new MMOs seeming to pop up every month and the rampant popularity of casual games available for either cheap or free, the PC does seem to be playing host to online gaming. Unfortunately and unfairly, the NPD doesn't include many of the aforementioned facets of online gaming in their reports.

"We're seeing less sales at retail, particularly in the U.S.," said Kevin, "although you're seeing strong sales worldwide. You're seeing a massive shift to online, and none of the NPD numbers count subscriptions, digital downloads, or casual game sales. There's huge, huge growth online."

Though the GFW brand has seen prevalence in retail stores, Kevin emphasized an increased focus on online in the future. "We're really pushing our online investment. We have the LIVE for Windows service, which is incredibly successful. Over the last year and a half we've brought that program over from consoles, and we'll continue to invest there. You'll see us over-invest in the online space because that's where the industry is going: people want achievements, they want to play with their friends... there are lots of opportunities in that area, and you'll see us play a significant role there."

It's hard to admit, but true nonetheless: when you want to play a console game, all that's required is inserting the disc, plugging in or turning on a controller, and you're ready to play. PC gamers often have to deal with a wide variety of hardware faults, many of which result in time spent tweaking that could've better been spent gaming.

Hardware and its many, many problems is another facet of PC gaming that GFW is constantly improving. As it pertains to Windows Vista, Kevin admits that it has taken a little while to iron out a constant supply of kinks. "XP had five years for people to eek out as much performance as possible. Now with things like Service Pack 1 shipping, we're already starting to see benchmarks that prove that Vista is on-par with XP, and even beating it in some areas. I had a conversation with some NVIDIA folks this morning. We've looked at the install base of DirectX 10-capable GPUs in the world, and I've been saying, 'Wow, 60 million, they shipped 60 million units!' Compare that to a console, and that's exciting. Now that we're seeing an acceleration in Vista adoption, you'll see the intersection of game models that succeed, like MMOs, and they'll combine with graphically intensive titles. They'll take time and really optimize the online space."

Ask anyone who believes PC gaming is dying to explain their belief, and one word inevitably makes its way into the conversation: piracy. "We take that seriously," Kevin said in reference to a piracy question posed by Big Download. "It's important that we continue to invest in that, but in a way that is convenient for consumers. The console... it's possible to pirate console games, though it's harder to do it. What we've got to do is balance consumer expectations. Sins of a Solar Empire has no copy protection and sold incredibly well. We're going to continue to push the industry and ensure that, whether with copy protection or not, we'll show developers that they can continue to provide great game experiences."

Multiple developers once fiercely loyal to the PC have shied away from the platform due to rampant piracy issues, with many choosing to either completely forego PC development or, at the very least, spread their titles across multiple platforms.

"There's a couple sides to multiplatform, and to the piracy issue," said Kevin. "Microsoft is in a unique position because we have our hands in both the console and PC gaming markets. We want to offer developers and publishers a more economical way of targeting both platforms with things like having a common controller architecture, things like our Games for Windows LIVE service, which offer essentially the same developer interfaces [as the Xbox 360]. They can reduce the development time. For us, it's all about reduction.

"From a piracy perspective, I think there are two things that work. One is, there's been a lot of third-party solutions. Some have worked well, others haven't. You're going to see us step up our efforts in that regard. We need to offer solutions that make things more seamless. I think the industry, in some ways, because of the types of games that are successful on the PC... I won't say they're [developers] solving it themselves, but games like World of WarCraft and Age of Conan, in the MMO space, and games distributed digitally, those titles are tethered to a common space. You log in and it's part of the game and sales experience.


"Where we're seeing the biggest issues with piracy is with people buying retail copies of games. It's not connected to a common space, so it's being copied and handed out. With MMOs, sure, you can steal someone's account, but the equity and the IP exists in the [characters] that you build, that you create. The more games that are connected online, that problem will go away."

Piracy, hardware issues, multiplatform development... these factors cannot stop PC gaming's growth individually, nor combined. As we prepared to descend to the first floor where PC gaming goodness awaited, Kevin again offered assurances as to the GFW brand's longevity, as well as the persistence of PC gaming itself.

"GFW has never been better. If you look at titles shipped over the last year, sold over the last year, such as Crysis and Age of Conan... having those high-sellers carry the GFW brand is very exciting. Even games that come from relatively small developers, titles like Sins of a Solar Empire, they've done very well according to NPD.

"PC gaming has never been better. We want to put some fun back to gaming and show people that negativity isn't necessary in the Windows platform. If you look at everything overall, it's all great and it's all getting better. This market will out-pace everything else."

Visit Big Download next Monday for impressions of the following games featured at the Games for Windows event: Civilization IV: Colonization; Space Siege; Bionic Commando; and Call of Duty: World at War.