Peter Molyneux: PC game industry "in tatters"

Posted Oct 3rd 2008 9:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Biz

Earlier this week we saw Epic Games's Cliff Bleszinski pretty much slam the current state of the PC game industry. Now another well known game developer who got his start making PC games, Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux, has also issued his thoughts on the PC game market. Videogamer.com quotes him as saying, "'I'll be quite honest with you, it's in tatters. There aren't that many releases on PC. There are some high points like Crysis and what Blizzard is doing, but other than that you are restricted to The Sims and World of Warcraft, they seem to be dominating the PC side."

Molyneux also puts in his two cents on the currently raging DRM debate. While he says he understands why a publisher would want to protect its game from being pirated, he added, "I'd prefer it not to be there". Molyneux also said, "Personally I hate any copy protection. I hate typing in that number. I loathe it as a gamer. It just makes me feel insulted. And I always lose the blasted manual anyway. So if we can get away from that password protected side which is a waste of time then that would be great."

Tags: lionhead, microsoft, peter-molyneux

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Well he can say whatever he wants but the fact is that I'm probably going to pass on Fable 2 since it 360 only where as I would very likely pick it up if it were on the PC. I just can't get into that type of game with a gamepad. It just feels so limiting. I have a 360 and I enjoy that type of game but the two don't go together well for me. So he can just keep talking like that I'll spend my money for Fallout 3.

...bysmittyPosted at 9:19AM on Oct 3rd 2008 by bysmitty

"There aren't that many releases on PC." Whaaaaa?

Dead Space
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway
Tom Clancy's End War
Tom Clany HAWX
Velvet Assassin
C&C Red Alert 3
Tomb Raider Underworl
GTA IV
Left 4 Dead
Far Cry 2
Rise of the Argonauts
Sacred 2
Diablo III
Starcraft 2
Fallout 3
Call of Duty: World at War
James Bond: Quantum of Solace
Mirror's Edge
Legendary
WOW: Wrath of the Lich King
Prince of Persia

There's a few. Most of these are scheduled to be released THIS year...on PC.

I'm so sick of big game developement personalities forceasting doom and gloom for PC gaming instead of trying to be part of a solution. Posted at 10:04AM on Oct 3rd 2008 by Mike

All these game developers keep talking about DRM and pirating but it can be changed in a matter of weeks if developers can get together with hardware manufactures. I remember reading something about 6 months ago about a chip that would be placed on you motherboard to prevent cheating on PC games why not the same for DRM protection. If you have the chip on your motherboard or maybe USB so you don't have to upgrade then no keys involved and hassle free install as many times as you like. This would move the PC gaming industry to new light and would put the scare out of developers. Posted at 11:00AM on Oct 3rd 2008 by Tyranis1

I think he's just upset because Black & White 2 and The Movies ultimately turned out to be pretty mediocre games - so he's just washing his hands of PC gaming altogether.Posted at 3:44PM on Oct 3rd 2008 by Steven Wong

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greetings,
Jesse AkkermanPosted at 4:57AM on Oct 19th 2008 by Jesse Akkerman.