Molyneux slammed for PC gamer market ‘in tatters’ claim

The PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA) has hit back at Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux following his claim that the PC gamer market is “in tatters”.

The PCGA, a non-profit, US-based organisation which aims to ‘drive worldwide growth of PC gaming’, called Molyneux’s opinion “way off-base” and pointed towards MMOs Age of Conan, Warhammer Online as well as evolution sim Spore as evidence that the PC gamer market is in fact in rude health.

Earlier this month, in the second part of our massive interview with the PC gaming legend, Molyneux said that apart from “high points” like Crysis and Blizzard’s games, the PC gamer market is dominated by The Sims and World of Warcraft.

Following the publication of the interview, PCGA president Randy Stude contacted VideoGamer.com rejecting Molyneux’s claim.

He said: “We respect Peter Molyneux as one of the legends in the industry, but we think he is way off-base with his assessment of the PC gaming industry. In fact, the PC Gaming Alliance just released the findings of our Horizons research report in August and it shows that the industry is stronger than ever. An industry with 10.7 billion in revenue during 2007 is hardly in tatters. Beyond the financial aspect of this, the PC is still the world’s leading platform for gaming. There are plenty of AAA titles like Conan, Warhammer Online and Spore, as well as smaller games that appeal to people beyond the console audience. And even though there are many AAA titles in the pipeline for PC, the success of an industry can’t be measured in AAA titles alone.”

What do you think readers? Is the PC gamer market in tatters, as Peter Molyneux believes, or is it stronger than ever, as the PCGA believes? Let us know in the comments section below.