Epic’s CliffyB thinks PC gaming in disarray

Epic’s lead designer, Clifford Bleszinski, who got his major career start during the golden age of PC gaming during the ’90s with titles like Unreal and Jazz Jackrabbit, told the MTV Multiplayer blog last Wednesday (February 13, 2008) that the platform will probably be secondary for him from hereon out.

“I think people would rather make a game that sells 4.5 million copies than a million and Gears is at 4.5 million right now on the 360. I think the PC is just in disarray… what’s driving the PC right now is Sims-type games and WoW and a lot of stuff that’s in a web-based interface. You just click on it and play it. That’s the direction PC is evolving into, so for me the PC is kind of the secondary part of what we’re doing. It’s important for us, but right now making AAA games on consoles is where we’re at.”

The blog also goes on to mention that there are rumors abound that the recent Unreal Tournament 3 on the PC didn’t sell nearly as much as Epic was hoping for.

Bleszinski’s observations, while very likely to have been motivated by Gears of War‘s breakaway success on the XBox 360 and UT3‘s lack thereof, do have a point to them, given the ongoing shrinking of the PC game market and the various genres it’s known for. Though UT3 may also not be the best example of what to gauge the PC’s viability on, considering Valve and Electronic Arts haven’t complained about sales for the PC versions The Orange Box or Command & Conquer 3.

Read [MTV Multiplayer] Also Read [Destructoid]