PC Gaming is dead. The proof is in the shrinking to disappearing store shelves. In just the same way, you can prove that Wii is growing as its shelves are expanding. You can say the PS2 is falling because its shelf space is shrinking.

“That is a simplified argument! It is much more complicated than that!”

Oh, you suckers for ‘complexity’. We just can’t have simplicity on the Internet, can we? Yes, PC gaming is being reborn in other ways such as digital downloads, flash gaming, and other alternatives. But the traditional box PC gaming is dead.

We can stick this fork in PC Gaming. It is done. When was the last time you heard about that great PC exclusive? Oh, you mean that Blizzard game? That Valve game? How many companies can you think of on just one hand? Exactly.

PC gaming will continue to exist and grow. It just won’t be what it was.

However, the point of this post is to illustrate something amazing. For illustration purposes, I shall place a hardcore on strings beside me. Say hello to the crowd, hardcore puppet.

Malstrom moves his strings…

Hardcore Puppet: “Hello everyone!”

Now, Hardcore Puppet, tell me why consoles cannot be disrupted.

Hardcore Puppet: “It is because, silly Malstrom, the core buy all the games. They are too strong. Look at their numbers! How can anything disrupt that?”

Now, Hardcore Puppet, the theory is that a core business eventually hits ‘good enough’ for most consumers. They become unwilling to pay for more upgrades. This is because technological progress goes faster than the progress of what consumers can absorb. Eventually, it leads to overshooting.

Hardcore Puppet: “Yes… yes…”

And it follows that the crummy product for nonconsumers that exists underneath it, that was once a niche, grows and grows and travels upmarket. When the core business can no longer travel upmarket, it becomes sitting duck for the other market that IS moving upmarket. It gets eaten alive.

Hardcore Puppet: “Blah blah blah. All you do is repeat yourself. Blah blah blah. Do you know how many polygons the new video cards can do? Of course not. Did you see my cool neon blue lights on my computer? You will be amazed.”

Hush, now. The theory is that the core business of consoles, which is more horsepower and better graphics, has hit a wall that customers are unwilling to pay for more upgrades. The systems have begun to overshoot the market.

Hardcore Puppet: “No! Not true! The HD systems are PERFECT for PC gamers who don’t want to shell out thousands of dollars for a computer. They get to play all the latest PC games with full online and on the couch! Yeah, they don’t get to use a mouse but that is one sacrifice to make. Voice chat has replaced keyboard text anyway. HD consoles were a BARGAIN for PC gamers who didn’t want to upgrade.”

What did you say, Hardcore Puppet? Speak truly, are you saying that while HD systems may be ‘too much’ for regular console gamers, it has become ‘acceptable’ for PC gamers? Are you saying that the HD systems are eating into the traditional PC gaming market.

Hardcore Puppet: “Hello Malstrom, where have you been? There has been a great PC gamer migration to the HD consoles. All the great PC games are coming out on consoles now outside of MMORPGs, RTSes, and other strategy games.”

But why would publishers put PC games on a console?

Hardcore Puppet: “You’ve got the HD systems all wrong, Malstrom. They aren’t consoles. Game consoles play games. These do so much more! You can do all your entertainment with them! You can watch movies, listen to music, hook up cameras and laugh at one another… There are no HD consoles. They are PC Dongles. The Xbox 360 dongle and the PS3 dongle are the new poor boy way of playing PC games! Get with the program, Malstrom! You need to understand that piracy is rampant on PCs and is not so on the dongles. They prevent piracy and… and… err…”

And…?

Hardcore Puppet: “…and they make PC games… um… more accessible. There is no reconfiguring the computer to play a PC game on the dongle. The controller is always the same so no confusion about keyboards and mouse.”

Are you telling me that the Xbox 360 and PS3, what you refer to as ‘dongles’, are full of casualized PC games?

Hardcore Puppet: “Shhh…. Don’t tell anyone. I like to pretend I am hardcore, but the truth is that the real hardcore games are on the PC. The dongles are casualizing the PC games… dumbing it down… for us. BUT DON’T TELL ANYONE. It would hurt my image.”

I will not tell anyone.

Hardcore Puppet: “Thank you. Now, what is your point?”

People say that console gaming cannot get disrupted…

Hardcore Puppet: “Yes… yes… go on…”

But PC Gaming got disrupted…

Hardcore Puppet: “What!?”

By consoles.

Hardcore Puppet: “No!!”

Why do you think Microsoft is in the console market anyway? They knew Sony was marching upmarket to cannibalize the core market of PC entertainment. Sony had to be stopped.

Hardcore Puppet: “So you are saying my precious PC gaming market, which couldn’t move upmarket anymore, became a sitting duck for consoles that WERE still moving upmarket? Is that how consoles were able to cannibalize PC gaming?”

You’ve got it.

Hardcore Puppet: “But if I am doing all the work for you, what is the point of this post?”

Well, the point is that people think the core market cannot be swallowed up. They believe the ‘core gamer’ is too numerous, too consistent, and too much into lifestyle gaming. Who is the hardest of the hardcore? It is the PC Gamer. And where are they now? On the consoles.

Hardcore Puppet: “You think that trend will continue!?”

It is to illustrate that the core market is not invincible and is actually very fragile. $400-$600 consoles… or dongles as you call them, cannot be the future.

Hardcore Puppet: “The price will come down!”

But will their entertainment value go up? This is the question no one asks. They have already had price cuts. Their sales remain tepid. If it weren’t for the migration of PC gamers onto the HD consoles, it would have likely been much worse.

Hardcore Puppet: “So if the core of PC gaming can die…”

So can the core of console gaming.