Intel plans moves in PC-based gaming

It has not escaped Intel’s notice that despite the activity in game-playing on the PC, a great deal of money is going into game consoles. Intel doesn’t like to stand by and watch large cash flows go in other directions, so about three years ago it started a group to look into the PC’s role in the game business.

One of the first results, according to Randy Stude, director of Intel’s gaming program office, was a survey evaluating user satisfaction with PC-based games. That spotted an issue right away. Stude says that although PC-based games account for only about 16 percent of game publishers’ sales, they account for over half of their customer complaints—usually in the form of “I bought this thing and it won’t run on my PC.”

This is not because users are dumb. Stude went on to say that PC-based games generally specify a minimum configuration right on the box. Among the top 50 games, he says, there are 42 different minimum configurations specified. And even if the hardware configuration is minimally compatible, there is no indication of how well the game will play on the user’s system. Even Vista doesn’t help with this, in part because it is so rare in the field, but also because it, too, lacks the ability to predict the game experience based on hardware configuration.

So Intel’s first task, and Stude says we should be seeing public moves coming in the near future, is to as he puts it “stabilize the PC platform.” One suspects this has something to do with Intel’s continuing program to upgrade the integrated graphics capability in their chipsets.

But Intel’s program isn’t just about making things nice for game purchasers. Stude signaled a real push to reposition PC-based gaming as the center of the market, by emphasizing the Internet connectivity and general-purpose nature of the PC, and the compelling nature of on-line gaming.

“On-line gaming will force consoles to reinvent themselves,” Stude said. “The model that says you go to the store and buy a box with a game in it and then play it by yourself will meet the same fate as the old business models in the music and movie industries.” Digital fulfillment and on-line, multi-party games will be the future, Stude, says, and Intel intends to see that the PC is in the center of that stage.