Six or seven years ago, when strolling through a local EB, Gamestop or other chain retailer, the PC games section invariably rivaled the respective console sections in terms of real estate and density. These days, PC games barely get a 2-sided floor rack while the console games festoon the walls like party favors at a Paris Hilton bash.
Most assuredly, there are a variety of reasons for this phenomenon that I won't go into here. It is relatively safe to say, however, that PC games market share has declined in recent years. And PC games are losing their unique advantages as consoles begin to incorporate such elements as updates/patches, well-supported online play and other digital downloads. Consoles are even "catching up" in terms of hardware controllers and the like.
According to Mercury News, that's why a group of concerned developers plan to announce the formation of an industry group/consortium called the PC Gaming Alliance. What exactly this group will do is not clear yet. We will have to wait until this year's Game Developer Conference to find out. One thing is clear, however, there are quite a few heavy hitters with a vested interest including, "Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices".
