Defining events of the past decade in PC gaming

[Pifanjr]

Based on this thread:

The 10 defining events of PC gaming's golden decade

In 2024, PC is king—but how did we get here?

www.pcgamer.com

What are some other defining events or trends of the past 10 years?

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I would add the evolution of microtransactions to the list. Like the widespread adoption of battle passes, countries enacting laws restricting or banning loot boxes and how a lot of games nowadays have settled on only selling cosmetics, with some skins costing $20 or more each.

 

[Zloth]

• The restoration of isometric perspective RPGs. Divinity: Original Sin and Pillars of Eternity showed the way. LOTS more followed.
• Turn based got back on its feet. Turn based never vanished, but it was getting rare XCOM and XCOM 2 gave turn based a big shot in the arm.
• The decline of Kickstarter for games: I think we're done offering millions for games we haven't seen. It seemed to peak maybe 8-10 years ago and has been declining ever since. (For games. Brandon Sanderson showed that books can still do very well.)
• PC Gamer shows that Forums are way cooler than Discord.

 

[DXCHASE]

For me personally, and the article kinda touches this aspect in the "DLSS" part, but for me, G-SYNC is probably one of my biggest PC defining moments in the past decade.

When i saw how buttery-smooth movement was and looked and the fact you can get high frames in games to add to this buttery-smooth movement was the biggest single reason for me to go from being a console player to a pc one.

 

[Frindis]

- The increased market of indie games with boomer shooters really kicking off.
- The increase in movie series based on games with Fallout, Arcane,
and Castlevania being some of the heavy hitters in recent years.
- Microsoft buying up huge game companies like Activision + the rise in game subscription services.
- Streaming platforms are becoming a big thing and Epic Games/People Can Fly with their Fortnite game has to be mentioned here.
- Skin gambling

 

[ZedClampet]

Niche becomes mainstream and the rise of the solo developer.

I've become largely a niche gamer thanks to the explosion of niche games available and their unprecedented sales success.

Games like Farming Simulator, House Flipper, Car Mechanic Simulator,, Supermarket Simulator and Planet Crafter are all estimated to have sold over 1 million copies on PC, sometimes well over 1 million.

Many other niche games are doing great, too. Made by small teams and solo developers, they don't need to sell in the millions to be successful. Kingdoms Reborn, Astro Colony, etc. are great games that have found success in the comforting arms of PC gaming.

 

[BeardyHat]

How about the rise of the PC handheld or even, the simplicity of putting a PC together these days.

PC handhelds are something that was barely conceived of in 2014 and now we have several options and they all work reasonably well. For some of us, they've become the default for how we prefer to play games.

PC building has gotten simpler than ever, pretty much just slap any old PC parts together, throw an OS at it and you're off to the races.

How about just options for PC games and not having to spend a heap of money just to play something. I can go on Craigslist right now, buy an i7-6700, 1070 GTX equipped gaming PC for $250, get a cheap monitor at Goodwill for $25 and start playing something like Fortnite, World of Tanks, War Thunder, Genshin Impact, Hearthstone, etc, etc. Not to mention all the free games available on Epic or simply sign-up for Gamepass for a nominal price and have access to countless AAA and Indies from the last 5 years.

 

[Zloth]

- The increase in movie series based on games with Fallout, Arcane,
and Castlevania being some of the heavy hitters in recent years.

Uwe Boll would like a word. Would you like to answer with words, or would you rather buy one of these fine weapons I have here in my trunk?

 

[Brian Boru]

Uwe Boll

Methinks less of a heavy hitter and more of a heavy 54itter