"PC gaming is in a golden age", says XCOM 2 creative director

[Bouzoo]

Now this is really debatable . With recent games and the debacles we had in the last few years, I'm not sure I'd agree. There are some good PC exclusives coming, like these for instance, but are they enough? We have mods and stuff, but sometimes they are not enough, as long as some publishers/dev studios continue to undermine the platform as a whole. 

 

"PC gaming is in a golden age," Solomon tells PC Gamer. "It’s the tip of the spear in terms of innovation, in types of gameplay being explored, in relationships between developers and their audience, and for Firaxis, it’s our home. It’s where we want to be."

"Modding is one of those elements that brings people together in the community through their own creative expression of the franchise and this and helps our game live on over time," Solomon says, praising the long-standing mod communities of the Civilization series and XCOM's own The Long War mod.

 

So do you agree? Tbh I don't, but do you? Or do you think he's just saying this because XCOM 2 is a PC exclusive so he wants to be on good terms with gamers? I'm really interested in what others have to say about this.

 

Source

[Kurosaki Isshin]

Golden age? I'm not sure. although current events being what they are.. it has been much, much worse

[FatPenguin]

lets see, Batman, Assassin's creed unity. the list goes on. 

[samcool55]

"Golden age" i think we have already passed that. I mean back in the day GTA SA perfect example, you could do what you want and mod the crap out of it.

Now? Look at the junk we get, most games barely work, have stupid DRM systems, DLC all over the place, "special limited collectors editions" everywhere, and worse of all, sometimes the console versions are just better. Modding on PC is dying because of all this BS man, the passionate days are over, money is what counts.

[Mao_Zedong]

The golden age will be ending soon, once asus gets their shit together and actually makes well colored motherboards.

[MageTank]

The golden age will be ending soon, once asus gets their shit together and actually makes good colored motherboards.

I love you.

[Creepz]

The golden age will be ending soon, once asus gets their shit together and actually makes good colored motherboards.

Lmfao that post is the funniest shit I've ever read

I love you.

I love him more

[brownninja97]

it is a golden age or the beginning of one, why do think this? Its because japanese devs are coming to pc, yes its rough and not so good for some (koei tecmo) however its a large migration furthermore mangagamer and sekai project and throwing a lot of jrpgs and VNs into the steam market. they may not be triple A however it has opened up a lot more options for people and that is why its a golden age not because of triple As, its never about them, its about the options, the reinvigoration of indie devs. The future is certainly interesting

[Anarchyz11]

Maybe not as far as aggregate developer+consumer relations go, but the line between consoles and PC is blurring.  Given that Microsoft and Sony are selling POS PCs as consoles, under the guise that you're getting the equivilent of a much more expensive PCs as consoles have done in the past, I can see where they're coming from saying that PC gaming is in a very opportunistic time.  It is very easy for PC gamers to get great performance at a cheap price, and this is the first time I've seen the barrier to entering into PC gaming so low. 

 

Sure Ubisoft and WB fucked up.  But we're in an age where you can buy a $65 graphics card that's power efficient and cool enough to plug into your grandma's PC and immediately get the same performance as "next-gen" consoles.  That in itself is impressive. 

[TheMcSame]

Golden age? It's been worse but seeing as really piss poor ports keep cropping up... I wouldn't say so. I mean, poor ports aren't anything new but the seem to be a touch more common than before, that or they just happen to get bigger backlash now.

 

Seems like a smart marketing move to generate a bit of hype for XCom 2 if you ask me. I doubt they care whether it is or isn't a golden age.

[MageTank]

Lmfao that post is the funniest shit I've ever read

I love him more

I'll totally fight you for him. Loser moves to Detroit.

[escape093]

Still better than the early 2000s, where instead of true ports we got POINT-AND-CLICKERS.

[That Norwegian Guy]

For indies, but not for big publishing (especially ports)

 

When I think back on the past 3 or so years, the majority of the best games were indie games:

 

War Thunder

Divinity: Original Sin

The Wolf Among Us

The Walking Dead

Outlast

The Secret World

Natural Selection 2

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

 

Are probably the games that were most enjoyable for me.

 

The only AAA games I really enjoyed were Dying Light, XCOM and Titanfall (it wasn't a keeper as far as multiplayer goes though, got 60-80 hours or something before I was bored)

Even the AAA ports that aren't terrible achieve nothing more than be average or boring, like the first three Batman games, Tomb Raider, Thief, etc

[Commander Llama]

Did he mean, like, a traditional Hellenic Golden Age?

 

Because I doubt it. Those were usually about harmony and peace, and I don't see any of that shit at all. Near as I can tell, everyone hates everyone, and fuck that guy too!

[Yoinkerman]

Damn right it is. I've completely ignored crappy console ports and I've never had an issue playing amazing PC games.

People judging PC by comparing console ports to console games are entirely missing the boat.

[Sakkura]

Of course it is. Digital distribution, modding, F2P/Freemium, indie, crowdfunding... most developments are going in favor of the PC. The biggest games are PC exclusives, LoL and Dota 2 for example. Pro gaming is mostly/entirely PC. Twitch streaming is mostly PC.

[brownninja97]

Damn right it is. I've completely ignored crappy console ports and I've never had an issue playing amazing PC games.

People judging PC by comparing console ports to console games are entirely missing the boat.

omg thank you someone here understands. Its a shame that people think the console ports make the industry, there are so many various games that have come out in the last few years which are really fun but get overlooked for some reason, its a shame because they are normally pretty cheap meaning awesome bang for buck.

[sgloux3470]

This is just the usual PR cock sucking that they do everytime someone is putting out a PC exclusive.

 

The only reason it's PC exclusive is because porting it to PS4/Xbone would require them to rebuild much of the game.  I'd expect it to show up on other platforms eventually though. (Probably as a game of the year/DLC edition.)

[rentaspoon]

lets see, Batman, Assassin's creed unity. the list goes on.

But then you have the indies like KSP... BF4 was the last mainstream game I brought

[Jerakl]

koei tecmo

Because they're horrid at ports.

[VagabondWraith]

PC gaming is a "golden age" for me personally, as having jumped ship from console gaming to PC. I came onboard for a better experience and it has certainly far exceeded my own (and very high) expectations.

Indie games, VR coming, far greater performance, cheaper games, no bullshit paying to play online, mods, etc. etc.

I guess I can't speak about PC gaming in its lifespan since I'm so new to it, but being a lifetime console gamer and jumping onboard to PC has been nothing short of a golden age.

[brownninja97]

Because they're horrid at ports.

they are shockingly bad with ports, its a shame because i know a lot of their employees but the ones i know arent the people working on the pc games. Its a real shambles, hopefully they sort themselves out at some point.

[Yog]

I'd probably agree. I mean, not for AAA game development, it's rife with DLCs, shoddy ports, and just bad games but the indie scene has exploded with GREAT games. I can't think of the last time I bought a AAA game, let alone a AAA game I actually enjoyed, but I've got tons of indie games I play all the time.

[Jerakl]

they are shockingly bad with ports, its a shame because i know a lot of their employees but the ones i know arent the people working on the pc games. Its a real shambles, hopefully they sort themselves out at some point.

 

Yeah. Other then that their games seem decent. I remember going over to my friends house and playing dynasty warriors 5 on their PS2

[Sakkura]

I'd probably agree. I mean, not for AAA game development, it's rife with DLCs, shoddy ports, and just bad games but the indie scene has exploded with GREAT games. I can't think of the last time I bought a AAA game, let alone a AAA game I actually enjoyed, but I've got tons of indie games I play all the time.

 

Also the games in between AAA and indie. Like Paradox with their strategy games, or Obsidian with RPGs.