It’s a tale as old as time. A big time developer creates a game with intentions to release it on consoles and the PC. Generally speaking, the console version turns out alright, and the PC is left with a lazy, broken port that essentially acts as an insult to PC gamers everywhere. Not every developer is quick to crap on the PC, however. There are a few select developers that champion the PC platform, and as a result of their focus on the greater capabilities of modern gaming hardware, they’re able to push forward graphics technologies and create some truly innovative things. id Software is one of these PC champions, and they’ve just released a brand spanking new game entitled RAGE.
Any project by acclaimed developer id Software is met with much hype and anticipation, and RAGE was no different. Considering that id are known for pushing the graphical and design boundaries of gaming on the PC platform, gamers always have high expectations for id’s titles. For good reason, too, as id Software is led by the legendary John Carmack; a man known for constantly progressing real time computer graphics technology. He’s seen as a genius—a giant of the industry that places PC first.
RAGE has been a hot topic in the world of PC gaming all week long, mostly because it sucks. The launch on PC was botched with copious graphical glitches, crashes, and odd performance bugs. It’s not the first time that id have released a bum game, but what shocked us about this launch is how Carmack responded. The man who brought us Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake showed up and dished out some smack against the PC.
It’s not id’s fault!
Carmack blamed AMD and NVIDIA for releasing bad drivers, stating that due to users operating with the incorrect drivers installed, they purchased a product that wouldn’t work. id had developed the game to run on beta drivers that both NVIDIA and AMD were developing. The game had issues with any previously released drivers, and when the driver release was botched on launch day, many PC gamers were unable to play RAGE.
Furthermore, Carmack went on to state that this experience was a reason to lose focus on PC game development in the future. The crushing blow was delivered when Carmack said the following: “We do not see the PC as the leading platform for games.” He explained himself by mentioning that both console versions will have larger audiences than the PC. Carmack has given up on the PC.
Some may say that it was inevitable, while others may say that it’s simply unbelievable. Regardless of your viewpoint on Carmack’s comments, his aggressive new stance against PC gaming is a move that will be detrimental for gamers on every platform.
It must be the money
This is a huge issue. It’s people like Carmack that progress the industry. They are the risk-takers, the dreamers, the ones who aren’t afraid of new territory. Consider the massive changes Carmack has brought to gaming by himself. Spline-based curved surfaces, per-pixel dynamic lighting, MegaTexture, and much, much more. These types of things may seem insignificant, but they are the technologies and advancements that shape the visuals of every game we play.
The PC is quickly losing big names. We lost Crytek, makers of the mind-numbingly pretty Crysis, when they watered down their CryEngine 3 to run on consoles. We lost EPIC games, makers of the legendary Unreal Tournament games, when they started to license their engines to multi-platform development and when front man Cliffy B started to focus on console-only releases such as Gears of War. We lost Activision and Call of Duty when they decided to abandon dedicated servers for multiplayer on the PC—the platform on which the franchise was born. The names go on: Rockstar, Ubisoft, Bethesda, and many more have turned their backs on the PC. As bad as all of that sounds, those developers are small-time when you consider the implications of id Software and John Carmack telling the PC to kiss off.
One of the brightest minds in modern computer graphics has made the decision to settle for the lowest common denominator simply because there is more money in it. This is the end of an era. Without people like Carmack to push limits of gaming technology, progression will slow to a crawl. The lack of innovation will stagnate both PC and consoles alike. It’s terrible news for all of us.
He mad
It is difficult to understand this sudden hostility from Carmack. The man has supported PC gaming for decades. Just a few months ago, he was quoted in saying that developing RAGE on consoles was a big mistake due hardware limitations. Why, then, would he finally release the game and blame PC hardware manufacturers for leaving his game doomed? Why would a man as intelligent as Carmack allow his new title to only work on specific, new drivers? The entire thing is preposterous.
It’s odd to consider we live in a world where PC games require a specific driver at release to operate properly (Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, and RAGE are but a few of the most recent examples of this), but it’s even more odd to think about a world where John Carmack no longer cares about developing games on the PC. John, John, why hast thou forsaken us?
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