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Comment by thegrim33 | Hacker News Reader

It's so interesting to me that as a PC gamer, they chose to just .. not let me buy the game. It's not even an option, for any price. I'd have to wait multiple years for them to decide to go for another cash grab and do a PC release. No thanks, I just won't play.

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I've never understood this. For most games by the time they release on PC the hype has died down and they get a tiny fraction of the sales they would have gotten with a simultaneous release.

Rockstar was very open as to why: PC players are a fraction of a fraction of their income. Xbox One players (yes, the previous gen) give them more money than PC players for GTA Online.

Yep - I am a heavy pc gamer but I much prefer GTA on my PlayStation

What's the difference? I always play on pc with my Xbox controller and it's the same as on a console.

I could imagine PC gamers are less interested in online and the whole shark card thing though. IMO that's really damaged the GTA experience.

I think the difference is phycological. I am way more relaxed infront of a TV. It is like a different mood.

Ah but you can do that too with moonlight :)

Though I rarely game on the TV, for me it's uncomfortable.

You can also connect a general purpose computer to that TV?

Didn’t Valve spend a lot of time and money to get the Steam Machine to turn on by using the controller? They had to do some magic with HDMI CEC.

Was that the important psychological factor the person mentioned?

Can’t think of anything else that would make connecting a console to a TV vs connecting a PC different

Gladly you don't need to make anything else up, you can just refer to the experience of the person at the beginning of this conversation

Hmm ... yeah I guess I would feel the same with an always hooked up PC connected to the TV with some sort of nice splash screen.

I was too fixated on a classical gaming PC with mouse and keyboard.

Unlike consoles, general purpose computers are designed to be operated with a keyboard and mouse, not a controller. Yes, you can use steam in big picture mode, but you still have to launch it.

I did that for a long time. It works, but it's very difficult to match the ease of using a console:

- Steam's Big Picture mode works, but there are lots of sharp edges (launcher support being the biggest).

- PC versions of games frequently have no way to switch to a couch-friendly UI (loading menus designed for PCs)

- The power management and hardware setup is not at all streamlined

- Controller management can be painful

- Streaming apps mostly need to work in a browser, which won't have controller support.

But isn't that also a result of them always releasing their games much later than on console? PC gaming has been on the rise.

The PC release was two years after consoles. Anyone who really wanted to play the game already had their opportunity.

Sure, but isn't that my point? PC players are a fraction of their income because by the time it gets to PC nobody cares.

But this was the case since forever. Albeit I didn't play it on a PC till 2016 and kept playing GTA San Andreas till I knew Los Santos like the back of my hand.

I don’t think Rockstar has ever launched on PC day one

They did with GTA 1 and 2 :)

Is it the same for PlayStation? I saw news that they are going to sell the CD jackets but not a CD, they ll just put a code in it.

Not sure why they're doing that farce even. Just let people buy the code online. Who wants a plastic packet for this much cost?

Game box collectors, people who want to offer a physical wrapped gift, kids who see it while shopping and nag their parents each time they pass near the boxes... on that last part it's pretty cheap advertising in every shopping center.

But mostly the goal is to remove the resale/rent/borrow ability of people who purchase this game unfortunately.

I remember when Xbox One launched, Xbox had this great idea. If you have a physical game, you can turn it into a digital one and then the physical disc is worthless.

The bad PR was insane. They backtracked. But now I wish I had this. I use the Xbox Series S for travel and it doesn’t have a physical drive so I can’t play my physical discs.

It’s even worse because you can find used games on eBay for <$5 but those same games to buy digitally are >$20.

This has been the case with every Rockstar game since GTA 3, and it works for them. It sells a ton on consoles, piracy is severely limited, still sells wildly on PC, and lets them "double dip" on sales because some people will buy it twice.

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