The article comes across very biased (yes, I know - I'm biased too, but the article just seemed to be overly biased for the extinction of PC gaming). Seems like a console-favoring gamer writing about the PC platform being doomed right after the launch of yet another new console - as happens every single time a new console is launched.
I'm certain some of you were around when the Xbox and PS2 were released as well. Those of you who were must remember how console-fanboys proclaimed that PC gaming would die a trillion deaths. And yet what happened? Oh, that's right: Absolutely Nothing.
I wonder why PC game sales might have died down since 1998/1999... might it have something to do with those two years being the greatest years in all of gaming history!? Come on, we had Half Life, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, Team Fortress: Classic, Counter Strike (however much I might dislike it, it does deserve to be in this list), Unreal, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Starcraft, C&C Tiberian Sun, Age of Empires 2, Outcast, Freespace 2... every single one of them amazing and truly memorable classics in their genre that any gaming fan will remember. Additionally a wealth of awesome and memorable, but not quite as classic, games were released in the same 2 year timespan.
In all the years since then, the only games that truly stick out as memorable to me are: Guild Wars, Baldur's Gate 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Medal of Honor, Red Alert 2, Dark Reign 2, Ground Control, Neverwinter Nights 2, Battle Realms, The Sims, Black & White and World of Warcraft.
The final three of those games are merely memorable because of their impact, not because of great gameplay. Similarly interesting to note is that (bare NWN2, WoW & GW) all of those games were released in 2000/2001, almost like an aftershock of gaming's greatest years... (Note: no mention of Warcraft 3, because Battle Realms was a superior predecessor)
It's obvious that the amount of quality games being released has diminished severely since 1999. It's no miracle that PC game sales were to drop when game developers suddenly stop producing stellar games after treating us to one amazing classic after the other for two years in a row.
I think console gaming hasn't damaged PC games nearly as much as PC game developers have. If they'd still been producing stellar games like they were during the last century (and the beginning of this one) then sales would most certainly be significantly higher.
I could rant about a lot more things regarding this article. Like how it's merely focusing on the American market, when everyone knows there's a vastly bigger market for PC games in Europe and Asia. Statistics not accounting for the massive amount of (legal!) free games being played on PC. Statistics not accounting for games sold online. The price for PC gaming being 'supposedly' so much higher than console gaming, when it's really not that much of a difference. PC games still (despite their poor quality, compared to previous years) raking in more awards than games for any other platform at pretty much every game show. Etcetera.
The fact remains: PC gaming was supposed to have died out roughly when the Dinosaurs went extinct. It's still here, so it's highly unlikely that some Xbox360 or PlayStation 3 could change that in any way...