IGN - The Future of PC Gaming

Not specifically RPG related but IGN talks to a number of developers about The Future of PC Gaming. The rise of F2P, moving to the living room, the marginalisation of boxed games, crowdfunding, technology leadership, community building, indies and more are canvassed:

However you choose to define ‘indie games’, and even if you prefer to ignore the distinction with ‘non-indie games’ there is no doubt that 2012 has seen a large number of great games written by very small teams, often funded and distributed outside the publisher model.

The PC has always been the natural home for the little guy with a big idea. Back in the day, indies could gain fame through the sharing of disks or rudimentary download sites. But titles like Minecraft and The Binding of Isaac have become so mainstream they’re now the focus of popular feature-documentaries like Indie Game: The Movie.

The demand for the interesting, quirky, original, strange and perplexing is getting bigger and bigger. As gaming as a whole expands, so does the audience that demands avant-garde, that wants more than that which large publishers can or wish to provide.The demand for the interesting, quirky, original, strange and perplexing is getting bigger and bigger. As gaming as a whole expands, so does the audience that demands avant-garde, that wants more than that which large publishers can or wish to provide.