I don't think that's very fair. I personally don't like the additions they added to being more "console friendly". To me I don't find their UI system very "console friendly". I like my stuff all in one place. Not strewn all over the place.

I think it's very unfair for PC gamers to blame the people who play console games. I'm not extremely rich, am running an old computer with a dying fan, etc. So all I have is the console. PC gamers will be able to fix much of Skyrim's issues while the console user's will always suffer with the vanilla issues. I'm tired of PC gamers blaming console users for wanting to play a game.

The bolded is true for sure.

Morrowind was a PC exclusive for the longest time, and it was neither tiny, linear, overscripted nor budget-constrained, and definitely not an action game.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one to see this.

If Skyrim was PC exclusive it would be much smaller with less content.

You can't secure a big budget with PC exclusivity these days. And ironically the more you push PC hardware the larger the budget you need and the smaller your potential audience. The figures just don't add up

exactly. probably around a million brought it for pc if 300'000 are playing at once. thats about 1/3rd of their total sales, and the xbox and ps3 have the other two thirds. i really cant get why they prioritise the consoles so hard. specially when pc players give so much more back in making videos and mods etc.

well im pretty old, work at a office all daylong, on weekends i dont want to sit in front of my pc @ home... i rather relax in the sofa with some cold beers and my xbox
instead of upgrading the pc every year for 1game i rather use my hard earned cash on more fun gadgets.

Morrowind was developed 10 years ago. The cost of developing games has gone through the roof since then. If skyrim was made on Morrwind's budget it would either:

A. Look like a ten year old game.

B. Be small

the things blamed on consoles is just simply ridicolus...

So we cannot fly because of the consoles? Really, so it has to be because of the loading screens, which everybodyy knows Witcher lacked. OH WAIT, NO IT DIDN'T. Why do you think there were those giant gates that froze your game every time you pass trough?
And of course the AI would be better on PC because The PC is a magical being that turns everything gold it touches, everything is better on PC
Non-linear quests? All the stupid console players fault, all the Halo they've played made them narrow minded, the Pc master race knows every opportunity to do something different. Remember Morrowind, and all the freedom you had in your quests? You could totally join Dagoth-Ur right? Not doing a quest in Skyrim? Incomprehensible!


But overall, why should they make a shoddy port for consoles than vice versa? Apart from personal preference of course.

And how much do you think Bethesda loose from the resale market on consoles?
You might make most of the money in the first months from consoles, but PC gamers provide more stable income over the longer term, which is what helps support the development cycle of the next game.

i disagree, dlc sales over xboxlive/ps3network will provide income over the long term.....

For references that doesn't count PC digital sales which account for around 75% of PC sales these day. PC sales are probably on-par with PS3.

Long story short, nobody in the busyness is glad to lose money. If developers focus on consoles, it's because money comes from consoles. There's no other explanation.

The game is great, people are being too dramatic about the PC version. It's still a wonderful open world RPG. I loved Morrowind like the next hardcoe ES fan, but it was very inaccessible for part time or console gamers, so we were never going to get a game again where you can't even make weapon contact with a mud crab for 5 hours.

Consoles will dictate some things like interface, difficulty etc, as they are outselling PC probably 8-1. Simple economics.

Anyway, I love the game (a few glitches aside).

These sales figures guarantee we will get another one, whoop!

Skyrim is far better then the Witcher series ever will be. Your Arguement is invalid because

A) Quest in Skyrim do effect the outcome of not just you, but your character. It effects your standing, your reputation.

You're main character is completely yours in Skyrim, unlike in the Witcher, to where the protagonist is set. When it comes to creativity, Skyrim prevails.

C) Nobody knows what's in store for future updates for Skyrim. They could enhance and touch up on a lot of things. This is Vanilla, I think it's as polished as it could be for now (considering how much bigger this game is then.. EVERYTHING on the market right now.)

Witcher is a decent game in it's own right. but it'll never live up to the hype and expectations of Skyrim, evveeer.

Sickens me when ignorant people complain about Bethesda being money grabbing. Usually from PC players indignant that their platform isn't prioritized.

I play on PC, for the record.

BGS have had almost 100 people working on this project for the last 5 years (overlap with FO3 and whatever their next project is is inevitable). Anyone who plays this game cannot fail to see the passion that has been put into the project. If you think about studios that just churn out game after game, probably with half the amount of staff working for half the amount of time on each project, how can you call BGS money grabbing?

The amount of dollars per head for BGS on this game compared to something like Buzz, or even COD must by very small.

It makes ABSOLUTE SENSE for the game to be developed on consoles. Let's just put aside the VERY REAL issue of the PC being a none lucrative platform due to piracy (shame the 360 is heading that way as well), for the amount of effort, sheer man hours that BGS have put into this game, of course they need to develop it with the mass market in mind. How an earth could they spend so much time and passion creating a game on this epic scale if it was only going to be appealing and playable to a group of elite. The concept of creating for the PC first and then downscaling for the console, while a nice thought, is untenable due to the amount of time it would take. Profit IS important. My biggest fear is that BGS, although they may make record sales from this masterpiece of a game, how much actual profit are they going to make due to the cost and scale of development?

Sorry, this post isn't structured, but people indignant over nothing they have a right to feel indignant over couple with what can only be a sense of entitlement which outweighs their ability for rational thought really get my hackles up.

WRONG!

Levitiation was taken out as it messed up level design.

Which, if you think about it, makes a lot more sense than the initial HURR DUUR CONSOLES CANCER OF GAMING stance most PC gamers take.

If consoles couldn't take it why was MW on the Xbox? Anyway, that is irrelevant. These game dynamics, like spears, are removed due to the need for providing a balanced game - which anyone with a modicum of thoughtfulness can see is both vital in a game like TES, as well as very difficult indeed.

I'm not saying that there are aren't some compromises for consoles (open cities is one), there has to be, and I'm ok with that for the most part if it means more sales for Beth. But FFS, get some perspective people.

Stop complaining. If you don't like it then dont play it.

From pretty much every perspective.

Celled cities were there in Oblivion and Skyrim solely to cater to the abysmal power of the consoles.

Which spills over into gameplay because things like Levitate and Jump didn't work with that design.

Graphics are easy to scale up for the PC. The gameplay decisions that developers are forced to make to cater to the cheap, underpowered console hardware is the real tragedy.

very well spoken mankor!
skyrim is a great game at all, and if it is sold to console its just because they need the money to make this big, passioned and epic game!
of course there are some penaltys because console was priorisized but its necessary!

celled citys arent killing anything for me!!
my live is long enaught to wait these 1 second in the loading screen (ssd goes like hell )

Funny thing sales stats. For some reason or another, digital sales numbers are very, very hard to come by. Valve (steam) won't publish them, but will provide them to the devellopers. PC gaming is far, far from dead as can be shown by games like starcraft 2 and world of warcraft. However for some reason that is what microsoft and sony want us to believe. Numbers of sales on pc for skyrim is probably the same as on xbox, or at least it mostly has been for a lot of games. Estimates are between 1.5 and 2 mln copies sold retail AND digital. Math is 25% retail and 75% digital on PC which equates to 3,4mln * 14% (retail) = 25% total PC sales = 2 mln. Also pc games tend to have a longer sales lifespan than console games, by which I mean that people will still be buying it a half year from now when most console players will have jumped upon the next hype, even if they missed akyrim.

Ofc it's all quite logical. Why should microsoft want to limit us to a pc when they could sell us windows and a xbox?

I agree that it makes sense for the lead platform to be a console, but a fair chunk of sales can be attributed to the PC version (estimated to be around a million copies by the article) so it that regard it makes sense to do a small amount of work (nothing large like redesigning the game) to bring the UI and other things up to the standard of that platform, especially since people are spending $60-$90 on this game. And PC isn't a 'non-lucrative platform', TW2 sound around 1 million copies in two months compared to Alan Wake which sound around 500,000 in around the same time period, both were similarly hyped and both were exclusive (one PC and one 360), though TW2 had a much smaller budget. I know that won't be enough to sustain Skyrim, but it goes to show that if you don't neglect the PC platform, a platform that has it's own needs that are separate from consoles (much like handheld devices), Bethesda will benefit in the end with more sales.

Yeah, some optimization ought be applied I agree. The UI is a good example. It can be frustrating. I don't even mind the design, it's clicking with the mouse on one dialogue option and another being used.

Good point well made sir!

sry i cant follow this Oo and i was in a "business management" class (dont know if it is the right word).

where u got the 14% from? though retail = 25 %!

What gameplay decisions?

Oh the "no levitation and Jump" thing?

Consoles have nothing to do with it.
Look at witcher 2, that's a whole open world without loading screens right? Yeah, no.
Then there's the console exclusive Red Dead Redemption, and guess what, it IS a whole open world without any loading screens.

Again, blaming consoles is just plain ignorant.

There is no other reason to cell the cities in Skyrim.

I was around in the community back in 2005/2006 and remember the decision to remove Levitate and Jump and cell cities being a function of XBox memory limitations.

Article from VGcharts. It stated that of 3.4 mln copies sold (retail/ hard copy) 59% can be contributed to Xbox and 14% to PC.