id: Piracy killing PC gaming market

Next Generation reports that at a QuakeCon Q&A, id Software co-owner Kevin Cloud put some blame on why developers are shying away from the PC market and turning to the slightly less-hackable console market.

Cloud is quoted as saying:

"Piracy is hard. It's really -- from my opinion, destroying the PC market. ... when you look out there at the number of games that are getting pirated, it is just devastating. It's the primary reason retailers are moving to the console. It's something that's on every PC developer's mind -- on how to reduce [piracy]. Because, if you like the PC, you hate to see it fall lower and lower down."

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id, expressed similar concerns:

"... the problem that this industry faces above all else is the piracy. There is about seventy-percent of the landmass of the world where you can't sell games in a legitimate market, because pirates will beat you to the shelves with your own game. ... you may literally have more games being played illegitimately than being played legitimately. So when you're giving up that much market to people who aren't paying for the games, or who are buying the games in ways in which the developers aren't getting paid for it, it creates a big challenge. Not only for the developers and publishers. But also for retailers, because they have to make bets when they buy their game inventory."

But, this is not to say id will abandon the PC format. Cloud says that the company is still dedicated to producing games for the market.