I don't think PC Gaming is dying personally. I think that broken business models used by big gaming companies within the PC Gaming industry are dying because they're anti-consumer-friendly, and at the same time new business models are coming to replace them. Some of the new models are consumer friendly such as GOG.com and others are anti-consumer such as the nickel and diming in some of the various free-to-play and other games, games with tonnes of 0-day DLC and a stream more DLC week after week after release, etc.

I think there are a tremendous amount of "PC gamers" out there that will just continue to seek out the games and business models behind them that meet their needs. The players may change with some companies exiting the market or platform and others stepping in to replace them who have better business models and/or more consumer friendly plans.

Another thing is that "PC gaming" is generally synonymous with "Microsoft operating system running on an IBM PC derivative Intel based computer" and that has generally been the dominating truth throughout the life of what we know as the "PC", however a PC can run any operating system written to run on it and Windows has not been the only operating system in town for some time now. It's been the overwhemingly dominant OS, but definitely not the only one. The future of Microsoft operating systems running on traditional PC hardware is not clear, nor is it clear what the future of PC and PC based hardware will be in 5/10/20 years, but while the market continously has new platforms coming into existence such as all the mobile stuff, PCs still exist out there in large numbers and are very popular and I don't see that vanishing any time soon personally.

Valve's core business is currently dominated by both creating PC games and selling other people's PC games and they see that the future of the PC as we know it today is not clear, as is the future of Microsoft operating systems running on the PC. They do not like where Microsoft has been going and they're trying to plan to sever their reliance on Microsoft in the future by creating themselves other alternative options that allow them to have more independent control over their future. SteamOS and Steam Machines are a smart thing for them to experiment with now because if they're successful with them, they can carve out a future for themselves and other game companies that have one less variable (Windows) in the way. GOG is now planning on following the move to Linux on the PC platform as well, and I think we'll see other companies increasingly embracing this going forward too.

PC gaming in 5 years might very well be "Linux gaming on PC based devices" and very well could expand outside of the Intel/AMD architectures to ARM or other processors.

I don't think the PC or PC gaming is going to die. I think what we think about as a PC and what runs on it is going to evolve over time to meet the needs and expectations of the customers out there who prefer this type of platform.

Only time will tell.

I think PC gaming will be around for some time, but it has clearly changed, and I don't think most of those changes are for the better. As others have said here, DRM is a big problem. It offers nothing in terms of game features, it does nothing to help your computer run games or perform better, it only acts as a firewall against the kind of freedom that indies, gamers, and devs would like to take pc gaming. If Valve/Steam HAS become pc gaming as some have said, then it's just a matter of time before the pc gaming as we know it is a thing of the past. Valve clearly has intentions on 'consoling' pc games... they do after all now have their own console with their own version of console games.

On the other side of the spectrum is the kickstarter/indie genre which is exploding like never before. That is a good and bad thing. It's good because it shows that it isn't just the AAA developers that can make a good game... what we have is choice like never before. But we've also seen that many games are getting stuck in alpha and beta because indies run out of time, money, or just lose interest and walk away from their work. Having game land flooded with a sea of half finished indies and overblown software representing half baked ideas isn't a good thing at all. This is a bit similar to the Atari implosion of '84. The market was just too saturated by cheap, low quality Atari titles and people just stopped buying them. Expenditures far outspent income, and we all know what happens when an industry does that.

So yes, pc gaming will go for some time, probably a very long time. But the cracks in the armor are appearing, and unless we push away from restrictive DRM, unfinished indies, and over-saturated game stores, we're in for some trouble. Tech is also changing in a big way (tablets, Oculus, etc) and in the next few years I do think that the act of playing a game on a desktop or notebook with a mouse and keyboard will be seen very similarly to how we now think of someone playing Atari with a one-button controller. Still fun, yes. But an archaic way that is dying out. Give it one, maybe two generations and the mouse/keyboard will go the way of the horse and wagon that was replaced by the automobile. Unfortunately, every step we take with tech seems to limit growth and freedom on the part of the individual, and I think that is one of the worst sacrifices people are making for progress. Without freedom, progress is just another word displayed on the hamster wheel.

The words "Walls of text" are an understatement. It's like GOG wants to recreate the Great Wall of China with words.

Recreating out of manure.

Do you even realize how dumb that sounds? So let me get this straight. Each generation sells more and more consoles and more and more video games, yet consoles are dying? I've heard elitist remarks before, but this one... this one is just too atrocious. I think people reached a point they just come up with stories out of their asses.
That is true. I think I've read some of the biggest far fetched "facts" in this thread.

Just shows that the subject is important for many.

While text formatting would be nice, The Wall is still far better than not writing in the first place.

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Thanks for the posts so far everyone!

It's worse than the feminist thread. And I think I've seen some of the worse....and I'm being polite here.... worse arguments I've ever seen on GOG. TinyE can come with better arguments than those.

PC gaming has been dying.. pretty much as long as it has existed? Yeah.

Well the feminist thread did have that awesome guy that found one PDF on the internet and was clutching it like the bible.

its good to have opinions - whether "good" or "bad" ones.

If you dont spout out even nonsense every now and then, you rarely even think about those things too closely. Reading all kinds of opinions and reasonings is very healthy you know.

I guess every supposedly serious thread has someone like him. That guy....he almost makes me retract my statement. I think he should create his own religion based on that PDF.
It's healthy when they don't puke outrageous lies. Yes, when they don't do that, I can agree that it is healthy to see from the point of view of others.

its internet -__-

also some people simply arent very well informed. The outright liers "who know better" are very small minority usually. Can be quite vocal minority though.

When was that? I may have been around. I'm not sure. Do you have a link? O_O

You were around, but the thread seems to have been deleted.