I watched a show on a gaming website talking about this, it was the usual congregation of milquetoasts talking in a circle for ten minutes while saying absolutely nothing, but it did make me interested on the matter; so I ask to you, whom I presume is more well versed in the subject, what caused this resurgence in PC gaming?

And for the sake of conversation let us not argue that there was no such resurgence because there was. PC gaming is a lot more prominent than it was say, five years ago, to the point that PCs even get japanese games like Dark Souls.

As for myself, I am one of the newcomers to PCs bolstering its recent numbers, but as to what brought me here I couldn't really answer that, it just sort of happened. I got into PC gaming two years ago when I got my new computer. My last one couldn't even run the first Mass Effect so I never paid attention to gaming in it bar a Monkey Island game, or equivalent, here and there. With my new computer I tried Witcher 2, after that I started playing more games on it, but I don't really remember why I chose the PC over consoles at that time. Then I came into GOG and started looking for the classic games I never had access to during my Mega Drive and PS1 days. Became more interested in the experimental indie scene underrepresented on consoles. After that I started using Steam and saw how, without the import taxes physical media has, incredibly cheaper even the newest of games are on PC. And here I am now.

DD stores are awesome. All DD stores for consoles suck. That's it.

TBH it maybe more because of the growth of 'indie' games and increased coverage which has sort of pushed PC gaming back more into the spotlight. Can't really say its because of AAA games - lets face it, the usual publishers hype up their games, they get reviewed, people buy them. Maybe its because of all the plethora of bundles (for better or worse) floating around ........

Robo-Jesus on shore leave from the future.

There definitely is a resurgence of PC gaming. I was at Best Buy the other day and I noticed that they have moved PC peripherals like gaming mice, keyboards, etc. from the computer accessories section over to the video game section.

I know this will probably be an unpopular comment here, but there's no denying that Steam's success has a lot to do with renewed interest in PC gaming.

I also think that a lot of people nowadays are much more tech savvy than before and for them, building a computer and upgrading parts and such is no longer the same barrier to entry that it was 10 or 15 years ago. PC parts play much nicer than before. PLUS, with the internet, troubleshooting is just a google search away. Before, if something went wrong, you have to call the manufacturer and troubleshoot over the phone.

The current console cycle is the longest ever so it just may be that people are really itching for a "next-gen" experience now. Hopefully, enthusiasm for PC gaming continues when the next systems launch.

The common desire to be like me.

I think it has more to do with, we are in the middle of last gen consoles and new gen consoles. Once the new gen consoles are firmly seated, the PC gaming landscape will be a ghost town once again.
As always there will still be a limited market for PC games and the inevitable Console ports. Thankfully, both of the next gen consoles are using PC parts, and the ports will be more pleasing than the last gen ports. That being said, we will soon see if the game developers will want to spend precious resources on porting their games to the outlaw landscape of PC games. Yes, there will be some like CD Projeckt, but how many will follow in their footsteps. I don't feel like there will be many.
Yes, I am a pessimist...

A number of things happened that contributed to the cause.

First, internet became more reliable (faster and more widespread). I mean, years ago it was good enough to allow a lot of people to search for and pirate games (given enough patience and perseverance). Now it's reliable enough to allow digital stores full of social features and other conveniences to function very very properly. They also force prices down throughout the world, so if you want to play something, you're much more likely to spend a few quid on it on gog.com or steam or any other store than to keep yourself googling around for torrents.

Second, making a AAA game has become so expensive that publishers are always looking for more markets to invest on. And now, Digital PC Stores have become powerful enough to attract their attention. Also, the cost creates a genre vacuum since Publishers tend to invest so much only on what sells a lot, allowing for the indie scene to explore niche genres and unproven ideas that are unattended while taking advantage of the internet and digital stores to increase their reach.

Finally, since the current console generation lasted so long, current mid-price PCs are more likely to run very well those great AAAs ported from the consoles (and once again, way cheaper to buy on PCs). I also believe that the fact the XBox 360 controller works so well on the PC also allows for greater accessibility for most people. Many can't deal with a mouse + keyboard combination and many games really play better with a controller than a keyboard.

I've got to disagree, I don't see this resurgence. PC gaming never went anywhere to resurge to, it's not been as big as the last few generations of consoles and is still nowhere near as big.

Digital Download - You can not find any sizable Retail Box PC Games Sections in any stores anymore and if you do its the few "Main" titles at $60.00. Digital Download is what keeps the PC Gaming Community Alive and Kicking.

It never died. Anyone with a modicum of common sense games on PC. Consoles are a dead end.

I'm also going with it never died.

It looked like a pretty bad period for a while there with classic well known PC devs jumping ship to consoles then sending those games back as shitty ports. But even then you had games like WoW chugging right along with millions of people playing it. That also helped open up a chance for indies to become more popular on PC and it went from there.

I would say:

1. No new consoles for 10 years.

2. Steam (although I don't use it) making pc games more accessible for those who may not be super good with computers.

3. Steam, HIB, other DD stores selling pc games for very little.

You're being sarcastic, right? Because this is one of the most stupid statements i've seen in a while.

I can only comment from my own perspective.... I tend to think of consoles as not having 'game diversity' and other limitations/restrictions. Games from one console may not be compatible with another.

So in a nutshell, what really sums up my logic for not buying a console is this.... if i by Console A, then i don't know if the next brilliant game i find works only on console B and won't run on my console A! I just do not need that shit, full stop.

Also as a parent, do i want to buy 10 different consoles so my child won't be left out every time a new game is released that won't run on his old console/consoles?