people aren't buying pc games?
Bethesda Game Studios disagrees. make a good game and people will buy it.
Exactly. I used to be pretty indiscriminate with my game purchases, but now... (in addition to getting sucked into iRacing), I very rarely purchase games. So many things I want to do, and so many varied tastes, there is a back log of games I've "wanted" to play but haven't gotten around to purchasing them.
It's the stellar AAA titles (and some indy games) that end up holding onto my attention prior to release for so long (and critical reception is insanely positive), that ultimately find their way into my home right around release date. Even then, sometimes I don't end up getting to put a lot of time into those games and I have a lot of games that have gone unplayed (or unfinished) for awhile.
Quite a few PS3 games have released recently that I really want to get, but I have a feeling I won't get around to those until they are super cheap. And even then, I might briefly forget about them if some super amazing game acts like a black hole for my attention due to hype/reception.
Since I know how I am, and invest a regular amount of time into very specific things (like iRacing and BF3 currently)... I think I am maturing a bit with my gaming budget. That's just games though, the gaming budget does not include spending way too much money on the equipment to play the game. Just upgraded my PC and spent far more than I should have (but is so so so awesome even though it's not killer top end).
As for piracy, considering I have intimately known the scene quite well and people crazed for it, multiplayer games don't really lose much in the way of sales to the world of piracy... DRM and online-access being so locked down these days, they've taken care of that problem quite well (almost too well, considering how much a pain in the ass it can be for some people).
And while many do pirate a game to play the singleplayer and that's all they ever wanted, there are many who download it to try the SP, get addicted to the gameplay itself, and crave MP enough to go and buy it, and some also download it just to see how everything came together and whether it's worth their purchase or not.
And a lot of piracy is simply "lost sales that never were." Many people pirate a game because they can, and they want to play it and enjoy it... but they have no intention of ever purchasing it. So, while they have access to something they should not, the publisher was never going to see that person as a sales figure one way or the other.
Think of how many people continue to pirate the expensive PC applications/suites... for instance, Photoshop / the Adobe design suite... a lot of people would not even consider paying for it outright, but have no qualms acquiring it to use it since that option is technically on the table.
One can debate the morals/ethics of the situation, but in reality... PC game developers are not losing stacks of cash to piracy, because they really aren't losing nearly as many sales as they would lead you to believe.
A lot of PC gamers can be a little more picky about game quality, as well as development-related issues (stability and whatnot). And let's not forget the number of PC gamers who also own a console and tend to get more games on consoles and are very specific about what types of titles (or again, the quality/development standards) they decide to get for their PC. I'm sort of that way... I have certain games I want on my PS3, and certain I'd rather have on my PC.