Michael Dell plays WOW

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 September, 2005

Reckons PC gaming is doing fine.

Michael Dell – the bloke who runs ubiquitous PC manufacturer Dell, obviously enough – reckons the PC gaming market is "still pretty strong and pretty active," particularly in the area of online gaming, and is backing it to remain alive and well – by launching more high-powered XPS gaming PCs and trying to muscle in on Alienware's gamer-hardware patch.

Speaking to GameSpot recently in New York, Dell also admitted to playing a bit of World of Warcraft now and then. "Online gaming is still basically a PC concept, yeah there are consoles, but they're still a bit more cumbersome," he said, having claimed earlier that online gaming was "particularly interesting" to his company.

As for the market itself: "When we talk to the gaming publishers, they tell us that they're totally committed to PC gaming." And so's Dell. He also expects people to continue buying PCs over high-end next-gen consoles, shrugging off the supposed development benefits of a stationary set of console specifications by arguing that the PC's malleability is a good thing. Why buy Dell instead of an Xbox 360, for example? "Because maybe you want to do more than just play games."

So where's PC gaming going then? "It doesn't take too much imagination to see four [processor] cores," he reckons. "We have a good idea of where this technology is going." Which is probably a good thing for a direct sales outfit (chortle!). His comments are pretty interesting though when contrasted with what Microsoft said last recently. Which was: "We've been killing PC gaming."

Still, both companies reckon there's lots of PC gaming still to be done – Dell reckons online gaming's a key factor, and Microsoft reckons Windows Vista will help all over. Whatever you think, the fact that both of them have lots of money and want PC gaming to succeed is undoubtedly a good thing. Even if it is because Michael Dell wants to go home and play WOW.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • fantabulo #1 7 years ago

    "Be the first to write a comment!"
    OK:
    I have always suspected Mr. Dell of being a bit of a computer sympathiser.
    Edited by fantabulo at 29/09/05 @ 10:20

  • Salaman #2 7 years ago

    Clever observation.

  • Genji #3 7 years ago

    "Reckons PC gaming is doing fine."

    It isn't.

  • Furbs #4 7 years ago

    In what respect? Online PC player numbers dwarf Live gamers...

  • username #5 7 years ago

    Xbox Live players are dwarves?

  • Wicks #6 7 years ago

    "In what respect? Online PC player numbers dwarf Live gamers..."

    Id like to see where u got those stats...

  • Celeborn #7 7 years ago

    Well, last I heard X-Box live had hit 2 million subsribers (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=5979)

    World of Warcraft alone has over 4 million (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/08/29/news_6132187.html)

    4 million subscribers in 1 game, compared to 2 million that covers the whole X-Box live system.

  • Wicks #8 7 years ago

    Yep and i suspect that the amount of Counterstrike players beats that too

  • Planet #9 7 years ago

    Ronald McDonald reckons that fast food is good for your health and deservedly selling strong!

  • speedstars13 #10 7 years ago

    Dude, yours Dell sucks, so is the whole PC industry.

  • Xerx3s #11 7 years ago

    The pc game industry will always be the innovator when it comes to new technology & online gaming. On top of that, the pc has every genre and some that arnt possible on the consoles. Consoles come and go, but pc games will always be there.

  • Psi #12 7 years ago

    ....im now brainwashed.... consoles succcckkkkk Dell PC is essential and must play world of warrrcrafffttt on one.

    god why can't he just stick to selling to businesses? least i may get a purchase order through for a new cough company laptop

  • speedstars13 #13 7 years ago

    It's still a crappy poop.

  • Genji #14 7 years ago

    No, PC gaming is not doing fine. Blizzard and Valve might be, but the industry sure as hell isn't. Aside from a few major releases, there's not much coming out for the PC anymore. If you measure in terms of online gamers, well, sure, but online gaming on consoles is still in its early stages. Most people who have an Xbox don't even play online, anyway. What's becoming possible on consoles is broadening.

    And there's millions of PC gamers who only play original CS. It's STILL the most popular FPS.

    I like PC games, but these are not good times. I'd love to be proven wrong.
    Edited by Genji at 30/09/05 @ 02:33

  • Subquest #15 7 years ago

    Genji: Aside from a few major releases, there's not much coming out for the PC anymore

    What bollocks!

    Genji: I'd love to be proven wrong.

    OK then:
    http://pc.ign.com/release/

  • Genji #16 7 years ago

    ...and there's nothing on that list that I particularly want to play. I'm sorry, but there isn't. It's all the same. Hell, most of those games won't last a week in retail. There was a lot more variety of good games 10, even 5 years ago, a time when it was still possible to play a good single player RPG (not Diablo) on a PC. People who aren't hardcore gamers are getting weeded out.

    http://lostgarden.com/2005/09/nintendos-genre-innovation-strategy.html
    http://www.gamedev.net/reference/design/features/genreaddict/

    A lot of the stuff this guy says is very relevant to PC gaming. Have a read. It makes sense to me.
    Edited by Genji at 30/09/05 @ 04:34

  • Subquest #17 7 years ago

    If there's nothing in that list you want to play, then fair enough. But with games like Age of Empires 3, Call of Duty 2, Black & White 2, FEAR, Elder Scrolls IV, Civ IV, Gun, City of Villians, Pro Evo 5, Prince of Persia 3, BF2:Special Forces, Quake 4 - and this is all before the end of the year, I think the PC is as well catered for as any other platform.

    Sure there's a lot of sequels, and a lot of dross to sift through to find the quality. But show me a console release schedule that doesn't suffer in the same way.

    BTW - I'm currently playing Dungeon Siege 2 and Fable, both single player RPGs.

  • Genji #18 7 years ago

    Fable came out on the Xbox first. Already beaten it. Dungeon Siege 2 isn't an RPG. It's action-adventure, like Diablo. Doesn't mean it isn't any good, but it's not an RPG. Give me Fallout 3, thanks.