The difference between the console and PC markets is kind of like the difference between network and cable TV. NCIS and Dancing with the Stars will always have more mass appeal than Iron Chef or SpongeBob simply because they're designed and positioned to attract a larger demographic. But the specific appeal of the cable show is in finding a smaller niche or an underserved segment of the market and delivering the content they're not able to get from the major networks. The mass-market games like Madden or Street Fighter or Mario are a great fit for the consoles, but I don't think that the most profitable future for PC games is in trying to adopt that same mentality. To the extent that the PC catalog reflects this thinking, it fails to serve the individual gamers who want their war games, racing sims, or sports management titles to have a depth of detail that only the most hardcore can appreciate.

Is it naive to hope for a return to the days of the 1990s when a developer could sell 80,000 copies of a game and still consider itself successful enough to stay in business long enough to make another game? Obviously part of the problem is the skyrocketing development budgets, but as games like Plants vs. Zombies or AudioSurf proved, concept and design are still the main drivers of popularity. The digital publishing revolution is making things a bit easier, but we still need to tackle the harmful expectations that anything less than a blockbuster is an outright failure. It's a sad result of the mass-market mentality that Gears of War can be looked on with pity because it's only the tenth most popular game on Xbox Live. If I made the tenth most popular game on Xbox Live, I'd get a tattoo.