CliffyB says Gears of War 2 not coming to PC, calls savvy PC gamers “pirates”

If you own an Xbox 360, then there’s a very good chance you’re looking forward to Gears of War 2, the sequel to one of 2006’s best shooters. The original game was ultra-violent, visually stunning, and immensely satisfying. A PC version of Gears was released a year later, so it’s probably fair to say that Gears of War 2 would also have one eventually, right?

Wrong—for now at least. Epic Games lead designer Cliff Bleszinski told TVG that there are no plans for a PC version because:

“Here’s the problem right now; the person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card, is a person who is savvy enough to know bit torrent to know all the elements so they can pirate software.”

There’s a flaw (or three) in this reasoning.

• First: does this mean the solution to piracy is to stop making games? We all know how harebrained that sounds.
• Second, Bleszinski is pretty much saying that everyone who has (or had) a fairly-powerful PC is also a software pirate. Granted that these people, present company included, is savvy enough to know bit torrent, but that doesn’t mean that we do use it.
• Third—piracy isn’t exclusive to the PC. Among the current-gen consoles, Wii and Xbox 360 games are arguably the most pilfered. In fact, the number of pirated PC games is dwarfed due to the volume of pirated games for these consoles.

Bleszinski seems to have forgotten that a well-constructed and continuously-supported online multiplayer keeps players around for years. To name a few, there’s Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Battlefield 2, and Epic’s own Unreal Tournament games.

If the sales of Gears of War PC weren’t up to snuff by Bleszinski’s standards, then someone should tell him it wasn’t because of piracy. If you’d recall, Gears PC came out in late 2007, roughly the same period when the heavens conspired to release an insane amount of excellent shooters like Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, The Orange Box (which came with five terrific games), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Crysis, and Unreal Tournament 3. Did I miss anything?

Interestingly, Epic Games wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for PC gamers. Now, he thinks they’re pirates. Funny how time and a Ferrari changes things.

Image for Gears of War 2 is courtesy of Microsoft Game Studios.