GC: Roper predicts major PC games market shift in Leipzig keynote

Flagship Studios president Bill Roper has heavily backed PC development in his Games Convention keynote and placed connectivity and multiple-platform development at the centre of his vision for the industry's future.

Speaking at the Games Convention Developer Conference, a day ahead of the media day at Game Convention in Leipzig, Germany, the former Blizzard development star spoke on the subject of multi-platform games, and issued a warning to PC naysayers.

"I'm going to get on my PC soapbox for a few minutes," he told attendees. "PC games are on the verge of a major market shift, as PC developers and publishers start to move from selling CDs of single-player games to retail outlets, to selling online games to those with broadband connections. We're already seeing primitive multi-platform games on the PC... Players want to get online and play."

The message was mirrored by a key figure from the PC industry.

"When it comes to playing games, there are more devices than ever before," said Intel's Germany Segment Manager, Consumer Software and Solutions, Arne Peters. "But one thing I would subscribe to is that the PC platform is very much alive. Despite all the discussions surrounding the next generation consoles, PC has always been there, and will remain... PCs are the centre of online gaming."

Roper went on to talk about games developed on "multiple platforms with multiple views," illustrating the problems of developing for different formats with his experiences on creating war classic StarCraft for both PC and console platforms.

Roper's comments came ahead of the start of Games Convention tomorrow. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz after his keynote, Roper said he'd made the decision to come out to Germany from America this year for the first time as he was "excited" about the rising star in the European games industry calendar.

"It's supposed to be crazy, and I want to see it at its craziest," he said, looking forward to this Saturday, the busiest consumer day of the event.

We'll be bringing you more updates from the show, including announcements tomorrow from Sony and Microsoft, throughout the rest of this week.