Mark Rein, vice president of Unreal studio Epic, told a packed audience of game developers that Intel's integrated graphics is bad for the gaming industry.
The biggest threat to the PC gaming platform comes not from the consoles, but from Intel. In particular, it comes from Intel's promotion of their integrated graphics chipsets. These graphics card substitutes have been around for a while, but in recent years have become extremely popular in low-end PCs and laptops. The Epic VP claimed that 80 percent of new laptops and 55 percent of new desktops have integrated graphics.
Integrated graphics is not good enough to play the latest games. Many current games cannot be played effectively on integrated graphics, one notable example being Bethesda Soft works' Oblivion, which is unplayable on many ordinary video cards.
The big disadvantage of integrated video for companies such as Epic is that these chips will be unable to power the fancy new graphical effects featured on the next generation of its PC gaming titles. This will obviously limit the market for high-end PC games. Rein told some predictions about the marketplace for several reasons. Firstly, the performance of Intel's integrated graphics has increased dramatically over time, and this can only continue in the future. Secondly, integrated graphics bring cheaper PC prices, which broaden the potential market: these legions of new would-be gamers can either play with reduced graphics settings or if their computer allows it, purchase a new graphics card as an add-on to get up to speed. Thirdly, the release of Windows Vista and its optional Aero shininess will drive the market for computers with more capable video cards. Finally, it is a mistake to think that many of these cheap PCs are destined for gamers anyway. Most will find themselves installed in a business environment.
If Intel exited the graphics market, "We would all be better off," Rein said.
Rein also spoke about how future games could be hurt by the growth of so-called episodic content where a thinned-down game is initially released, with extra levels and content released later either as downloadable expansion packs or boxed sets. He warned that gamers could get "franchise fatigue" as some content inevitably becomes recycled. However, Rein said he believes blockbuster standalone games will generally beat episodic content-based games.
