Many PC gamers, including myself, consider 2004 to be the year that the PC as a gaming platform peaked.  Some of the games that were significant that year are as follows.

Far Cry
Unreal Tournament 2004
Painkiller
City of Heroes
Doom 3
The Sims 2
Half Life 2
Counter Strike: Source
World of Warcraft
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II

There were many other great PC games that year in addition to these, but these are the ones that made the biggest impact.  I really can't think of another year other than 2004 with so many top-notch games released on the PC.  Today, having just a few top-night AAA releases on the PC in a year is a "good" year.

Following 2004, PC gaming slowly declined until falling off a cliff in late 2006, after 7th gen consoles were released.  2005 and 2006 had some great PC games but not as many as 2004 and the quality was starting to notably diminish.

2007-2010 was somewhat of a "dark age" for the platform.  Many AAA developers restructured during that period, shifting focus from the PC to the 7th generation consoles.  The most notable AAA game on the PC during this period that actually delivered was Bioshock.  Most other AAA releases were buggy, half-baked, and existed pretty much solely to show off their engine and are today forgotten (Crysis comes to mind).  Even pioneers of PC gaming like id Software's John Carmack and John Romero were proclaiming PC gaming to be dead and that console gaming was the way of the future.

Then, in 2011, it began to look like there was light at the end of the tunnel.  The release of Skyrim on PC and its success showed that there still was a market for PC games.  Simultaneously, graphics cards were getting cheaper and Steam evolving into a platform for both AAA developers and indie developers to release their games on.  It was at this point that the indie market actually swooped in and saved PC gaming.  It was difficult during the '00s for indie developers to get their games on the shelves of Wal-Mart and Best Buy, but Steam was the perfect outlet for them.

Since then, we have usually seen a few quality of AAA PC games per year as well as a plethora of indie titles, some good and some not.  I would say the PC as a gaming platform today is pretty healthy, but it's a far cry from what it was in 2004.

Does anybody else agree and do you think that the PC peaked as a gaming platform in 2004?

Counterstrike is THE game of the mid-2000s. That game was truly everywhere.

I got to play Sims 2 and World of Warcraft as well. Classics. :)

Another game you forgot to post was Rome: Total War. That game was addictive.  :o

Syberia 2 also had some of the best graphics back then. It's a very interesting point-and-click game. I thought the series was lame when I was little, but I came back to it later and I got hooked. :)

Personally, my PC heydays were 2010-2012. I like the AAA games, but I'm more partial to indie games when it comes to PC gaming, and Steam has provided an amazing platform for that that wasn't available in 2004. That's just my personal opinion though, I can see where you're coming from too. :)

Personally, my PC heydays were 2010-2012. I like the AAA games, but I'm more partial to indie games when it comes to PC gaming, and Steam has provided an amazing platform for that that wasn't available in 2004. That's just my personal opinion though, I can see where you're coming from too. :)


I definitely don't disagree.  In fact, I think indie games saved the PC from extinction as a gaming platform.  In the "dark age" I was referring to, very few AAA games were released for PC and most of those did come out on the platform were half-baked, poorly optimized console ports.  It wasn't a good time to be a PC gamer.  2011+ is much better, though it still hasn't come close to what it was in 2004 in my opinion.