id Software would go PC-only if it could

consoles pay the bills because to installed base of plug n play console is a sure bet. That's the problem with PC, i've done PC gaming since PC's could move a sprite around the screen, but the main problem with PC gaming is that it's wildly difficult to run the latest game off the shelf with the variable system requirements. PC developer's always make games for the PC requiring almost the same specs as the development PC to get the game to even run half way decent... Consoles are easy you go into the store or buy off line and the game is assured to meet the system requirements and run... PC's wildly vary based on System, Chip, Memory, OS, connection speed, Graphic Card and a slew of other complex system setups including but not limited to even your anti-virus software... PC's are like the car owner who drives the overpriced and expensive sports car, and consoles are like the everyday Toyota Corolla driver... 

well if we talk about Rage for PC..It sucks! seriously, I enjoyed more Borderlands, Rage was a bad copy PC port from the consoles...What happened there ID Soft? I was a believer, I came with the old crew since wolfenstein!

I'm happy ID is trying to learn from Skyrim which has such a strong PC community, build that again like in quake Arena; I have an eye on you Id

HALF of the sales of all playable ports sounds like a good reason to stick with the {C to me. It also costs way less then half to dump the consoles and just develop for the PC.

Red Dead Redemption and Rage not as different as you think.  How can you put cars with guns into Red Dead Redemption and the game suck so bad?  That's the $500,000,000 dollar question If not more.   

"Look at Rage [sales], we had what, less than half went to the PC? Most of it was 360, PS3. You need to go to the installed base."

That's because Rage was a console game that was badly ported to the PC.  And haven't games like Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein, which for the large part have been PC only, covered the "bills" so far?

I loved Rage, I couldn't bind numpad 5 which gaves me wankers cramp cos I had to use Numpad 2 instead to go backwards and it didn't look anywhere near as good as I expected on PC but other than that I thought it was the dogs danglies, I do wish they wouldn't keep us waiting for so long but I guess they're trying to go for quality over quantity.

Im sure many devs would like that. Sadly piracy is out of control on the PC. Its too easy and almost no risks involved. "Why pay when you can get it for free!" - a bunch of people.

LOL

Wolf3D, Doom, Doom 2, Quake, Quake 2, Quake 3 and Doom 3 PAYED THE BILLS.

RAGE scored bad sales because it was a piss poor broken console garbage port for PC, didn't even worked without specific drivers and most AMD users still have issues today.

Also, Tech 5 is garbage compared to Tech 3 and 4, we know you developed a LAZY engine to make it run decently on 8 years old hardware. That's not was id was used to do, that's not what fans expected, that's not the way you're going to get better sales.

Carmack just screwed everything and the hate is well deserved.

Now try, just try, to don't f*** up everything with Doom 4, even if you're going to use that crappy engine again.

Unlike some others, I really enjoyed Rage...but the ending was so bad and completely lackluster, I keep wondering when they will do a DLC to fix it...and it worked fine on my PC...I only found out afterward that people had problems with it..so...

I think they should check their math. I'll bet they spent more than half of their time making sure Rage would work well on consoles, while not giving PC its proper focus. They could have released a better game for PC only in half the time, and probably have more sales. Oh well - it's their business.

rage was short, boring and not even truely open world once you clear a mission dungon you could really go back and nothing was there but dead space. and some lame car combat

It's twice as bad for id these days. Can't make hardcore twitch shooters anymore because console control schemes don't allow dynamic movement, and because the modern shooter player won't be interested in it anyways.Before all they had to worry about was the military shooter take over, now they also have to worry about making their games work on a pad. It's like giving Rachmaninov a cowbell.So what's their plan these days? Try and make it look pretty and cross their fingers.

Rage ran much better on console than it did on PC. Plus the whole driving part wasn't all that fun. ...I own both a 360 and an i7/6870hd PC and I prefer my 360 because I like kicking back on the couch with a big screen....In 2012 you can't make serious money going PC only without the game being either always on internet or mostly multiplayer because your game will be pirated up the yin yang.....I just wish the next gen console specs that are leaking looked better. 

Didnt buy rage after the texture balogna fiasco that burned PC gamers : |

If Rage hadn't been so lackluster and broken on the PC, it would have done MUCH better in sales. Don't try and tease the fans with statements like these when you guys fail to deliver any quality beyond a shiny coat of paint and good shotguns.

These discussions about PC power is silly. I can come up with a bunch of reasons for the state of the PC market that doesn't involve consoles at all (massive shift to cartoony graphics to appeal to Chinese markets, mainstreaming for old computers, pirates killing all but the biggest devs and crippling the few talented small devs, appealing to casual audiences, etc). I mean, yeesh, consoles are the LEAST of your worries. If it weren't for the above problems, PC devs might not feel like they have to port their games.

PC gamers don't like console ports, console gamers don't love PC ports, but they will put up with it. id should stick to PC and crank out an opus.

Develop for PC, port to console.  NOT the other way around.

You know, one of these days people are going to figure out that throwing more horsepower at sloppy code just means that you're powering through sloppy code with a better CPU and not actually working with what most people actually have at home.

Well, that might explain the big F U at the end of rage. It started great but it gave up on its self. maybe like ID did on console gaming. The same consoles that fund their creative minds. PC gaming is fine. consoles are way easier and like each consoles is a giant step forward. rage and battlefield 3 are impressive on console. outstanding on pc. but on the whole everyone gets a bad product when you want is the next thing.

Great. More fuel for trivial console wars.