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PC games are created by one or more  game developers , often in conjunction with other specialists (such as  game artists ) and either published independently or through a third party  publisher . They may then be distributed on physical media such as  DVDs  and CDs, as Internet-downloadable, possibly  freely redistributable , software, or through online delivery services such as  Direct2Drive  and  Steam . PC games often require specialized hardware in the user's computer in order to play, such as a specific generation of  graphics processing unit  or an Internet connection for online play, although these  system requirements  vary from game to game.

PC games are usually built around a central piece of software, known as a  game engine ,   [ 38 ]    that simplifies the development process and enables developers to easily port their projects between platforms. Unlike most consoles, which generally only run major engines such as  Unreal Engine 3  and  RenderWare  due to restrictions on  open-source software  [   citation needed   ] , personal computers may run games developed using a larger range of software. As such, a number of alternatives to expensive engines have become available, including  open source  solutions such as  Crystal Space , or  OGRE .

PC games are typically sold on standard storage media, such as  compact discs , DVD, and  floppy disks .   [ 42 ]    These were originally passed on to customers through  mail order  services,   [ 43 ]    although retail distribution has replaced it as the main distribution channel for video games due to higher sales.   [ 44 ]     Cassette tapes    [ 45 ]    and different formats of  floppy disks  were initially the staple storage media of the 1980s and early 1990s, but have fallen out of practical use as the increasing sophistication of PC games raised the overall size of the game's data and program files.

Better hardware also increases the potential fidelity of a PC game's rules and simulation. PC games often support more players or  NPCs  than equivalents on other platforms   [ 36 ]    and game designs which depend on the simulation of large numbers of tokens (e.g.   Total War  ,   Spore  ,   Dwarf Fortress  ) are rarely seen anywhere else.

The introduction of complex  graphics engines  in recent times has resulted in additional storage requirements for modern games, and thus an increasing interest in CDs and DVDs as the next compact storage media for PC games. The rising popularity of DVD drives in modern PCs, and the larger capacity of the new media (a single-layer DVD can hold up to 4.7  gigabytes  of data, more than five times as much as a single CD), have resulted in their adoption as a format for computer game distribution.