Well they bought all the game studios and then closed them, so there won’t be any games to play anyway.
There was never a reason to buy a console for the last few generations. PC tech has grown beyond the bounds of whatever consoles could offer now, and it's pretty clear that all of the console players are trying really hard to lock you in an expensive ecosystem. New controllers, new live services, new games that you rent only for that console.
Meanwhile, Gabe's strategy with Steam is to do almost nothing and continue winning.
I mean, at least for me, Nintendo had actually interesting hardware that made gameplay different than just "use a controller/keyboard". This is evident in how much mock hardware exists for the DS/3DS, because emulating those games on a single screen fucking sucks (I played KH 358/2 days on PC emulator and despised it). Even when you emulate Wii and WiiU games, using a mouse can't feel the same as actually holding a Wii remote. Had Nintendo not cheaped out on the Joycons, we would've used them and loved it. And obviously the Steam Deck was inspired by the Switch, as consumers themselves say they like being able to play PC games anywhere.
I just worry that going "Pc only" will remove the chances of having creative hardware that actually makes use of it's form factor when gaming. And just because PC is more free compared to consoles doesn't mean it's perfect or will stay that way. Check this blog someone shared recently.
PC hardware is prohibitively expensive right now; if you dont already have one built then youre looking at 2,000 USD at a minimum to play new games. Its a big ask for casuals who may see 900 for a ps5 as a bargain. Of course, its not actually a bargain when you think about modding and piracy and the lower game prices but humans are short sighted creatures.
Agreed but it's these fucking corpos. Look at Xbox people talking then look at M$ people negating all of it. I can’t even understand why someone would risk their career to work at Xbox anymore. They are going to announce a $1000 console with only five games in the next two years. How is that even a plan?
The only reasonable course is for devs to focus on sustainable media which is pc and sadly, Nintendo. But AI bros are trying to make that a bleak future too.
I'm leaning this way for the first time in decades. I've had every Playstation console from the beginning, plus Xbox and Nintendo systems here and there. As the indie game market has evolved in the past 5-10 years, I've found my playing preferences transition away from big, detailed, AA/A, as I'm sure many others have as well. I bought a Steam OS Legion Go last year and have been enchanted by the flexibility of PC gaming, even as it's limited for me to what can be played on a handheld.
I strongly disagree with any notion that consoles have had no value comparable to PCs for years. I think PC gamers vastly underestimate the value of being able to one-click purchase a console, pull it out of the box, plug it in, and play. I've explored gaming PC purchases since I bought the Legion, and there is a comparably steep commitment required to research CPUs, GPUs, storage, cooling, and RAM, and how their combination will affect performance and longevity. You can buy pre-built, but you're looking at roughly $1k for a lower mid-level machine, plus peripherals and maintenance. Perhaps this is part of the fun for some people, but it's definitely a barrier for many.
On the other hand, the distance between PCs and consoles continues to widen, where the newly released PS5 was only barely a good value for its power compared to PCs when it released and quickly fell behind again. Similarly, I've enjoyed being able to experiment with games I wouldn't otherwise have played via the Playstation Plus catalog, but no subscription media service has ever maintained or increased its value over time, and Sony has already raised prices while the quality of its offerings continues to wane. And of course the abandonment of physical media means that we are further locked into an already tight ecosystem.
Ultimately, one of the big reasons I'm finally considering a PC purchase in place of the next console generation is that I've been playing with a home media server the past couple years and recently migrated to Linux Mint. My confidence level with feeling capable of managing a PC effectively has grown enough that the aforementioned barrier feels less intimidating. Hopefully the Steam Machine will close the gap for some console players feeling similarly, but the inability to upgrade the GPU feels too big a deal when I could just make the slightly longer leap to an actual PC.
It's funny, the Steam Machine has a weird identity problem.
We talk about it like it's a PC, and what a detriment it is to not be able to upgrade the GPU, like why else do you have a PC. But you can't upgrade console GPU's either. And it's still a plug-in-and-play box, no building required.
We also talk about it like it's a console, and what a detriment it is that a console costs over a thousand dollars and is digital-only. But the next generation consoles are almost certainly going to be as expensive if not more, with no disc drive either.
The SM is a glass half full and a glass half empty. It's the best of both consoles and PC's, or the worst of both worlds.
and there is a comparably steep commitment required to research CPUs, GPUs, storage, cooling, and RAM, and how their combination will affect performance and longevity
I mean those same things affect consoles too, you just don't get a choice. Sony prioritized keeping the PS5 quiet so the CPU and GPU run pretty warm. If you add an SSD it's just hot boxing itself in that awful enclosure. You can always just yolo it like you would when buying a console. Then if it's bad on a PC you at least have the option to fix it.
Understood, and I concede the benefit of being able to choose and fix on a PC, it's definitely better. But it's almost more of a difference in perception. For someone unfamiliar with PC builds, it's not a matter of not having a choice but not having to choose or having to fix anything. It's the promise that it will work on its own (notwithstanding the reality of hardware failures in general).
I'd argue that my seriesX upgrade was pointless
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