People have been telling me that consoles are dying and everyone will play on PC instead for over 30 years. The convenience factor of the all-in-one hardware, and the supported lifetime of the platform, can't be understated. I can see docked phones being a replacement at some point. But I'd be surprised if PCs ever squash out consoles.
Aside from convenience, the price really is a lot cheaper than equivalent PCs. An RTX 4070 alone costs as much as a playstation 5 (with disc), and that comes with a controller too.
But you don't really need a 4070 for gaming. Just like you don't need a F150 to drive to work (most people don't at least). Plenty of lower end hardware does the job well. Over the course of the systems lifetime a PC can be very competitive in terms of prices for games. And it can be used for more than just gaming.
That's not really a fair comparison though. The ps5 has nowhere near the gpu power of a 4070. The PS5 is equal to like a low-mid range PC. Also console players are paying yearly subscription fees to play multiplayer. Plus you can think of the display as a cost as well. You need a monitor or TV, just like a PC. PC is likely more expensive overall, but not by as much as people think. Plus PC gives you so many perks over consoles. So you're getting a ton more functionality for your money. It's really not a HUGE DEAL to get a console once you factor these things in. Deal, sure. But not a huge deal.
Im a lifelong PC enthusiast, but I recently bought a PS5.
The amount of games you can play instantly with 14€ a month is overwhelming!
I could never build A equivalent Pc for the same price.
I came to realize that I prefer picking up the ps5 controller and get a game started in less than 30~ seconds instead of gaming on my PC.
Game passes exist for PC as well, and offer even more variety there.
Boot time should never take 30sec on PC as well. But most consoles are actually not much faster in boot and loading times. People tend to compare a PC booting from cold with a console just booting from sleep/hibernation mode.
Boot times on PC however can easily be further optimized, especially when not using Windows for gaming. A gaming Linux distro will be faster by leagues, even in a cold start.
I think in the near future, game-passes will cost one AAA game per month. Otherwise, I don't see how it will be sustainable business. Microsoft has already started increasing the price.
I hope it doesn't happen though.
Game Pass owners fired the people who made Hi-Fi Rush, so I wouldn’t expect many bangers from them in the coming months.
I don't understand this at all. You can get game pass or something on PC as well. That isn't a console only benefit.
My argument is that gaming on ps5 is cheaper and more convenient than on PC.
I referenced the game pass because games tend to be cheaper on PC in general.
The availability of a game pass equalizes the price for gaming and makes buying games on PS5 obsolete for me.
But game pass is available on PC too... Are you not understanding that?
I guess I see your argument? I don't really agree though - read my other comments.
PC is already larger than active users on both PlayStations combined, and it didn't used to be that way. Given the Steam Deck and what Microsoft have been saying about handhelds and their next console(s), you're looking at a very real possibility that the next Xbox is just a PC with a different UI, like the Steam Deck.
isn't the steam deck much closer to a console than a PC?
It's honestly the best of both worlds. A well built and tested hardware platform with well known specs and manufacturer support, that's capable of running any third party software at the drop of a hat
Not really? Conceptually maybe. But if you can install whatever OS you want and aren't forced to use official distribution methods then that seems pretty PC to me
Steam Deck is just Linux... It's the same as installing Linux with Steam. And run Proton via Steam.
Now we're in philosophical territory with questions like, "What is a console?" It runs PC games, but you can navigate it with a controller. It has most console features but is malleable enough to have most PC features.
sure, it's a spectrum. but to me the biggest defining feature of a console is being a self-contained wad of hardware, unable to be upgraded or repaired piece by piece.
Then it arguably isn't that either. They give you full instructions on how to repair and upgrade it, and they partnered with iFixIt. People have modded in more storage, battery life, and better screens. Personally, I think I draw the line at the part where it runs the same executables as any other PC, so I'll call it a PC.
Wow, it's been 40 years since I played on a spectrum.
I upgraded my Steamdeck joysticks to a 3rd party with hall effect sensors, the ssd to one with double the capacity, and the fan to one that is silent. There's people that have upgraded even more things, to the point of using a pcie flat cable to connect a full pcie GPU card.
Those are two different things
being a self-contained wad of hardware
Steam Deck checks this, but so do laptops, raspberry pis and smartphones.
unable to be upgraded or repaired piece by piece.
Again Steam Deck is almost as upgradable and repairable as a laptop, and more repairable than a raspberry pi or a smartphone.
So that definition of console doesn't work, otherwise raspberry pies, laptops, and especially phones would also be consoles. The differentiating factor is locking of the system with the hardware, in that sense Apple is more "console-like" than non-Apple competitors. Also The primary function of a gaming console must be gaming.
With those two extra points the Steam Deck hits one but misses the other. It is primarily for gaming, but the system is not locked down, you can change it how you want and even remove it entirely and put a different one.
So with any definition you can find the Steam Deck is not quite a console, but it does provide a console experience, so it's in a weird space.
Yeah, but now you can buy an all-in-one convenient PC to plug on your TV with almost 100% retro compatibility, it's called the Steam Deck and it's awesome.
I left my steam deck but it's no replacement for an actually high-end PC
But it is a replacement for a console like I told the person I replied to.
People have been telling me that consoles are dying and everyone will play on PC instead for over 30 years. The convenience factor of the all-in-one hardware, and the supported lifetime of the platform, can't be understated. I can see docked phones being a replacement at some point. But I'd be surprised if PCs ever squash out consoles.
Aside from convenience, the price really is a lot cheaper than equivalent PCs. An RTX 4070 alone costs as much as a playstation 5 (with disc), and that comes with a controller too.
But you don't really need a 4070 for gaming. Just like you don't need a F150 to drive to work (most people don't at least). Plenty of lower end hardware does the job well. Over the course of the systems lifetime a PC can be very competitive in terms of prices for games. And it can be used for more than just gaming.
That's not really a fair comparison though. The ps5 has nowhere near the gpu power of a 4070. The PS5 is equal to like a low-mid range PC. Also console players are paying yearly subscription fees to play multiplayer. Plus you can think of the display as a cost as well. You need a monitor or TV, just like a PC. PC is likely more expensive overall, but not by as much as people think. Plus PC gives you so many perks over consoles. So you're getting a ton more functionality for your money. It's really not a HUGE DEAL to get a console once you factor these things in. Deal, sure. But not a huge deal.
Im a lifelong PC enthusiast, but I recently bought a PS5.
The amount of games you can play instantly with 14€ a month is overwhelming!
I could never build A equivalent Pc for the same price.
I came to realize that I prefer picking up the ps5 controller and get a game started in less than 30~ seconds instead of gaming on my PC.
Game passes exist for PC as well, and offer even more variety there.
Boot time should never take 30sec on PC as well. But most consoles are actually not much faster in boot and loading times. People tend to compare a PC booting from cold with a console just booting from sleep/hibernation mode.
Boot times on PC however can easily be further optimized, especially when not using Windows for gaming. A gaming Linux distro will be faster by leagues, even in a cold start.
I think in the near future, game-passes will cost one AAA game per month. Otherwise, I don't see how it will be sustainable business. Microsoft has already started increasing the price. I hope it doesn't happen though.
Game Pass owners fired the people who made Hi-Fi Rush, so I wouldn’t expect many bangers from them in the coming months.
I don't understand this at all. You can get game pass or something on PC as well. That isn't a console only benefit.
My argument is that gaming on ps5 is cheaper and more convenient than on PC.
I referenced the game pass because games tend to be cheaper on PC in general.
The availability of a game pass equalizes the price for gaming and makes buying games on PS5 obsolete for me.
But game pass is available on PC too... Are you not understanding that?
I guess I see your argument? I don't really agree though - read my other comments.
PC is already larger than active users on both PlayStations combined, and it didn't used to be that way. Given the Steam Deck and what Microsoft have been saying about handhelds and their next console(s), you're looking at a very real possibility that the next Xbox is just a PC with a different UI, like the Steam Deck.
isn't the steam deck much closer to a console than a PC?
It's honestly the best of both worlds. A well built and tested hardware platform with well known specs and manufacturer support, that's capable of running any third party software at the drop of a hat
Not really? Conceptually maybe. But if you can install whatever OS you want and aren't forced to use official distribution methods then that seems pretty PC to me
Steam Deck is just Linux... It's the same as installing Linux with Steam. And run Proton via Steam.
Now we're in philosophical territory with questions like, "What is a console?" It runs PC games, but you can navigate it with a controller. It has most console features but is malleable enough to have most PC features.
sure, it's a spectrum. but to me the biggest defining feature of a console is being a self-contained wad of hardware, unable to be upgraded or repaired piece by piece.
Then it arguably isn't that either. They give you full instructions on how to repair and upgrade it, and they partnered with iFixIt. People have modded in more storage, battery life, and better screens. Personally, I think I draw the line at the part where it runs the same executables as any other PC, so I'll call it a PC.
Wow, it's been 40 years since I played on a spectrum.
I upgraded my Steamdeck joysticks to a 3rd party with hall effect sensors, the ssd to one with double the capacity, and the fan to one that is silent. There's people that have upgraded even more things, to the point of using a pcie flat cable to connect a full pcie GPU card.
Those are two different things
Steam Deck checks this, but so do laptops, raspberry pis and smartphones.
Again Steam Deck is almost as upgradable and repairable as a laptop, and more repairable than a raspberry pi or a smartphone.
So that definition of console doesn't work, otherwise raspberry pies, laptops, and especially phones would also be consoles. The differentiating factor is locking of the system with the hardware, in that sense Apple is more "console-like" than non-Apple competitors. Also The primary function of a gaming console must be gaming.
With those two extra points the Steam Deck hits one but misses the other. It is primarily for gaming, but the system is not locked down, you can change it how you want and even remove it entirely and put a different one.
So with any definition you can find the Steam Deck is not quite a console, but it does provide a console experience, so it's in a weird space.
Yeah, but now you can buy an all-in-one convenient PC to plug on your TV with almost 100% retro compatibility, it's called the Steam Deck and it's awesome.
I left my steam deck but it's no replacement for an actually high-end PC
But it is a replacement for a console like I told the person I replied to.
Can't if they don't sell in your country