Are Consoles Dead?

[Mr_Man]

With the PS5 and Xbox One xX69Xx coming out probably not cheaper that the current consoles $400-500 range I feel like people are going to take the small jump in price and the huge jump in performance going to PC gamming, I could be completely wrong but I feel like the general public have woken up.  

[Orangeator]

I would hope this was the case, unfortunately you will never change the minds of those who are loyal to their respected consoles. Also, exclusives like the recent spider-man game make it hard to switch...

 

Edit: This is not to say that the PC gaming industry isn't gaining traction, as it is.

[Razor Blade]

If anything, consoles are going to become more popular. There are still a lot of gamers out there that just want to hook a box to their big screen and play E sport titles. Plus like said above, exclusive titles on consoles are also going to cement them into the market.

[iLostMyXbox21]

5 minutes ago, Mr_Man said:

With the PS5 and Xbox One xX69Xx coming out probably not cheaper that the current consoles $400-500 range I feel like people are going to take the small jump in price and the huge jump in performance going to PC gamming, I could be completely wrong but I feel like the general public have woken up.  

if sony and Valve team up.. boom, insta best console.. but NOOOO... sony is a prick who doesn’t wanna share moneys.. 

 

 

#BringSteamToPS4

[ElectricPiilot]

Generally, it seems like the market is swaying more towards PC.

I don't think I could put myself back into the Xbox/PS shackles after building up my Steam library as far as I have... But I do have a Nintendo Switch I love rather dearly. Maybe it's both for a lot of people as well?

[Fasauceome]

As a local system builder, I'm doing my best to convert people to the glorious master race, but console growth still outweighs PC growth by quite a bit. PC gaming has started to get over the stigma of being elitist and hostile (more so than console anyway), especially due to increased demand for cross platform, so there's increased welcomeness to PC gaming among all gamers now.

[Mira Yurizaki]

There's always going to be a market for people who just want something to game on that's stupid easy to set up. Convenience and ease of use is the main driver, not performance.

 

And if not just that, it's where you're playing it. Lots of people don't like the idea of sitting at a desk to play games. Lazing on a couch with a wireless controller in hand is more relaxing.

Edited October 8, 2018 by M.Yurizaki

[Stefan Payne]

40 minutes ago, Mr_Man said:

With the PS5 and Xbox One xX69Xx coming out probably not cheaper that the current consoles $400-500 range I feel like people are going to take the small jump in price and the huge jump in performance going to PC gamming, I could be completely wrong but I feel like the general public have woken up.  

Its not that easy and you are looking at it from the wrong perspective.

The Console lives because of the games that are made for it, not the other way around.

The PC is a multi purpose, open plattform that you should have and probably need anyway...

 

34 minutes ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

if sony and Valve team up.. boom, insta...

...death of the PS4...

Because why get a PS4 when you can play it on a PC as well??

 

The other Problem is that the games are made for the Unified Memory Architecture...

So that might not work well and cause performance problems.

Because the latency of PCIe is just soo much higher than on Consoles...

It might be possible but would require 8GiB VRAM and 8GiB main memory free and have the same stuff in both memory pools.

 

15 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

As a local system builder, I'm doing my best to convert people to the glorious master race, but console growth still outweighs PC growth by quite a bit. PC gaming has started to get over the stigma of being elitist and hostile (more so than console anyway), especially due to increased demand for cross platform, so there's increased welcomeness to PC gaming among all gamers now.

Consoles have their advantage, especially with the proprietary shit that is implemented in some games, I don't want to buy that for PC because of that...

That's why I've gotten SotTR on PS4...

 

Another thing, there aren't really any console size PCs available. The only one is that Chinese one...

The rest is far too overpriced for what you get...

[Stefan Payne]

24 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

There's always going to be a market for people who just want something to game on that's stupid easy to set up. Convenience and ease of use is the main driver, not performance.

 

And if not just that, it's where you're playing it. Lots of people don't like the idea of sitting at a desk to play games. Lazing on a couch with a wireless controller in hand is more relaxing.

There is another thing, though you already named some of them.

1) real consoles boot up within mere seconds, the PS4 for example boots in like 10s or so. Well lets not talk about others...

2) Consoles can bring innovation in input devices like the Wii, the Sixaxis or the PS4 Controller - wich all feature motion controls (accelerometers and Gyyros), the PS4 also got a Touchpad. But also the XBox one Controller with its Trigger vibrators...

 

And the WiiU got a big Tablet Controller thing with touchscreen...

[PineyCreek]

Honestly the draw for me with console gaming has never been that I don't want to deal with potential setup or hardware issues with PC....it's just the consoles have exclusive games that I'd never get to play on PC.  Example, Horizon: Zero Dawn on PS4.  MS made that statement that most games on Xbox One would also be on PC...but have you ever played Gears of War 4 on PC?  It's a poorly optimized PoS.  I still buy loads of games for PC...usually through Steam where I have a refund option.

[EPENEX]

PC gaming is still trash and an unfriendly environment. Consoles will continue to do good.

[tatte]

This thread again, yay!

 

It's good to see that while a couple of big chains have practically overtaken the market of prebuilt PCs in Finland, one of them is now using PCMark 10 and games to categorise PCs, it's a good step into the right direction. Your other options beyond those two are random remnants of PC sections in grocery markets (dying out) or actual speciality stores, where the clerks may even talk you into custom PCs. Speciality stores are usually located in shady, inconvenient locations, so not many people end up there unless they know what they are doing.

 

There's however still a lot of education that needs to happen. Imagine you have just picked up your first personal computer. Now what? You need to know several things out of the box, things that the brown cardboard box the PC came in doesn't explain. If you assume you're supposed to buy PC games the same way you buy games for consoles, it's not going to feel very competitive. This is an issue that'll most likely completely disappear with new generations of people, thankfully.

 

What I'd love to see is these big home appliance stores figuring out a way to start selling customised PCs: "You want a gaming PC? Here's a list of configurations we can offer, let me talk you through it." They could build their own brand while they're at it, never mind what parts are actually inside. I'm sure a multinational company could get someone to sell them decent barebones. Throw in a collaboration with any digital games store and you have a beginning of something beautiful. (Microsoft is playing their cards so wrong with the bloatware and Start menu ads.) 

 

Meanwhile you can buy a PS4 while you're running for milk. It's already very polished and straightforward. Heck, all you'd probably need to do is display a row of PC boxes in colourful sleeves full of pictures of games. That alone could sell a ton of PCs in place of consoles.

 

Consoles are not going to die, nor should they. But let's imagine a situation where a family of five figures their PS4 just isn't enough for the whole family anymore, there should be other considerations than getting a second PS4 for the upstairs TV. (Nah, who am I kidding. Consoles will die. PCs will die. In 2020 iPhone gaming is the only true way of gaming. Legislation already pending, buy yours while the stock lasts.)

[iLostMyXbox21]

7 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

Because why get a PS4 when you can play it on a PC as well??

some people can not afford a PC that can run the kind of games PS4 can

 

honestly, they should make something LIKE steam, where people can upload games onto it for other people to play on PS4..

 

maybe it it can be called “PS4 Developer Store”

 

 

[Ross Siggers]

Quote

Are consoles dead

no.

 

[Totallycasual]

I cant for the life of me understand why anyone would be happy about or wish that consoles would die, i have a good gaming PC and it'll always be my preferred place to play games but there's just too many awesome exclusives for Playstation to ignore.  In my opinion the best way to be is to have a good PC, then a Playstation for the Sony exclusives and a Switch if you're into Nintendo stuff. 

 

The gaming industry wouldn't be what it is today without consoles, much like "hardcore" gamer types hating on casuals, without the casuals we'd all be fucked.

 

On the topic of graphics comparisons, if you look at the Digital Foundry videos where they compare the top tier consoles and PC versions of games its really hard to pick, sure you can pause and zoom in to see some extra jaggies or notices some different textures or pop ins but at normal viewing distances back on your sofa the major difference is the lower FPS, i don't know about you but i'll be thoroughly enjoining Red Dead 2 in a couple of weeks time, i don't care if it'll be 30 FPS and 4k ish (dynamic resolution?), i think it looks amazing. 

[Stefan Payne]

7 hours ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

some people can not afford a PC that can run the kind of games PS4 can

That's bullshit.

A Radeon HD7850 or 7870 is around 50€ right now.

And a somewhat usable PC is also around 100-250€. The Problem is that you need to know someone who knows his shit about PC and doesn't care about AMD/nVidia or AMD/Intel because the better deals are on the AMD Side...

 

7 hours ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

honestly, they should make something LIKE steam, where people can upload games onto it for other people to play on PS4..

They already have something like that.

Its called Playstation NOW.

But you still need to buy a PS4 Controller for it.

 

7 hours ago, iLostMyXbox21 said:

maybe it it can be called “PS4 Developer Store”

Are you talking about Playstation NOW??

[iLostMyXbox21]

1 minute ago, Stefan Payne said:

The Problem is that you need to know someone who knows his shit about PC and doesn't care about AMD/nVidia or AMD/Intel because the better deals are on the AMD Side...

some people do not know people who knows how to build a pc

[SupremeGOAT]

well xbox dead... i play xbox games on my pc... but ghost of tsushima...last of us 2... erm no...i got both switch emulators tho <:D 

[Mira Yurizaki]

On another note, if you ask this question you may as well ask "Are system builders dead?"

[wuod]

  Consoles will always be the main choice for kids 5-13

Anyway consoles will always be the first choice for some, anyway less and less people are switching because they find no need to upgrade because they are areadly satified with what they have most of the time. Anyway if its a console user's first time looking at a Custom PC they will normally think its too complicated or expensive.

Its like convincing a Apple user to use Android or a Android user to use Android.

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, wuod said:

  Consoles will always be the main choice for kids 5-13

That's bullshit.

Because Kids at the age of 5-9 should play in the sandbox or do other stuff and not play videogames.

1 hour ago, wuod said:

consoles will always be the first choice for some,

Yes, because of the input devices and that here real innovation can take place.

Just loot at the spary minigames of Infamous Second Son. 

Because the XBox and the PC doesn't support that, its not implemented in multi plattform titles...

 

1 hour ago, wuod said:

if its a console user's first time looking at a Custom PC they will normally think its too complicated or expensive.

Yes, a decent gaming PC is new relatively expensive. Even my PC is at around 1375€uros.

And that isn't even that gooda PC and only has a ~250€ GPU (RX480).

For that I could get all three consoles in the premium version and even have a bit money for the games...

 

That is true...

1 hour ago, wuod said:

Its like convincing a Apple user to use Android or a Android user to use Android.

No, as a PC makes sense anyway. You can play some older games with a modern low end PC, probably in higher quality than last gen consoles...

Drakengard 3 doesn't look that good or runs that well. Its a great game but doesn't run that well...

[Ross Siggers]

12 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

A Radeon HD7850 or 7870 is around 50€ right now.

And a somewhat usable PC is also around 100-250€.

You're implying a desktop with that card will run games and have them look as good as their console counterparts? Because that's bullshit too. Games on PC just aren't(and can't) be optimised the way console hardware and software is.

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, Ross Siggers said:

You're implying a desktop with that card will run games and have them look as good as their console counterparts?

Around that area of the normal consoles, premium are of course a bit faster...

Quote

Because that's bullshit too.

Any proof of that??

Or just some claims?

Quote

Games on PC just aren't(and can't) be optimised the way console hardware and software is.

Now that's just really bullshit.

They use the same code!

Just on different plattforms, Consoles and PC are closer than ever!

 

Wanna proof?
here you go:
https://gamegpu.com/racing-simulators-/-гонки/forza-horizon-4-demo-test-gpu-cpu

 

R7-370 is somewhere in the ballpark of the card I mentioned and guess what - it runs at 30fps average, 25fps minimum in the Forza Horizon Demo. Settings on XBox are a bit lower though, look at the Digital Foundry Video, they guessed the settings for that...

 

The Premium ones are in the ballpark of the RX480 or 580, one X GPU probably a bit more. And the RX580 is already darn close to the GTX 1070...

 

[Ross Siggers]

3 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

Around that area of the normal consoles, premium are of course a bit faster...

Any proof of that??

Or just some claims?

That part is mostly theorising on my part admittedly, but seeing how the HD6850 in my backup rig runs Hitman like a slideshow on minimum settings, I'm struggling to believe the next generation up AMD card is a big enough leap to run it the way a PS4 does. Infact, the xbox one gpu is rated as just above the 6850 according to TechPowerup(link further down). The way I see it, On comparable hardware, imho a console will always run a game better.

 

 

Quote

Now that's just really bullshit.

They use the same code!

Just on different plattforms, Consoles and PC are closer than ever!

Yes, they are closer, but there's simply no denying hardware that is more optimised for a single purpose than a PC perform better. Infact, that's the very benefit of having a desktop in the first place. The m-u-l-t-i-t-a-s-k-i-n-g a-n-d f-l-e-x-i-b-i-l-i-t-y.

 

Quote

R7-370 is somewhere in the ballpark of the card I mentioned and guess what - it runs at 30fps average, 25fps minimum in the Forza Horizon Demo. Settings on XBox are a bit lower though, look at the Digital Foundry Video, they guessed the settings for that...

First off, the R7 370 is anywhere up to 30% faster than the HD7850 in gaming benchmarks, and also still a margin ahead of the 7850 you mentioned previously. So I'm taking that article with a pinch of salt.  But I will also say, that Forza is one of the biggest budget, Microsoft backed developments in gaming atm. Of course it's going to be well optimised into windows.

 

But even then...I looked at the Russian website article, and it really doesn't reflect well on your above statement. So what you're saying a card that's faster than the one in the Xbox One, will run the game on PC and have it looking far worse, at the same framerate? Have you seen the console version of the game? It looks great, not sure what they've done with the settings but it's definitely prettier than the minimum spec images in that article. So as far as i can tell, all that Microsoft backed optimisation will still only get you so far...

I still stand by my opinion that a console will run the same game better than an apples to apples PC, that's not designed for such a singular purpose.

 

But it's also worth noting that the gap can be closed considerably with a well developed port. It can be make or break the PC experience. Assassins Creed Black Flag is a great game, but it's optimisation is like ass, it should run better than it does on PC's. And finally, let's look at the internets favorite punching bag....GTA IV. I had a 3rd gen i7 system with a GTX680 and it still ran...somewhat mediocre. But the same system could max out GTAV in all it's glory.

 

So it is possible to get very close.

EDIT:
 

Quote

Another thing, there aren't really any console size PCs available. The only one is that Chinese one...

The rest is far too overpriced for what you get...

Whaddya mean there are some amazing SFF builds out there... or are you purely referring to prebuilts. Because they're no fun  
 

[TacoSenpai]

Depends if you asked me that say 3-4 years ago then I would have said yes for the simple fact that consoles are becoming less plug and play and more like PCs with endless patches, multimedia focus, and limited upgradability.  Furthermore, when you have midgen upgrades like the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X then I think thats very telling of them not being able to offer the value they might have a decade ago. 

 

Then the Switch happened.  Not to ride Nintendo's dick here too much but whether you like or hate em it was a great idea.  A snappy minimal OS that can play console games on the go seamlessly is a great idea that they executed well and I would not be surprised to see Sony or MS try to do so in the future.