The Console Wars Are Over: XBox and Sony Both Lost
(www.youtube.com)
Comments (65)
sorted by:
PC and Switch (or just emulate the switch) has been the go to for the past 7 years or so. Sony is only making "cinematic" ugly woke games, and Microsoft has been busy throwing money at companies to put stuff on gamepass for PC.
Literally the only major company putting significant effort to develop fun or interesting games is Nintendo. Not every one is a major success, but more often than not they're at least enjoyable.
I respect nintendo. Their main IP has minimum woke and not much microtransactions.
Although.. like japan i suspect its changing. With more women and die being hired.
They're also starting to embrace the concepts of paywalls and games as a service. Eventually financial fatigue with consumers will set in and churn rate will become a problem. You don't get that on PC (at least yet regarding the Windows and Mac platforms).
I will say a lot of their stuff nowadays is not worth the price they charge.
You can get stuff like Zelda Breath of the Wild pre-packaged with a Switch emulator on torrent websites.
PC master race.
I bought a relatively cheap laptop with integrated graphics and 8GB RAM and it runs enough good games.
Heck, a cheap tablet + SNES emulator and you have awesome RPGs at your fingertips ( platformers / action games like Donkey Kong Country I, II and III are too clumsy withouth physical input though. Plenty of cheap controlers to choose from if you want to anyway. ).
The stupidest part is that games like Ghost of Tsushima show that you can make a cinematic game filled with zero whites and plenty of girlbosses, and it still be great with nobody hating it. To the point that people were willing to triple dip on the PC port until Sony did Sony things.
Good. Fuck em both.
It makes sense. They've become nothing more than underpowered gaming PCs. They barely have exclusives anymore, and they are mostly forgettable , outright terrible, or timed only.
It's been a fucking SPEED RUN of all major studios on who can fuck themselves with a rusty iron pole faster.
Think we are finally hitting an implosion in the gaming industry and even Nintendo will suffer some damage thanks to their American division.
Are we sure it's not an implosion in most sectors of the economy, all the fake jobs and DIE and infinite growth needs to end sometime?
Yes but it's more noticeable in entertainment and unlike something like Boeing, I'm not scared to talk about it openly...
Buy (or build) a decent console sized mini for <$400. Put bazzite os on it.
Run all the games. All of them. Fuck PS5 and XBOX.
Is it actually usable for a moron like me who always runs into obscure issues every time I try Linux?
Last time I tried Linux Mint there was horrible mouse acceleration and no solutions in searches.
I'm pretty sure that's just the core Linux experience.
Not having sorted out mouse drivers or settings is a pretty big nope for me.
Why aren't there classes taught on running a business based on Nintendo?
Because that takes 40 years of good-will to build. Nintendo is trading on characters, IPs and brands that they've had since the 80s and 90s: that's where they make their money, and they've tended that garden well. Even if Sony and Microsoft flipped the switch on wokeness and shitty business practices tomorrow, it would take them decades to build up the kind of trust that Nintendo has with its customers.
Also, Sony and Microsoft don't have any characters to really use. Sony makes new mascots every console, and Microsfts can be described as Gun Guy.
They HAD mascots. Crash and Spryo and Spike. Sly and Ratchet and Jak. The problem is they didn't treat the franchises like things worth maintaining and let them go to waste, or slip through their fingers. It's sad, really.
Microsoft in particular had Halo. Talk about a golden IP down the drain. It was THE modern sci fi for a while.
Apogee/3D Realms always has a special place in my heart for the Duke Nukem IP. Loved the 2D and first 3D games.
I think the second 2D game started with Duke Nukem being on Oprah Winfrey pitching his book "Why I'm so great" lol!
Yeah Duke 1 was nigh unplayable and really just an awful all-around platform shooter. I mean, you can play through it, but it really does suck.
It was Duke Nukem 2 where they really nailed his personality and the game played really well. Fun levels, good shooting, and great controls. Ironically, it could have stayed a 2D platformer and still probably would have become very successful had they anchored a third game on that concept, but I'm glad they bit the bullet and went big with Duke 3D, as it was a perfect way to challenge all the stale Doom clones that were saturating the market at the time.
Yeah, each generation brought a new mascot.
Sony is known as the californian console that censors asian games and almost killed helldiver. Xbox.. well xbox has game pass i guess. And i guess they have the "first black female ceo for a gaming company".
Based if True.
The original One was underpowered. I did upgrade to a One X and it was decent as consoles go. It's still my goto for couch gaming. But I've never even considered buying one of the new ones with the increasingly confusing names, and mostly play on PC these days. I have such a massive library of Xbox games though, between Gold and things I bought, I don't want to abandon it entirely.
Checking wikipedia, if you disregard handhelds, PS4 is the second best selling games console of all time, and is still selling.
PS5 is struggling (compared to previous gens) for various reasons, but has obliterated the XBox.
The PS4 still has games coming out for it, despite the PS5 being at the end of its lifecycle according to Sony.
No matter how people feel about it, its probably one of the most successful and long lasting consoles in history
"the decade I spent as a child is the best decade in history, objectively" <--- this faggot
All this could have been avoided if the guy that screwed the dreamcast got kicked down a pit.
Death to all consoles and their developers!
Funnily enough - my next big gaming expenditure is going to be for a Commodore 65.
Even the cheapest gaming PC costs double a console, and if you want something good you're looking at 3x-10x the price. Then you have to upgrade every 5 years minimum.
My current gaming PC was built in 2014, it's on its second set of HDD/SSDs, second set of RAM, and 3rd video card. For the same money I spent on it over that time I could have bought 4-5 PS5s. You can't deny consoles provide value for the money. Steamdeck is a viable alt though, and if someone makes 'Steam consoles' it's over for Xbox/Sony.
As opposed to what? Replacing a console every 2/3 ish years if/when it breaks and the same 5 years when a new generation comes out? Even baseline models didn't actually last that long as various redesigns would come out and replace things.
The original PS is a 5th gen console from 1994, so in 30 years there have been "5" PS consoles averaging 6 years with shit maths. I say shit maths because in reality the original PSX was released in 1994 before the redesigned, compact PS One came out in 2000. Still 6 years though, right? Except the models afterwards whittle those numbers down fast.
Original PS2: released in 2000 with the Slimline model 4 years later in 2004. PS3: 2006/2009/2012, PS4: 2013/2016/2016, PS5: 2020/2023.
So that's 12 different PS models in 30 years, bringing the shit math average down to a measly 2.5 years. Even just 2.5 years in terms of computer developments is a lot, so 30 years is going to be beyond revolutionary.
How the fuck is that an argument FOR consoles? You are still only limited to PS5/brand console games whereas a PC not only lets you play games from other companies but also do a shitton of other shit.
1/2 PCs = 4/5 PS5s? So in the lifetime of 2 PCs you go through 5 PS5? Meaning your PS5 will die several times in the lifespan of your PC - and that's before even considering getting the various redesigns mentioned above.
The fact PCs are modular enough to simply upgrade components is a boon because you swap out parts rather than having to buy an entire new console, which is the same problem with smart phones these days since Apple spearheaded that particular model years ago and other companies followed suite.
On a similar note in order to use a PC you need: a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. That's it. They don't need to be Playstation keyboards, or Xbox monitors, or Nintendo mice, you can buy a keyboard for 10 to 20 dollars/pounds that will easily work for both non gaming needs and gaming ones. Want to spend more for an actual "gaming keyboard" then you can do so, but even then you can still do that far more readily with great choice of product than when it comes to most consoles where you have to buy their products to use or wait for shit knockoffs to eventually happen. Nintendo at least had some sense permitting the Switch to Gamecube controllers because IMO the GC controller was one of the best designs for a console in a long time and didn't need much done to it.
You know what PS5s have that PCs don't? Extra subscription costs to go online.
Xbox does the same. So in order to do what most of the rest of the world can do, you need to pay even more money before you can start playing.
You what consoles don't have that PCs do? Mods.
Go look at any discussion of games like Stellaris, which more or less live and die on the playerbase mod supply, and understand just how much of pale shadow the baseline is even compared to non total conversion mods like STNC, Mass Effect, Star Wars, and various other franchise inspirations. I've seen countless newer console Stellaris players comment on how superior the game looks on PC simply because of what mods can add and change. Even just very simple things like voicepacks which can be an alternative to the default Advisor voices - some of which are quite frankly completely shit.
Modders often fix the various fuckups introduced by updates far sooner than official patches even start getting worked on, let alone deployed. On top of that mods can also remove playerbase gripes that Devs decide are a good idea after huffing their own farts for so long. Even just basic Notepad++ editing can be enough of a difference to games like Stellaris, X-Com 2, and any other game you can directly inspect and edit values for. Consoles in the mean time are shit out of luck with that and have to make do with whatever disasters the Devs release and hope any bugs that are found get worked on without bricking saves yet again.
PCs can also directly access autosaves for games where you might want to replay/experience certain parts of a game where saving is no longer "allowed".
Ignoring the whole "console peasants" meme side of things the only outcome of the "console wars" was doing to be meager, minor victories over each other that might last a generation or two while PCs just kept doing their own thing ignoring the squabbling going on alongside them, because consoles have never been a threat to PCs simply due to the massive downgrade in quality consoles always bring with them, be that hardware or software related. For hardware go look at how many times advanced previews of games have turned out to be done on PC and the final product on consoles has looked atrocious in comparison. For software go re-read the bit about mods.
Do consoles have a role? Sure, local multiplayer where you can multiscreen or connect up with devices like a Switch. But for single player content, or online co-ops, PCs not only provide a superior service but do so without then price gouging you for basic requirements like online access, hardware, and shoving shit updates on you with no choice.
The fact that emulation and piracy is an option on PC makes it the superior choice every single time.
PC gaming is obviously more expensive. That isn't to say it doesn't have benefits, but for a regular user who just wants to plug in the latest game and play on the couch, you're not replacing a console with a PC.
Good thing consoles are doing everything in their power to ruin that. Setting up new consoles can take hours of making new accounts, downloading updates, installing the game itself, and then making accounts on that.
Not that PCs are immune to any of that, but most people already own a PC and its likely to be turned on even when they aren't playing to do half of that in the background.
The only console I've ever 'replaced' was my original PlayStation (I still have it) because it was flaky at reading some discs. Even my original 360 is still running. Every Nintendo console I've ever purchased is still chugging.
I don't know how you're "breaking" these things but I suspect that the hardware isn't the issue.
You used to have to upgrade that often but GPUs have plateaued and they're not going to get much better except for more AI features. There's never going to be a game a 30XX series Geforce card can't run.
Consoles are subsidised by the games. PC's can't do that so there is a much higher barrier to entry for most people. Most people I know buy consoles and then get the odd game or two on release but trade in and buy most of them second hand via places like CeX. Which is why despite the move to digital, their brick and mortar stores are still doing well compared to their main competitor, GAME. Worse still, graphics card manufacturers, under pressure to sell their latest cards which can cost three consoles, are enticing game companies to up their specifications for games to shift cards and entice people to upgrade on the case of fear of missing out, status and bragging rights.
Oddly enough, the 3DO used the same technique of unsubsidised consoles hoping that competition would naturally bring the price down. It didn't. Its price point caused the console to fail quickly compared to the PlayStation and Saturn that cost half the price.
Seems like if you made a deal with nvidia to cut them in on the sales of games per machine you could get a subsidized 'Steam Console' and then it really would be all over for Sony/Xbox.
Personally I played consoles for the Japanese games but since the dam broke on those coming to PC there's no much more reason for me to play one. However my family all prefers gaming consoles to PC.
I paied the equivalent of ~570 USD for a laptop that runs more good games than time I have to live to play them.
If I bought a console, I'd need to buy a TV, to play games that will cost more. And I'd still need a ( cheaper ) computer.
Given my tiny budget, picking a modest PC was evident.
And when I replace my laptop in a few years, the new one will run alot more games because of tech improvements and relatively decreasing costs.
Someone who has the patience to learn and built their own PC will do even better on a budget.
I did a quick search for $500 gaming PC and they all were running 2060s, a card so bad I wouldn't use it for my mom to play solitaire on. You could probably use it to play Fortnite or CoD on potato level but you're not getting the same performance with games like Cyberpunk or Dragon's Dogma 2 as you would with a console.
I shouldn't have to explain this but buying a console, plugging it in, and playing a game is obviously a lower bar of entry than buying a bunch of parts and doing your own build. Apples to apples, we have to compare prebuilt PCs to consoles for that reason.
This is an example of Special Pleading. You want to arrange the scenario in such a way that your argument makes sense, but that's not how the world works. Mom and dad go to the store and buy and Xbox for their kids, not a CPU, RAM, Motherboard, GPU, Case, fans, etc. etc.
I have a friend who builds PCs for a living, and he had one guy pay him $5k and said go nuts. He built the best thing he could imagine, got it all together, and the damn thing wouldn't boot. Took him weeks of messing around to get it figured out (obscure voltage requirements for the GPU and MB drivers). This wasn't some noob either we're talking an experienced pro who does this all the time.
In my experience building PCs there's always some damn thing that gets fucked up. The last build I did took at least two days of tinkering to get it all running properly. Then one of the fans crapped out immediately and I had to spend another weekend taking it all apart and replacing it. That wasn't too bad when I was a single guy but now with a family and three kids there's just no way that's happening. I'm dreading the day this thing finally quits for good but I'll probably pay for a pre-built machine rather than dick around with it myself.
Meanwhile the wife appreciates having a slick PS5 she can jump on and play Diablo or Sandrock and not have to mess with anything.
Bull fucking shit. I built my rig 6 years ago now, and I've yet to actually check a settings requirement before buying something. I spent a grand.
And I'm lazy as balls. I did it all at once. No shopping or waiting for deals. It emulates every console through ps3/Xbox 360 Era and has yet to have a problem running a game on at least high.
Plus I run blender on it when the mood strikes.
There is zero reason to buy a console anymore. The only wins they used to ha e were plug and play and couch co-op. Both of which are gone and buried