Games

Ex-Xbox Exec

X Xbox Xec Series X|S

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.

The improvements of steam and proton, steamlink and big picture mode make it possible to run great games on your TV. Its not „just turn on“ yet but we‘re getting there. I wanted a PS5 when they were unavailable but I since managed to play my favorite games on my tv with a ps4 controller and dont see the point to buy back into a locked up computer with a fancy case for games that have microstransactions gallore.

As long as there are killer 1st party titles exclusive to a console platform, there’s a reason to buy one.

Personally, I love Zelda, Mario, and most recently I’ve been excited about the new Astro Bot game about to come out.

Outside of Steam Deck emulation, you need a console to play those, and I do enjoy the convenience.

The last Xbox worth buying was the 360, because all Xbox titles are released on other platforms now - eliminating the need for an Xbox console.

The new-gen console is actually trending 7 per cent ahead of the PS4 in the United States launch aligned.

And how much do you think the drop in Xbox is? It's way more than 7 percent. The problem for Sony isn't that its console is dying; it's that they're approaching market saturation. They've got their market cornered in a way that they never have, and they've only got a 7 percent lead off of the last generation. Peak dollars spent on consoles was back in 2009, when all three consoles were in very healthy competition. Many PS4 users are happy to stay on PS4, because the games they play are over 10 years old, like Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft, so there's no need to upgrade.

Meanwhile, a console that launched with some idea of every game running at 60 FPS is now compromising on that (it was inevitable, but people believed otherwise). Games that used to be console exclusive are now coming out on PC, where you don't need to pay a subscription fee to play online and your library always comes with the assumption that every game you have will be forward compatible. Even if you buy the new PlayStation, there's no promise that your old games will run at better resolutions and frame rates. The controller you bought 10 years ago still works on PC, but Sony says you need to buy the new one, even if the game you're playing uses none of its new features. The VR system you bought before doesn't play the new VR games. For all sorts of economic realities, not the least of which are certification processes and licensing fees, there's a good chance that game you really want to play is on PC long before it's on console, in early access or otherwise. There are no competing storefronts for digital releases, so you can only pay what Sony says you have to pay. Consoles also aren't even significantly cheaper than an equivalent PC anymore, and they run basically the same hardware under the hood, so the reasons for a console as we know them today to exist are fewer and fewer as time goes on.

Oh, the Ex-Xbox Exec? I hear is now a Court Reporter with a unique sense of fashion, the jet-setting jort-sporting Court Reporter.

Failing manufacturers in this case mean manufacturers who've sold twice your product count?

Clearly Xbox have a weird definition of the word "fail".

Consoles will be around until the tech is sufficiently advanced as to negate their usefulness. There will come a day when a phone does everything a modern high end PC can. Bluetooth to a TV and play whatever you want.

Graphic fidelity is almost to a point where there isn't much more needed in the way of processing power. Another decade. Maybe 2. Consoles will still exist for decades yet. But they're going to become increasingly unnecessary.

Steam is futureproof. But nothing else.

Is this when they realise that infinite growth isn't actually infinite? There's always a place for a device for entertainment. Be that pen and paper or electronic.

Well, maybe there's some truth to that. my phone is basically a Switch when I slide it into a controller. The biggest problem it's facing is the limited library of non-shitty games and storage space. Once I can store a terabyte on my phone and can link it up to my steam library, I don't think I'd even consider buying a console again. To me, the only thing a playstation has over a steam deck is its exclusives.