As PC prices drop and Console prices rise there comes a point where they cross, an inflection point. Where the price of a similar or higher spec. PC could be lower than a games console.
This is not even looking at the price performance of mobile devices and the rise of the $10-$100 computers.
Now there can be amazing benefits from building a system from the ground up to be a games console, compared to a generic PC. For instance you could have a combined CPU/GPU system with HBM 2+ memory running way faster than a PC with its PCI bus and DRAM subsystems.
However how long before PC’s start adopting similar strategies, especially mobile computing devices.
Are we looking at the end of an era for the dedicated games console?
Or could the new performance demands from AR and VR come to the rescue or be their death knell?
Nope I think Consoles are always going to be there in some capacity.
Either as they are now, or with Steam OS. People want dedicated pre made systems and I can’t see that going away any time soon. I don’t believe they’ll cross, perhaps they’ll meet but I can’t see consoles going beyond that.
Also I don’t think VR is this new hit thing that everyone’s excited about. I believe it’s completely limited to some specific types of games that’ll run out sooner or later. Space is too much of an issue to do anything exciting with it, unless all that’s is required is for the player to be seated.
AR I am excited for but again I can’t see it being gaming related, I think AR is going to be about Day to Day life rather than actual gaming at least related to Console and PC gaming.
Do you know what the major problem with that graph is? Back in the 80s most gamers weren’t buying PCs. They were buying Commodore 64s and other 8-bit gaming systems. Prices for those weren’t anywhere near the top of that graph.
A far better graph would be one that resembles a triangle wave for the home computer line since the prices for home computers became absurd during the mid-90s when affordable competition to the PC and Mac completely disappeared.
Another main reason that the graph is total rubbish is that it fails to take into account the loss leading aspect of console manufacture, which makes it entirely irrelevant.
How do you figure? If console manufacturers are taking a loss already, then PCs getting cheaper than consoles will actually cut further into their profits (as they’re forced to take bigger losses on the consoles and hope to make it up on game sales) if they want to continue. It’s not going to be a happy time for the console makers.
Right now one GPU for PC can cost more than the whole console, and let’s not forget that OS like windows ain’t free.
Also, it is not about specs. Consoles enjoy different architecture, and developing for them would have that amazing advantage where you don’t have to deal with antivirus software, broken drivers and all that other PC-specific nonsense, plus you already know what hardware is available.
PC could use some dedicated walled-in gaming framework, but aside from that it’ll be pretty much always at a disadvantage compared to consoles, regardless of hardware power.
I would advise to stop worrying and enjoy your life.
Ugh, one of the stupidest arguments that I hear far too often.
PC people have been saying “Consoles are Dead!” and “There won’t be a next console generation!” since the days of SNES. And they’ve been wrong every time. They can wish it as hard as they want, but it’s just not true.
Do you think Nintendo sold over 100 million Wiis by accident? That 40 million PS4s just accidently fell into people’s shopping carts, and they just shrugged and bought them anyway?
These rumors are just spread by a very vocal minority of Dorito and Mountain Dew fueled MLG douchebags who are willing to drop $5k of their rich parents’ money on RGB laden atrocities with PC parts in them that cost 10 times more than a PS4 and draw 5 times the amount of power just to play the same games you can play on PS4 with marginally better graphics and higher framerates.
Meanwhile, for people who have friends, they can just sit on the couch and play games together, in the same room! :o Or watch movies or TV shows on pretty much any streaming service in existance. And all this for the price of a GTX 1070, which by itself is a big useless brick.
This is all also posited on the faulty idea that you have to pick one or the other. They aren’t mutually exclusive, you don’t have to pick one over the other, and often times people have both, because they are different paradigms of play. Some people play games to be social in person, like Mario Party or Mario Kart or Tekken or Street Fighter. Playing on PC is a different experience entirely.
So on the eve of two new PS4 models being announced, the idea that consoles are going away is just hilarious to me.
It seems like you haven’t been following developments lately, because you can put together a rather nice PC that’s better than a PS4 for not much more money now. Sure, a lot of PC gamers decide to go further and spend a lot more (up to 3x as much!), but they very rarely reach the 10x level that you’re claiming.
Plus, you can do a lot more with a PC, so that’s pretty tempting as well.
If you start to consider that people probably have a PC and a console, then spending a little more for an upgraded PC that does it all starts to make even more sense.
Why do people buy so many consoles? Some do indeed go without a PC and are saving money, but many do it for the exclusives or convienence of living room gaming… Something that Steam’s new Link product are making inroads into.
Don’t even get me started on game prices and sales on PC vs consoles… If you’re a frugal PC gamer, it’s not hard to spend less per year over the life of the machine for a PC than a console, thanks to sales.
There are so many things wrong with that five minute chart that I don’t even know where to begin attacking it but… but the one that says “smartphone” and explains the many reasons why wins
Smartphones are already killing consoles and PC:s will survive in one way or another due to our need for powerful development platforms, hardcore tasks and servers etc
My brothers girlfriend doesnt have a computer she just uses her tablet. Look at the xbox and PS4 they are already going with iphone yearly upgrade plan
I know someone who had a computer, bought a tablet, and then proceeded to throw their computer away (they placed it in a recycling shed at the dumpster but same thing) because they decided the tablet was more than enough for them.
If anything I’d argue that we are going back to the time where only nerds have computers the golden era of gamers where it wasnt mainstream, and we wouldnt have as many indies.
This! And on that note I suspect that form factor is going to be more important moving forward than underlying technology, since (as noted) the underlying tech is very nearly 100% converged in any case.
The key difference of a PC is that you use it for lots of stuff, generally as some kind of “workstation”. The key difference of a console is that it gets plugged into a TV in the lounge room and is about entertainment. Tablets are portable things that can do… whatever. Under the hood they are all very close to being able to run the same software, what matters more is how players want to use it and how developers want it used.
What I meant is that it could be nice to have a software framework made for games specifically that would allow a game application to bypass most of overhead introduced by OS. For example, exclude game’s open file operation from antivirus scan. Basically a faster sandbox or “walled garden”, for games only. Something running within “the box” would not be able to affect environment outside of it, but get access to simpler/faster api.
Thinking about it, it’ll be probably a “software console” of sorts.
Saying computers will replace consoles is like saying space heaters replace blankets. These are not mutually exclusive concepts where you MUST choose one, and only use one at a time. If I’m playing a game on my PS3, I have my laptop open next to me doing other stuff while I play during loading screens or down moments in gameplay. Maybe other people use a tablet instead, or even just their phone.
The point is, some people like playing with controllers, some people like playing with keyboard and mouse, some people like playing on touchscreens, some people like playing on table tops, hell, some people still play on arcade sticks at the arcade. One doesn’t have to choose one and only play one forever, and people need to stop acting like this is the case.
I would say that the key reason to own a PC today is that you are doing intensive work or extreme gaming that require that extra horse power. A cheaper laptop or tablet can otherwise handle your workload and is portable as well. They are also portable and you can get a tablet with features that a PC doesn’t have You can purchase a pre-built PC but you have to build it yourself to take advantage of its price benefit and many aren’t interested to dive into that hardware jungle.
The console was the perfect solution for users that wanted advanced games but didn’t want all that complicated PC stuff. Some also feel like they are working when they sit in front of a PC but they can relax in the living room. The problem is that smartphones and tablets are catching up to consoles in terms of performance…
Smartphones and tablets are also very capable work systems. There are many situations where I would get rid of the PC:s if I got to update how a company did stuff. My GF would definitely benefit from a MS Surface Pro as an economist, most of her tools are even cloud based already with web fronts…
As a designer; I can run between meetings, document, do concept stuff, programming and so on… on a 2-in-1 today. I even catch myself doing documentation stuff on my smartphone these days. They are just so practical :3 And I can run HeartStone when I need to relax for a moment
Looking forward to seeing what happens now that games make more use of Vulkan and smart-devices get more powerful. I wonder if it even makes more sense for me to switch soon and only leave a docking station on my desk in the future with an external GPU for rendering?
I got a controller hooked to my PC. I have a keyboard and mouse for my tablet. I wonder when I have a touch interface on my PC and laptop but probably soon but my tablet have it I can also hook up a gamepad to my tablet and link it to the TV for some big picture gaming.
We don’t have to choose but many of the devices that we use today are starting to blend and the smallest devices are getting ridiculously powerful, really fast.
