Would we be better off without them? (Picture: Damian Dovarganes)
A reader is frustrated with Sony and Microsoft’s recent conduct and suggests everyone would be better off switching to PC.
To read the gaming news lately you’d assume that the video games industry was run by a bunch of idiots. To be honest, you’d think that most of the time but the last year or so… it just seems like a clown army has take over and is doing exactly the opposite of what’s sensible. Sony seems to have decided that the fast route to success is to do nothing and say nothing, with Microsoft following suite while simultaneously proving that being rich doesn’t mean you’re smart.
Their plan for the $69 billion (!) acquisition of Activision Blizzard didn’t seem to account for the idea that someone might actually try to stop them. Their arguments in favour of the deal have been embarrassingly silly, especially the bizarre idea that they, and only they, would finally allow 150 million Nintendo Switch owners to buy that copy of Call Of Duty they’ve (not) been so desperate for.
The whole situation is madness, especially as it has opened up the whole question about whether exclusives are fair and what goes into securing the third party ones. You can see various government bodies around the world starting to question whether the whole walled garden approach is reasonable, for any device, which is going to be a huge own goal for both Sony and Microsoft. Frankly, they’re both stupid and their recent conduct makes me very glad I’m a PC gamer.
I think I’m fairly unusual for a PC gamer, as I didn’t get into it just to have better graphics, but because the whole thing seemed much more cost effective. The hardware can be slowly upgraded over time and all the games are cheaper, with much better sales than you seem to get on consoles.
After a while though I began to realise the other benefits. For one, the lack of any one company being in charge, like Microsoft or Sony, is a huge bonus. It’s not only what keeps the game prices down but it means you don’t have the constant, cringey boasts about being the best this or the best that, while making the kind of moronic moves I’ve just described above.
You remove that whole layer of interference between you and the game and there’s not someone constantly inventing new peripherals or console models to fleece you of your money. There are no subscriptions (online is free on a PC) and you’re not treated as an open wallet by a company that just sees you as an undiscerning groupie to be exploited.
As far as I’m concerned, gaming would be far better if there were no consoles at all. Or at least no PlayStation and Xbox – Nintendo can carry on doing their own thing. The whole point of consoles was that they were relatively inexpensive game machines where everyone was using the same machine and having the same experience, which could often be superior to a PC.
Now though there are multiple models, with more to come with the PS5 Pro and Xbox equivalent and rather than unique pieces of hardware a console nowadays is basically just a low-spec PC in a box. There’s nothing a console can do that a PC can’t but the opposite is not true.
There are only two problems with gaming on the PC and the first is cheats in multiplayer. I don’t know how you stop that but since cross-play means everyone is playing together now, this isn’t actually a problem unique to PCs. The other issue is the terrible state of AAA PC releases lately, where everything is broken at launch.
That’s also been happening on consoles more and more but if PC was the only major format publishers would be forced to make more of an effort, so that problem would quickly go away.
PC gaming is cheaper, high quality, and offers much more freedom and control of your games. There are no advantages to owning a PlayStation or Xbox, with all of their exclusives now available on PC and, as long as they work properly, at a better quality.
I’m not suggesting any of this is actually going to happen but in my opinion it would be better for everyone. And if it doesn’t happen then can we at least get someone sensible in charge of Microsoft and Sony, so they stop embarrassing us and gaming in general.
By reader Randal
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A reader is frustrated with Sony and Microsoft’s recent conduct and suggests everyone would be better off switching to PC.
