Does anyone see a future in which both Sony and MS become content and game publishers and AMD, Nvidia and Intel make their own consoles, which are basically steam boxes. They would be compact PC'S made for just gaming, with a quality controller. Obviously they wouldn't need any special coding as they would run the PC code.
The future of consoles
- Thread starter invictis
- Start date
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
No. There's no profit in the hardware. That's why the companies that make the most on the software have to subsidize the hardware.
While true, there is profit in the eccosystems that only exists because of the hardware, where Sony and Microsoft get a 30% take of others sales. I do not see Microsoft nor Sony giving that up. At the same time, I don't see AMD/Nvidia/Intel having the desire to try to create their own eccosystems.
So in the end, I think you and I are in agreement. Microsoft/Sony won't leave, and others won't enter.
I've thought Nvidia would be a natural entrant. However Jen is probably too busy with his 80% profit margin or whatever it is nowdays to sully it with a low profit console.
Also PC code=bug and driver hell doesnt it? You cant foist that on the casuals who just wanna play Madden.
Console fills a nice niche if you think about. Buy a box for $200 (ok, consoles cost more than this nowdays, it just sounds nice) and everything is a complete experience. Granted you may have to download patches now, it still mostly just works.
Even now you'll pay way more than $500 for an equivalent TF GPU to the Series X (about a 6700XT, which goes for $700-$800 by itself, I assume maybe more for Nvidia equivalent). That's just the GPU. So consoles are quite a great value currently, probably party due to not being physically able to mine crypto! If the inherent differences in the platforms arent a deal breaker to you, a console is one of the easiest ways to currently get a decent GPU to play vidyagames on (not easy but easier than GPU's by a long shot).
I personally dont get why people are so hung up on these ideas of no platforms etc though, and MS buying Activision seems to have brought a fresh round of such speculation, I have no idea why as if anything that points the other direction to me. All I can say is such speculation is as old as videogames and has never panned out yet. From a practical matter Stadia and Xcloud streaming are simply unplayable in a serious way due to lag IMO, and they also look poor. Maybe this will improve, but I'm not so sure physics can be overcome.
Also PC code=bug and driver hell doesnt it? You cant foist that on the casuals who just wanna play Madden.
Console fills a nice niche if you think about. Buy a box for $200 (ok, consoles cost more than this nowdays, it just sounds nice) and everything is a complete experience. Granted you may have to download patches now, it still mostly just works.
Even now you'll pay way more than $500 for an equivalent TF GPU to the Series X (about a 6700XT, which goes for $700-$800 by itself, I assume maybe more for Nvidia equivalent). That's just the GPU. So consoles are quite a great value currently, probably party due to not being physically able to mine crypto! If the inherent differences in the platforms arent a deal breaker to you, a console is one of the easiest ways to currently get a decent GPU to play vidyagames on (not easy but easier than GPU's by a long shot).
I personally dont get why people are so hung up on these ideas of no platforms etc though, and MS buying Activision seems to have brought a fresh round of such speculation, I have no idea why as if anything that points the other direction to me. All I can say is such speculation is as old as videogames and has never panned out yet. From a practical matter Stadia and Xcloud streaming are simply unplayable in a serious way due to lag IMO, and they also look poor. Maybe this will improve, but I'm not so sure physics can be overcome.
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That's a narrative we run with, and in contrast to the ecosystem earning hardware is indeed 'unprofitable', but it can't be true there's no profit in hardware when these hardware companies live off the profit of their hardware.
I think the real problem with an open standard is too much competition drives down prices to unsustainable levels. There used to be soo many PC manufacturers and they all died off, leaving us just a few. In a market with fewer players - just AMD and nVidia in the GPU space - profit margins can be kept healthy for the company.If the open console standard was open to all, I don't think it'd survive. If it were managed somehow, maybe each company getting a slice of software revenues based on its own hardware install base activity, or limiting the number of players through an organisation that maintained a minimum quality, I think that'd be theoretically viable.
cheapchips
Veteran
Steam machines failed for reasons, but Steamdeck does look like it's headed to technical and commercial success (let's give a 70% chance of not dying). There's certainly potential there for it to turn into a semi open standard. Epic / Sony / Tencent are certainly capable of a roll your own version of Steam OS, where the primary store is theirs.
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Aren't consoles already 'compact PCs dedicated to gaming with quality controllers'?
The difference is really in the OS. Just allow dual-boot in PSOS or XBOS and we're good to go! 
I see this coming up alot these days (youtube/facebook comments sections etc). The hardware is often sold at a loss or they make very little on it, its the software, games, services that make up for the largest revenue's. The (long) future might mean services/streaming from MS/sony etc, i dont see NV/AMD/intel creating their own consoles, their probably not even intrested in low-profit/margin stuff like that.
'PC' gaming will exist for aslong as people are buying hardware at the prices NV/AMD/intel/apple etc set for their hardware (much higher than consoles and not sold at a loss but vice versa).
Their not niche at the amounts they sell (100 million for one 7 year generation per manufacturer). Also, pc gaming has always been much more expensive, it doesnt stop the market from growing. Mining and scalpers are a problem in this and era though, but i cant think that would last forever. Same for covid/chip shortage and all.
'PC' gaming will exist for aslong as people are buying hardware at the prices NV/AMD/intel/apple etc set for their hardware (much higher than consoles and not sold at a loss but vice versa).
Their not niche at the amounts they sell (100 million for one 7 year generation per manufacturer). Also, pc gaming has always been much more expensive, it doesnt stop the market from growing. Mining and scalpers are a problem in this and era though, but i cant think that would last forever. Same for covid/chip shortage and all.
Hey don’t get me wrong, if one day I can get a PC that I can fit in my living room, with super specs, which plays PS games as well as Xbox games, and it’s not a pain in the ass to use, I’m in!
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
London Geezer said that "it’s not a pain in the ass to use" by which he means not having to manage Windows (keeping a keyboard/mouse/trackpad close), Windows updates, managing driver updates (having to login into Nvidia's client to download driver updates is the most stupid thing I've ever experienced) and having to individually mange game store client updates (Steam, Epic, Ubisoft, Origin), none of which can seemingly update themselves in the background automatically because they require user intervention.I can tell you, its amazing
Lots of us already put up with this crap on our Windows PCs. We don't want to be spending time doing that, we want to be playing games.
That's the main reason for me to not sell my Xbox series s despite I have managed to bought a pc with rtx 3070.
With Xbox I can simply turn it on and quick resume. On pc... Sure the mods are awesome but the bugs.. OMG.... The bugs...
The bugs are so ridiculously inconsistent, Even genshin impact Dualsense pc official support page specifically mention to make sure the speakers settings for dual sense speakers are correct every time.
Then each driver/windows update also can muck various settings and bring new and old bugs. A game what was fine, suddenly borked.
Really annoying for people like me that's basically born with a super strong computer bugs magnet
iceberg187
Regular
This gen, with few exceptions, are played on my XSX. Halo Infinite on console, Forza Horizon 5, on console. I don't like to deal with everything you just said. Just my Civ 6 addiction as well as PCVR games are all that I really buy on PC now and that is just to play on the Quest 2.
iceberg187
Regular
How did you console users think the PC was as a 'no thrills just play' platform during the 90's and early 2000's..... Those were the days
It wasn't and I enjoyed the journey of updating drivers, etc. That's as a kid though, till I got burned with unreal tournament 2004. I had the latest Radeon at the time but the game literally would not run higher than 5fps. Going to the epic games boards then, very little help. I had to fight like crazy to get a refund. Scarred me for life. I still get pc games but simplicity of consoles can't be beat.
Oh well i understand where your coming from then. To each his/her own regarding platforms
PC gaming isn't as straight forward as console gaming without a doubt, and quick resume specifically is superb. But I do feel the difficulties can be greatly exaggerated at times. This isn't the 90's anymore and for the most part, modern PC gaming 'just works' if you don't delve into the more customisable aspects - even if you want to use it in a living room environment like a console (although you're losing a lot of the advantages of PC gaming if you do so).
It's not like you need a degree in computer science to click the button that says "update now" maybe 3 or 4 times a month when you're prompted, and many of these things update themselves now. That said, I agree with DSoup that it would be nice if games store clients would offer the option to update themselves without user intervention. It would certainly save me at least 6 or 7 clicks, and a good 90 seconds a month.
It's not like you need a degree in computer science to click the button that says "update now" maybe 3 or 4 times a month when you're prompted, and many of these things update themselves now. That said, I agree with DSoup that it would be nice if games store clients would offer the option to update themselves without user intervention. It would certainly save me at least 6 or 7 clicks, and a good 90 seconds a month.
10/12 year olds do pc gaming, it has never been a problem.
I was one of them! A quarter century or so ago...
