A world with just PC gaming

[Metalsnakezero]

With all the talk about what platform a game will release on and the continue conversation of running games, it makes me wonder what the world of games would be like if everything was only PC base? What sort of industry shifts would have to change like platform holders being launchers on a computer and not hardware systems or availability if computer components.

Edit: auto correct messed up my title -_-. Can a mod fix it to gaming?

 

[j^aws]

With all the talk about what platform a game will release on and the continue conversation of running games, it makes me wonder what the world of games would be like if everything was only PC base? What sort of industry shifts would have to change like platform holders being launchers on a computer and not hardware systems or availability if computer components.

Edit: auto correct messed up my title -_-. Can a mod fix it to gaming?

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Capitalism doesn't allow for one standard to be followed, rather, it encourages diversity and competition. I've been gaming for around 40 years, and have seen all sorts of attempts at standards.

During the early 80s when the IBM PC launched, it was a business machine and expensive. There were cheaper home computers from Atari and Commodore focusing on games rather than a jack-of-all trades. They had custom chipsets for graphics and sound. Even IBM launched a cheaper PC Jr to compete, and also the Tandy series. There was the MSX format from the East to set a home computing standard. And more focused consoles for gaming and arcade systems.

Fast forward to now and nothing much has changed, really. But let's say the 80s had set the PC as a standard, then someone would come along and say the CISC x86 CPU architecture is trash and promote another, and back then you had CISC vs RISC. And this led to the birth of the ARM CPU back in the 80s, which is ubiquitous today, scaling from mobiles to supercomputers. So, if all we had was PCs, we wouldn't have the innovations today brought to us from competition and capitalism. We would all probably be rocking substandard OS and hardware, playing games with substandard controls, and generic videogames.

You can argue standards can let developers focus on videogames, but this hasn't worked. See MSX (home computers), 3DO (console), JAMMA (arcade), Windows (PC), Android (mobile) and so on. They serve/ served different markets and a PC couldn't serve all of them. Competition will turn up to try and do it better in some way.

 

[Mercador]

With all the talk about what platform a game will release on and the continue conversation of running games, it makes me wonder what the world of games would be like if everything was only PC base? What sort of industry shifts would have to change like platform holders being launchers on a computer and not hardware systems or availability if computer components.

Edit: auto correct messed up my title -_-. Can a mod fix it to gaming?

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Well, consoles are pretty much PCs in fact... Components are the same.

 

[Uhtred]

Well, consoles are pretty much PCs in fact... Components are the same.

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This. Consoles are just branded PC's with DRM these days.

If consoles had nevr existed, I would assume much of what happened would have still happened. People would have still made video games, and if PC was the platform to make them, then they would have made them there.

Probably Steam might not exist the way it does today. I would assume Microsoft would have wised up at some point in this timeline and beat Valve to the same service.

Maybe some of the tripple A games we've come to know wouldn't have been made though, unless they came from whoever had the larger share of retail (probably Microsoft). As without a console platform and third parties paying you 30% to rely on it would be risker to make a large AAA game that might fail, so there might be less of them.

 

[Jroc]

I thought about this when it looked like Demons Souls was coming to PC.

It would definitely give people less to argue about. I imagine that people would start to "identify" more with their PC hardware and stan for Nvidia/Intel/AMD.

 

[Uhtred]

I thought about this when it looked like Demons Souls was coming to PC.

It would definitely give people less to argue about. I imagine that people would start to "identify" more with their PC hardware and stan for Nvidia/Intel/AMD.

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Lol yes, instead of system Wars, it would be nothing but Nvidia and AMD fanboys, and maybe soundcards would still be around? So there would soundblaster fanboys too :)

 

[bmdubya]

I thought about this when it looked like Demons Souls was coming to PC.

It would definitely give people less to argue about. I imagine that people would start to "identify" more with their PC hardware and stan for Nvidia/Intel/AMD.

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That already happens like all the time. Look at the RTX 3080 review thread and you'll see AMD fans in there shitting on the new cards.

 

[Catshade]

I dunno... Back then people's main entertainment center are TVs and arcade, and console is designed to bring that arcade experience into your home TV. You have to alter history so that PC is somehow more affordable and more widely used than TV in middle class households by the 70s and 80s.

 

[Dolce]

PC gaming or computer gaming? Computer gaming used to be much more diverse with tons of competing platforms.

 

[maximumzero]

PC Gaming is still a bit too complex for a lot of mainstream consumers. They just want to insert disc (or tap download) and play.

 

[digreyfox]

PC Gaming is still a bit too complex for a lot of mainstream consumers. They just want to insert disc (or tap download) and play.

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This. There will always be a market for that.

I've been building my pcs since i was eight and right now I'm just looking forward to getting the new gen consoles and leaving the pc alone. Very glad I got it for pc specific games but the amount of errors and inconsistent performance I've endured in the last few years just make me look forward to booting a console and instantly playing something.

 

[Deleted member 28523]

it would be a glorious world tbh

 

[DJtal]

PC? like those boxes ? Na console gaming is here to stay for a veryyyyyyy long time.

 

[SeeingeyeDug]

Well, consoles are pretty much PCs in fact... Components are the same.

Click to shrink...

If they were truly that, patches for the next gen version of crossgen games would be free for all games. Like they've been on PC for decades.

 

[Mercador]

it would be a glorious world tbh

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*Insert Simpson world without attorney clip*

 

[Mercador]

If they were truly that, patches for the next gen version of crossgen games would be free for all games. Like they've been on PC for decades.

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Open a console and you will see all the same component. They are simply all the same, without variation. Being mass produce, you can downplay the market price by a notch, but getting that money with subsidiaries (typo?) / Royalties.

 

[martincrimson87]

It would be a lot better for sure, no need to worry about games that will be left on old propietary devices such as MGS4. As long as your machine is up to snuff, you could play any game you like. Pure competition with no walled gardens, may the best games win.

Oh and VR would be a mainstream choice for gaming. PC gamers are a lot more open to innovation, so if all gamers were to have that mindest that would be great.

 

[SeeingeyeDug]

Open a console and you will see all the same component. They are simply all the same, without variation. Being mass produce, you can downplay the market price by a notch, but getting that money with subsidiaries (typo?) / Royalties.

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Sure the hardware is the same. But it's SUPER locked down. No mods to games, no free updates to games with beefier hardware and infinite backward compatability.

 

[Wrapped in Black]

Nvidia and AMD would gouge us out the wazoo

 

[Deleted member 76797]

I imagine that people would start to "identify" more with their PC hardware and stan for Nvidia/Intel/AMD.

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This 100% happens already lol

 

[GazRB]

Console gaming pushes PC gaming and vice versa. It is a symbiotic relationship. You can't really have one without the other.

 

[Why would you do that?]

There would probably be more kinds of PCs than just the IBM PC-based ones and Macs that dominate the PC market today. It would probably be similar to the old days, where Commodore had several PCs, Sharp had one, NEC had a couple, etc... If it were like that today, than it probably wouldn't be far off from what we have now with consoles, though we'd probably have more flexibility in terms of upgradeability and making/running your own applications on them.

 

[delete12345]

it would be a glorious world tbh

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No it's not. If we live in a world with just PC gaming, I won't be able to enjoy playing in my bed, lying/relaxing while facing towards the ceiling, with my Switch hooked into a gooseneck holder, playing my 240 hours of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. I'm stuck on Chapter 11.

:(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

 

[Streusel]

the number of gamers would be drastically lower.
which would lead to games having lower production values

 

[EloKa]

the number of gamers would be drastically lower.
which would lead to games having lower production values

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There are around ~750 million console players and ~1.3 billion PC players around the globe.
I'd say that it's more likely that the PC player base would simply be closer to 2 billion if there were no consoles.

 

[Netherscourge]

--Console: buy a console. 1 wire to the wall, 1 wire to the tv. Charge controller or plug that into any USB socket. Buy game. Download or pop in the disc. Install. Begin playing.

--PC: buy a case, a PSU, a MOBO, compatible RAM, CPU, GPU, SSD. Make sure all 10 internal cables of varying sizes are plugged into each device properly. Make sure you put the paste on the CPU lid properly and carefully screw/latch the heat sink to the CPU without bending anything around it. Go into BIOS and tweak everything so the RAM works right, your CPU is running at the right freq, your drives load in the right order, etc. Format your SSD. Install your OS. Spend 2 hours downloading patches and updates. Spend another hour uninstalling and deactivating Windows spyware. Then install Steam/Bnet/Origin/Epic. Then buy and download your game. Then check all the graphics settings and fiddle with your resolutions and FPS caps. Begin playing.

I mean... Yea. I understand the frustration someone who just wants to play games would have dealing with all that PC shit.

PC gaming is a hobby, not just a time killing extracurricular activity. You got to make it work. Sure you can waste a few hundred more on a pre-built PC - or - you could just buy a console for way less and save your money for more games.

Some people just want to play a damn game right out of the box!

EDIT: also, consoles provide a convenience that does not exist for PC gaming. If the world was PC only, I'd wager pre-builts would take over where consoles are now and PC gaming would be consolidating itself down into a common denominator standard, much like console do, to make game development faster and easier. So, although people look at PC gaming as this utopia of unrestrained gaming potential, the reality is companies would eventually compete with exclusives, walled gardens, and more proprietary devices and accessories to claim marketspace. It would effectively become a console-like market.

 

[Eeyore]

Since we're in the world where we can pretend anything is possible, we can pretend there aren't already system wars on PC around storefronts and hardware as it is.

Only thing good would be PC Master Race wouldn't exist because the meme wouldn't make sense.

--Console: buy a console. 1 wire to the wall, 1 wire to the tv. Charge controller or plug that into any USB socket. Buy game. Download or pop in the disc. Install. Begin playing.

--PC: buy a case, a PSU, a MOBO, compatible RAM, CPU, GPU, SSD. Make sure all 10 internal cables of varying sizes are plugged into each device properly. Make sure you put the paste on the CPU lid properly and carefully screw/latch the heat sink to the CPU without bending anything around it. Go into BIOS and tweak everything so the RAM works right, your CPU is running at the right freq, your drives load in the right order, etc. Format your SSD. Install your OS. Spend 2 hours downloading patches and updates. Spend another hour uninstalling and deactivating Windows spyware. Then install Steam/Bnet/Origin/Epic. Then buy and download your game. Then check all the graphics settings and fiddle with your resolutions and FPS caps. Begin playing.

I mean... Yea. I understand the frustration someone who just wants to play games would have dealing with all that PC shit.

PC gaming is a hobby, not just a time killing extracurricular activity. You got to make it work. Sure you can waste a few hundred more on a pre-built PC - or - you could just buy a console for way less and save your money for more games.

Some people just want to play a damn game right out of the box!

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I would shut off your alerts.

 

[deftones r cool]

We'd just have a ton of different storefronts pulling timed exclusive nonsense instead. No thanks.

 

[Streusel]

There are around ~750 million console players and ~1.3 billion PC players around the globe.
I'd say that it's more likely that the PC player base would simply be closer to 2 billion if there were no consoles.

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i don't think so, there's a certain value to the simplicity and the low entry price console gaming provides. a lot of these pc players are probably mostly playing free to play/browser games too i'd wager and not the traditional paid single/multiplayer titles

 

[Spark]

You would more living room focused PC boxes, likely with insane amounts of DRM protecting them. Sound familiar?

 

[j^aws]

So, Microsofts acquisition of Zenimax today just reinforces a fragmented userbase across multiple platforms - playing all the best games across Windows/ Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Playstation requires all their platforms still, and a one platform future just as far away.