Do you find yourself preferring console gaming as you get older?

[kubev]

Definitely. I spend way too much time in front of a computer at work, so I do make an effort to sit somewhere more comfortable and further away from a screen while I'm at home, and console gaming works well for that. Plus, there're so many times when I'm just not in the mood to play games, so I want to make sure I can get into a game as easily as possible when I do play. I don't feel like messing with a lot of settings to make sure a game runs well, and the mere sight of a complex button mapping screen with a game that uses a keyboard and mouse is often enough to make me pass on playing a game altogether.

That said, I started playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon earlier today, and it really has my attention, despite how little game play there's been up until this point. I honestly just feel as though too much of my time is spent watching conversations.

 

[GhostTrick]

Quite the opposite.
As opposed to many people, I actually find consoles less convenient because those are less flexible.

And most importantly... there are stuff I wont be able to do on consoles until they open up.

 

[Cyclonesweep]

At this point the only real reason I would have to use a computer outside of gaming is like....to print something with my older printer.

My phone and iPad does all the commuting I need so I've moved almost exclusively to console again. I found with PC, I have all these options to customize setting and everything so that's all I would do to try and get it perfect. With consoles and not having that I just play. I'm a little weird like that though.

 

[Jaypah]

Nah. I'm 41 and I still play games on my PC more than any single console that I own. PC gaming is easier for me than it's ever been. I turn my TV to the input, move my mouse or tap my keyboard to wake it up, go to either the Xbox app or the Steam icon and there's the games. Turn my wireless controller on and I'm good.

I've never really been the "sit at a desk" PC user. I've always had them in my den hooked to whatever my main TV is (currently a 75in 4K display). I have a tray set up with my mouse and a small keyboard on it. My controllers are on a table on the side of the sofa. I rarely if ever play with KB/M. My wife also enjoys video games and technology in general so having the hardware readily available and exposed isn't a big deal (I know some significant others aren't too keen on that).

I can fiddle with settings but that only takes me a minute or so tops and it isn't any different from me exploring the options on any console game that I'm just starting. I don't sit there endlessly trying to eek out 3 more frames per second, I'm not usually installing and maintaining mods and games auto update themselves. It's pretty hassle free to me. Not as easy as my PS5 but whatever small effort I put into it doesn't even register to me as an inconvenience.

 

[Hercamer]

I've been a PC gamer first and had a console for exclusives when these come out. But as i get older i have been losing interest in the PC ecosystem as a whole and i find myself using consoles to play games nowadays, i was lucky enough to get a ps5 since launch and most if not all of my gaming time has been invested in that system (aside from Mass Effect LE) I've said at the beginning of this generation that anyone with a decent PC would be crazy to get an Xbox SX, I'm not so sure anymore, i got one as a gift for my birthday and i have been playing games that had installed on my PC but never bother to start. The plug and play nature of consoles becomes more and more appealing to me, no need of different clients for your games, and issues that entails playing on PC, boot up problems, crashes, etc, reading back at my post this may sound like I'm hating on PC gaming, far from the truth, some of my most memorable experiences have been there, but the desire of investing time modding a game for example is gone, as well as spending hours overclock my cpu trying to find the limit for that edge in performance, or deciding what settins to lower in order to achieve a stable frame rate, i was wondering if anyone here feels the ssme?

Click to shrink...

100% this. Adding to this: my son is 8 now and the couch co-op is his favorite thing in the world. I don't play PC games anymore, I decided to get consoles this gen and haven't look back.

 

[myzhi]

Nope. Due to always running high end PCs, consoles can't touch its graphics capability. PS5 & XSX are for exclusives only.

 

[Dan-o]

Built a gaming PC in 2016 to "get back into it" and found that I just wasn't into it anymore. It's great for the type of indie games that take longer to show up on consoles (if ever), and I completely appreciate the added performance that PC brings to a large number of games. I just can't justify the cost of chasing upgrades to get that performance benefit every couple years to play the handful of high profile games I want (vs the 'lower tier' games I'm far more attracted to anyway) at the best settings.

I'm totally comfortable putting my money towards the three main consoles, and buying games accordingly. Maybe it's because I have so much less time to play games that I'd rather not fuck around on my PC when I spend all day in front of various PCs at work every day.

 

[Zephy]

No, I've always equally used both and I don't think it will change.

 

[Rey]

Nope, opposite situation for me. I do use my PC as a 'hybride' console like system and only use a dualshock or dualsense controller (comfy couch). Wireless keyboard and mouse is only used for browsing and surfing. As I don't care for console exclusives, to me the PC is perfectly versityle to not have any need for a console.

 

[Deleted member 1190]

Opposite for me. As I've gotten older, console gaming has become less and less appealing.

 

[Snake Eater]

Plug and play, I have no time to deal with anything else

 

[JudgmentJay]

Does 38 count as "older"?

Nah, I don't see myself ever giving up PC as my main platform. I'm fortunate enough to have a large amount of disposable income and I enjoy building PCs and tinkering with hardware/software so it's a match made in heaven.

It's so weird seeing people assume PC gaming is a desk/keyboard & mouse only thing still. 🥴

Click to shrink...

Yeah I've been comfy couch PC gaming for a decade so it's a pretty outdated way of thinking from my point of view.

 

[jakershaker]

Quite the opposite. Went from having PC and all the consoles to just PC.

 

[Hasney]

No, I've started hating shooters on controllers more and more as I got into my 30's. I still play on my couch and nice TV, just have a lapboard and mouse.

 

[TheSpoonyBard]

Same here. I've moved too much (work, school and life in general) that having to deal with anything beyond a laptop and a console was just a pain.

 

[Gr8one]

I am the complete opposite. I find PC gaming to be superior to console gaming mainly due to the vast library of titles covering so many genres that consoles can't even touch. I can play the majority of AAA titles, all the indies, and genres that just don't really work on consoles like RTS, TBS, sims, crpgs. Add modding, emulation, console game streaming, and better prices on the games and I think it's pretty tough to beat.

Speaking of better prices, you can argue PC gaming hardware is more expensive but you'd be surprised how far integrated graphics has come recently and how well most games are now supporting resolution scaling and other graphics features for low power systems. So even on a low power system like my laptop or a GPD Win 3 you can play many AAA games with some compromises on graphics and if you have the money you can have a much better graphical experience than consoles.

With all the I/O a PC has, my main gaming rig is connected to my home theatre as well as a multi monitor setup at my desk. So if I want to play AAA on the couch on the big screen with the surround sound I can and if I want to sit at the desk and play grand strategy game, or RTS, while playing youtube videos or chatting on Discord I can as well. It's just more flexible.

I also have a few GPD Win devices so I do a lot of playstation and xbox streaming on my GPD handheld when my partner is using the TV or we are in bed. So I get the console experience on my PC you could say lol.

I know alot of people are turned off of computers because they think they require a lot of tinkering and upkeep or their not very user friendly, but it's really not that bad now coming from a guy who grew up with DOS. I personal don't mind tinkering a bit to get the games running at the best either. I have Launchbox for my emulators to make loading games easy and I have steam big picture for all my PC games.

I still have consoles for exclusives but PC's are just superior to the console experience for me. It's an expensive hobby at times if you want to have the best, but I really hate being stuck in a walled garden and love the freedom that comes with being able to play my game collection (including consoles) from the last 4+ decades any way I want, anywhere I want.

 

[Nessus]

I have been buying more multiplatform games for PS4 Pro that I would have gotten on PC before (I got Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes on PC but I got Resident Evil: Village on PS4 Pro), but that's just because I can't afford a new graphics card right now.

I fully plan on upgrading my PC for VR in the next year or so, and I don't plan on getting a PS5 or Xbox Series X any time soon.

 

[Bucéfalo]

Totally the opposite. The older I got, the most I appreciate PC customization options and freedom. But I understand your point and totally see why someone would prefer consoles when you have other duties in life (family, work, etc.).

 

[Freshmaker]

PC's and handhelds for me. I use my consoles very rarely these days. There's a PS4 Evo side tournament I want to enter on July 17th, but that's about it.

 

[Edge]

I always preferred console gaming since I was a little child, lol.

 

[Alexandros]

Nope, 30+ years of exclusive PC gaming and still going strong.

 

[Zool]

I prefer handhelds more than ever. They can be fit in the small free time an adult has and have awesome sleep functions.

handhelds ftw!

 

[Bingle Bango]

I go in and out with it. But I'm prepping to go full console here shortly, and sell all my PC stuff. I don't game enough on PC to justify the space in my apartment, and playing on two consoles is much easier for my wife and I. Gameshare between two Xbox's is awesome.

 

[Spark]

Console gaming typically is the best option at the start of a new generation. Powerful hardware that is subsidized, new visual standards are being set that many old PCs won't be able to meet. As time goes on PC always comes out on top, and I don't want to invest too much in a console ecosystem that I will move away from over the next 5 or so years.

 

[TheRaidenPT]

I started gaming when I was 6, as I got older especially after hitting the mid 20s I started to rather play more single and co-op games instead of MP games, which eventually leads me to consoles exclusives or like Indies game on steam with a controller hooked up to my TV.

The reason is simple, I associate my desk to work. However I still play WoW and CIV on the PC

 

[Shiranui93]

No, it's actually the exact opposite for me. I've never played so little on my consoles as in the last 5 years since I started gaming. I vastly prefer playing on PC these days.

 

[northnorth]

I strangely like.. nearly fully converted to PC after the new consoles came out. Lol. I already had a PC with a 1080ti and a laptop with a 2070 but I still mained consoles. PS4, One X and Switch. Then I got a PS5 and Series X and while I love them both. I guess it just wasn't what I expected? And that's fully on me. Not hating at all.

but long story short, Diablo 2 is probably my favorite game ever and after it was confirmed, I wanted to play it the best possible way and I ended up getting another new PC with a 3090 and a 240hz 1440p monitor and also have it plugged into my CX. Playing shit on ultra, 4K 120fps on my tv is amazing. And then maxing out on my monitor for shooters and PC centric titles is as well. My PS5 has served me great. Currently playing Ratchet on it, but my XSX really serves no purpose now other than streaming Man Vs Food on Discovery+ for my kid to laugh at lol.

 

[Deleted member 25721]

It's so weird seeing people assume PC gaming is a desk/keyboard & mouse only thing still. 🥴

Click to shrink...

Indeed. Sadly, par for the course. Maybe it would be more mainstream if some of the big techtubers (Linus, Jayz 2 Cents, BitWit, Paul's Hardware, etc.) made videos detailing living room setups with PC gaming; getting it as close to console as possible and such.

 

[sku]

No. I have had more issues with console gaming than pc gaming. I rarely have PC issues, and when I do, I can actually do something about it rather then just send it in. Also I just like having all of my games on steam. Some games like fps/tps I refuse to play with a controller. And more of my friends are on PC than console. Console generations and the lack of backwards compatibility is mind-blowingly bad. I could go on

 

[brainchild]

Nope. If anything, I've started moving further and further away from consoles. Both because thanks to steam most publishers dropping their "PC is piracy land" stance and realizing that they can make more money by bringing games to PC than not, and also a much broader and more interesting selection of games being available on the PC platform.

Click to shrink...

This is exactly how I feel about it.

 

[Gelf]

The opposite. The older I get the more attached I am to gaming history and PC is the only platform that doesn't place restrictions on access to that history. I don't want to wait for yet another new port of a classic to a new console, I don't want to beg for companies to remember they have games more than a couple of generations old and I don't want to have to keep various aging systems connected either.

PC also has best genre coverage of any system and I could never give that up. I need my builders, strategy games, RTS. Having to play only the few that get console ports with a controller would be awful. Frankly it bothers me when people talk like it being a straight swap between PC and console when in reality there's a lot that never makes it over.

 

[Green Mario]

Nah, I only have consoles for exclusives. I don't know why people think there's such a huge gulf between playing on a console versus playing on a PC - there are plenty of options for playing PC games in front of your TV on a couch or whatever.

 

[Vormund]

Yes, 41, have kids, Nintendo Switch

 

[Elven_Star]

Nah, I tried console gaming on a Series S recently, and almost immediately missed Steam.

 

[RM8]

There's zero hurdle when I use my gaming laptop, if anything it's more convenient than having to be glued to a screen. So not really in my case.

 

[Javier23]

Yes. But only this gen so far. The plug and play nature of consoles is so much more comfortable indeed. I got my PC hooked up to my TV for a perfectly fine couch gaming experience. But it can't quite match consoles yet in that department. Meanwhile, current gen has most games coming out with Performance presets and for as long as that's the case I'll probably keep playing most stuff on my Series X.

Still, lots of PC exclusives I love or games I'd prefer playing with a M&K control scheme. And games on PC are so much cheaper. So it's very likely that moving on I'll play a lot more on both.

I'll say this, unlike previous gens where they each had their own distinct advantages and exclusive features both PC and consoles keep steadily moving towards achieving parity in most regards, which is great to see.

 

[ThreepQuest64]

Other way around for me. As I got older, I wanted to do more stuff with the games I played that consoles simply cannot do.

my PC is hooked up directly to my TV and Steam Big picture launches at startup. No different than a console experience. Only console I own now is a Nintendo Switch that I don't even use anymore. Been collecting dust

Click to shrink...

Is this my alternative me posting? Also want to do more stuff consoles don't offer and my PC is also hooked to my TV and standing in my living room together with my desktop.

I grew up with consoles, Sega Master System, N64 and PSX, Gamecube, but it seems each year I'm more convinced of my platform of choice I'm gaming on now for roughly 15 years.

Everytime I played on console I wish I could have this experience on my PC. There are oh-so many restrictions I'm constantly aware of when playing on console so that I vastly prefer PC. I don't know the last time when I had crash (Rocket League on the PS4 the other day when we played in 4 people coop crashed after almost every single match...)

Not to mention the huge indie game catalogue I'm growing to prefer over AAA games. And while all consoles offer a good chunk of indie games, this catalogue is even bigger on PC. Also, where else can I play Anno and AoE series?

 

[Midas]

I've never been gaming on a PC really. Some Starcraft and CS way back. And looking at it now, the "community" is way too toxic for my liking.

 

[diablogg]

Nah, I only have consoles for exclusives. I don't know why people think there's such a huge gulf between playing on a console versus playing on a PC - there are plenty of options for playing PC games in front of your TV on a couch or whatever.

Click to shrink...

Agreed, I've had my PC hooked up to my TV since 2013.

 

[AfropunkNyc]

I'm getting older and im done with Console gaming. Not interested in ps5 or xbox series x, though i do have a Switch. Console gaming cant keep me entertained long enough.

 

[Okada]

With the current push for 60fps+ performance modes I'm more into console gaming than I have been for around 20 years.

I imagine that if it all drops back to 30fps I'll be straight back to PC gaming.

 

[Yung Coconut]

I prefer PC.

Only time I really turn on the Series X for gaming is if something I want to play on Game Pass is console only. I mostly use it for streaming Hulu etc.

 

[cowbanana]

Nope, PC is still the superior experience it always was. I do more than play games on my PC (Painting, modeling, rendering) and using anything on the internet, like forums, YT etc. is also much better on PC. Having everything in one multitasking environment isn't something consoles can compete with at all as they're just toys. PC games are also very cheap most of the time and if they aren't at launch they will be very, very soon. I buy most games via cdkeys.

If anything consoles are more bothersome to me. Having to fire up another system just to play a game... and console games seem to crash more than ever, especially on PS5. I haven't really had crash issues on my PC. If Playstation consoles didn't have exclusives I wouldn't bother with the extra stationary hardware at all.

I do like the convenience of my Switch though, I can just grab it and chill in one of the recliners around the house when I feel like a short burst of whatever RPG I'm currently playing on it.

 

[Echo]

No, the exact opposite. I did not much like PC as a kid, but now it's all I can stand.

Just have so much more freedom and control over things. Not to mention the ever growing library of games... and I don't have to worry about some megacorp deciding whether or not I get backwards compatibility either.

The final nail in the coffin for me on consoles has been the increasing speed at which 3rd-party exclusives are dying. And heck, even first party with Sony and MS putting first-party on PC. It's truly the best "all-in-one" machine.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

Nah. For starters I've never been a couch gamer, always preferred to sit rather than lay, so, the argument of console gaming being more comfortable never worked for me. I also love to work with settings in my games, and to my knowledge it's still something not present in console versions. Finally, there's no regional pricing on consoles, a PS5 with 10 full priced games for it is basically equivalent in price to a good PC which should last you till the end of the generation.

 

[Thekeats]

Nope, I could probably stop buying games at the moment and have enough in my back catalogue to never get bored.

I also tend to prefer the genres that are either exclusive to pc, or just play better there. I am a big fan of strategy games and I just don't like using a controller for that sort of thing.

I also prefer the fact that I can use just about any controller on the system instead of having to upgrade when a new system comes out.

Finally my pc is also used for several other hobbies, so holds more uses than a console for me anyway.

 

[Laser Man]

Without going into too much detail, console gaming in general has developed into a very unappealing environment for me starting at the tail end of the 360/PS3 generation (maybe Nintendo is the exception nowadays?)

I wouldn't say I'm shocked to see this happen but in my view consoles have become more PC like than ever before and it all started around that time, which was one of the reasons (by far not the only reason) why I stopped buying consoles and went back to PC. Not that I actually disliked every change that happened but consoles don't make sense to me any longer (they prob do on a financial level if you play a lot of games and use that gamepass abo, which I don't). It's way more complicated than just that but I really don't want to write up a wall of text to make myself clearer, I'm 40+ now and I ignored the last gen of consoles and have no interest of current gen because the entire vector of development is just not interesting to me at all. I thought I would at least have bought a Switch by now but haven't, If I ever do that then I'm already quite sure it will be because of one or two games on it and that will be it.

 

[thisismadness]

No, age hasn't had any impact on the hardware I will play on. Age has really just made me desire shorter games. Anything over 25 hours is an instant turn off. Likewise I've stopped playing a lot of competitive multiplayer games because they require a heavy time investment to enjoy.

 

[Paroni]

Other way around, I've mostly abandoned console gaming in favor of PC.

 

[J75]

Been console only most of my gaming life. It wasn't until recent years that I really got into PC gaming, and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.