Has anyone ever 'left' PC Gaming to go back to being console only?
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Welp, my recent PC isn't the very best but right now I just want a bigger table so I can run dual monitor set-up again.
I had a PS4 but it was for a specific game like P5 and I have a switch now. I prefer the ability to multi-task and doing any kind of school work on a tablet is a unique kind of suffering.
I had a PS4 but it was for a specific game like P5 and I have a switch now. I prefer the ability to multi-task and doing any kind of school work on a tablet is a unique kind of suffering.
I think it depends what type of PC gamer you are. I have two PCs, one at a desk with a comfy chair where I typically play non-action RPGs and 4X RTS games (Paradox games etc) and one connected to my TV along with my PS4 and Switch.
For me, the 'console experience' is being able to pickup a controller and use the device to the fullest. Even when I don't use my TV-connected PC much I have a reminder set for every second Sunday to wake it from sleep and check for Windows updates, storefront (Steam, U-Play, Origin etc) updates, game updates which may not update until the store has updated, driver updates. I need my Logitech wireless keyboard/trackpad handy for all of the administration and all my logins and passwords that you take for granted when your sat in front of a PC that you use everyday with keyboard and mouse.
Even though my PC is vastly more powerful than my PS4 Pro, there are many games I'll buy on PS4 because of suspend/resume. As somebody who doesn't have a lot of time game and who may need to stop quite suddenly, the ability just to freeze any game and put the console to sleep to pickup up later is more valuable to me than higher frame rates.
I went back to console towards the start of the Xbox One/PS4, because it was cheaper than upgrading my PC.
I will say I've never gone full PC, and I'll always love playing games on my couch from my console with ease, but having the option to play different consoles/PC games is best.
I will say I've never gone full PC, and I'll always love playing games on my couch from my console with ease, but having the option to play different consoles/PC games is best.
Moved back and forth several times with my primary gaming devices. For PC, it often meant only being used for productivity purposes.
Amiga/486 era => PS1 (wanted to get a new PC as a kid, got the console)
PS2 => Pentium 3 era (online gaming was just crazy)
Core 2 Duo era => PS3 (got a 1080p TV and needed a BD player, first PS3 price cut helped)
PS3 => Vita (first time a handheld was not really compromised , still best gaming device I ever owned)
Vita => Mobile (barely any time to play and Clash Royale was just a beast)
Nowadays: Barely any time to play, dropped the popular mobile games though and use a PC handheld, PS4 and some PC/console style games on Mobile (like Civ).
Amiga/486 era => PS1 (wanted to get a new PC as a kid, got the console)
PS2 => Pentium 3 era (online gaming was just crazy)
Core 2 Duo era => PS3 (got a 1080p TV and needed a BD player, first PS3 price cut helped)
PS3 => Vita (first time a handheld was not really compromised , still best gaming device I ever owned)
Vita => Mobile (barely any time to play and Clash Royale was just a beast)
Nowadays: Barely any time to play, dropped the popular mobile games though and use a PC handheld, PS4 and some PC/console style games on Mobile (like Civ).
Such a good post, and I am with you. A lot of the time now, I just click the lower preset "high" for example and run with it, with maybe a slight tweak if needed.
Borderlands 3 is a great example, because i can legit hardly see a difference between the top three settings but like you say they affect performance a lot..
Yes. I was pc gaming for the entire PS2 and some of the PS3 generation, then moved onto ps3 and ps4.
Don't really care much about graphics or 60 FPS anymore so console is good enough. And playstation sales are almost as good as steam nowadays.
Don't really care much about graphics or 60 FPS anymore so console is good enough. And playstation sales are almost as good as steam nowadays.
The only time this is really true is when new consoles are coming out. Otherwise, even the cheapest ones will give you far better performance than consoles; not just cause they are far stronger, but because the game themselves wont have the same limitations (double the framerate on Destiny 2, for example).
No, PC gaming isn't as convenient as suspend/resume. That is true. While I'm a PC gamer primarily, I'm not in denial that consoles have a big edge on ease of use. In addition to suspend, HDR is way easier on consoles.
Same. The biggest issue I've had in recent times is the Xbox beta app wouldn't download at acceptable speeds, but MS customer support was able to remote into my desktop and fix it, no personal tinkering required.
Everything listed in the OP? Exclusives? Now exclusives are subjective but I hate when people act like there are no merits to consoles.
Exclusives isn't leaving pc gaming to go back to consoles, its going back to ur console temporarily because its the only way to play a certain game. I "went back" to my PS4 to play GOW and Spiderman. If the only merit to going back to a console has to do with it being the only way to play a certain game, that's not exactly a merit.
I'm not completely giving up on PC but I'm primarily going back to consoles for next gen. Going to build a mid-end machine when the new GPUs come out and sticking with that for at least the generation. Buying any game available for PS5 on that and using the PC for older games and Xbox/PC exclusives.
Over the last 15 years I seem To have gotten into a routine of doing it at the start of every generation.
I'll probably stick to console primarily - then year 2-3 once things have settled get a new PC again and split my time more Evenly
I'll probably stick to console primarily - then year 2-3 once things have settled get a new PC again and split my time more Evenly
I switched back to console because I had a bad compulsion to keep upgrading my PC and spent way too much time tweaking settings and messing with utility apps to optimize performance.
With consoles all that goes away and I don't miss it.
That and I don't like Windows so now I just have a MacBook and consoles instead.
With consoles all that goes away and I don't miss it.
That and I don't like Windows so now I just have a MacBook and consoles instead.
But it's obviously not the only merit as multiple people have stated in this very thread and the probably hundreds of similar ones over the years.
But some people can't possibly understand how their platform of choice can't be better in 100% of use cases.
I grew up on PC until PS2 but I've had a gaming pc since like 2009? 2010? It's not some perfect green grass world. No matter what anybody says people do have issues and it bothers them.
The two off the top of my head for me is I run a 1080p monitor and also have my 4K tv hooked up across the room. Not all games let me choose which monitor to use reliably like Forza Horizon. I have to go windowed and drag my game to my tv and then switch into full screen unless I want to just mirror and play in 1080p. Or when I forget to switch audio outputs and have to close iTunes switch back to my speakers and reopen. Or when I was extremely excited that Stranglehold was on GOG but has no controller support so I'm stuck playing it on my monitor at my desk when I'd prefer to play on my 55" tv. Or when in order to play Forza Horizon with my input of choice (DualShock4) I have to make sure that All my game clients are completely closed in order for it to actually work. Otherwise it constantly switches back and forth between keyboard and controller.
There are times when it's a pain in the ass. No matter what anybody says PC gaming will never be as easy as console gaming despite the caveats and lack of options.
Personally it's not enough to make me buy an Xbox but for some people this would break their experience entirely.
Sigh. My forever love/hate relationship with PC gaming. Honestly, when a game runs great on PC, it's freaking great. But when it's a pain, it's a freaking pain. I'll say it's gotten much better as time has went by but so are consoles.
COD: Warzone has been an eye opener. On PC, it plays and feel MUCH better than the X1X - but issues with voice/ party chat, recording video, sharing video and joining games friends/sessions make it tougher to stay on PC.
I was looking to upgrade my gtx 1080 with the soon 3080ti but it's so difficult to justify $1000 plus on a single piece of hardware. I'd probably be able to get the ps5 and X1X for that price.
COD: Warzone has been an eye opener. On PC, it plays and feel MUCH better than the X1X - but issues with voice/ party chat, recording video, sharing video and joining games friends/sessions make it tougher to stay on PC.
I was looking to upgrade my gtx 1080 with the soon 3080ti but it's so difficult to justify $1000 plus on a single piece of hardware. I'd probably be able to get the ps5 and X1X for that price.
I have one monitor and 0 interest in playing my PC on my TV. 95% of the games I play are with my keyboard. The only issues I've ever had with PC gaming has to with game launchers that aren't Steam or bad console ports. PC gaming for me has been far simpler than consoles, where you constantly have to delete games because of the lack of storage they come with, locked frame-rates or having to pay to play online. The only console that makes actual sense, in my mind, is the switch because it can not only be played on the TV but as a handheld. Other than that, I don't see anything that consoles do that would make anyone want to go back to playing them and it is absolutely terrible that these companies use exclusive games as a way to get people to buy them.
Every one of them has issues. The switch is a gimped console that doesn't get half the games and overall it offers less than medicore performance compared to the other two consoles and the other two consoles force people to pay yearly subscriptions to do nothing other than offer less than mediocre sales prices and "online play". The only thing I can't do on my PC is play certain games because of this exclusivity war Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft have going. There's a boatload of things I can't do on consoles, not to mention gimped experiences you get from a lot of games like fallout 4 and skyrim, where you can only find maybe 1/3rd of the mods on console. Other games like divinity and dragon age which are just meant for PC and not consoles. You can't even watch Netflix on the switch..
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I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that some people "upgrade" to PC for big AAA console games at higher settings, resolutions and framerates. Now consoles don't use Ultra graphical presets obviously but they usually go for mostly High with some Medium depending on how demanding the game is (something like RDR II has many Medium settings and even some low settings on XB1X to get the game to native 4k at a solid 30fps). People who've "upgraded" to PC don't want to pick medium or even High graphical settings. They want that upgrade so they pick Ultra and then a higher resolution than consoles (or 4k in this case) and then they're annoyed when they can barely get 30fps never mind 60fps.
The issue of resolution has changed massively between console and PC this gen due to XB1X and to a lesser degree PS4 Pro where console games now regularly run at 1440p/1800p/cb4k/dynamic4k and in some rare cases native 2160p. Getting 60fps (again another major reason a console player would upgrade to PC) at those resolutions especially going after High/Ultra settings is impossible outside of very, very high end PC hardware like a 2080TI combined with a high end CPU and the fastest memory.
I myself would like to play on PC as my main platform next gen but I'm trying my best to wait and see how the market settles with regards to hardware later this year. We've never had such powerful consoles relative to launch before pushing 4k, GPU's with Ray Tracing, high threaded CPU's, SSD's and even 120fps in some games.
I do have a big fear that it will take mammothly priced PC hardware of around £1000-£1200 (Not counting a good mouse, keyboard, controller and Windows) to match the likely £500 Xbox Series X for instance. The reason I'm even considering it is because I want the choice to target 60fps in every third party game. I don't want developers telling me "here is next gen, it's 30fps with drops and limited Ray Tracing" like Ubisoft seem to be doing for instance with Watch Dogs Legion and AC Valhalla on XBSX and PS5.
If developers said tomorrow that on console across the board they would offer built in UI settings so you could either target 4k/30 with RT or 1440p/60 without RT then I wouldn't even be considering moving to PC because of the multitude of issues I've had in the past from hardware upgrades to low quality AAA console ports to all the issues of simply running a game that sometimes happens.
I'm caught in two minds, it's very difficult to decide. I have the cash for a high end PC or both next gen consoles though I just need to wait.
I feel like I spend more time optimizing on PC than actually playing. Yesterday, I spent 2 hours trying to get Mass Effect to run and still haven't managed to get it to work. Now that I'm working and have school, I only get an hour to play games each day, if I'm lucky, so the constant tinkering of mods, drivers, updating, etc. is too much for me.
My consoles generally auto-update (except the Switch) and I usually download games overnight for the next day. I don't personally noticed the performance difference so I find myself mostly playing consoles.
I also think the ps store/ux is a much better experience than steam, epic, or the other game stores, although GOG galaxy is fantastic when it works. The xbox store is practically unusable for me and the switch store is just o.k.
My consoles generally auto-update (except the Switch) and I usually download games overnight for the next day. I don't personally noticed the performance difference so I find myself mostly playing consoles.
I also think the ps store/ux is a much better experience than steam, epic, or the other game stores, although GOG galaxy is fantastic when it works. The xbox store is practically unusable for me and the switch store is just o.k.
I grew up on MSX and IBM PCs, fixing and making-up my own rigs. I gave all that up a decade ago, ever since I tried to get a new gaming PC up-and-running and the parts kept going out on me, and the replacements were way too much of a headache to get. Stuck with the PS3, the Vita and the PS4 and the Switch, ever since.
As for PC, I do have a somewhat decent notebook, but I don't even try to run any games on it. I just keep adding free ones to my libraries, just in case.
As for PC, I do have a somewhat decent notebook, but I don't even try to run any games on it. I just keep adding free ones to my libraries, just in case.
I used to exclusively game on PC from its early days until my wife bought me a PS2. The convenience of console gaming far out weighed my desire to keep my PC up to date enough to keep up with requirements for new releases. The last game I remember enjoying on the PC was Diablo II (ahhhh) but I have no regrets. Console life has been good to me. Many more games than I can keep up with.
I always participate in the consoles every generation, because of the exclusives, but I always come back to PC.
I like tinkering with games, personally, but not everyone does. I like being able to juice the framerate and all that.
Another thing is that I like playing old games, and PC is really the premiere platform for that. You couldn't pay me to play a PS3 game in 2020, generally, because I don't want to play some 720p 30fps mess that takes forever to load. But games from that era are fun as hell on a PC with modern hardware. I always feel better about buying games on PC than on a console for this reason - I'm more likely to enjoy the games for a number of years than I am on a console.
These are personal things, though, and I think for most people a console is a no-brainer.
I like tinkering with games, personally, but not everyone does. I like being able to juice the framerate and all that.
Another thing is that I like playing old games, and PC is really the premiere platform for that. You couldn't pay me to play a PS3 game in 2020, generally, because I don't want to play some 720p 30fps mess that takes forever to load. But games from that era are fun as hell on a PC with modern hardware. I always feel better about buying games on PC than on a console for this reason - I'm more likely to enjoy the games for a number of years than I am on a console.
These are personal things, though, and I think for most people a console is a no-brainer.
Well, some of the things you describe aren't exactly an accurate comparison. If you want to play Forza Horizon on the Xbox One with a DS4 you need to buy some adapter to make it happen. Otherwise, it won't work (you can probably do the same in PC). Stranglehold is a 360/PS3 game that is not BC on Xbox One. So if you want to play it on PS4/One you simply won't be able to. About having your PC hooked to a monitor and a TV, that's basically because you use your PC for more than just gaming, if you had it just hooked up to the TV just like a console then you'd likely have less problems. Those situations you find yourself into are mainly because you have more options in PC Gaming, even if some of them require some figuring out on your side.
I do agree that consoles are easier to use, that is hard to dispute, but I feel many people greatly exaggerate the difficulties you face on PC, the large majority of modern games are install and play, and the Xbox One controller basically works out of the box. Older games are a bit more hit and miss sometimes, but in console you simply don;t have access to most of those. The main advantages I see for consoles are that the initial investment is definitely lower, QoL features like being able to freeze your play session in an easier manner, lower power consumption and some exclusive games (though PC has its own, as well).
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Yes and now, if by "PC gaming" you mean "desktop gaming".
Around 2011 I had to maintain a dedicated desktop audio/video home-studio in my appartement, and I never mix job and private life regarding software and hardware.
My laptop was enough for personal task and lightweight gaming, and today I am still using a late 2012 MacMini under Catalina to run OpenEmu and a Windows10 on the second internal drive.
Also globally video game publishing dropped "AAA PC exclusives" during the same timeline, Portal 2 in 2011 was the swansong of that era opened with Half Life 2 and World of Warcraft.
Around 2011 I had to maintain a dedicated desktop audio/video home-studio in my appartement, and I never mix job and private life regarding software and hardware.
My laptop was enough for personal task and lightweight gaming, and today I am still using a late 2012 MacMini under Catalina to run OpenEmu and a Windows10 on the second internal drive.
Also globally video game publishing dropped "AAA PC exclusives" during the same timeline, Portal 2 in 2011 was the swansong of that era opened with Half Life 2 and World of Warcraft.
I suppose I will never leave PC gaming. It still has its value for certain games that benefit from modding, like Witcher 3. That's why I'm buying Cyberpunk for PC. I don't plan on buying a Series X so I will also use PC for the MS exclusives. Everything else will be Playstation for me.
Which Mass Effect? The original one? Because if that's the case then it's not a game you can play on PS4, for instance (you do in XOne via BC).
I used to be predominantly PC gamer back in the PS2 era, but shifted to consoles when life got in the way. Consoles were just a lot easier to maintain and have others come in and play as well.
Now I have a kid, so PC gaming is definitely not coming back for me anytime in the near future, lol.
Now I have a kid, so PC gaming is definitely not coming back for me anytime in the near future, lol.
I was big into PC gaming in in the 90s and early 2000s.
For me, and this is just me, I just became tired of games not working properly like they should have. First example is halo for the PC. My computer meet all the requirements to run the game but the game just didn't work for me. I was not the only one that had that issues many people had issues running halo with their PC. What made me stop gaming on PC all together is I bought I semi decent video card that shit out on me, then they replaced that one (it was within the warranty) and then a few month later that shit out me. I just got tired of spening hours dicking around with a PC trying to get games to run.
I do understand the appeal of PC gaming, better graphics, modding etc, but I just like the idea of turning on a console and having the games run as they should.
For me, and this is just me, I just became tired of games not working properly like they should have. First example is halo for the PC. My computer meet all the requirements to run the game but the game just didn't work for me. I was not the only one that had that issues many people had issues running halo with their PC. What made me stop gaming on PC all together is I bought I semi decent video card that shit out on me, then they replaced that one (it was within the warranty) and then a few month later that shit out me. I just got tired of spening hours dicking around with a PC trying to get games to run.
I do understand the appeal of PC gaming, better graphics, modding etc, but I just like the idea of turning on a console and having the games run as they should.
Well, not left. More like switching depending on the game.
I get the stuff you say - PC Gaming is still not as easy, seamless and direct like a console.
I was console exclusive until I sold my PS2 to get a PC. From there I was PC exclusive until 2007 when I finally purchased a Xbox 360. One of the reasons I purchased the Xbox 360 was because I was stuck in having to do a completely new build or opt for a console for a fraction of the price. It also helped that the PC was getting what I would deem PC-like titles such as Rainbow Six: Vegas, BioShock, Condemned, Mass Effect, etc. Don't forget that early in the 360s lifecycle there were a lot of PC/360 titles. Of course, having Dead Rising and next gen NHL also didn't hurt.
Funny enough, once I purchased my PS3 in early 2010 I've been multi-platform ever since. I now find myself re-purchasing PC games on the cheap to re-experience them at higher resolutions and framerate. I did much of the same towards the end of the PS3/360 generation with games like Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 & 3.
On a side note: Much of the reason I still prefer consoles over PC comes down to still being able to physically collect games on consoles. Once games become completely digital, I can see myself going back to almost exclusively PC.
Funny enough, once I purchased my PS3 in early 2010 I've been multi-platform ever since. I now find myself re-purchasing PC games on the cheap to re-experience them at higher resolutions and framerate. I did much of the same towards the end of the PS3/360 generation with games like Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 & 3.
On a side note: Much of the reason I still prefer consoles over PC comes down to still being able to physically collect games on consoles. Once games become completely digital, I can see myself going back to almost exclusively PC.
Yeah, I have the trilogy on ps3 but wanted to replay it on my new pc.
It's frustrating, too, because I didn't even buy it on xbox one but I could just download the first one and play it faster with game pass.
I also think as I get more used to pc it will be easier but over the past few months it has been a headache.
But you'll be able to run games at the framerates of both of them combined, too lol
So disappointing that 30fps will still be the target perf spec for many games on the next gen consoles :(
In my experience, running games post-2010-2011 or so very rarely gives problems, while older ones at times can be a bit hit and miss and you might have to tinker (PCGamingWiki and Google are your best friends). For instance, I wanted to play Tiberian Sun recently and it's not quite so simple to have it running at modern resolutions without issues coming up, and I also had some issues with Supreme Commander crashing when changing resolutions. Then again, neither the PS4 nor the Switch have any BC, and the XOne does but it's still only a small fraction of the full OG Xbox/360 catalogue, so it's not exactly a fair comparison to the console experience.
I went back and forth from consoles exclusively to PC for a few years at a time. More recently, I went back to console gaming again for most titles (PS3-PS4 era), only to finally settle for PS4 for exclusive games and PC for everything else. I think I will continue that trend next generation with a PS5 and maybe a Switch or its successor.
I still have my old consoles so it isnt as much of an issue, but keeping a consistent library is a definite benefit of pc gaming, for sure.
I kinda did back in the mid-nineties. After years of gaming on Sega and Nintendo platforms, we got a PC. It started off nicely with Monkey Island 1 and 2 and later on I kinda drifted away from consoles and went almost 100% PC for about a year or maybe 2. Yoshi's Island on SNES was the game to pull me back to SNES and I actually really regret ever going all-out on PC for that time because it made me miss a substantial part of console gaming. Looking back I never enjoyed gaming on PC much and that still holds true today. I much rather play my Japanese console games than PC games, it's just my thing. I do own a gaming PC (built one last year) so I can pretty much play anything I want, but my heart is with console games, I just use PC for some cheapo indies and some outliers like Serious Sam or the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 which are obviously gonna be way better on PC.
I've always been a PS + PC gamer. If not for exclusives, I'd never even bother purchasing a console.
To me, it's an inferior platform in almost every way.
To me, it's an inferior platform in almost every way.
I typically go through phases where I will play more console games at the beginning of a generation and swing back to PC when I build a new one that gives better results than the current consoles.
Yup. I played everything that wasn't a Squaresoft game on PC until around 2009, when I picked up a PS3. After remembering how easy console gaming was, I haven't really played anything other than the occasional indie on a PC since. It's been great.
I used to play both, but now I'm exclusively on consoles. It just makes more sense when your primary gaming situation is playing from the couch and want something that just works. I always think that maybe I'll someday build another PC, but I'm in no rush.