Fairly recent I found myself replying back to a topic that always seems to popup whenever there’s talk of either a new console or a new game that is only for consoles that many feel should also be on PC, several games come to mind such as Bungie’s “Destiny” or Ubisoft’s “The Division” (Which is will be making it’s way to the PC). The general thought behind this is that PC gamers are either threatened by consoles or that they simply hate consoles and that consoles are deemed inferior lower end PC’s or that PC gamers are stuck up gamers who only think that games should be played on their top of the line SLI-ended, multiple monitor systems. Now I won’t say that everything that is speculated isn’t true as there are gamers on both end of the spectrum that feel that way, however there is a fairly huge amount who also feel that both PC’s and Consoles can co-exist and provide gamers with all types of enjoyment.
There are many PC gamers who don’t see the point of owning a console and at the same time there are many console owners who think PC gaming is simply pointless.
For the most part there are several points that are always debated but in the end it always boils down to Graphics, Controller and Ease of setup. These more than anything else always get pointed out whenever this debate comes up and usually when they do there are items that may have been true in the past but are moot points in this day and age. For example, anytime someone mentions playing a game on a PC to someone who plays a game on a console the first time that comes to mind is someone playing a game while being hunched over a computer, frantically staring into a tiny monitor. Sure there are those PC gamers that play that way, hell a huge majority do play that way as many of them feel comfortable sitting at a desk playing a PC game. That’s not by any means a bad thing. However that isn’t the only way that PC gamers play games, not by a long shot. Now a days many PC gamers have enjoyed the benefit of moving a PC out into their living room or wherever they have their TV’s to play their favorite PC games and have benefited from the same pleasures that consoles gamers have enjoyed. There are hundreds upon hundreds of PC games that include game controller support such as the Xbox 360 controller and there are ways to even get the Sony Dual Shock 3 and 4 controllers working on the PC. Not to mention that other various controllers from companies such as Logitech, Razer, Steel Series, Saitek and so forth. Even more recently Nvidia added another way to enjoy PC games with their Nvidia Shield, which lets you stream PC games to it from literally anywhere in your home, regardless if it’s in the living room, basement, bedroom or even on the old’e toilet. So that throws the whole ease of setup / play and controller myth out the window.
So what about graphics, that’s an important argument, isn’t it? Well yes and no as that argument is never ending and will likely be the only point that is constantly changing with the addition of new GPU’s from both AMD and Nvidia, for both the PC and consoles. Sure PC’s will and rightfully should have the leg up on a console and keep in mind i’m referring to the newer GPU’s for PC’s. But that’s also a curse in disguise mind you. Sure with each new GPU a PC gamer can upgrade and they can feed their need for cutting edge tech, however a console benefits from having a closed architecture meaning that that console you have is the same as the one every other owner has. It will never change and their for there is only one baseline for optimization, which ensures that every game on that console will look the best it can across the board. While on the PC is much much harder to do as there are different versions of GPU’s all over the place; some PC’s have Nvidia, some AMD, some 2 years old, some brand new. You get the idea and thus is makes it harder for a PC developer to get the best out of a configuration as they literally have to do a minimum, a suggested and a recommended optimized specification. Which by the way that recommended optimized specification is only as good as the hardware installed on your PC, so if you are running a 3-Way SLI build with a brand new CPU and GPU, well guess what, that specification goes out the window as you just surpassed it and you aren’t even a thought in that developers mind. So while being able to upgrade at a moment’s notice is a good thing it is also one of the key reasons why PC’s are held back when it comes to having a game ported to a PC. Why? Well if I’m a company looking to make quick buck and get my game on both a console and a PC, do you think I’m going to waste the time and money to optimize it for the PC or am I just going to give the PC a basic port?
It’s happened time and time again, look at Saint Row’s 2, Dark Souls, Assassin’s Creed 3 , Resident Evil 4 and even Grand Theft Auto IV……. ALL CRAPPY PORTS OF GAMES THAT RAN FINE ON A CONSOLE. These titles along with many others that I didn’t mention are prime examples of developers not wanting to take the time to optimize their ports for the PC counterparts. Now I’ll be the first to say that we should be grateful that we even got these games onto the PC platform but for the love of “Gaben” they could have at least put some effort into them. When they simply don’t add in even basic abilities such as button re-mapping, it’s unforgivable. Let’s not get into the issue where there are also no way to adjust the resolution or any advanced graphical adjustments such as Anti Aliasing within the game, forcing you to attempt to do it directly at the OS level.
So sure, crappy, bad ports is another issue, but is that the root of it all? Is this why console gamers think that PC gamers are threatened by them? No, not all and in fact it’s far from it. Despite the PC still getting a load of bad ports it still gets it’s fair share of decent ones. So what is it?
It’s SOFTWARE! It’s GAMES!
The playing field has never been level but as time as gone on it’s gotten worse with the PC taking it’s fair share of battle scars. The problem many PC gamers are having is the sheer amount of games that could also work on the PC, the games that everyone should have access to simply isn’t happening. Exclusives, that’s the main reason and it has been for some time. Games that are console exclusive to consoles or a specific console that may or may not even grace a PC. They’ve had to endure that for some time but it gets worse. How? Well sure console exclusives hurt, that’s a given. But what about game series that started off on PC and end up being a console exclusive or what about a company that used to do both PC and console titles only to have them abandon the PC completely?
TLDR; As a PC and Console gamer the only thing that pisses me off is companies will try to force your hand. They hold exclusive titles over your head and tell you it’s for console only or this specific console and those titles are then locked to that system or if they do make it over to the PC they’re either inferior ports or they come out years later when the title is no longer relevant.
From my standpoint I don’t see why this is still happening. I can understand if this was being done by a 1st party studio but when I see this being done by a 3rd party company it boggles my mind. A 3rd party companies isn’t supposed to have an “loyalty” to any specification platform, so why is it that we’re seeing this more and more? Wouldn’t it make more sense to spread the love on each platform and reap the benefits of doing so? Is that what should be happening? Being forced to purchase a title based on exclusivity or simply forget that the title exists as you’ll never get to play it? Do you feel that’s fair? Do the developers and companies think that’s fair?
Sure the easiest answer at least for now is to own both a PC and a console or consoles but not everyone is in a position to do so, not everyone has disposable income. The harsh reality is that we as gamers have other things to worry about compared to owning every console and a decent PC to play the games we want and enjoy. And while there are the vast number of gamers would are in the exception and are able to afford them all, do they want to? Is it needed? When will the time come where you as a gamer will be able to get the game you want on your platform of choice is that simply a possibility that will never happen?
So to follow up, why do PC gamers feel threatened by consoles? At least for me they (we) aren’t. They just don’t like being treated like the bastard child and don’t like graphically inferior and poorly optimized ports being pushed in their faces. Doesn’t having superior technology mean that the PC platform should also get software that is superior to consoles as well? Or at least that’s what the thought is for many PC gamers, but as we all know and have seen that simply isn’t the case. Perhaps when developers learn the in’s and out’s of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One that maybe we’ll see that thin line start to bend a bit and at that point perhaps there can be some sort of peace between the two warring environments.
P.S I do perfer playing on my PC but I do own several consoles including; A PlayStation 3 & 4, a Xbox 360 & Xbox One, as well as a 3DS and a Vita (which is in transit to me as I type this).
