Recently the gaming industry has been going gaga over the recently gaming console revisions; namely the Xbox One S and the upcoming PlayStation 4 Pro. Both are viable systems for gaming, though we don’t know at what level the PlayStation 4 Pro is going to perform at. However, while it seems that both Sony and Microsoft are going to blows with other, not everyone is convinced that this is the end game.
One such person is Sony Interactive Entertainment’s own Chief, Andrew House. During a recent interview, he confused that the Sony PlayStation 4 Pro was not a reactive response to either the Xbox One S or upcoming Xbox “Scorpio”, but to the PC. Now while this is something that I’ve been saying to many a gamer for quite some time, it actually does feel good to see that even Sony, who just happens to be winning the PS4 versus Xbox tug of war, does admit that the PC is actually pulling people away from both gaming consoles. He goes on to state that he’s seen the numbers and there is a shift of gamers who are starting to migrate to PC, due to the greater graphical fidelity to be had, among other things.
“I saw some data that really influenced me, It suggested that there’s a dip mid-console lifecycle where the players who want the very best graphical experience will start to migrate to PC, because that’s obviously where it’s to be had. We wanted to keep those people within our eco-system by giving them the very best and very highest [performance quality].
So the net result of those thoughts was PlayStation 4 Pro – and, by and large, a graphical approach to game improvement.”
The end result of this was the creation of the PlayStation 4 Pro, to attempt to keep gamers within the PlayStation 4 brand. And while recent PlayStation Meeting that was held on September 7th, 2016, really failed to raise excitement behind the PlayStation 4 Pro. In fact, the system has many, gamers, journalists and industry insiders alike, scratching their heads.
I applaud Andrew House for his foresight and think has the right idea, however as a PC gamer, being graphically superior isn’t just the main reason why I prefer it over my gaming consoles.The ability to emulate other platforms, a better online system, the ability to customize my games, and even the ability to modify / use mods are other reasons. However, the PC isn’t always that grand spectacle either, as it gets its fair share of bad gaming ports, it’s prone to hacks during online sessions and as everyone likes to point out,it costs more to stand ahead than it does on console. Yet, if Andrew sees this as a possible threat to the PlayStation brand, it definitely means that someone is taking the platform seriously.
Is the PC actually causing gamers to move away from consoles? Are they a threat or are they seen as the next step in gaming, or can they co-exist with gaming consoles?
Sources: The Guardian