Once upon a time, video game consoles offered the convenience of plug-and-play gaming, and living room comfort.
Not everyone wanted to build a PC and play with keyboard and mouse, and even still playing those PC games can be a hassle to set up on a TV if you’re common-denominator-levels of tech unsavvy. (Read: not the average Lemmy user)
Valve has brought that forward some with Steam Deck and eventually steam machine but by and large most PC gamers are Windows users.
That said, console platforms have gotten so increasingly hostile towards customers between pricing, licensing, download times and walled-garden tactics that they’ve painted themselves out of an increasing chunk of the games market.
People would rather set up a computer and a controller than buy a console, and it’s the corpo’s own fault.
They’re not building PCs but they are buying/using laptops, and, to a lesser extent, prebuilts. I’ve also built a few gaming PCs on request from otherwise “casual” consumers though that’s a smaller portion of the market.
It’s been a slow but steady transition. PC used to not even be worth big publishers’ time to make a half-assed port, and now over 20 years later, in most cases, it’s 50%+ of their customers and revenue.
Anecdotal account, so please take with a big grain of salt.
I want to add to support your position: even in Japan, we’re seeing sections dedicated to PC gaming in normie electronics stores. It might not be the dominant platform yet, but it’s definitely gaining mainstream acceptance with Twitch streamers becoming more prominent as well. It’s slow, but it’s happening even in the land of consoles.
Once upon a time, video game consoles offered the convenience of plug-and-play gaming, and living room comfort.
Not everyone wanted to build a PC and play with keyboard and mouse, and even still playing those PC games can be a hassle to set up on a TV if you’re common-denominator-levels of tech unsavvy. (Read: not the average Lemmy user)
Valve has brought that forward some with Steam Deck and eventually steam machine but by and large most PC gamers are Windows users.
That said, console platforms have gotten so increasingly hostile towards customers between pricing, licensing, download times and walled-garden tactics that they’ve painted themselves out of an increasing chunk of the games market.
People would rather set up a computer and a controller than buy a console, and it’s the corpo’s own fault.
You guys said the same thing about the switch 2 and it sold extremely well.
The world doesn’t revolve around PC gamers.
Casuals are absolutely not building PCs
They’re not building PCs but they are buying/using laptops, and, to a lesser extent, prebuilts. I’ve also built a few gaming PCs on request from otherwise “casual” consumers though that’s a smaller portion of the market.
It’s been a slow but steady transition. PC used to not even be worth big publishers’ time to make a half-assed port, and now over 20 years later, in most cases, it’s 50%+ of their customers and revenue.
Anecdotal account, so please take with a big grain of salt.
I want to add to support your position: even in Japan, we’re seeing sections dedicated to PC gaming in normie electronics stores. It might not be the dominant platform yet, but it’s definitely gaining mainstream acceptance with Twitch streamers becoming more prominent as well. It’s slow, but it’s happening even in the land of consoles.
The Switch still offers the plug-and-play experience the other consoles lost.
The other points still apply, but the Nintendo crowd doesn’t seem to mind being fucked sideways.