Topic: Genuine question: What makes you still buying a console in 2022?

Basically, the consoles provides the best 'bang for buck' way for me to enjoy my hobby and in some cases, the only way to play some games anyway. Therefore it was a relatively easy decision for me. I know that I'd need to spend quite a bit more to get 'similar' visual level and performance from a PC and not buying anew Console would limit my choices of games I could play.

We are not quite at the point where you can still play the games you want without buying at least a Console. Cloud gaming may well offer a great value proposition to those with 'limited' time and happy to play a curated library of titles, inc some day and date new releases on hardware you may already own but you can only play the games in that service at that time. There may be over 100 games you can play, which maybe ample for busy people who don't have the 'time' to justify buying a Console. Being able to 'play' anywhere, anytime on whatever devices they have maybe 'perfect' for them. Being able to play on mobiles, tablets, laptops, TV's, PC etc also means you aren't waiting for the 'family' TV to be unoccupied so you can sit down at home and play on your console. TV busy, play on Laptop/PC/Mobile via streaming.

However, for most people, the Consoles offer a 'cheap' entry point for gaming that offer the 'majority' of new releases and deliver a decent balance of visual quality/performance for the money. You'd need to spend more on a Laptop/PC to play the same games at the same quality - so it is a 'cheap' option and why its the 'best bang for buck' option as you also have a much larger Library of games to play too - 1000's of different games - that's why people will buy Consoles.

Maybe there will come a time when Cloud gaming makes Consoles either 'obsolete' or for nostalgia, Like HiFi Systems and dedicated BluRay players have disappeared thanks to the rise of streaming Music/TV. Yes I know you can buy cheap nostalgic record players or very high-end separates, but the dedicated hi-fi systems became obsolete with the rise of MP3's/streaming. But in 2022, that is not the case, so if you enjoy gaming and want to play the majority of the latest games, you'll need at least 1 console.

Convenience and price for me. What would perfect consoles would be mod support. Mods could fix or change games drastically. I think it could be done. Sony could create it's own dedicated mod site to approve for security reasons. Seeing the cool mods in pc games is my only console owning regret.

• Exclusives (still fully relevant for Nintendo and partially relevant for Playstation atm)
• Hybrid play (one can play games on a Steam Deck, close out of them, allow the save to sync with the cloud, and then pick them back up on a proper PC, but this is a hassle, and a ton of games still need work done on them before they run well on that platform)
• You still get the occasional game that just doesn't run well on PC
• Playstation trophies are better than the achievements you can collect on PC (although it sounds like Sony is even addressing this in the near future)

@Ralizah The one thing I’ll say about Steam achievements is while it doesn’t have the same excitement as trophies, it’s so much easier for devs to add achievements in updates. They don’t need to create separate sets which often people don’t bother with. This is great for games like Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings etc as they just drop some new achievements with every update and can make hundreds of silly ones for doing things like taking over and decentralizing the Holy Roman Empire as Mulhouse called Everything’s Coming Up Mulhouse! These games are basically sandboxes so it gives you great ideas to play games. The Crusader Kings III trophies on PS5 are nowhere near as extensive as they have to be an achievable set and are limited with how many they can have, just like how Train Sim World 2 ran into the maximum amount of trophies.

@nessisonett " they just drop some new achievements with every update and can make hundreds of silly ones"

Yeah, see, that kind of takes away from it for me. Then you're just endlessly chasing after new trophies for games you had already completed. I like that default PS trophy lists which build up to a platinum are separate from ones for DLC campaigns and whatnot.

@Ralizah It works for a lot of PC games due to the nature of updates though. Steam games naturally evolve throughout the years of updates and have done for years now. Sony trophies being so static means that platinums in games like Destiny 2, ESO and stuff are either entirely unattainable due to the game barely resembling how it looked on launch or rely on outdated content.

@nessisonett I can see that perspective, especially for live-service and online centric games like the ones you mentioned. But I prefer Sony's approach for single-player games. I just treat my Steam games like my Nintendo games, where I play what I want to play and then move on, irrespective of whatever achievements might be available.

@Ralizah I think I have literally 1 game on the entirety of Steam that I’ve got every achievement in. At least I got that Confederate flag off my profile by earning rarer achievements, my bloody brother won a scenario in Civilization V as the Confederates and it was stuck on my profile for ages because obviously barely anybody had done that.

To be honest I was slipping away from buying consoles as I was finding less and less time to play them. I had a Switch which was great for on the go but over the last 5 years it's actually been cloud gaming thats kept me in touch with the hobby.
Stadia came at just the right time for me and I used that a lot. Then as the games started to dry up I looked into xCloud and ended up with an Xbox beside my TV. And then most recently I was lucky enough to pick up a PS5 and will be working my way through the back catalog I've missed out on since the original PS1, the last time I owned a Playstation. Sadly the Playstation streaming service is not as good for me as xCloud and Stadia but I'm hoping it will get better.

I still play some games on PC as there are games not available on console. But overall I favor the PS5 and if I had to choose one platform it would be PS5. PC gaming is a hobby, meaning you have to devote more time to it than just turning on the machine and playing. Almost every single game I play on PC I have to mess with to get it to run correctly. Then there is the cost. Gaming PC is much more expensive than a console which is a big issue for many people. I won’t be upgrading my PC for future games. I will be getting a PS5 Pro when it is released.

I switch to PC this gen, but i still own a PS5. I've been gaming on console since the Sega genesis but i find PC more comfortable to game on. I bought a PC on amazon that has a RTX 3050 and it can play so many games and steam sales are really good. Also, you can do so much on a PC beside play games. You can also upscale the game to how you want and play with mods.

Lower cost and convenience. I don't want to fiddle with dozens of settings to optimise a game before I can even start it. PC is gradually losing it's advantages. With 4K, we have reached the law of diminishing returns for resolution. The same will happen with performance in the future. The only benefit I wish for on consoles is mods.

@Thumper “ PC is gradually losing it's advantages.”

as someone who just got into PC around 3 months ago with a GTX3070 , i gotta disagree . maybe it’s the honeymoon phase , but i doubt it . between the immense amount of things u can do on PC and customizations , the social integration , and free online and the insane multitasking , it makes console feel extremely limited and dead imo . couple that with the fact that former “true” exclusives are releasing on it now from both consoles, i don’t see how it’s losing advantages ? it’s more affordable and accessible than it’s ever been with exclusive games and unbeatable price deals . the inevitable advantage of simplicity and convenience console has is countered by the inevitable freedom PC has , and since i future-proofed my PC by not buying a low-end im able to play all modern games so far & for years to come

edit - all this said , i still prefer console ; at most it’s like a 50/50 split between the two platforms .

@nomither6 Most people I know that work on a PC for their main job, are not particularly keen on coming home and gaming on a PC too. It maybe better in some ways, but for some that stuff won't matter as much for some people.

I certainly won't be going back to PC gaming after trying a few years ago, can't be bothered with all the faffing around that comes round to it,

Quoted for truth. I've got quite a few PC games which I really should be playing, but after writing all day I kinda wanna be anywhere but my desk. I'll even play an inferior console version of a multi-platform game just to get away from my keyboard. It's a shame, but it's totally a thing.

Modern games generally detect your hardware and auto-adapt the settings to best meet those. If that fails, you can just click on a lower preset. Fiddling with settings is an option for people who want it, but, in practice, it's rarely needed for modern games, in my experience.

The cost argument is definitely valid, as consoles provide way more bang for your buck in terms of raw horsepower, but I'd also argue, with consoles becoming more PC-like over the years, they've lost their biggest advantage to date: plug-and-play appeal. It's really no more complicated to play a PC game than it is to play a console one, in general.

Also, PC players finally have the option for hybrid/portable play experiences with Steam Deck, which is only possible on modern consoles with flawed streaming options.

Add in mods, practically infinite controller options, access to multiple storefronts, home console exclusives becoming a thing of the past, etc.? I'd say it's only home consoles that are increasingly losing their unique appeal.

@Ralizah Yeah. I'm increasingly convinced that this will be my final console exclusive "generation". I definitely agree with what @JohnnyShoulder was saying about PC use and the worktime/playtime dichotomy but I've been singularly unimpressed with these latest consoles at least in terms of the generational shift that they supposedly represent. I'm aware that technological diminishing returns are a thing but to my mind the improvements (such as speedier loading) have been so incremental as to be almost non existent. Maybe that's why I'm spending more and more time on older systems?

@JohnnyShoulder understandable . though being able to use controllers helps with making gaming on a computer feel more comfortable or akin to console , so if you ever dive back in , i recommend it . no keyboard and mouse for me .

@nomither6 It is not really about playing with a controller as I'm well aware you don't have to play everything with a keyboard and mouse. It is more a feeling of being stuck working on a PC all day, then playing games on a PC when getting home.

I have a laptop which is hardly used these days as most things I can do on my tablet, mobile phone and TV/PS5. So I have even less of a reason to buy a new PC in the future.

@LN78 I do think, at this point, however home console tech evolves, we're at the endpoint in terms of seismic changes between models. The last potential differentiator is the adoption of SSD tech, which will be in everything going forward. Games take so long to make now that it'll take years before this happens, IMO, but you'll probably see some improvements in terms of how games are designed level design-wise at some point. Otherwise? As you've alluded to, we've pretty much hit the point where adding more triangles to a 3D model isn't really going to give you appreciable gains to image quality.

Nintendo has more time in that regard, since they're still fairly behind in raw specs, and there are a lot of improvements we'll be seeing in terms of mobile and battery tech in coming years, but it'll eventually hit them too.