If you decide to adventure in the jungle of gaming forums or sub-reddits, you are inevitably bound to encounter a thread or a comment debating an age-old dilemma: what is better? Console gaming or PC gaming?
It is a debate that never seems to deflate and always sparks fierce discussions. At the core, the reason lies in a common feature of all long-lasting dilemmas. Most times the confronting sides end up raising arguments highly influenced by subjective tastes and personal preferences. “I prefer consoles because they are more immediate” one might say. “I like PC because its game-style suits me best”, might conclude the other. These aspects renders finding an agreement an almost impossible task.
That is not to say objective arguments can’t be made, though. In recent years, various developments in the gaming world seem to favour the PC enthusiasts.
Performance and Cost
Let’s start by laying down one thing that has always been accepted about PC: its hardware superiority. This is one of the most convincing arguments in favor of computer gaming. When properly developed, games look better and run smoother on PC than on console. This is due to its constant progress in the hardware department, constantly updated with cutting-edge GPU, processors and RAM. Each generation of consoles has tried and failed to close the performance gap.
However, this superiority came at a high price. Literally. In fact, one major shackle that crippled PC gaming was its cost. Greater performances were expensive. Much more than on consoles. In an honest comparison, this was the balancing point between the two side. PC had performance, consoles had price.
Yet the situation has changed in recent years. The gaming environment evolved in a way that made PC gaming much more cost-competitive. While the hardware is still very expensive, the cost of PC gaming has been thwarted. The main reason is that games cost less, mostly thanks to the Steam platform and its relentless policy of promotion and discounts. On average PC users spend less money on games than console users do. Also, in this day and age where online multiplayer gaming has become a staple of the industry, the fact that PC doesn’t charge any extra money for online access is a huge bonus. Conversely, consoles like PlayStation and Xbox require the gamers to pay a subscription fee for the same privilege.
All of these little cost-saving features means that over time PC gamers won’t spend more than console ones.
Gaming Experience
The slashing of cost of PC gaming is not the only blow consoles have received. Historically, there was another aspect where they held the edge: game collection. The home of the games everyone wanted to play have always been consoles. The great masterpieces of the past are all console games. In term of sheer numbers, consoles used to have many more titles than PC.
This advantage has been flipped in recent times. The coming of Steam inverted the landscape of game availability. The platform became the golden sanctuary for all sort of indie developers which flooded the PC gaming market with an enormous quantity of titles.
Such a variety of games, combined with the global spread of new genres (MOBA and MMO survival games), also made PC the Shangri-La of serial gamers. Yes, consoles still hold between their counts blockbusters such the God of War or Uncharted series, but the most played and shared games of recent times, League of Legends and PUBG just to name a couple, came as PC exclusives. Many major game publishers have noticed this trend and have started to convert their previously console-exclusive material for PC users. A glaring example is Square Enix with their recent Windows release of Final Fantasy XV, their flagship title.
With such an increase in its offer, the competitiveness of PC in the gaming industry has sky-rocketed and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Computer gaming holds various other little perks that are almost impossible to find in consoles. One word that can describe them all is customization. PC users can tailor their gaming experience in a way that is precluded to console players. They have a vast choice of gaming equipment and fancy game-screens, while console forces players to be stuck in front of the TV with a simple controller at hand. The personalization does not limit itself only off-game but in-game. The modding culture that swept the PC gaming world created infinite chances of re-playability for a lot of titles.
In general, all of these are objective reasons that could easily lead to think that PC gaming, as of now, is better than consoles.
Sentimental Consoles
And yet, it is not. The debate still rages on. And many people still believe consoles to be the best. Why is that? I believe the reason lies deep in the collective conscience of gamers. It can be felt but not rationally thought. It is the idea and the meaning behind a console.
If we take a step back to the root of video gaming, there wasn’t a question about what was better. The simple explanation is that they didn’t exist. Once upon a time, gaming was embodied by the arcade cabinets. Solid pieces of furniture purposefully built for only reason only: playing. When technology advanced and companies developed new ways to enjoy video games, this idea of something precisely built for gaming enjoyment transferred unto the consoles, not the PC.
Picture this: if someone were to enter the house of a PC gamer enthusiast, it would be hard for him to immediately understand he/she loved videogames. The computer and fancy equipment in and on themselves are not enough to categorize someone as a gamer. Inversely, picture someone entering the house of a console gamer, furnished with a cabinet full of new and old gaming machines and controllers. That someone would immediately think that the owner loves video games because the symbols of it are on clear display.
Ultimately the debate lingers in this dichotomy. If you think rationally about what the best way is to enjoy video games, then you probably think PC are best. If you’re guided by your emotions, you’d probably opt for the console because that speaks “video game” much more than computers.
In which category will you fall? Let us know down in the comments below.
