#PCMasterrace

It's more of a phase as more games are available for computers through distributers like Steam. When you have a major game for a console system you see a shift back.

Gamestop and other only game stores face competition from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and other stores that carry games and other products that allow them to discount enough to drive them out.

People are playing them more than ever. Exhibit A: the share prices of Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts.

Gamestop's issue is that people can buy the newest games digitally straight from Microsoft and Sony, the physical distributor middleman is no longer necessary.

GameStop is dying. Consoles will be fine

This may be purely anecdotal or a sign of my age -- but I dont know anyone still playing video games. I go to my friends houses and yea they have a xbox1 or ps4 but theyre never playing them. I have a 360 and havent played a game on it other than worms armageddon (because its amazing af) in probably 3 years

I just have a modded OG XBOX with thousands of classic ROMs. Multiplayer games on consoles need to be played with people at my house, so I can give them shit in person when I stomp them. Playing with mouthy 12 year olds is also a turn off...

It is your age, most adults just don't have the time to sink into games. As simple as that. The kids are still playing them.

Out of curiosity though, I just looked for some data on total sales of each console, and the PS4 and Xbox 1 do appear top be behind sales of the older systems (PS1,PS2,PS3,Xbox,Xbox360), though, the newer ones have been out for much less time and I don't know how recent this data is. PC probably has picked up a lot of the slack though as they keep becoming cheaper and cheaper.

Of course, GameStop and developers haven't had the most amicable relations. Devs get most of the money for new games, while GameStop primarily gets money from reselling games as used. Locking out the opportunity to sell used games by making games primarily digital means the money stays with devs. So GameStop is pretty fucked.

Of course, this could create a market for retro buyers who are more into the hard copies, and Vintage Stock has a much better handle on that supply than GameStop.

Of course, I've started too many posts with "of course."

Destiny 2 will launch as PC as well as the console markets. Still haven't decided if I'm going to buy it, let alone play it. If I do, it'll be on XBox.

PC gaming is also more practical and you don't have to buy a new console every few years and dump hundreds of dollars into it.

and that's coming from a console gamer

One of the more tangible examples of that is Skyrim Remastered which was about the same and up to pace with how Skyrim was being played on PC by that point.

I know this guy who plays a bunch of UFC fight games on ps4. Hes a stoner.

I have a PS1, PS2, Wii & Wii U. The older Playstations I've kept because my brother and I used to play them all the time and a lot of the games have nostalgia value, but I really don't see the point in getting any of the modern ones, because my PC will run anything (non-exclusive) that a PlayStation 4 does, plus a hell of a lot more, for a much lower cost.

I have the Nintendo systems because the couch co-op (or versus) of a Nintendo console is something that no PC can match. A lot of PC games might have better graphics than Mario Kart 8 or Nintendoland, but they don't provide the same atmosphere at all. I figure if you have a good PC and a Wii U you have everything covered right now (no point in getting the Switch yet, since the only good game on it is on the Wii U also).

I think the console market should be doing a lot worse than it is, but most people don't realise that building a PC which rivals modern consoles is actually considerably cheaper than buying the console.

"PC gaming is also more practical and you don't have to buy a new console every few years and dump hundreds of dollars into it."

In my experience the opposite holds true. After I get a new laptop (not gaming, but still a very large screen and top of the line specs), it can only play new PC games on high graphics settings for about a year. My X-Box 360, on the other hand, can play any new game that has come out since I acquired it a decade ago (well, since I acquired the replacement of a replacement after RROD struck, but still the same specs).

Buying the hardware is cheaper on console, by the software is cheaper on PC. With a PC, you are continuously having to buy new computers practically every year just to keep up with all the advancements that new games take advantage of. With a console, you can use t for 5-10 years without having to pay a penny for any hardware upgrades. The consoles are also sold to you at a loss to the manufacturer. It costs Sony more to make the PS4 than you pay them for it. The console manufacturers just make up for the losses on the systems with the $60 games and $60 DLC Season passes. Games on Steam are much cheaper.

Components* in the third line, not computers

Stupid autocorrect put about 20,000 typos in there, just ignore them

@JECE - Your laptop can only run new games on 'High' for a year because in PC gaming 'High' is being constantly redefined. For a console, 'High' graphics settings are defined by what was impressive when it released, and new games for the most part adhere to that due to the constraints of the system.

Say you bought a PC when the Xbox One came out, and both can run the games at the time on 'High'. A year passes, and now a new game comes out and your Xbox can run it on 'High' but your PC cannot anymore. That's not because the Xbox has magically improved - that's because the PC setting 'High' is something that doesn't exist on the Xbox, and the Xbox 'High Quality' is the equivalent of 'Medium' on the PC.

Another problem could be that you're using a laptop. Gaming Laptops are horrendously overpriced, and non-gaming laptops are not designed for playing games - and neither has the major advantage of a PC, which is that you can buy the components individually and build it yourself, saving frankly a ridiculous amount of money and allowing easy upgrades of individual parts.

@Manwe Sulimo

I really don't get your point. Are you saying that because it costs you money to upgrade a PC, that makes a PC worse than a system where you don't have the choice to upgrade?

Consoles upgrade automatically. Get with the times.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/685117/us-game-consoles-unit-sales/

xbox scorpio is going to have to be a good recovery for microsoft, and to be fair to them there's been enough hype around it

I think it's really interesting that GameStop's management was unable to take effective action relating to the digitalization of game sales. You'd think that these people would've seen the writing on the wall with Steam, shit a brick, and immediately tried to build an alternative/better/more niche digital marketplace. But that opportunity vanished a while ago I think. Oh well.

Nothing like playing black ops on xbox live hearing tweens calling each other noobs.

"@Manwe Sulimo

I really don't get your point. Are you saying that because it costs you money to upgrade a PC, that makes a PC worse than a system where you don't have the choice to upgrade?"

I wasn't trying to make any sort of point. I just read some stuff that didn't seem to be quite true, so I was laying out the facts. In my opinion, PCs are better. The long term cost will be lower because of the savings from the software, plus there is native support for a mouse and keyboard which is just objectively better than a controller. Only problem is that initial hardware cost that gives people sticker shock.

"native support for a mouse and keyboard which is just objectively better than a controller"

For RTS and other strategy games, yes. But for FPS and other first-person games, a controller is much better (unless you cheat with a sort of Battlefield 1942-style point-and-click system). I'd say dogfight/flight simulator and racing games are also far more natural with a controller, although obviously a joystick and wheel, respectively, are much better still (and cheaper on PC).

captainmeme: Well the main problem is that I'm stubborn and always try to play games on the highest settings. ;-)

That said, while I can't compare the same games side-by-side since I don't go about purchasing different versions of the same games for different gaming systems, it at least appears like even 'medium' graphics settings can be rather choppy after a little while. PC games are designed to be played on the highest settings so they may not behave properly on lower settings either, while it is probable that console games are tweaked to maximize performance/graphics with the resources a console offers (so you don't have tow worry about play-testing the graphics settings).

As for switching out components like graphics cards, I could probably do that on my laptop if I knew what I was doing. But the possibility that I may mess up when my laptop is also my main workstation makes it so that I will never even try.