Over the past 6 to 7 years many people have been saying that PC gaming is dead. For gamers that are purely console gamers, this might sound believable. But the PC gaming community is thriving, and truly better than ever.
With this console cycle coming to an end, many people have jumped over the the realm of PC gaming. This is due to better graphic fidelity, and in many cases games run better, and can be easier to play with the increased power of the PC.
Having the new console generation right around the corner, the perception might change against PC gaming again. In fact, many skeptics say that consoles will kill the PC by being more accessible and cheaper to the consumers.
This upcoming generation will be very different for the industry. Console manufacturers can’t just rely on the namesake of their hardware to sell units anymore. Instead, they will have to better invest their money to get their next consoles into the general consumer’s home.
For the consumer that is buying a gaming system for their children, or doesn’t currently play games and wants one for themselves, they will definitely gravitate towards consoles. But for those who have been playing video games and know the industry in some capacity, PC gaming continues to look sweeter and sweeter.
One of the biggest problems of the console community is the amount of immature children. This growing number of youngsters, intrudes on the gaming experience for the rest of the community. This makes all kinds of multiplayer games hard to play, from the megalith of Call of Duty, to even the Co-Op Xbox Live Arcade or Playstation Network titles, rendering them seemingly not worth the trouble of running into the younger and rude gamers out there. Yes there is definitely young, or just plain immature players on the PC as well, they’re much fewer and far between. The services of Steam, and community forums on seemingly every gaming site, there is a community for everyone to get into. No matter what type of games you like to play, or how you like to play them, there is always a place that will cater to everyone’s gaming habits. Even people that don’t play PC games still turn to the internet for social gaming interactions, so why would gamers look anywhere else to play the games that they are so passionate about? The PC community as a whole is an older more mature crowd for the fact that in most cases they have a better idea of what they are doing, in part because they have had to researched and purchased or built their own computer.
Even if the annoying parts of the community don’t bother particular gamers, there is the cost of the systems. You might think, “but PC’s are so expensive and potentially hard to build” and to some extent you would be correct. But the internet has made the process so much easier and cheaper to create a gaming PC. There are many tutorials that can be watched and learned from as well as there are whole communities that are dedicated to helping people get started all the way up to advanced computer knowledge and troubleshooting. If you already have a decent PC right now you wouldn’t have to drop another 400 to 600 dollars, just to continue to play the new game on this upcoming generation of consoles.
The initial cost of building a PC might be within that price range, or possibly higher if you want to go truly high end. The longer you game and continue to have the PC the cheaper it will become. If a part breaks you can replace that specific part, for a fraction of the cost of the whole system. And the same thing goes for upgrading and modifying. If there is an aspect of the system that has become so aged it is not performing properly and could be running better, there is no need to buy a whole new system. Simply buy that one part and you’re good to go for a long time. And all of those options are just not available on the console counterparts.
Lets not forget about the most important part, the games themselves. With services such as Steam, GOG, and many others, there’s no shortage of places to acquire all the triple A games that are released along with all the indie games. And the prices for these games are often 10 dollars cheaper on release because of their digital nature and there are frequent sales on all types of games from older to newly released titles, especially during holidays or even just seasonal changes. Games that you might not have wanted to pick up on release just a few months back are much cheaper. Often games are bundled together at a significantly discounted price and let’s be honest, who doesn’t like more games for less money? On top of the paid games, the free to play market has exploded in the past year. The quality and amount of free to play games has gone through the roof. Having full experiences for no money down, and sometimes no money at all.
As for the community and games, modding is a huge aspect for the PC community. Games such as Skyrim are still being played and will continue to be played for years, because of the lush modding seen. Creating new content, making games run and look better, adding new content or even just re-skinning existing textured in games to further the experience. This gives PC developers more time to create the best game they can, because the life of their games is exponentially extended by the community itself. 4, 5, even 8 year old games are continually being played and even bought by new consumers because they have been modded by the community that surrounds the game. The total package experience is not even possible on consoles. Games on those systems can not be modded. Therefore, developers come out with games more frequently to keep up with the demand for newer experiences within their gaming universe’s, and this over time can cost much more money because you are constantly forced to buy the latest version which is around 60 bucks retail priced.
Overall PC gaming is rapidly becoming the easiest and cheapest way to game. With the ever increasing communities, and continual rise in the number and quality of services that are available on the PC, gamers can’t go wrong. The initial jump to get into PC gaming is shorter than ever, and continues to lower. With the longevity of the games, PC gaming is truly the best bang for your buck. This is the future of gaming.
