Are Consoles Holding PC Gaming Back From Reaching Its Potential? Stardock CEO Answers That Question

One of the most common refrain we hear from some fans of PC gaming is that PC gaming can never reach its true potential- consoles are holding PC gaming back, since they are a large market, and developers use them as a least common denominator, even when developing a game that will also be on PC. Console gaming, they lament, is holding PC gaming back.

[toddybad]

No, market fragmentation is.

[nevarDcirE]

If you check out steam stats, you can clearly see that the average PC gamer does not own a beastly supercomputer.

In fact, Scorpio will be more powerful than the vast majority of steam gamers PC's.

[freshslicepizza]

this is true so what it means is adoption of better hardwsare is holding things back and consoles are far more marketable and affordable. when you create games that costs 10's of millions of doillars and dont have crowdfunding like star citizen you have to make your games with the mass market in mind.

[ShadowKnight]

"In fact, Scorpio will be more powerful than the vast majority of steam gamers PC's."

I want to agree with you but the Scorpio laptop jaguar cpu won't let me.

[Vegamyster]

I'm just going to take a guess looking at all the data and assume the number of people with PCs that have the same/better hardware than consoles is around 30-40 based of their data, its a little bit too much for me to count atm.

http://store.steampowered.c...

http://store.steampowered.c...

In Feb 24, 2015 there was 125 Million active accounts, before that it was 100 million in Sep 23, 2014 so it gained a large amount of users in a short amount of time but they haven't shared anything since. So overall based on those old numbers its potentially 37.5-50 million people have decent/great PC's at the very least.

[ILostMyMind]

PS4 is already more powerful than that public.

[TheCommentator]

@ Shadow

The CPU is 50% faster than it's specs indicate as long as the DX12 API is used to target the accelerators in the command processors for CPU offloading. The "Jaguar CPU" also has 4x the cache of a standard Jaguar CPU, along with a decent boost to the clock speeds. There's roughly 60 improvements made to Scorpio vs. off the shelf parts, so...

What you should have said is that you want to agree with him, but your standard ommission of the facts surrounding Scorpio won't let you.

Obviously, running Forza 6 at Ultra+ settings on an incomplete dev kit... AND STILL BEING FASTER THAN A GTX1070 WITH POWER TO SPARE... should put the, "it's just a Jaguar" issue to bed. For some reason though, it doesn't. Oh well, when you see what devs are really doing with it, that the games are exceeding the Forza 6 demo in quality, it won't matter what you have to call the CPU in order to sleep at night.

[Tussin187]

And you can add the Pro to that list as well. Majority of PC gamers don't play at 4k either. I'm talking resolution of course. That's why I don't get all this obsession with 4k. Well I do if I think like a die-hard but you know what I mean.

I hear 1440p get brought up a lot and that still isn't the majority. I don't know as this so called fanboy war gets confusing. So many layers to it like an onion. PC gamers seem happy with those resolutions(1080p is most popular in the HD Rez) yet console gamers are arguing about native 4k.

It's strange and on top of that most don't own a 4k television either. I guess just saying my side has the most powerful console is the only thing that counts.

[Corpser]

There's 125 mil active steam accounts, let's say 1/3 have very powerful PCs , that's still a lot
Besides PS4 pro is also owned by very small % of PS4 gamers , will be the same with Scorpio/xb1

[Hard8times]

You realize steam have over 120 million users so what's the percentage you speak of and I bet it's millions of people that do have a gaming rig more powerful then a Scorpio which is nothing but a RX 480 so show these stats

[xwabbit]

The problem is that they don't need a beastly PC lol, most PC gaming desktops (old ones) are at least 2 times as powerful as a PS4. If they can achieve games like Uncharted 4 and Horizon on PS4, they should be able to do amazing games with what PC has. PS4's GPU is equal to a GTX 580, you know how old that card is lol, it released in 2010

[boomtube1987]

If scorpio and Pro had Titan x GPU power then yes. It would be a next gen power and devs worked with that spec...you will see tech evolving allot

[Kurdishcurse]

Nope. Do some research before commenting.

[toddybad]

Oh, and the fact not everybody want to sit on their own at a keyboard. Console is far more social and fits in to the way people live around film, tv etc

[Tech5]

no, you can play on a pc with a controller and with your friends too this isn't the 80s.

[Profchaos]

It requires much more configuration than plug and play style console experiences

[Bathyj]

People always say that, as they type it at their keyboard and monitor. You can do it, but I would be most PC gamers don't. Why would they give up their superior monitors and refresh rates and precision controls? It's always such a selling point.

[Tech5]

You're saying you don't know how to plug in a usb cable? Usb originated on pc first.... Using old school technology requires the hassle if that's what you're referring to. This isn't the 80s though.

If you just want to say consoles are more for you that would be a better choice. As for complications they're a lot less complicated than the 80s. Today's kids are creating and uploading lots of content on the net.

[Vegamyster]

micbrc

You plug in a receiver for your controller, turn on the game and play it. Anything like the settings is a 1 time thing which takes less then 5 minutes to adjust for your PC or you can use the optimizer that comes with your GPU's drivers/software.

[DevilOgreFish]

If you stick to common pc name brands it should work out for you nicely. Today's PCs are expecting you to plug in devices. It's not like in the old days where everything you plugged in was a mystery to your pc.

[Corpser]

@bath

The selling point is you can choose what you want to use on PC, those that want to use controllers(and whichever controller you want!) can, those the rather use mouse/keyboard can

[XanderZane]

Online and with a headset, yes. Otherwise you need to hook your PC up to your HDTV in the entertain room.

[agent4532]

I play PC gaming with a 360 gamepad in front of my 42 in tv. Can we just for once accept that PC gaming can be played with a gamepad hooked to an HDTV set with HDMI cable.

[AnubisG]

Humm... what I find interesting is PC gamers always argue about the superiority of their K&M and how much better PC monitors are for games yet when it suits them, all of a sudden they game with a controller in front of a TV because they can....

[RebelWAC]

Ikr. The argument is so old you might as well say that consoles are holding PC back as it seems like everything is getting dumbed down for the bigger market.

And do not jump the gun here. I'm a console gamer @heart. Play on my ps4pro and got my gaming laptop hooked up to my 55" Samsung ks8005/ks9000. The only hassle I have is when switching my G29/DS4 usb cable between devices ... Aaaarg ... it's killing me!

[jonivtec]

Im not playing pc for the monitor but for the power and functionality....im hook to my 4k tv to ,was hook to my 1080p tv before....in fact im not playing on a monitor since 7-8 years ago.With some research we can find perfect tower that fit perfectly in the living room and become part of the home cinema itself.Lets not forget since windows 10 creators we now have dolby atmos and hdr compatibilty so we are for sure not the only one with this kind of setup:)Btw atmos is awesome;)

[Cobra951]

We can play either way, Anubis, depending on the game and on preferences. Plugging an Xbox One or 360 pad into a Windows-10 PC requires no configuration hassle at all to work in modern games. (I'm going to guess that 7 & 8 work just as well, though I have no experience gaming on these.) Same goes for the screen. Modern video cards will set themselves up immediately for whatever you plug them into, usually at native resolution.

[Corpser]

@A the point is those that want to use controllers on pc can

[Kingthrash360]

Lol...wait so the " pesents" are holding the " master race" back....lol nice

[Unspoken]

Only as strong as the weakest link.

[Malice-Flare]

yep, laptops with Intel Integrated Graphics...

[AspiringProGenji]

I say consoles keep PC in check. Without consoles devs would be maxing out components making gamers have to upgrade even more constantly. Especially when you have Intel and Nvidia with their shit monopoly, that wouldn't be any good for us

[agent4532]

I disagree with the rise of digital distribution there is no need for ancient technology from a console. Xbox Game Pass will replace consoles and by 2020 or 2025 with the power of the ☁ hardware will no longer be an issue.

[Kokyu]

Yeah cause Redbox isnt doing well at all.

[Profchaos]

No it cost hundreds of millions to produce a High quality triple a title. If anything all markets work together to fund it consoles and pc sales combine to help make investors more money adding to more funding.

Without consoles pc gaming would be much more limited

[agent4532]

No, after the console crash gaming was doing just fine without consoles. Flash back to today and what do we see:

Kickstarter
Fig
Early Access more like early crap
Xbox Game Pass on the horizon
PS Now

Is all digital and thanks to kickstarter/fig games that console manufacturers would turn say games down are now made.

It was through kickstarter that theme park games returned. The graphic adventure games returned, it brought life to survival horror. The return of platformers and 3D platformers. These genres were dead on consoles and pretty much alive on PC. It was thanks to PC gamers driving these games sales up it encouraged console manufacturers to bring back these genres back to consoles.

Today's consoles are garbage and trying too hard to be gaming PCs.

The loss of console hardware will be great news. Why? Due to game developers no longer restricted to certain genres, no longer tied to ancient hardware, best of all lower development costs 😀

[ShaunCameron]

Gaming wasn't doing fine without consoles. Certainly not after the crash.

[Kokyu]

You obviously werent alive during the 80's crash and the massive bailout companies were doing in the gaming sector in the states. If NES hadnt done as well as it did gaming may not be as big as it is today. This whole article is click bait and nonsense. Consoles arent holding PC back the fragmented PC gaming space is holding PC back always has always will be the average gamer and user isnt going to be someone who cares about max spec, PC gamers just dont want to face that fact.

The gaming Market is a free market thus the masses or majority control what is considered standard and companies and devs will always default to what is standard. Gaming is big enough for both Console and PC. PC gamers want devs to push hardware further then get your fellow PC gamers to start buying better hardware.

[Aenea]

During the crash in the 80's there were no gaming PC's, PC's mostly had black and white monitors (Hercules cards, black and green even) and PC's were expensive as heck. IBM compatible PC's were only just introduced.

Back then you either gamed on consoles or on home computers like the Apple II, Atari XL, Sinclair ZX Spectrum or ZX-81, Commodore 64 or Vic-20, Amstrad/Schneider CPC-464, etc., etc. Plenty of games were made for those, but barely any for the then very expensive IBM PC's.

In 1993 console videogames sales were way, way higher than computer ones (12 times as much), so no, PC gaming did not save gaming after the crash of the 80's, homecomputers and newer consoles did!

It's only in the 90's that gaming on PC became more popular and sjeesh, it was hell, messing about with memory managers like QEMM to save a few KB more so your game was able to run...

And you're basically hoping consoles go away, but the fact is that the AAA publishers make way more profits on consoles than on PC you really believe they would welcome that change? It would be a disaster! If they want to lower development costs they might be better off to skip PC versions 'cos all the different hardware is causing all those crappy PC ports to begin with. Saves a lot of headaches too!

[Bolts]

The Pro and Scorpio are the best thing to ever have happened to the PCs. PC gamers should be thanking us.

[Psychotica]

Except that gamers who can afford a good gaming PC also own consoles, they only use them for the rare AAA title that isn't on PC.

[dRanzer]

We can ask this question to:
Is mid rage pc holding back high end pc?
Im sure not evrey gamer has 1070/RX 470 or above

[AnubisG]

Don't say that!!! All of them have mighty rigs that even makes coffee and eggs in the morning while giving you a massage as well because PCs can do so much more than consoles!

[--bienio--]

Answer is Yes..

[AnubisG]

No

[agent4532]

Is not so much consoles holding PC gaming but technology has advanced so rapidly these last few years that game developers have fail to keep up. The issue lies with the simple fact that multiplatform games are made one size fits all; thus, the complexity/last minute details that PC gamers crave are lost. The reason that game developers do that is due to save 💰. ...

[_-EDMIX-_]

Nope.

If anything ,console gaming is why PC is even getting lots of AAA games in the first place.

Those that kept saying Witcher 3 would have been better as a PC exclusive, also need to understand the team couldn't even AFFORD to make it use MAX parts just to look beastly as they still needed to sell it to LOTS of users, thus they would have actually needed to lower the specs to get more sales.

Ironically, consoles are why Witcher 3 exist with the quality that it does today, they could afford to make a great return, thus could actually make a better version for PC, as console was basically flipping the bill for that version to be able to sell to high specs. .

http://www.cinemablend.com/...

So PC gaming needs console, more then people actually realize. Witcher 3 was going to have to scale back those specs to be a PC exclusive ,as they would still need to profit, which would have meant that they would have needed to lower the specs to sell on more PCs.

MORE PS4 and XONE's exist with that power today then gaming PC's. THAT is why they are able to raise those specs on PC, if ONLY on PC, they must actually make the specs for the MAJORITY.

Console FORCES they base consumer to upgrade. you MUST buy PS4 or XONE to play Witcher 3, AC Unity, BF1, Batman Arkham Knight what have you, on PC, too much users have lessor parts and basically want games to keep scaling back to OBLIVION to support them to the point where it actually hurts the over all base.

Could you guys imagine if Witcher 3 had to be made on PS3 and 360 as well as PS4 and XONE? That is what lots of PC gamers were legit expecting when the gen started.

They were literally shocked at AC Unity and Witcher 3's specs, as if they wanted next gen level gaming, but for developers to basically scale back FOR THEM.

That doesn't happen often on console, but happens just too much on PC.

It takes console to force the next gen upgrade for the entire community. Something you just don't see with PC. PC isn't forcing the upgrade, they are slowing it down begging for support of dated parts.

[Seafort]

You can't get the chicken (Witcher 3) without the egg (Witcher 1). Witcher 1 is still a PC exclusive and it's where CD Projekt RED started many years ago before console gamers even knew what The Witcher was.

PC gamers made The Witcher 3 happen not console gamers by supporting CDPR and buying Witcher 1 and 2 growing CDPR into what it is today.

Both PC and console gamers are important to the whole gaming industry and neither one is dying or going anywhere any time soon.

The latest consoles wouldn't be around if it wasn't for PC gamers buying and supporting the hardware manufacturers either as the current consoles use x86 architecture now which is predominantly PC based.

The consoles are copying what PC gaming had for years with 1080/60 capable hardware only now coming into fruition with Pro and Scorpio. 4K is a bit redundant on both PC and consoles has hardly anyone has the hardware to run it efficiently enough whether it's lack of display or hardware.

I personally have seen no need to upgrade my PC due to the consoles low spec so I can keep the parts I have longer than I usually do. There is no "Next gen" on PC. We buy parts when we need to to play the latest games and consoles have slowed that upgrade process right down over the last few years.

You can relegate the PC platform as being less important to the gaming industry all you want but it plays a big factor in where consoles will go next, in software and hardware, and will shape the next decade for all of us whether you like it or not.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"PC gamers made The Witcher 3 happen not console gamers"

Well Witcher 3 as it currently is could not be made without consoles existing to afford such development. That is by the developers own mouth too.

Even with Witcher 1 first came out on PC, other titles just looked MILES better then it.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

The game was just a mess, its still one of my favorite RPGs, but that game was clearly, clearly not the best in terms of performance compared to tons of other games during 2007/2008 etc.

That users base may have supported Witcher, but they clearly didn't have ENOUGH users to make a PC only titles for Witcher 3, yet still have it this AAA type game. It was just NEVER going to happen that way. Too few own beast PC's to make such a game profitable, as to why even witcher 1 looked and played and performed the way it did.

"PC gamers made The Witcher 3 happen not console gamers by supporting CDPR and buying Witcher 1 and 2 growing CDPR into what it is today"

Thats nice.

That doesn't actually make Witcher 3 a high end PC game, again...CDPR even stated THEMSELVES it could not be done without consoles at that type of high end build. PS4 and XONE sales basically allowed for a PC version that as demanding in the first place.

"will shape the next decade for all of us whether you like it or not."

Who said it wouldn't?

Look at the steam statistics bud. I'm simply saying that too many don't own beast PC's to actually deem where the generation goes. PS5 and XNEXT will move more hardware for the community then PC gamers will.

PC gamers will only buy those new GPUs when those console ports start coming to PC, basically forcing them to upgrade their GPUs. You don't see PC games do that anymore, you now see consoles forcing PC games to do that based on ports.

So not sure where you got that I'm saying PC won't shape the future of gaming, simply saying they won't fund it bud.

Too many want games to scale for THEM, so much to the point where developers basically need a PS5 etc to justify the upgrade in specs.

If that is wrong, then you might want to have a word with CDPR, they are the one that even revealed that, but many, many, MANY gamers already knew this. Its simple math and economics. Your feelings about Witcher 1 on PC is irrelevant to facts. LOVE was not making Witcher 3 on PC exclusive at its current build bud, sooooo its just irrelevant. The point is simply that the cost to make Witcher 3 PC exclusive at demanding specs, doesn't even actually give them enough to justify its existence. They need that console money to allow that risk.

To make it work on PC, they would need to scale it back a lot to get high sales. Not enough own those specs to make it only on PC. That is like saying Witcher 3 would run on 16 GB ram, 3 way SLI Titan cards etc.

Maybe you don't get not enough owns that to even make such a thing feasible for CDPR. Love wasn't going to fund their game bud lol

[--bienio--]

Of course consoles fanboys will disagree with You because anything what isn't coming from them are bad.
Anyway Without Pc consoles could never exist, and Yes consoles holding Pc games.

[1908-PB]

_-EDMIX-_---- dude type in stupid console peasant quotes in youtube and watch a few of them i can bet you 90% of the crap you are spewing is also in those quotes.

[ILostMyMind]

Back 1996? Move on, people.

[AnubisG]

This question has been answered by the PC elite crowd for over 20 years and what they say is yes, consoles hold back their mighy rigs from reaching it's true potential of beding time and space with real life looking characters and environments. Yet, most of them have rigs that can't even run the latest games on max settings but that won't keep them from complaining. I wonder than, where are the PC exclusive games that show off the true power of PC. The last one I can remember was the first Crysis.

[Hugodastrevas]

Cry me a river pc masgerfags 😄

[1908-PB]

boohoo http://imgur.com/FImgcDP something you can't afford lol, and here this is for you http://imgur.com/89oz7cD

[Hugodastrevas]

This should help you https://www.8shit.net/asset...
If not seek professional medical help 😂😂😂

[Clunkyd]

@1908-PB
So wait, I thought PC gaming was cheaper, now it isn't?
These PC nerds just like to make BS up when it's convenient for them. smh

[1908-PB]

Hugodastrevas---yeah you still can't afford it and here http://imgur.com/IlRQTb4... and a little extra http://imgur.com/NtYwifI

[Hugodastrevas]

Your salty tears are delicious! 😄

[Einhander1971]

PCs are the burden of the industry GPUs CPUs progress to fast tech never gets totally exploited. Least with consoles having a standard chipset developers max out the hardware there given. Look at Horizon zero dawn for an example, and Uncharted 4.

[1908-PB]

Einhander1971---yeah, more third person action games with stealth so original and creative and also plz don't even try to use those as benchmarks because they are surely not even close.

[jonivtec]

Yes and.no,ps4 pro and scorpio finally have some decent power so pc gamer will take advantage of that.Problem is optimisation ,theres a lot of different setup on pc and never a dev will focus on a single one so we will never be able to use that power properly.PC is a lot more powerfull but in most case not that rivelent.Im talking from a pc with i7 6700k and sli gtx 1070.

[Psychotica]

In general, no. The only time I can think of that really happening is towards in the end of a console generation where the consoles hardware has remained static while the PC's have constantly received the latest and greatest advances,

[Aenea]

No, the $200 dollar PC is.....

[iofhua]

Author of the article must be a liberal PC toad because he's drawing a completely wrong conclusion than what the Dev said. If you read the quotes in the article the Dev flat out says Ashes of the Singularity won't run on consoles. Then the author says consoles have nothing to do with it.

Lol. Keep your heads up your asses MSM.

[Cobra951]

Hmm? What are you on about? The dev didn't make a good case for his viewpoint at all (even though I agree with him that consoles aren't holding anything back). He's saying that certain games can't run on certain hardware. Bullcrap. If he says "we're not willing to work hard enough to make any game work on all modern hardware", then he'd be honest. Games like "Ashes of the Singularity" can be scaled to perform well on anything. Remember the roots of RTS software, and how primitive the hardware was that hosted them. 4K 3D graphics with infinite zoom-out are not required for this genre.

[Cobra951]

People who think that need to climb down from their ivory towers. I'm a PC gamer now again, after about a 10-year hiatus. (The old PC couldn't handle it anymore.) But even so, I can't stand all these elitists who think they're the royal heirs to the gaming universe. If anything, consoles make it possible for more big games with their big budgets to be developed. The consoles are the mainstream, and provide the lion's share of the games revenue. There will be careless PC ports, and also lovingly crafted PC versions. The credit or blame rest with the developers and their monied distributor overlords, not with PC or console hardware.

[1908-PB]

yeah i do agree that console are holding back technology from moving at the pace we (PC gamers) want it to be here are some example https://www.youtube.com/wat... yeah it's not like I didn't want the original Bioshock infinite but guess what the PS3 and the 360 couldn't handle all of the physics and advanced AI so it had to be downgraded. so are you people going to tell me that console aren't holding back PC? I call bull crap on that. and here is another example https://www.youtube.com/wat... but anyway thank god for mods so we don't have to suffer as much as console only gamers.

[Einhander1971]

Me and friends played quite happily on my ZX spectrum, C64 in 80s

[Einhander1971]

I expect most of u commenting about the 80s weren't even in your daddy's ball bag so shut up. Oh and the programming in the 80s was incredible considering the specs of the hardware 8k, 16k, 48k, 64k most fucking walllpapers on your laptops are bigger than the games. Developers today are lazy always crying about ram, bandwidth, Gpu, Cpu and that tends to be PC developers that's the trouble with industry full stop.

[Artemidorus]

They should just provide even more PC premium features away from console to make it stand out.

Suprised Trollingbolt haven't used it's "Dev"to answer this one since they have all the answers.

[Corpser]

Iterative consoles like PS4pro and Scorpio are great for pc gamers , new games won't be limited with 4 year old consoles as in the past

[Clunkyd]

I find it funny since most of the PC gamers prefer playing these games that look and play like last generation.
Not only that but, most of the revenue for these AAA multi plats are coming from consoles.

[FPS_D3TH]

You're kidding right? Stop supporting forever alpha games and what's the point in putting out bleeding edge tech when a very small minority of pc gamers even own bleeding edge tech.

[Apocalypze]

That's because no PC game has set their own standards they continue to think that graphics is all there is to it , console on the other hand has brought some of the best games compared to PC. I mean just the fact that CS:GO is popular on steam should tell you something. Is like playing battlefield 2 on the PS4.

[babadivad]

Yes