PC gaming dominates content spending, but Xbox and PlayStation aren't out of the game yet

[Windows Central]

A new report claims PCs have overtaken consoles in-game content spending, rising 65% from 2011 to 2024 to $30B, whereas consoles only saw an $18B increase.

PC gaming dominates content spending, but Xbox and PlayStation aren't out of the game yet : Read more

 

[fjtorres5591]

Quick question, Mr Hoglund: Have you ever owned an Original XBOX?
Preferably while it was being built and marketed, say circa 2002.
You ever hear of KODI? It started out as XBMC: XBOX Media Center App.
Or maybe the XBOX Media center Extender kit?

I suspect not.
See, the Original XBOX was a PC.

INTEL CELERON PROCESSOR, NVIDIA graphics coprocessor. Built-in hard drive.
DVD Drive. Built in ethernet port. FullHD graphics support. Today those are expected features. Back then the only gaming boxes that had those were XBOX and PC. Because the XBOX was a PC. Locked down true, but an entry level gaming PC nonetheless.

But it was a PC using standard PC components and, most important, its primary software development platform was DirectX on a stripped down version of Windows. In fact, when he saw, the XBOX prototype Bill Gates First Qurxtion was whether it could run OFFICE. It could. In fact, the primary use for hacked "jail broken" OG XBOXes was to run full Windows and/or LINUX. Long story there.

Many things have changed since those days but XBOX remains an entry level, locked-down DirectX gaming box. Hence XBOX.

The hardware has changed with each generation but today's XBOX still plays OG XBOX and 360 games. With enhancements from the newer hardware. Just like PCs. You change the hardware but keep the bulk of your games.

That too MS did first and best.

As they say, does that forget the past are doomed...to something or other.

If PCs continue to rise in market importance (which they will: you ain't seen nothing yet) it will have no negative impact on XBOX owners. Because not only will they get to take their existing games to the next generation (Windows compatible) hardware, but they will almost certainly get access to the new games (forward compatibility is promised). XBOX is already a subset of PC gaming and whatever the new hardware looks lie it will almost certainly remain so.

Because unlike the console obsessed XBOX owners are not, barring a few loud historically challenged fanboys, hardware fetishists. XBOX has gone from Intel+NVIDIA to PowerPC+AMD to AMD CPU/GPUs for two generations and throughout it all the games remain mostly playable. And the XBOX has historically drawn the vast majority of its library from PC game publishers. In fact, many of today's biggest console publishers entered the living room market via XBOX. Not Sony, not Sega, not Nintendo. XBOX. History is easily forgotten.

Not to be forgotten, Microsoft owns XBOX but they also own Windows. They make money off both and they have long done day and date for both segments, just as they have always done multiplatform third party style releases. In fact, their fondest dream since the first Xbox hss alszys been to unify software development for both sectors. Easier said than done because steering developers is way harder than herding cats.

But market economics are pushing developers and publishers just where MS wants them. And everybody from gamers to developers will benefit.

PC gaming isn't rising; its taking over, whether via full Windows or sub-set like SteamOS and the previously hidden XBOX OS. Game development is too hard, expensive, and competitive, too survive off locked-down boxes any more. It needs economies of scale only found on the PC variants.

Celebrate. The best is yet to be.

 

[Lurking_Lurker_Lurks]

I remember reports at the start of this generation of Sony and Microsoft working together to improve consoles overall as cloud gaming was set to overtake a gaming market that had never "really" taken off in terms of success (as in cloud gaming was poised to become as popular as mobile gaming and by pass consoles all together). This has since really gone nowhere, but I think the need for it has never gone away. The console market as a whole would be wise to acknowledge its precarious situation, even more so than it already has. I really think we'd see a bigger console market on the whole if exclusives were done away with and out on every platform. The fact that this has already happened on PC shows such hubris. Consoles need to be approachable and accessible pieces of hardware that stand alone in the value they provide to consumers. They can't continue to be this disjointed mess where in 2025 compatibility for the switch still makes headlines. They can't continue to withold value from consumers in things like free cloud saves and free multiplayer. They can't keep squabbling with each other for a piece of such a small pie when the wider gaming industry is so much bigger.

Now, if it's a company like Nintendo and they're good with being small, I'm sure they'll continue to find success there. On the other hand Microsoft and Sony are desperate to grow their gaming businesses. As such I don't think they can or should justify playing by the same rules which have regulated consoles to such a niche sales audience to begin with. Microsoft we at least know isn't (though the fact that gamers are pushing back against their strategy shows a deeper problem; maybe there is no path forward), but Sony is dragging their heels and playing tongue and cheek about it.

I think for the most part current users are locked in and no immediate major losses will ever happen, but gaming is growing. The question is will consoles grow with the industry as a whole? And I'm not sure they will. I saw a gaming journalist make a post suggesting the price of the Switch 2 and claims were made of a $400 price tag. If that's true (I say $300 personally), then I'd say there's major competition for first time gamers. The Steam Deck only starts at $400 and the Steam OS powered Lenovo Legion Go S is only $500. Both are poised to be significantly more powerful than the Switch 2 (little more iffy for Steam Deck, but definitely the Go S) and won't be that much more. Additionally they'll have a library including Xbox and PS exclusives even just considering the steam deck supported games. There will be Steam OS powered devices with low entry points as time goes on. Even on the more expensive Windows PC gaming side, consoles for whatever reason are chasing them. It's hard to pitch consoles as a cheap way to play high performing games in great graphics, when the machines that do that are costing as much as building a PC yourself (arguably more especially adding in the cost of paying for cloud saves and multiplayer). The PS5 Pro is treading thin ice that I think Sony will continue to let crack when the PS6 launches and it's price is revealed.

With the current landscape, I don't see why new gamers would buy a console to game. PC is offering a native experience that is becoming more similar to consoles with lower price points. Mobile will always be mobile. Cloud is offering an experience that still lacks the infrastructure but one day will possible dominate. Consoles continue to be disjointed walled gardens with minimal benefits after you purchase one.