The fact that developers have to cater to multiple platforms that have hardware limitations and different operating systems has led to worse quality of games of time. Console exclusives are anti-competitive, monopolistic, and they lead to a terrible consumer experience.
This notion that hardware limits hold games back is nonsense and could only come from someone with no development experience. Hardware benchmarks have only benefited the ecosystem of games. Without those benchmarks and the gradual standardization of architecture that the last two gens of consoles have provided the indie market would not be flourishing the way it is. Not to mention it forces AAA titles to actually optimize their shit. Imagine a world where developers had no incentive to care about performance? “tough shit buy a new GPU.” A true gamers paradise.
I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Water will reach its own level so to speak, if a developer releases a game that is far too much for a majority of gamers to run, those gamers won’t buy the game and it won’t sell. Obviously that also isn’t always necessarily true, but enough terribly optimized games have released recently to be met with 40% rating on Steam that I’d like to think this is the case. Are some developers going to do it anyway? Absolutely, but that’s true regardless. I think that no matter what, indie developers will always tend to keep their games lightweight either by principle or by design necessity, and bigger game studios would also sorta get the message and keep their games reasonable. With obvious exceptions… goddamn 400 GB games these days.
Yeah you’re definitely right that there is still incentive to make games performant and accessible, AND that performance still often gets overlooked at launch and patched up post release (capcom and ubisoft you lil bitches), but I think the hard line of a necessary benchmark for consoles forces optimization to be worked on throughout development and helps indie devs manage their scope from the start as well as level the playing field a bit.
But all of this kind of misses the forest for the trees in that no game is going to be made more fun by loosening hardware restrictions.
Not to mention it forces AAA titles to actually optimize their shit.
Bless your heart.
The hardware is only a part of it. A keyboard and mouse provide infinite controller configurations. How anyone can play a shooter without them has always puzzled me.
You do realize controller options exist right? (On PCs)
console exclusives should be banned
been a pc builder and gamer my whole life, so I agree with your frustration but goddamn this is silly. Banned?
By whom, the world gamedev oversight committee?
The united nations?
LOL
I think it is silly too, but not for your reasoning but, come on bro, it is like if you said let’s go ban selling OS in PCs altogether, you will need to install it yourself, that is the same sentiment for consoles vs PC, people like plug & play devices, and PC sadly are not there yet (some devices like the Steam Deck have a closer approach though).
Why is it the responsibility of, say, Nintendo to make all their games available on all platforms? They make their own hardware and games that are optimized to run on that hardware. Sure, the Switch is inferior to a modern pc in performance and all that but at the end of the day Nintendo chose what their hardware can do and make games accordingly. The fact that most developers and publishers want to release their games on all platforms is not the responsibility of Nintendo. If the most important thing is that every game runs the same on every platform there is no need for hardware like the Switch, which, like it or not, has done something new and interesting. Kinda the same with VR. I personally don’t care for VR but it’s at least something different.
It’s not like if consoles stopped existing then developers would solely target top-end PCs. They will target as large an audience as they can, unless paid to stay exclusive. Most games these days use a pre-made engine that already targets multiple platforms, so it’s not as difficult to port to multiple platforms as before.
Console aren’t holding back the industry, they’re just holding back PC gaming.
Making software more compatible with different platforms is a good thing. Agree about the console exclusives though. I understand that they come with the caveat that the console developer have invested in those games, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to buy the game years later on PC for full price…
Looking at you Final Fantasy 7 remake part 1. 4 years after being released they’re still trying to charge AUD 114.
Consoles are shit. PC gaming is max.
I dislike consoles. I hate the controllers, and I hate being stuck in front of the TV; I’ll play a game on PC or not at all. That being said, the gaming industry is the perfect example of where free-market capitalism should be allowed to take its course. Nobody needs to play games; it’s a luxury and a recreational activity. If a development studio wants to release a game just for one specific console, let them. Maybe it will be a good business decision, and maybe it will fail miserably and cost them millions in lost revenue. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter one way or another. Play a different game.
Upvote because this is unpopular, I disagree but whatever. Im not a pc gamer granted, but i think if there were no consoles and everyone had to be on the pc upgrading pyramid scheme, gaming companies would be hard pressed on how to develop games. There would be a smaller gaming release windows for most people while the ones who could keep up would probably face buggier games since systems are constantly changing.
pc upgrading pyramid scheme,
Lol no. The days of needing to upgrade your PC more than once every 7-10 years have been gone for a while
Once evey 7 or ten years??? Thats like a console lifespan. Im talking about having to stay up to date on latest pc hardware every year or 2.
And I’m specifically saying that is completely unnecessary and has been for years
Well as someone who doesn’t have a gaming pc, that’s how i see things. I could very well be wrong, but im not going to take the opinion of someone who says they dont see how people use a controller.
“As someone without enough knowledge to form a correct opinion, here’s my opinion. No, I will not back down when someone more informed presents new information.”
I agree with them too, upgrading PCs has amounted to a new video card every 4-5 years and a new motherboard/CPU etc every 8-10 years. I’m not one that demands 120fps and 4k and all that though. Video cards are now more expensive but they also don’t need upgraded as often.
Also games are cheaper on PC, with regular free giveaways. And we have a huge library, all the way back to DOS games via DOSBox and console and arcade emulators.
And I play with controller on PC all the time for games like Forza Horizon, Elite Dangerous, and console emulators.
Controllers are nice for certain games. On PCs you at least have options! I just can’t stomach playing shooters on a controller.