The recent announcement that Days Gone, a game that was exclusively released on PlayStation 4 in 2019, was coming to PC this year along with a “slate” of other Sony games was, to me and others, a cause for celebration. I even wrote an article about which Sony games I’d love to see come to PC! However, some fans of PlayStation were upset by this announcement and, while the reaction has been relatively tame compared to the announcement of Horizon Zero Dawn for PC, this vocal minority remained visible. This has made me ponder the differences between the platforms and why some people may feel more attached to one over the other and so, I decided to take a look at PC vs consoles and which is the better gaming platform.
However, I should preface this article by stating that I have made my personal preference for PC as a gaming platform clear in the past. However, I intend to look at the advantages and disadvantages of both PC and consoles when it comes to gaming and I hope to discuss the topic as impartially as I possibly can. It’s also important to note that the conclusions of this article are my personal opinion and that you are free to agree or disagree with me.
Let’s start off by clarifying what a console or gaming PC is so that it’s easier to discuss PC vs consoles and which is the better platform. For the purposes of this article, the consoles I am thinking about are the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch which are gaming platforms developed by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo to sell their own games on as well as third-party games. In contrast, a gaming PC is a desktop or laptop computer, typically running the Windows operating system although there are plenty of examples of gaming PCs running either macOS or Linux as well.
The first thing you might take note of is the price of each platform. The Nintendo Switch was the cheapest console at launch with a price tag of $300/€330 while the PS4 and Xbox One started out at $400/€400 and $500/€500 respectively. The newest consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X are both $500/€500 although a version of the PS5 without a disc player and a weaker version of the Xbox Series X called the Xbox Series S both exist at lower prices. When it comes to a gaming PC, the initial price tends to be higher. While you can make a gaming PC for $300/€300, the option of games you would be able to play would be a little restrictive. Instead, if you wish to play some of the more graphically demanding games, you’d be looking at $500/€500 minimum with $1000/€1000 PCs and above more ideal, not to mention more future-proofed.
However, you are likely to save money in the long-term on PC. First off, the unfortunate reality is that each of the consoles I’m discussing restricts online gaming unless you pay for a subscription service, Xbox Network in the case of the Xbox, PlayStation Network in the case of PlayStation and and Nintendo Switch Online in the case of the Nintendo Switch. Both Xbox Network and PlayStation Network will cost about $60/€60 a year while Nintendo Switch Online will cost $20/€20 a year. In contrast, you don’t need to pay to play online on the PC platform where such a service is free. In addition, sales on PC games tend to be more aggressive than their console counterparts, quite often resulting in PC games being cheaper to buy than console games.
Another advantage in the PC’s favour are the various input devices that you can use. In particular, it’s worth discussing keyboard and mouse which is ideal for many video game genres such as Point and Click, Real Time Strategy, First Person games and many others. In the event that you think that it might be better to play a particular game with a controller, you can easily hook a video game controller to the PC and use it for gaming. In contrast, the input devices for consoles are relatively restrictive. I am aware that you can use a keyboard and mouse with a PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 although it seems that the games that you can play with this are very limited.
Another interesting aspect of PC gaming are mods, short for modification, which allow players to modify the game for other players. These can be relatively basic such as changing character or weapon models to complete overhauls that make significant changes to the game. Many famous games such as Counter-Strike, The Stanley Parable and Dota 2 started out as mods before being developed as full games and many modern games now fully support and encourage modding such as the XCOM series, Paradox games, Total War etc. While some console games can be modded, it’s much more restrictive and difficult to do than on PC.
It’s also worth discussing the games for each platform. There is no doubt that the PC platform has the largest variety of games available across multiple storefronts such as Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG.com, Itch.io and many others. Microsoft is now releasing all of their first-party games across Xbox and PC while Sony is beginning to move some of their first-party catalog over as well, although I expect that Sony will release these PC ports a year or more after the PlayStation release. If you wish to play Nintendo games, excluding the morally gray world of emulation, however, you will have to pick up a Nintendo console as it seems highly unlikely that Nintendo will release their games on the PC in the near future.
It’s also worth mentioning that many PC games are graphically superior to their console counterparts with higher resolutions, more complex shadows, more detailed textures and, of course, higher framerates. However, this will be dependent on not only your gaming PC but also how the game was ported. Some games are restricted when it comes to framerate and, more rarely, resolution and, while mods can sometimes fix these problems, there are plenty examples of games where they are practically identical to their console version.
It’s also worth noting that PC gaming library’s tend to last longer than consoles. A constant point of discussion when it comes to newer consoles are how many of the games from the previous generation can continue to be played on the new hardware. In contrast, PC games don’t usually have to worry about this although some particularly old games may need a program such as DOSBox in order to run.
Finally, it’s worth discussing stability. Historically, this was an area where the consoles were typically superior to PC. In contrast to PCs of which there are hundreds if not thousands of different configurations, a console had a specific set of hardware that developers could target which generally resulted in less crashes, bugs, glitches etc. However, with multiple sets of consoles these days, it seems more and more console games are less stable than they used to be. While there is still an argument to be made that console games are more stable than PC games, it’s not quite as advantageous as it used to be.
As might be obvious from reading this article, when it comes to PC vs consoles and which is the better platform, I prefer gaming on PC. However, I can understand why some people might prefer to play on console and, if that is what you prefer, then I encourage you to continue to enjoy games the way you want to. However, I cannot understand people who become upset that a game becomes available on another platform. Let me know your thoughts on PC vs consoles and which is the better platform, whether you play on a PC, console or both, your thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of each and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.