| Turkish said:
Nope, PC gaming is different than console gaming. Console gamers don't care about the average pc game: crpg, mmo, simulators, rts, mobas etc. They also aren't gonna exchange the comfort of playing games on the couch to their work desk pc to play some console ports, if they wanted to play console games they'd get consoles. If Playstation wasn't there, gaming would be simply smaller, still seen as for kids and nerds. Considering where Nintendo and Sega where going, it'd likely have crashed already trying to compete against the mobiles. Without Playstation and the hundreds of millions it brought, budgets for games wouldn't have grown accordingly so 90% of the AAA games you've ever seen in the last 20 years wouldn't exist or in a smaller form. Nintendo and Sega would be fighting for their dwindling user bases since the SNES/Megadrive era. People take it for granted that PS made gaming mainstream. Nintendo's fan base is diminishing gen over gen, the share of loyal Nintendo buyers even decreased with the Wii considering how few of them are left to buy the Wii U. "if Sony didn't enter someone else would've done it" so many companies tried in the 80s/90s, none could replace the PS. Sony was there at the right time at the right moment, no one could've done it but Sony. They were the biggest electronics manufacturer and they had expertise in gaming(making the superior sound chip in the snes and they had a studio making games for the console). |
None of this really makes sense, why exactly would the Nintendo/Sega userbases be dwindling? U do realize their hardware sales dropped in the 5th & 6th generation due to Playstation, without Playstation those sales would have gone elsewhere, at least in America/Japan. Gaming was already mainstream in those regions.
SNES+Genesis+PC Engine=about 100 million, about 20 million outside of America/Japan
PS1+N64+Saturn=about 145 million, about 55 million outside of America/Japan
So basically the America+Japan console market went from 80 million in the 4th Gen to 90 million in the 5th Gen, how exactly is 90 million mainstream but 80 million isn't?
Playstation deserves all the credit for making gaming mainstream outside of America/Japan but let's not act like gaming wasn't already big in those regions. Here's a gen by gen breakdown of sales in America & Japan
2nd gen-Atari 2600/5200+Intellivision+Colecovision=roughly 30 million in America
3rd gen-NES+Atari 7800+Master System=roughly 40 million in America
4th gen-SNES+Genesis+Turbografx 16=roughly 50 million in America
5th gen-PS1+N64+Saturn=roughly 60 million in America
So as u can see the American console market was showing steady growth before Playstation came along.
3rd gen-Famicom+SG 1000/Mark III=roughly 20 million in Japan
4th gen-Super Famicom+PC Engine+Mega Drive=roughly 27 million in Japan
5th Gen-PS1+N64+Saturn=roughly 30 million in Japan
As u can see here as well, Playstation didn't do a whole lot to move gaming forward in Japan.
Can we stop pursuing this myth that Playstation made gaming mainstream and instead give them credit where credit is due for growing the console market in regions outside of America/Japan?
When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.
