PS5 Will Likely Be Backwards Compatible With PS4 Pro, Will Possibly Launch In 2019 – Michael Pachter

[Azuren]

Pemalite said:

danasider said:

Reality is, if consoles didn't exists, the gaming landscape would be a lot different in general (maybe not even exist). PC gaming only picked up after consoles and arcades moved gaming into the mainstream.

I have to disagree.

PC gaming really kicked-off during the 3D revolution when 3dfx brought it's Voodoo cards to market. PC was full of exclusives not on other platforms, developers were experimenting with mixing genre's together for the first time.
And for Multiplats, no contest. PC was the place to be.

Then games started to get "consolised" with console UI's and features (Like lack of FoV) and started to hold back PC graphics during the PS2 era.
Sure the PC had some aspects that kept it ahead with techniques like Tessellation.... Being High Definition... Pushing Pixel Shaders... And so on. But this was the era that PC gaming started to languish... It became exacerbated during the last console generation where every game developer seemed to be using Unreal Engine 3.

It wasn't untill Steam actually started to gain some big traction that helped reinvigorate PC gaming... And Today it dwarfs any of the other console platforms.
And yes. We have exclusives as well.

And without consoles to popularize gaming the fanbase would have remained roughly the same size, if not dwindle into nothing. The reason Steam was successful wasn't because it was "omg amazing". It was successful because it released right around the perfect time to unite PC on one service and give it the structure it so desperately needed. And the only reason the market got to that point was because interest in gaming had skyrocketed, thanks mostly to the massive success of the PS1 and PS2.

Whether you like it or not, PC gaming is where it is today thanks to console gaming. Which got where it was thanks to PC gaming. Which got where it was thanks to arcade gaming, which was brought forth by console gaming, which started as a proof of concept on a super computer. The idea that one aspect of the gaming industry can thrive without the others is as ridiculous as the heart saying it doesn't need the brain or lungs to be successful.