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Console Converts

As I added, you have to remember enthusiast forums like these can give a false impressions that everyone got one, but you have to remember many enthusiasts will go out of thier way to do considerably more to get one than the average gamer, and there are plenty of people here who didn't get one either; despite wanting them. Yes, there was more demand than previously due to COVID etc, but the amount of people who got one compared to the number of gamers who would have bought had the normal range of models been available...lets just say it'd have been considerably higher. I watched many of the FE drops, and saw how quickly they sold out. If you think most people got one of those; especially outside of the biggest enthusiasts... I suspect in the wider market, there are just as many pre-built sourced Ampere cards out there, as FE, likely many more.

The poll you refer to here was also only 200 people roughly, and reference design (which would include many prebuilts) also fell under the FE category. If you don't think there are more than 200 people here who'd normally have bought one, you've not seen previous GPU launches or paid much attention to numbers :)

Needless to say, I think if the wider gamer population who'd traditionally upgrade with a new gen was somehow surveyed in entirety; the larger pool would be 'not able to attain one'/'not able to attain one at reasonable price'!, 3080's have been especially bad.

This in itself, between pricing and availability, and the spec bump on the new consoles, has definately pushed people that way, even if they were also short on numbers and not super easy to get; they were still easier to get than a 3080. A 3080 retailing for the best part of a year for £1500+, or an OLED, Console AND Sound system for not much more... it's not hard to see why people would choose it!
 
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i did get a xbox series s, but hated it tbh, was ok for a few games, but got shot of it, need the freedom of a pc, plus games cheaper which always helps
 
Dirk Diggler said:
Has anyone else been converted from the Master Race?
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Can't I have VR, invested in sims like DCS with custom hardware, DayZ plays not well on consoles and I tend to play a lot of modded games.

I basically play to strengths of the PC platform but I also 100% see the sense in consoles for casual gaming it is frankly the smarter choice. What you save on PC hardware you can throw at home cinema incl. the room furniture.
 
I recently bought a PS4 for exclusive titles like The Last of Us. It's frustrating aiming with a controller though.

I was an exclusive console convert back in the 90s but switched to PC because I NEED mouse/keyboard support for FPS games. Even if I was given a PS5 free of charge it would make no difference because price isnt an issue. A controller cant replace a mouse if you're trying to aim with a gun.
 
100% agree on that point, mouse and keyboard for FPShooters any day, maybe only exception for me would be Halo; I played the original on PC and really enjoyed it; but it was also a great console experience, and am looking forward to playing through the entire series with the wife in split screen COOP, which really isnt much of a thing on PC. Consoles are definately still home to more 'communal' experiences especially nowadays when LAN stuff is just not as common anymore; albeit PC offers wider multiplayer overall; similar but definately different experiences :)

There are many games that aren't so response demanding though where it becomes more about what a game was really designed with in mind; some games are very much designed, UI, controls and other elements, for playing on a TV at a distance etc, whereas others are very much designed for a PC style situation and controls layout.

This is where I think not so much being convert, but willing to experience both camps can offer you best of both worlds. Some games should truly be experienced on PC (Sim esque games like MSFS and Mechwarrior being amongst them) whereas other experiences out there on console are truly excellent; forsaking either of these two just doesnt make much sense, if you can afford to be in both camps.
 
As it happens, I'm thinking of selling my PS5. The main reason I bought it was because a mate got one - we figured it would be a good way to "hang out" during the pandemic. Of course I was always envious of some of their exclusives too, but now a lot of them are coming to PC anyway albeit a few years after the fact. So I reckon I'll sell it while they're still reasonably scarce and think about picking up a Pro model in 2024/2025 to play the exclusives that didn't come to PC.
 
PC has so much more potential, you can emulate older consoles, get games cheaper/free, all the other windows app as well, the only reason to go console is for the exclusives of which there aren't many that make it worth it nowadays imo.
 
vapor matt said:
the new M1 mini's are very low power. after a year the lower power use will most likely pay for it.
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No chance, even with the current crazy energy prices.

NZXT30 said:
Consoles peaked with the PS2 era (still the most sold console ever) and they've been fading into irrelevancy ever since then.
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And yet the PS5 sold more at launch than any other Sony console and demand has outstripped the (limited) supply ever since. Not bad for something that's apparently irrelevant.
 
TheVoice said:
No chance, even with the current crazy energy prices.



And yet the PS5 sold more at launch than any other Sony console and demand has outstripped the (limited) supply ever since. Not bad for something that's apparently irrelevant.
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Yes during Covid lock-down, when GPUs became rarer than unicorns due to demand. It's been selling less than the Ps4 since then but microtransactions are on the rise inflating Sony's profits.

Since the PS2 release the gaming market has grown in orders of magnitude along with PC gaming while no console has outsold the PS2. That's the definition of stagnation.
 
No console yet, but one thing that has to be taken into account is the overall size of the console market, and the constraints.
In the PS2 era, it was the dominant console by a overwhelmingly long shot, its rivals absolutely tanked by comparison, to quote Wiki:
PlayStation 2155 million (as of March 31, 2012)[41][42]
Xbox24 million (as of May 10, 2006)[11][12]
GameCube22 million (as of September 30, 2010)[13]
Dreamcast9.13 million (as of September 6, 2002)[
That is during the entire generation.
By my estimates, the above gives approximately 210million consoles that generation, and that generation was much more defined than this current one, which has had a much heavier overlap betwen this generation and last generation. As can be seen the PS2 absolute dwarfed that generation, with about 3/4 of all console sales.

This time around, even despite only being a year or two into the generation at least for Xbox Series and PS5, despite the chip shortages, there is a very heavy rivalry and a much wider audience with a wider installation base.
The Switch alone has sold well over 100M consoles to date, and is predicted to potentially beat the PS2 by the end of its lifespan, alone.
PS5 is around 20M, and they have been hard as hell to find, XBOX has also sold around 15 mill, despite the chip shortages which meant that the X at least, has also been hard to find.
If you then start including PS4 and XBOX One, because they're still on sale and the chip shortages preventing people upgrading, and more buying those machines that WOULD have bought the new machines,those have sold around 120M and 50M units apiece.

Yes, I realise thats not entirely balanced, but if you basically split it down Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft lines, across this extended generation 'and a bit', you're looking at 100m Nintendo (excluding 3DS), 140M Sony [SO FAR] and 70M [SO FAR] to Microsoft; a number which dwarfs the Sixth generation. Yes that is including some of prior generation, but given chip shortage situation I think that is only fair; needless to say though it highlights that yes, this market has absolutely grown substantially; its not so much a weakness of any machine that they haven't outsold the PS2, as that dominated the other machines at the time and wasnt under any real availability constraints for most of its lifespan, nowadays, it is much more even.

Nintendo has sold roughly 5x the number of Switches as Gamecubes, and the generation isn't over, and Microsoft have sold over 50% of the Xbox OG's numbers in SERIES alone, despite only less than two years in, in a market dominated by chip shortages.

The overall market has grown massively, and there are a LOT more consoles out there; the difference is this time they're not by far and away mostly Sony Playstations, if you include those prior generations, we're talking over 300M with more sales to come, if you're talking just this current generation (including Switch) then we're talking around 135M, less than 2 years into this generation, with the Switch just arriving early, and the PS5 and Series consoles having a good number of years left on the life cycle.

I wouldn't say this is a stagnant market; it's just not dominated by one player anymore.
 
Ask someone like @tommybhoy - its probably OK for most but some folk are working all day or in jobs where you cant stop what your doing for 10 mins randomly and captcha against the other stampede! :cry:

I would expect 18-20 months into the gen cycle the competition has died off. Only another four months and we can see it all again!!
 
NZXT30 said:
Yes during Covid lock-down, when GPUs became rarer than unicorns due to demand. It's been selling less than the Ps4 since then but microtransactions are on the rise inflating Sony's profits.

Since the PS2 release the gaming market has grown in orders of magnitude along with PC gaming while no console has outsold the PS2. That's the definition of stagnation.
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They were both suffering extreme manufacturing and supply issues, but the PS5 was clearly going to be a big seller regardless. Make flimsy excuses for it all you like, but COVID only meant they sold less than they otherwise would have (due to supply issues), not more.

The gaming market is mostly mobile gaming these days, something that essentially didn't exist in the PS2 era.
 
Die hard gamer since birth. Got rid of pc in 2014. Got a ps4 in 2021.


PC gaming got progressively worse. Too many indie games and forced drm store fronts.


Tempted to go back for rts games but meh.
 
NZXT30 said:
According to a recent OCUK poll most people own FE cards so way more people got them than you think. It just total demand was crazy.
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That poll is simply opinion, the owners threads have legit data in them and it's grim reading for actual CONFIRMED FE's owned on the forum.

The 3080's nearly never on sale, how many 80 FE drops have happened in the last 90 days?

gpuerrilla said:
Ask someone like @tommybhoy
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It's as if folks go out their way to not purchase the cheaper 10Gb 80 and paid £889 for less vram on a slower 3070 instead.:p
 
Too much flexibility on the PC, plus the control, to me, on the console is terrible. Even from an economic point of view is not worth it. Sure, I would like to play a game or two, but won't be any fun with a controller. So... pass.
 
Hand up here. Bought the XSX on release, a PS5 a few months later and I’ve barely gamed on my PC since. The convenience, the comfort, the lack of hassle, the equivalent tech. This was the generation for me to make the switch.
 
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