PCs Vs CONSOLES: GAME ON

Games consoles have become more like PCs, and with subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass blurring the lines between PC and console gaming, which is the better platform for gamers in 2022? Guy Cocker investigates

NOWHERE DOES tribalism exist to quite the same extent as in the gaming world. Whether it was Atari vs Commodore in the 1980s, Nintendo vs Sega in the 1990s, or Xbox vs PlayStation in the 2000s, generations of gamers have spent decades pledging their allegiance and going to war over their platforms of choice, whether that’s in the playground or on forums like Reddit.

In the last few years, though, that rivalry has settled into more of a “can’t we just all get along?” kind of vibe. That’s thanks to the evolving strategies of platform holders such as Xbox and PlayStation, who rather than preciously guarding their crown jewels like Halo and God of War as they once did, are now happy to release them on PC, sometimes day and date with their lead platform. Both PlayStation and Xbox also have game streaming services that actively work with PC, meaning you don’t even have to own one of their consoles anymore.

That said, game consoles have had their place recently, especially over the last couple of years where entertainment options have been more limited to the home. As a result, game playing time increased by 39 percent, driving record revenues for the industry. True, the PS5 and Xbox Series X were nearly as difficult to source as PC graphics cards over the same period, but they brought with them some fantastic games, 4K 120Hz graphics, and in the case of the PlayStation, innovative new controllers.