PC gaming always seems to garner a perception that it’s prohibitively expensive. Generally, anyone who isn’t familiar with PC gaming likely assumes they need to pay over $1,000 just to get into playing games on computer. Not to mention getting used to mouse & keyboard as a primary input for games. While this may have been tangentially true over a decade ago, PC gaming in the last ten years has become far more affordable and much easier to get into than ever before.
Now more than ever, console makers are beginning to inadvertently prove that the PC is the best place to play new games. The evergreen platform that is Windows continues to see more widespread support from Xbox’s first-party studios and even the highly traditional and often hesitant PlayStation.
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Games both old and new, from multiple console generations, are available with very little concerns of backward compatibility. There will always be a staunch and unwavering Nintendo that always does its own thing, but PC has never seen as much appreciation from console exclusives than ever before, and the future is looking even brighter.
While third-party games have been supporting PC ports to varying degrees, Xbox used to be completely against the idea of bringing its first-party titles to PC. The irony was certainly not lost on PC players, who eventually just didn’t receive games in the Halo series because Microsoft wanted to sell Xboxes and Xbox Live instead.
It took players from the modding community localizing and adapting a free-to-play Russian exclusive Halo game on PC before Microsoft decided to bring The Master Chief Collection to PC. But it’s important to note this was not a move out of desperation or protection of IP, rather it was something Xbox and Microsoft had been planning all along.
It wasn’t until the Play Anywhere initiative where it became abundantly clear that Xbox now had a renewed interest in PC gaming support. Now additional first-party franchises like Forza, Gears of War, Crackdown, and of course Halo will now always be available on PC, so long as the Play Anywhere initiative is never rescinded. Given Xbox’s trajectory, with adding Game Pass to PC as well as further supporting enhanced ports to PC from other games, that likely won’t happen any time soon. Xbox’s full support has paid off in droves for Microsoft, and has even caused a change of heart in its biggest competitor.
PlayStation fans from as early as two years ago would’ve laughed at the idea of first-party games making their way to PC. Now in 2020, one of the biggest PS4 exclusives, Horizon Zero Dawn, has been ported to PC. While the port did have some initial issues that were ironed out with subsequent patches, Horizon Zero Dawn ended up performing very well on PC via Steam. Now Sony has even gone as far as to mention they’re potentially looking into porting more PlayStation exclusives to PC over time. As shocking as it is, even PlayStation is willing to bend on expanding their games to PC.
While PlayStation Now technically brought PS4 games to PC first, this marks the first time in recent history where PlayStation has even acknowledged the PC gaming platform. Not only that, but older PlayStation exclusives like Uncharted or Bloodborne could eventually make their way to PC. Back in 2018, when PlayStation was hesitant to implement crossplay in Fortnite alone, many didn’t expect PlayStation to waver from their traditional ways. Now Fortnite has cross-platform play for all devices, so clearly there’s been a culture shift at PlayStation to even consider porting more exclusives on a platform it often ignored.
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It certainly never used to be this way, but given all the support the PC gaming community has received in the past decade, playing games on PC is now a more valid choice than ever. Console makers will still make money off of gaming fans because consoles are cheaper and dedicated platforms, but the perception that PC is more expensive than console gaming definitely isn’t true. In fact, the value proposition on a PC gaming desktop or laptop nowadays is a far more enticing value than ever before.
Gaming PCs of all kinds are versatile, capable, and affordable for a range of different machines. Players can play with mouse and keyboard as well as controller, and basically every major game supports choice of input. Plus, there’s the added capability of being able to use gaming PCs for whatever other purposes someone would need a computer for. Assuming console makers continue their support with newer next-gen games, the future of PC gaming is bright. PCs have become an all-encompassing platform of gaming that at first glance seems like an expensive proposition, but at this point has become the best place to play games in both value and quality.
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