Are consoles doomed?

[diamond.g]

Caveat: CDPR promised Cyberpunk on the ps4 too

That is true (I have the physical PS4 copy). In it's case CP2077 ran fine (for a given definition of fine) on PC but like crap on consoles. Back in the good old days folks were "okay" with games running under 30fps on console. Looking at older reviews GTA5 ran around 25fps on PS4.

 

[throAU]

I also think that this generation will last much more than the last one (if you think about it, PS4 is still getting games so..). The RAM prices hikes will eventually move some to consoles, Switch 2 or PS5.

But overall yes, this generation is a really weird one. I just that the market went crazy these last 5-6 years. First COVID, then cryptos and now AI and the RAM.

100%. no console fanboy will admit it, but both the last two (or more in xbox?) generations of console are just PCs.

a fixed spec per generation, but they’re still just PC hardware for the most part. i mean there’s already 2 generations each of ps4 and ps5 (pro/normal) and games already accommodate that.

with the current market problems, older generation hardware is certainly going to stick around because replacing it is going to be expensive. both to manufacture and purchase.

the modern consoles aren’t a whole development methodology change from generation to generation any more (e.g., from genesis to saturn or ps1 to ps2, ps3, ps4 etc. all those jumps involved massive changes to the development environment). the new ones are just a faster version of the same basic architecture. and even if they weren’t, nobody is writing direct to hardware any more, its all via higher level APIs, so the hardware specifics are less relevant anyway.

porting to a new machine is nowhere near as hard now, it’s mostly just a graphical detail slider. given everything is written in C/C++ and using high level graphics APIs with off the shelf 3d engines, its mostly just a recompile and some IFDEFs.

vs. say back in the day when the difference between ps1 and saturn (for example) involved an entirely different rendering pipeline (triangles vs. quads), entirely different CPU architecture, number of processors, writing your own rendering engine direct to hardware, etc..

 

[aespana]

100%. no console fanboy will admit it, but both the last two (or more in xbox?) generations of console are just PCs.

a fixed spec per generation, but they’re still just PC hardware for the most part. i mean there’s already 2 generations each of ps4 and ps5 (pro/normal) and games already accommodate that.

with the current market problems, older generation hardware is certainly going to stick around because replacing it is going to be expensive. both to manufacture and purchase.

the modern consoles aren’t a whole development methodology change from generation to generation any more (e.g., from genesis to saturn or ps1 to ps2, ps3, ps4 etc. all those jumps involved massive changes to the development environment). the new ones are just a faster version of the same basic architecture. and even if they weren’t, nobody is writing direct to hardware any more, its all via higher level APIs, so the hardware specifics are less relevant anyway.

porting to a new machine is nowhere near as hard now, it’s mostly just a graphical detail slider. given everything is written in C/C++ and using high level graphics APIs with off the shelf 3d engines, its mostly just a recompile and some IFDEFs.

vs. say back in the day when the difference between ps1 and saturn (for example) involved an entirely different rendering pipeline (triangles vs. quads), entirely different CPU architecture, number of processors, writing your own rendering engine direct to hardware, etc..

Absolutely, PS5/Series are just PCs. I think, the Xbox Classic was also a PC but not 100% sure.

I think it is an advantage after all because it takes down the cost to port between platforms and also to PC but of course that create problems, specially to PC since a lot of ports are just terrible. Also, you have lower spec hardware that needs to be cover as the Series S (really like the size tho).

All those difference in architectures are a thing of the past.

 

[diamond.g]

Absolutely, PS5/Series are just PCs. I think, the Xbox Classic was also a PC but not 100% sure.

I think it is an advantage after all because it takes down the cost to port between platforms and also to PC but of course that create problems, specially to PC since a lot of ports are just terrible. Also, you have lower spec hardware that needs to be cover as the Series S (really like the size tho).

All those difference in architectures are a thing of the past.

MS used to expose API's that was closer to the metal on their consoles than what they offered through the normal DX API. I dunno if they still do that these days.

You'd think that PC ports would be better, but the hardware is just different enough that it can cause problems.

I think it is also why a lot of development houses are migrating to UE or Unity instead of rolling their own, makes code more portable.

 

[ScanTheNavian]

I enjoy specialized and monofunctional devices like consoles. I don't think I'll ever stop using them. I might switch to only handheld consoles in the future though if they have HDMI out. Nintendo seems to be the only ones with exclusives these days, but Steam Deck also looks nice (I know you can basically use it as a computer, but it's still a very focused product). It'd be cool if Steam devices got some timed exclusives like Half-Life 3 just to elevate the brand and perhaps prepare for Valve to enter as Xbox's replacement.