• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Analyst: "20 million PC gamers will switch to Consoles (XB/PS) within the next three years due to PC gaming being dead"

https://www.pcgamer.com/analyst-pre...ing-pcs-for-checks-notes-tv-gaming-platforms/
Don't look up, PC gamers, because the sky is falling (again). Right on cue, a new report by Jon Peddie Research (JPR) notes that the "PC market continues to decline," and though gaming has traditional bucked this trend, the research firm forecasts that as many as 20 million PC gamers could defect to "TV gaming platforms," otherwise known as game consoles, within the next three years.

"The PC market continues to decline because the innovation that took place in the past providing speed ups and clever new things has all but stopped, plus the product introduction times are stretching out to four years. This is not a panic situation and the GPU market still generates incredible volume. However, there are forces at work that we predict will drive some of this business toward TV displays and associated gaming services," Jon Peddie said in a statement.

"No longer can the processor builders count on shrinking transistors every 24 months and either doubling performance or reducing costs. Product cycles will stretch to four years or more. The high-margin high-end segment will feel the pain the most," JPR says.

"We are observing a higher percentage of low/mid-range PC products sold because of the consumer’s intent to use with games. This, unfortunately, does not generate more volume but does guide research and design as well as marketing investments for hardware providers and foreshadows the ultimate use model of the PC, a desktop ergonomic gaming/computing environment that embraces user choice and customization. Gaming services used with TV displays, whether local or cloud-based, will absorb PC defectors and likely flourish with new entrants. In the next five years, we will see potential customers with access to TV gaming swell by hundreds of millions," said Ted Pollak, senior analyst, gaming industry at JPR.

I've heard this before, and there are a few holes in the analysis, which is why the word "anal" is in the word, but a ton of outlets are spreading mass panic like this means that PC gaming will be dead in 3 years, when it's not.

I do think some PC gamers will move to consoles though, I expect bigger competition between Xbox and PS next generation, and this time the consoles won't be 40 years behind PC at launch, so there may be some grabbings.

But the actual analysis reads like the reason why people will move is because of a sinking ship that's on fire and just got struck by lightning. Crazy.
 
vSolSBA.gif
 

xool

Member
I think were nearing the end of great gains at affordable prices for CPU/GPU power (like the analyst says) -- thus, next gen will probably do a better job overall at keeping up power wise, compared to previous gens - but is that the reason people go PC?

There's a ton of strategy, simulation, indie, and other niche titles that just don't make it to console .. plus mods ..
 

BigBooper

Member
I could see it shrinking a ton over the next decade, more because of Microsoft's aggression towards Windows customers, but I expect that's more than three years. The key thing to know is that analysts don't have to be right.
 

Bryank75

Banned
I don’t understand why PC gaming is still so popular.... all the amazing games like Homeworld, Jagged alliance , command and conquer and shadow company don’t get made anymore.

The customization and mods are good but you just don’t get the quality that’s on Nintendo or Sony.
 
20 million switching to consoles is not that far-fetched. GPUs are getting pricier. Games are being split across multiple storefronts. Not an absurd prediction that some people might give up PC gaming for a "good enough" console alternative.

But this would hardly mean PC gaming is "dead". 20m is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall PC market.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Isa

ethomaz

Banned
But people said to me yesterday that PC gaming was dead until Steam saved PC :messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy:

PC gaming was never dead, year over year it increased sales, and that won't change anytime soon.

BTW where is the poll?
 
Last edited:

Tygeezy

Member
20 million switching to consoles is not that far-fetched. GPUs are getting pricier. Games are being split across multiple storefronts. Not an absurd prediction that some people might give up PC gaming for a "good enough" console alternative.

But this would hardly mean PC gaming is "dead". 20m is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall PC market.
They need to allow mouse and kyeboard or actually use gyro before anybody even thinks of switching permanently. I got a switch for nintendo games and everything else is played on pc.
 

Tygeezy

Member
I don’t understand why PC gaming is still so popular.... all the amazing games like Homeworld, Jagged alliance , command and conquer and shadow company don’t get made anymore.

The customization and mods are good but you just don’t get the quality that’s on Nintendo or Sony.
Consoles don't run games at 120 + fps. Consoles don't allow mouse and keyboard. Those are two big sticking points for me.
 
I do think some PC gamers will move to consoles though, I expect bigger competition between Xbox and PS next generation, and this time the consoles won't be 40 years behind PC at launch, so there may be some grabbings.

Console people have been saying that for decades, yet the reverse seems to happen.
 
They need to allow mouse and kyeboard or actually use gyro before anybody even thinks of switching permanently. I got a switch for nintendo games and everything else is played on pc.
Every generation, people switch to a new platform. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if 20m PC gamers got fed up with PC gaming (gasp! Yes, it happens all the time) and switched to consoles for the convenience or novelty of it. Doesn't really matter if m/kb is compatible or not. The idea that PC gaming is the "peak" and no one downgrades after attaining it is a false narrative.

So in that sense, the analyst is probably right. It may even be more than 20m PC gamers. Who's to say? But the notion that such a thing would be the "death" of PC gaming is ludicrous.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
I think as the price of graphics cards continues to skyrocket while console pricetags remain relatively stable, we will definitely see more PC gamers giving up their rigs and picking up a console.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
You kind of can, Its not usually officially supported. I don't think its quite as crisp playing naively vs playing with one of those converters.

PS4 has native support built it, as did the PS3. Now whether developers block it or not is a different story.
 
Last edited:

DanielsM

Banned
Rinse and repeat the stupid articles from 20 years ago, now their recycle stupid cloud gaming articles from 10 years ago.
According to this IGN article which is still online, the PC market will “continue to decline” because of the heterogeneity of PCs, related development costs, and larger sales of console games. This article might be seen as a rebuttal to… IGN’s staff article from several months earlier about the best-selling games at the time, four of which were PC games, and how this bade well for PC gaming. Good call IGN, your prescience continues to amaze us.


This dozy is from 2009.

Maybe websites should just put new dates on their very old articles.
 
Last edited:

Caffeine

Member
idk that long ps3/360/wii console generation basically had tons of people jumping over to pc. unless components hits astronomical areas I think pc will be fine.
 

Bryank75

Banned
Consoles don't run games at 120 + fps. Consoles don't allow mouse and keyboard. Those are two big sticking points for me.
You can get mouse and kB for PS4. FPS will improve with PS5 I’m sure.... wasn’t much choice when PS4 was being made.
 

tr1p1ex

Member
In a nutshell:

Higher percentage of people are buying low end pcs for gaming. Gap between consoles and those low-ends will be smaller than ever maybe even reversed. Meanwhile the graphics on pc are taking longer to improve meaning pcs won't as quickly improve for gaming while consoles are having silicon designed specifically for them and tvs for gaming are improving meaning consoles will more impressive than ever at gaming compared to pcs. And then on top of it pcgaming innovation just isn't what it was. Meanwhile cloudgaming (which he puts in the console category) will attract some people away from pcgaming as well.

It sounds about right.

I'm a pc gamer still , but ...it's not like it was from 1995-2005 and before when the pcgames I played were only available on the pc. Now it's mostly just about paying a small fortune to run console ports with better graphics at higher frame rates.
 
Last edited:

Bryank75

Banned
120 fps support at 1080 p and 1440 p with actual use of gyroscope would be enticing to me.
Yes, I think they will have to have some options like this on PS5, giving the various standards of TV or display people will be using. They do it on Pro for games like Nioh already but to a limited extent.

1440p would be an awesome setting to have, often overlooked.
 
Last edited:

kiiltz

Member
These shitty articles don't know how varied the PC market is nor what the people in that market even do with their PCs

Any hardcore PC would have no interest in interest in switching to consoles because no matter the convenience of Smart TV gaming, it doesn't trump the convenience of a dual screen minimum set up with whatever peripherals they've got.

And if they're referring to the low end potato market like the MOBA or MMO crowd then they've more than likely been running a PC/console combo since last generation and even then a lot of mid range users like myself are included there.
 

Mista

Banned
You kind of can, Its not usually officially supported. I don't think its quite as crisp playing naively vs playing with one of those converters.
Xbox now officially supports KBM but other than that people been playing using xim
 

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
HAHAHAHAHAHA I love these analysts

But do we really need treads like that to give them credit?
 

petran79

Banned
idk that long ps3/360/wii console generation basically had tons of people jumping over to pc. unless components hits astronomical areas I think pc will be fine.

Adopting xinput saved pc gaming really or else console players would not have migrated
 
80's: Consoles are dead, Pc is the future
90's: Pc is dead, consoles are the future
2005: Consoles are dying again
2019: Pc is dying again

Yeah, something like that.

Higher percentage of people that buy low end pcs for gaming are going to mighty tempted by consoles more than ever because the graphics on pc are taking longer to improve meaning pcs won't as quickly improve for gaming while consoles are having silicon designed specifically for them and tvs for gaming are improving. And on top of it pcgaming innovation just what it was back when we played games consoles couldn't even play. Now it's just play the games with prettier graphics but only if you spend a small fortune. Meanwhile cloudgaming (which he puts in the console category) will attract some people away from pcgaming as well.

sounds about right.

I'm a pc gamer still , but ...it's not like it was from 1995-2005 when the pcgames I played were only available on the pc. Now it's mostly a matter of running console ports with better graphics and higher frame rates.

Sure there is still a unique part of the pc market. Grassroots stuff happens on pc not on console. There are some unique business models that are pc only. Some games are dependent on m/k and thus pc only. Mobas for example.

But even that stuff is changing somewhat. STuff that is grassroots and gets big goes to console pretty quick. PUBG for example. Or Minecraft. Console is letting F2P games on their system. And then you have your MS, and maybe Sony too I forget, basically supporting native m/k if developers want to use it. So far we havent many if any native m/k games but nothing stopping them. And then we have unique business models on console with F2P games possible on console too.

I'm still a pcgamer, but ...barely. And really for me it's about the m/k interface and sitting close to my screen for fps games. I'm just used to it. I"m also used to the multi-tasking part of the pc.

While true, same could be said about console gaming. The 6th generation the consoles offered much more exclusives, and more often then not 3rd party games never saw PC, like SSX, TimeSplitters etc. Nowadays you only need a PS or Nintendo if you want to play those AAA exclusives, which arent that much anymore compared to PS2 era. About 15 to 20 exclusives at the most over a period of 8 years isnt that staggering.

Also, with MS basicly being all in with PC gaming, as much as Xbox gaming, PC will see much more console AAA exclusives like Halo Infinite which is being designed with PC in mind. AMD offering more and more competition, and Intel entering the GPU market will reduce hardware prices overall.
 

Tygeezy

Member
Yes, I think they will have to have some options like this on PS5, giving the various standards of TV or display people will be using. They do it on Pro for games like Nioh already but to a limited extent.

1440p would be an awesome setting to have, often overlooked.
I accidentally left out freesync. Those three things are a must for me. Sony at the moment for some stupid reason doesn't support freeysync while xbox does.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom