Hello, PC gaming here: Are the consoles OK?

PS5
(Image credit: Sony)

A few years ago we cheekily declared that the PC had won the console war, and it's also true that I've spent the past couple decades gently mocking Sony and Microsoft for their 30 fps games and their Kinectimals, but now the PlayStation and Xbox are really looking quite pale and I'm starting to feel bad. I was just razzin', but as we head into the summer showcases, confidence in the consoles feels lower than ever and I don't know if they'll ever get their old glow back.

It's not just vibes: Console sales are down. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella marked a 26% decline in spending on current-generation consoles this April compared to last April. Xbox hardware in particular is struggling to sell: Microsoft reported a 30% decline in Xbox hardware revenue between the first few months of last year and the first few months of this year.

Meanwhile, Sony's recent State of Play stream was almost as much a PC gaming show as it was a PlayStation show, featuring a PvP hero shooter that'll release on PC day one and the news that God of War Ragnarök is on the way to our platform.

Hey, we're happy. It wasn't long ago that God of War on PC sounded like a pipe dream, but Microsoft and Sony finally cut it out with the console exclusives like we always wanted. And although Sony still makes us wait for its big singleplayer games, FOMO is harder to cultivate than it once was. New phenomena like Palworld appear all the time, and with the help of a good Amazon TV show, a years-old game like Fallout 4 can suddenly become the hot thing to play. We've got more than enough to distract us from whatever's big on PlayStation right now—which incidentally is Helldivers 2, a game that at last check had made more than half of its money on PC.

There is one force of nature on the horizon that I expect to flip those console hardware revenue frowns upside down: Grand Theft Auto 6 releases next year, and will almost definitely be exclusive to consoles for a period. Daddy Rockstar'll take care of ya, don't you worry. But one GTA doesn't bust the trend: Are we really, finally approaching the end of consoles as closed hardware platforms with exclusive first-party games? 

Microsoft certainly appears to be prioritizing gaming revenue over hardware revenue, despite what its recent mass developer layoffs and studio closures might seem to indicate. Xbox console sales are down, but Microsoft as a whole is fine, and its gaming revenue has swelled this year due to its Activision Blizzard acquisition. It's also going all-in on Game Pass with plans to offer the next iteration of its shiny new moneymaker, Call of Duty, on its PC and console subscription library. Sony's strategy has changed less dramatically, but PlayStation certainly doesn't feel like the remote destination it used to.

God of War Ragnarok

It very quickly became normal for PlayStation exclusives to release on PC, albeit on a timer. (Image credit: Sony Santa Monica)

The one holdout among the console makers is Nintendo, whose PC strategy is still to threaten fan projects with lawsuits. Perhaps I do not have to hand it to Nintendo for this, but as a result of its obstinance, the Switch is the only console I'd consider buying as a PC gamer. Nintendo remains a one-of-a-kind gaming company, whereas Xbox and PlayStation feel less and less distinguishable from gaming at large—aka PC gaming. Maybe I'm finally starting to understand the PlayStation fans who are mad that the thing they like is dissolving into the great PC gaming ocean of everything. (But too bad: Kratos is now our dad, too.)

We've been joking for years that the consoles are "just PCs now," and the sentiment has only become more and more true.

The distinctions between Xbox, PlayStation, and PC haven't totally dissipated: Japan Studio's new Astro Bot looks like a PlayStation-ass PlayStation game, and Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Sucker Punch, and Sony Santa Monica are still plugging away on future PS5 games which won't come to PC at launch. But the big leap to me was Sony releasing first-party PlayStation exclusives on PC at all, and I doubt it ends there. 

God of War on Xbox sounds ridiculous, but God of War on PC once sounded the same, and for its part, Microsoft is going to start releasing some of its smaller Xbox exclusives on PlayStation and Switch.

"I do have a fundamental belief that, over the next five or ten years, exclusive games—games that are exclusive to one piece of hardware—are going to be a smaller and smaller part of the games industry," said Xbox boss Phil Spencer after that announcement. 

We've been joking for years that the consoles are "just PCs now," and the sentiment has only become more and more true. Microsoft has boasted that its next Xbox will be a powerhouse, so it's obviously not getting out of the game, but I can't see that machine having anything like the cultural impact of the Xbox 360. (I can picture that glowing green ring clear as day, as well as the moment it turned red.)

Maybe Valve's old living room PC project was just ahead of its time, and now that the exclusivity walls are falling, we're due for the second coming of the Steam Machines. They'd be consoles that get every Xbox game, every PlayStation game (some on a delay), and of course, every PC game. And you wouldn't need a PlayStation Plus subscription to play online. The Steam Deck's success, and resultant SteamOS compatibility push, suggests it wouldn't be the worst idea. 

TOPICS
Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

Read more
A PS5 in the bin
It's taken 30 years, but my PC has finally made it impossible for me to enjoy console gaming
TF2 Heavy giving the Bret Rambo thumbs up
New report says PC games are outselling console games, calling PC gaming a 'bright spot' in a troubled industry
Steam Deck with menu screen
The Steam Deck 2 doesn't need to happen because Valve will win either way (though I hope it does)
Geralt thumbs up
2024 was the year gamers really started pushing back on the erosion of game ownership
James Sunderland looks at own face in mirror
After 2024, it feels like the games industry is poised for a vibe shift—or maybe a reckoning
Thank Goodness You're Here! key art
If 2024 proves anything, it's that mainstream success hasn't made PC gaming any less weird—and thank God for that
Latest in Gaming Industry
Yoda Luke and R2 in Lego form.
Lego is going to make its videogames in-house from now on, says it would 'almost rather overinvest'
A masked man with an axe in the woods
Rebellion CEO seems kind of awed by major studios making massive videogames: 'How do you organize a game that has 2,000 people working on it?'
A computer screen with program code warning of a detected malware script program. 3d illustration
Coder faces 10 years' jailtime for creating a 'kill switch' that screwed-up his employers' systems when he was laid off
Atomfall screenshot
Rebellion CEO puts the studio's recent avoidance of layoffs down to control of scope and cost: 'Sometimes we say, guys, this game's too big'
Judge Dredd promotional image in Warzone
Half-a-dozen 2000AD games were in the works before fizzling out: 'The games you get to see are a tiny representative of the number that get started—sadly'
sniper elite 5 cover
Sniper Elite CEO reckons Swen Vincke is right to snarl at short-sighted publishers: 'You could argue that their business at senior level isn't making games… their business is managing their shareholders' perceptions'
Latest in Features
Honey B Lovely
The state of Final Fantasy 14 in 2025: It's in a weird spot, huh?
Monster Hunter Wilds palico
One of the biggest victories of Monster Hunter Wilds' streamlining is I don't have to deal with those awful gimmick fights anymore
A vampire with a dark castle and swarms of bats in the background.
We need to decide on a genre name for Vampire Survivors-like games before a really terrible one sticks
Olivia, Alma and a palico
I wish Monster Hunter Wilds wasn't so afraid of letting me play Monster Hunter
SteelSeries QcK Performance mouse pads overlapping on a desk
The SteelSeries QcK Performance series has reignited my excitement over the simple pleasure of a quality mouse pad… and trying to click skulls with pinpoint accuracy
OneXPlayer 2 pro on a table
I never thought a handheld PC bloated with Windows could replace my Steam Deck, but after gaming on an old OneXPlayer 2 Pro I can see now I judged it too harshly