The media has declared PC gaming and, consequently, gaming PCs, dead on several occasions over the past thirty years or so. The success of home consoles like the NES and PlayStation in the 1990s, the growth of piracy and developers prioritizing consoles in the 2000s, and the boom of mobile gaming in the 2010s all contributed to this doom-mongering. There have been several announcements over the past five years that gaming PCs are finally losing ground to consoles because to subpar PC ports and expensive hardware.
These statements are usually ill-advised or fail to read the room, but there is always a glimmer of truth in whatever tendency leads to them. Neither mobile phones nor consoles, not unoptimized titles or piracy, were able to beat the PC. Even though it may seem like the worst PC gaming era ever, gaming PCs will continue to thrive despite the present downturn.
Table of Contents
1990s – Nintendo and PlayStation make gaming PCs obsolete
One of the main factors in the video game industry’s recovery from the 1983 crisis was the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Home video game sales dropped from $3.2 billion in 1983 to barely $100 million in 1985 as a result of a two-year recession that was resolved by the console’s release in late 1985. The Commodore 64 and other home PCs’ renewed appeal, however, was the other factor. Personal computers were still in high demand.
With the introduction of Sony’s first-generation PlayStation in 1994 and Nintendo’s Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1991, many people said that PC gaming was coming to an end by the 1990s. The main causes of gaming PCs’ eventual demise were thought to be the standardized hardware and cheaper consoles. But as we all know, first-person shooter games like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D ignited a fervent passion for PC gaming, and the rest is history.
Early 2000s – Piracy kills PC gaming
Even in the 1970s, software piracy existed, although in crude forms like transferring data onto floppy disks, for those who are unaware. In the 1990s, home internet connection and CDs gained popularity, which led to their being the new medium for game piracy. However, peer-to-peer file-sharing apps like BitTorrent were widely used in the 2000s, making it simpler than ever to download games illegally, marking the beginning of the true golden era of piracy. Players used the growing price of games as an excuse to pirate them.
This rightfully alarmed industry observers and game creators who believed that PC gaming would be extinct due to the stronger anti-piracy mechanisms of consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation 2. Although piracy was a genuine worry, it thankfully didn’t become the massive enterprise that many had expected; the introduction of Steam transformed the digital distribution of video games, and DRM software advanced. Though it didn’t kill anything, including the gaming PC business, piracy didn’t go away.
Mid-to-late 2000s – Gaming PCs become an afterthought
The era of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was a weird time for PC gamers. It’s not that great gamers weren’t coming out for PC, but many developers started prioritizing console releases. The larger console market incentivized development for Sony’s and Microsoft’s platforms, and devoting additional resources and money to quality PC ports began taking a backseat. In fact, games like GTA IV, Resident Evil 4, and Dark Souls received awful PC ports, and many popular games never received one at all. Some public statements from developers like id Software added fuel to the fire, popularizing the belief that the industry was moving toward consoles for good. As we know, that didn’t happen. PC ports improved over time, community mods fixed most of the limitations of poorly optimized ports, and the indie scene thrived, thanks to Steam. Consoles and gaming PCs have continued to co-exist, and while exclusives, and more recently, timed exclusives, have motivated many to stick to consoles, it isn’t a zero-sum game. Console gamers can be PC gamers too, and vice versa.
2010s – Mobile gaming kills gaming PCs
The mobile gaming revolution brought about the next “death” of gaming PCs. Higher-quality mobile games, better internet connections, and larger, high-resolution screens were made possible with the introduction of smartphones following Apple’s initial iPhone. By the time PUBG Mobile and Fortnite swept the globe, what began with Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga, Subway Surfers, and Temple Run 2 had blossomed.
Many analysts declared that PC gaming was dying again since most mobile apps are free to play and offer users unparalleled ease. Analysts predicted that gaming PCs would soon become obsolete because players would no longer need to purchase pricey gaming PCs since they could play games on their smartphones anywhere. By 2015, gaming PC sales were dropping while iPhone sales were hitting all-time highs. In addition, the performance and graphics of platforms like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have advanced significantly.
Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, none of these things alone could put an end to PC gaming. Players continued to enjoy games on both their smartphones and gaming PCs, and free-to-play titles like League of Legends and Dota 2 flourished on PCs as well.
2020s – Broken PC games and overpriced GPUs destroy gaming PCs
Lastly, we arrive to the current decade. GPU prices broke all previous records in 2020, before the pandemic-induced scarcity made the situation worse. Then came Cyberpunk 2077, one of the worst video game releases ever. Bugs and performance problems ruined what should have been a gaming milestone, shattering the extremely high expectations established by CD Projekt Red. The worst thing was that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Hogwarts Legacy, Starfield, and The Last of Us thing 1 all followed this pattern.
In actuality, practically every significant PC release was a broken mess that even expensive GPUs couldn’t fix. The AAA game production industry’s soaring expenditures, which forced studio closures if a game did even marginally lower than stellar, were another nail in the coffin of gaming PCs. Consumer confidence was further undermined by “gotcha” games like The Day Before and remarks made by game firms like Ubisoft regarding game ownership.
Spoiler alert: the astonishing popularity of titles like Cyberpunk 2077 (when it was corrected), Elden Ring, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Black Myth: Wukong, as well as the constantly rising demand for CPUs and GPUs, demonstrate that gaming PCs are still important. For those who are still unsure, gaming PCs aren’t going gone anytime soon, even if there are still many issues in the PC gaming and hardware sectors that need to be resolved.
Is PC gaming too big to fail?
Because a new toy comes out every five years or so, many have been quick to assume that gaming PCs are becoming extinct during the past 30 years. Consoles were the first, followed by piracy, cell phones, and even portable PC gaming devices. In addition to surviving, PC gaming flourished and still growing year. The popularity of gaming PCs will not diminish with the introduction of a new gaming device. Gamers still enjoy using these amazing devices for a variety of purposes. Furthermore, players on consoles and mobile devices may also be PC gamers; it’s not a binary choice.
Disclaimer:
The content in this article is for informational and educational purposes only. All opinions expressed are those of the author and do not reflect any official positions. References to games, companies, or technologies are made for illustrative purposes only and are the property of their respective owners. We do not promote or condone piracy or unauthorized software usage. Always purchase games and hardware through legitimate and authorized sources. This article complies with Google AdSense policies and does not contain misleading or harmful content.