There are a variety of games for PC that just aren't on console. If you want to play them, you do not have any alternative.
There are a variety of games where you need a mouse, or have grown up using a mouse, and switching to constroller is like asking someone who runs marathons to switch to sack racing. This is not an alternative on consoles.
Games are frequently cheaper on PC. MUCH cheaper. If you're on a budget, it's hard to justify.
Not all multiplayer games are cross-system compatible, and many never will be. If your friends play on PC, you can't switch to console without agreeing to never play with them again. Maybe you'll be the one to start the exodus if you try, but maybe not. That's a lot to ask of people, to buy a new console, rebuy all their old games, and then be okay with all the above-mentioned issues, including the network effect of your friends' friends who all play on PC, etc.
In short, there are quite a number of valid reasons to run Windows on your PC, especially if you play games.
I too wondered about how switching away from Windows would impact my access to games. My earliest memories are about games. My entire childhood was spent playing games, to the detriment of any other activity. My first non-burger-flipping job was in the gaming industry. Games are constantly on my mind. I love video games. But today, in practice, I don't miss any Windows-only games.
The first observation is that we're in a golden age of video gaming. There are so many quality games coming out, for every platform, that you could spend the rest of your life playing only the games available today and barely even make a dent in the backlog. The world has too many games as it is (which isn't a bad thing, to be clear).
The second observation is that, even though there are so many objectively high-quality games, I've become bored of almost all of them. Almost none of them have anything new to offer, and are, at best, refinements on existing formulas. Now that I'm older, I've seen all the formulas. For younger people, maybe they would suffer from not getting to have some formative experience in some Windows-only game. But I've put in my 10,000 hours, twice over, making me an expert in video games, and in my expert opinion I'm not missing out.
> Games are frequently cheaper on PC. MUCH cheaper. If you're on a budget, it's hard to justify.
It's not really the truth anymore. At best it's a couple of bucks on sale, day 1 prices are typically the same and have been for 10+ years at this point, PSN/XBL regularly have sales that are just as or close to as steep as Steam or even cheaper. Plus you can still resell that physical PS5 game and get something back which you haven't been able to do on PC for a while.
You don't have to rebuy. You just keep the old console if you want to play the old game. I still have 20+ year old consoles and games that work fine. While PC backwards compatibility is nice sometimes it's also a giant pain where you're spending 4 hours to figure out WTF Sims 2 won't launch on your 4K monitor (true story).
No, the sales are just as competitive. It's been there for years. Take a look at sites that keep price histories for Steam, PSN and XBL. Only real value in PC gaming is free online.
Most people don't keep around a whole stash of old consoles, while keeping a 10-15 year old steam account is way more common. If you game on PC you will most likely have a steam acc.
Meaning whenever and whatever kind of PC you get, you have your library.
Plus the abandonware, freeware, and all the giveaways (Epic store front regularly gives away all sorts of great games for free, even new AAA titles sometimes) and other goodies that come from an open platform.
If you just go to a store and buy a console, you basically have nothing, other than the F2P lootbox games. It's a closed platform so you have nothing. And have to rebuy stuff from zero if you want to play the games you had in past.
The fact I can just go buy a PC and have the whole steam library dating back to almost two decades is the real value. And that i'm not locked out.
Games like FF7R, GTA, anmy RPG etc, sure I play on playstation.
Good luck playing CSGO, Valorant, Leauge of Legends and my already massive Steam library on PS4 lol
Why would you suggest this as a "solution"
I run Windows 10 as it runs the software I want. Im on an install from 2015 when it came out and after chaning the default browser, desktop background, some settings customization, its fine.
I can also use my own desktop hardware. I have a i7 4790k, 32GB RAM and a 1070ti 3x 1440p monitors.
Why should I get a Mac?
Why would I want to buy some box for hundreds of euros/dollars that only plays games:
- with worse quality
- with no mod support for basically any game
- requires you to pay extra for basic features (e.g. looking at you, Nintendo, with your "savegames are not on the SD card but locked to the console unless you pay a subscription to back them up online, so if your Switch kicks it, they're gone"; etc etc)
- last I heard basically no setting customizability and locked framerates all over the place, like Bloodborne locked at 30fps with no anti-aliasing
- exclusivity garbage
- almost always controller-only input: shooters and (other) first-person games with controller? No thank you!
- the list goes on and on
Nowadays, with Proton I can play basically anything I want on Steam on my Ubuntu PC with minimal if any added effort (actually none in recent memory) with no problems, parity in frame-rate and stability to when I was gaming on Windows years ago.
Granted, I mostly stay away from the garbage that is regularly barely warmed-up and churned out by those greedy MTX-peddling bloodsuckers known as the "AAA industry".
I can't believe there is any good reason for people to run Windows on their PC in 2022?