Hardware power doesn’t matter in the long run. Again, it all comes to exclusive games true permanent exclusive games. Nintendo Switch beating PS2 & will do 150+ million console sells with hardly any 3rd party support + weaker hardware why? Nintendo releases the most first party exclusive games true permanent exclusive games then any other competitor.
There’s no reason for PS to chase PC when there’s no GPU/CPU for PC upgrading performance every 2 years. The difference between console & pc is console having exclusive. Xbox doesn’t have exclusive games so Xbox gamers & other gamers who would buy an xbox just migrated to PC same thing will happen between the migration of PS5 & PS6 since PS port there exclusive games to PC. Nintendo will always sell 150+ million console because they have true permanent exclusive games as long as they don’t make there hardware naming/advertising complicated like WiiU
If you want power go to PC but if you like console you like console because the ease & the exclusive games. This is why I say what PS is doing w PC port is dumb & short sighted Nintendo console power wise w be further blurred between Xbox & PS console. Nintendo console maybe not Switch 2 but Switch 3 will be able to play all 3rd party games day 1 the only thing that make PS, Nintendo & PC different & sole reason to buy each hardware/platform are the exclusive games they have. If PS continues to do PC port you might aswell migrate to PC/Steamdeck & make that your PS console since PS consoles no longer has exclusive games + the benefits of PC & the exclusive PC games that don’t go to PS & buy the Nintendo Switch console for exclusive + 3rd party. Unless you have fomo for PS games day 1
For Sony (and Microsoft) the hardware power and specs DO matter because the third party publishers want those specs to push the visuals as far as they can because for marketing and advertising, that's the easiest and cheapest aspect to sell to consumers. Having true exclusive games only matters to and for Nintendo as they're the only hardware manufacturer that can, has and will survive with no third party support. If Sony/Microsoft had nothing but their published games, they both would be dead overnight because when you look at both of them, all the best selling and most played games month in and month out are the third party games, mainly free to play, sports games, Minecraft and Call of Duty.
You (like many here) put too much emphasis on "true exclusivity" when in reality, the vast majority simply don't care about that. When you have a 50m user install base and Stellar Blade sells less than 2m thus far, that tells me 48m don't care. When a Spider Man hits 30m life time out of a user install base of 120m give or take, that tells me 90m (75%) don't care. As for Nintendo Switch, as impressive as it's been, people are forgetting about one major detail - The Nintendo Wii sold over 100m units while Nintendo DS sold over 150m units while 3DS sold over 75m units. In that life span of all three units was a combined 325m+ units sold. As impressive as Switch is, they lost sales because instead of getting their user base to double/triple dip, they just bought one console now which is hybrid. And even if they bought the handheld only Switch, it's included in the total sales numbers which is around 140m units. So if anything, they lost out on 185m units being sold.
So while Nintendo has dominated with Switch and should continue that with Switch 2, it's not without a cost which is selling more units to the same consumer base. Sony trying to get more people into PlayStation isn't happening like majority want to believe. They will sell around 120m units life time. That's NOT growing at all. It's retaining what you had. Nothing more and nothing less. Xbox will sell it's 50m+ units which is basically the same as Xbox One which is the same result - no growth. Just retention.
Exclusives as great as they are and I love them but it's not the 1990's or even 2000's anymore. It just isn't. Exclusives isn't what grows the platforms because look at Sony and Microsoft. The best games are rarely if ever their own. It's always the games I mentioned earlier and it's more times than not, the online co-op/multi-player live service games where people will pick a few of them and simply stay with them. Also, growing your owned IP's will forever be more important than any console hardware because all hardware has an expiration date. The IP's don't unless the owner for whatever reason doesn't renew it which is rare.
What Sony is doing with porting their games to PC isn't stupid at all because they want more revenue, more profits and to increase the growth of the IP's, that's what and everyone else has to do and for the most part, have already been doing. Tsushima was the best selling game in NA despite being four years old because there is a huge fan base that will buy and play Sony's games but they're not going to buy a PlayStation to do so because if you're a PC gamer, especially hardcore, going to console is basically demeaning, degrading and lowering yourself. You have literally the best at your fingertips, way better sales, prices and deals, no online paywall, mods, emulation and all this other shit that no console is currently or most likely will ever give you.
If anything, Sony should put their games on PC day one because that's when you'll gain the most revenue and profit while growing the IP as the release is when it's at it's peak especially if you're a single player one and done game. Not only that but from a development, marketing, advertising perspective, it makes the most sense because why do all this shit twice when you could do once? Also, games are already developed and programmed on high end power PC's to begin with, they all have the same x86 tech, the dev kits are basically for optimization and to make sure the game doesn't brick the console.
As for Nintendo, huge differences between them and Microsoft/Sony. First and foremost, the nostalgia for Nintendo and their IP's is above and beyond anything Sony or Microsoft has. It's not even close. Second, Nintendo is literally the Apple of console gaming and by that I mean, they never ever devalue their shit no matter what. They rarely if ever give you any sales whatsoever. They rarely if ever drop the price of their hardware. Switch is still $300 seven years later. Their IP's sell tens of millions of copies, even rematsers like Mario Kart go on to crush records. Sony's games barely hit 5m unless they're the top tier and the problem there is that while they have several of them, they're not as many as Nintendo and they take much longer to develop and release.
Microsoft barely sells anything so they don't really matter whatsoever in this conversation. Back to Nintendo, the other major difference is that their tech isn't at the level of Sony or Microsoft and thus, their budgets aren't overflated like Sony and Microsoft which saves them a lot of fucking money and makes them more profits.
Sony is a tech company. It's what they do. They push their tech and their visuals and all that stuff. The problem is that it costs a shit ton of money and the return just isn't there like it was even a generation ago and when you look over their deal with Marvel, I understand why most publishers don't want to do licensed games because that shit costs way too much money and return is even less. Nintendo will always be at least a generation if not two behind Microsoft and Sony because it's not what they do and unlike the other two, don't need third party support to survive, succeed and still make money.
As for the exclusivity argument, it's becoming less and less important because again, when you look at the top selling and top played games, outside of Nintendo, it's rarely an exclusive game. You'll see a top tier game like Spider Man 2 or something like that be #1 for the month it releases, then it declines to where outside of a cheap sale, you won't see it again because it's a game that's not meant to be continusouly played. The games going to PC doesn't change or affect anything. Sony will still sell it's 120m consoles give or take. The games on PC are for those who are on PC already and have no interest in buying a console. And in some rare instances, you may even get people to double dip which is a positive if you're Sony/Microsoft.
Consoles are becoming obsolete and yes, they are. Only Nintendo will truly be the sole survivor while Sony and Microsoft eventually go streaming only which is once the tech is there the best way because they can reach EVERYONE and they don't need to spend hundreds on a console which let's be honest, those who do like majority here or on other forums are already console owners and have been for generations. People who are younger don't give a shit about consoles because it's not how they play or how their friends play. It's literally that simple. Reason why Nintendo will be the one that stays the way they are the longest is because they don't chase tech, they don't spend the money, their IP's are highly valued and rarely if ever go in that realistic visuals approach which costs a lot of freaking money that Nintendo isn't going to spend. They also have the best and longest history, the most loyal fan base and they have the highest level of nostaglia.
I went on a rant/tirade five months ago because of Microsoft's decision and just like I reached a point with Sony, Ubisoft, EA, Capcom, etc. to where I don't care about them and whatever they do, they do, Microsoft is now lumped in along with them all. They can all die tomorrow or live forever. I don't care which. All I care about is playing the games that are of interest to me and that I hope they're great or better for me personally. That's literally all I care about when it comes to gaming.
