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[Parazels]

hell, I think parity could likely be achieved in a cellphone given a lot of time. people are actually working on this right now via quantum processors. IBM, Google, Intel, etc are all actually working on it.

Meanwhile Marc Cerny lives on a uninhabited island...

 

[lh032]

today it is, yes. in 20 years? 50 years? who knows, and that is what my thread is trying to get at.

I think a lot of people have an emotional response because they're so attached to their consoles

we are talking once a budget laptop hits parity with high end consoles

do you think that will happen soon? and if not, why are you talking about how consoles are doing today?

if that happens, i think desktop gaming PC would be affected the most?

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

if that happens, i think desktop gaming PC would be affected the most?

I think desktop PC would be a done deal way before it impacted consoles, yes

edit: not to say I think laptops are even the future. I'm just not creative enough to think of a realistic alternative and I can't predict the future. but you are correct, logic would dictate desktop PCs would die before consoles died

 

[lh032]

I think desktop PC would be a done deal way before it impacted consoles, yes

edit: not to say I think laptops are even the future. I'm just not creative enough to think of a realistic alternative and I can't predict the future. but you are correct, logic would dictate desktop PCs would die before consoles died

best case scenario, console could transition to actual powerful handheld, but then im not sure the technology would advance fast enough for a powerful handheld, like an actual switch but with real home console performance.

 

[bitbydeath]

I'm not in the tech field, but wouldn't a cheap laptop eventually hit parity with consoles in the not too distant future?

Not at a price/tech parity as consoles are heavily subsidised due to the closed nature of them.

And if said laptop has Windows installed then that just puts up a whole heap of other issues.

So, no. Laptops won't have any impact on consoles.

 

[rm082e]

by parity I mean the tech will be equivalent. that is, by definition, what parity means.

you pointing out battery power as your first talking point already misses the mark re: what I'm asking. as does your other talking points, as they talk about limitations in a laptop vs console. which again, means parity was not achieved.

you might be arguing that laptops will never hit parity with gaming consoles. that's fine if you believe that way - but I think that is a separate point. you are basically refuting the premise I take for granted. I am assume parity will be achieved some day.

hell, I think parity could likely be achieved in a cellphone given a lot of time. people are actually working on this right now via quantum processors. IBM, Google, Intel, etc are all actually working on it.

If you're talking about parity between:

• A current generation budget laptop and whatever the most powerful current generation console
• Running a showpiece game from the last couple of years (not a previous gen or indie title that will run on a potato)
• At the same resolution, same graphical settings, and same native frame rate (no frame generation BS)

Then no, I don't think we will see that. I think as we get late in the console generation, some cheap laptops might get close to the base model PlayStation, but they will cost a lot more. That alone kind of kills the value of choosing the laptop over the console.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Not at a price/tech parity as consoles are heavily subsidised due to the closed nature of them.

And if said laptop has Windows installed then that just puts up a whole heap of other issues.

So, no. Laptops won't have any impact on consoles.

the OS issue could be fixed over enough time. I mean, over enough time, I'd imagine we may even see competitors to Windows. who knows how long though.

your first point is a good point though and I don't know if any amount of time overcomes it.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Nope

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

If you're talking about parity between:

• A current generation budget laptop and whatever the most powerful current generation console
• Running a showpiece game from the last couple of years (not a previous gen or indie title that will run on a potato)
• At the same resolution, same graphical settings, and same native frame rate (no frame generation BS)

Then no, I don't think we will see that. I think as we get late in the console generation, some cheap laptops might get close to the base model PlayStation, but they will cost a lot more. That alone kind of kills the value of choosing the laptop over the console.

this makes sense, but don't you believe given enough time price would become negligible? I would assume tech slows down, progress becomes minimal, prices begin to decrease

edit: to say it another way, I think at some point progress will hit a point where it is close to as good as it can get, and we might start to see prices drop

I mean how much better can a game look 50 years from now vs 100 vs 200?

 

[bitbydeath]

the OS issue could be fixed over enough time. I mean, over enough time, I'd imagine we may even see competitors to Windows. who knows how long though.

your first point is a good point though and I don't know if any amount of time overcomes it.

It could be, but I have more faith in Steam taking the OS crown than Windows ever becoming a decent product.

 

[Sebastian1295]

of course they don't, because laptops and consoles haven't hit parity

if a laptop can run games just as good as a console, with just as much ease, why own the console?

or are you arguing a laptop could never do that? because tbh, given the way tech progresses, a cell phone will likely hit parity given enough time

technology is pretty crazy like that. computers used to take up entire rooms.

It has 0 to do with parity man. Think of nintendo and playstation as apple and samsung in the phone space. There's a million different options for phones and a million different companies and yet apple and samsung are the market leaders and continue to dominate in that space. It's because the brand itself is so big and has built such a reputation of quality in said space that no one is going to shove them out of it.


Now let's go back to nintendo and playstation. Say 20 years from now there's a pc that is essentially a console sitting on the shelf next to playstation and nintendo ok. Do you think that generic console that has full parity 'giving u the benefit of the doubt with parity here' is going to compete with the brand that is nintendo and playstation? Once ur brand has been around so long it takes on an identity in of itself and becomes a juggernaut which is what playstation and nintendo are. That 30 yr old dad gaming right now on his playstation will pass said playstation down to his son and his son will do it with his son etc etc just like a samsung galaxy phone and apple phone and how people buy those for their kids, parents, etc because of their experience with it.

 

[reinking]

Personally I was thinking 50 or so years, but I was pulling that out of my ass

So almost as long as consoles have been around? Sure, why not? As long as there is something else to take their place it works for me. I will be close to 110 years old so I hope whatever it is it has a big ass screen.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

So almost as long as consoles have been around? Sure, why not? As long as there is something else to take their place it works for me. I will be close to 110 years old so I hope whatever it is it has a big ass screen.

there was a cowboy bebop episode where you could download your brain onto your console

you wouldn't even need a TV

 

[MicTyson]

Your entire account is based around hating playstation. Good grief.

No, actually it's not. I talked about how much I loved the PS2 and 3. If you check my posts, I rip pretty much everything. Gaming is fucking shit in 2025. Including your precious PS5. There is just so many PS fanboys here that are so sensitive and feel the need to pretend that this gen is great. It's atrocious for all of the big 3.

 

[rm082e]

this makes sense, but don't you believe given enough time price would become negligible? I would assume tech slows down, progress becomes minimal, prices begin to decrease

Well, we are pushing against the limits of how small they can make the process nodes for CPUs/GPUs now. I think TSMC has chips planned at 1.4 nanometers but good lord is that going to be expensive. If we hit the wall at let's say .5 nanometer, and we couldn't make any chips more advanced than that, I could see that tech eventually coming down in cost to the point where everything uses .5nm chips and they're just dirt cheap.

But, I don't think there's any reason to believe we're going to get to a point where we can't continue to improve compute hardware. Just look at Nvidia going from obscure gaming nerd company to a household name in a few years. As long as there is a profit motive to keep improving hardware, and we have a capitalist society, we'll keep improving the chips.

I was just reading an article recently that researchers are looking at how they could maybe start stacking layers of transistors to form a 3D chip. The theory is if they can get the cooling under control and prevent cross-talk between the layers, it could open up a whole new pathway for many years to come. Moore's Law would be back in effect. Liquid cooling will probably be mandatory for those chips though, so the existing concept of an AIO cooler will have to be miniaturized and improved so we can put them in everything for really cheap.

 

[rm082e]

Gaming is fucking shit in 2025.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

But, I don't think there's any reason to believe we're going to get to a point where we can't continue to improve compute hardware.

how will this end up manifesting for the consumer?

you'd think at some point, maybe not that far off, you'll get to a point where you can have photorealistic games in 8k.

that doesn't seem like a stretch to assume in the relative near future. then what happens once we continue to improve the hardware beyond what the physical eye can appreciate?

something like the metaverse? holodeck?

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

PCs can't replace consoles, as the countless debates on GAF clearly show. Smartphones can't either. I fully expect streaming to make a bigger dent in the console market at some point in the future, but that's definitely not coming next year or so. Too many obstacles on the way that need to get sorted out, still.

 

[MicTyson]

PCs can't replace consoles, as the countless debates on GAF clearly show. Smartphones can't either. I fully expect streaming to make a bigger dent in the console market at some point in the future, but that's definitely not coming next year or so. Too many obstacles on the way that need to get sorted out, still.

It's going to be streaming, it's obvious at this point.

People can go on about the quality not being as good or the latency etc.. They don't care. Most of you will continue to buy it up and continuing bitching about it. Most of the consumers won't know the difference.

 

[Guilty_AI]

PCs can't replace consoles, as the countless debates on GAF clearly show. Smartphones can't either. I fully expect streaming to make a bigger dent in the console market at some point in the future, but that's definitely not coming next year or so. Too many obstacles on the way that need to get sorted out, still.

It's going to be streaming, it's obvious at this point.

People can go on about the quality not being as good or the latency etc.. They don't care. Most of you will continue to buy it up and continuing bitching about it. Most of the consumers won't know the difference.

I think people overestimate the advantages of streaming. It's an overcomplicated solution to problems that are more or less going away. Making apps intercompatible is becoming easier and easier, and vast majority of games, including - especially - the most popular ones aren't demanding in the first place and can run natively in most machines. And all of these elements become more true over time, arguably at a much faster pace than game streaming quality as many major players already gave up on that. Streaming is a system that made sense for video formats, but not so much for software.

Now, i can see some games using cloud computing in the future, especially MMOs.

 

[Trilobit]

I love single-focus gadgets. Which is why I hope that consoles never disappear.

 

[Durin]

There will always be people that want the more stripped down experience in that form factor that connects to a living room.

Thing is over time the need for that to be a super closed ecosystem makes less sense when the hardware is nearly identical as the more open computer devices replicate the same experience.

Many devices can connect to the TV, many can replicate the same general UI experience, and even console games are adopting graphic presets. Consoles are going to become more of a form factor than that unique bespoke device we grew up with. You had laptops replace desktops for people when they got good enough, tablets are starting to do that for laptops (desktops & laptops are starting to adopt arm-based chips as well), and streaming opens up even more flexibility.

 

[Jesb]

It definitely feels inevitable, especially with the rise of cloud gaming.

 

[powder]

I don't think so. I do think they're going to become more modular, though. Maybe longer generations with easily-upgradable internals.

 

[Baemono]

I believe the all digital future we've been told to will have a huge pushback from people who start to get tired of seeing things they pay for or paid for disappearing, depending on the company's mood.

So yeah, still consoles in the future

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I think people overestimate the advantages of streaming. It's an overcomplicated solution to problems that are more or less going away. Making apps intercompatible is becoming easier and easier, and vast majority of games, including - especially - the most popular ones aren't demanding in the first place and can run natively in most machines. And all of these elements become more true over time, arguably at a much faster pace than game streaming quality as many major players already gave up on that. Streaming is a system that made sense for video formats, but not so much for software.

Now, i can see some games using cloud computing in the future, especially MMOs.

You seem to assume that hardware limitations will increasingly become less of an issue because games will at some point stop demanding more computing resources.

I'd predict the exact opposite: I expect games to demand more and more resources, even when we've reached the limit of what a bump in resolution or polygon count can reasonably do for the perceived quality of the image rendered sometime in the future. Because of that, we're stuck in the endless money-sink-loop of having to upgrade hardware every couple years at a minimum, and both companies and customers have had enough of this shit. Streaming at least delegates the pain to the data centers only. I think there's a lot of appeal in that.

 

[IAmRei]

It's hard for console to dissapear any soon, but might be possible in the future, when they do not evolve well. But consoles are part pf our lives like other thing does. There are things such like simplicity to play for normies and price entry. Pc might be good for core gamers, but consoles are easier for normies. This can be debunked for mobile. But mobile cannot do much console does, such as input and certain exclusives which led to console popularity for normies and core gamers.

That is, unless last bastion of consoles, Nintendo and Sony choose to not to exodus to more mainstream media, i dont think so

 

[drganon]

No, actually it's not. I talked about how much I loved the PS2 and 3. If you check my posts, I rip pretty much everything. Gaming is fucking shit in 2025. Including your precious PS5. There is just so many PS fanboys here that are so sensitive and feel the need to pretend that this gen is great. It's atrocious for all of the big 3.

Bullshit. You're not fooling anyone, who's ever alt you are.

As for the stupid topic at hand, no. Just because Xbox is failing miserably doesn't mean consoles are "doomed".

 

[Guilty_AI]

You seem to assume that hardware limitations will increasingly become less of an issue because games will at some point stop demanding more computing resources.

I'm not predicting they'll stop demanding less compute resources, they already aren't.

Take a look at the most popular games in the market. Bunch of mobile gacha games, decades old f2p, mid-low tech MMOs, even on the SP space a lot of the most popular releases haven't been exactly pushing boundaries visually. Graphics clearly aren't all that relevant anymore.

 

[Felessan]

PX/Xbox fans are so desperate

I'm not in the tech field

Should have stopped at this point

but wouldn't a cheap laptop eventually hit parity with consoles in the not too distant future?

Power package and the fact that laptops sold for profit makes it impossible. Same for mobiles.
Consoles as they are now always will be a better value for same price
And the fact that it's a specialized device will always mean that it performs better than general-purpose solution of the same level. And I seriously doubt market for specialized devices will disappear.

I know simplicity is a big selling point for consoles, but wouldn't that eventually be addressed as well?

General purpose OS like Windows will always have parts that are not needed for gaming (and general purpose hardware too, for a lesser extent), increasing the cost to run these OS.
And specialized gaming OS like SteamOS just turn PC into overpriced console, loosing ability to do general purpose tasks - no value for mass market

 

[DenchDeckard]

I think we are pretty established now with consoles. Im sure Nintendo and Sony will make a device as long as they possibly can. How long that is. I have no idea. I dont think they will stop anytime soon.

 

[Guilty_AI]

And specialized gaming OS like SteamOS just turn PC into overpriced console, loosing ability to do general purpose tasks - no value for mass market

SteamOS is just Linux with extra stuff. It can do all the "general purpose tasks" an Arch Linux system does.

 

[Felessan]

SteamOS is just Linux with extra stuff. It can do all the "general purpose tasks" an Arch Linux system does.

And Linux itself is not gp tasks friendly overall

 

[Parazels]

PX/Xbox fans are so desperate


Should have stopped at this point


Power package and the fact that laptops sold for profit makes it impossible. Same for mobiles.
Consoles as they are now always will be a better value for same price
And the fact that it's a specialized device will always mean that it performs better than general-purpose solution of the same level. And I seriously doubt market for specialized devices will disappear.


General purpose OS like Windows will always have parts that are not needed for gaming (and general purpose hardware too, for a lesser extent), increasing the cost to run these OS.
And specialized gaming OS like SteamOS just turn PC into overpriced console, loosing ability to do general purpose tasks - no value for mass market

Excellent!

 

[Guilty_AI]

And Linux itself is not gp tasks friendly overall

It most definitely is, and is becoming increasingly so by the day. There may be a specific app or another that doesn't work or that you might miss (right now), but that's about the level of issues it currently has.

 

[Three]

People have been claiming consoles are dead or dying for literal decades.

I somewhat agree with the premise that games which aim to lower budgets/risk and mostly aim for mobile devices will mean more powerful machines might become redundant in the future. This would however affect PC desktops more than console. The console will just get cheaper/smaller and less powerful or even built into TVs depending on how far this hypothetical decline in chasing the best graphics/performance goes, but consoles will still exist.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Is it 2013?

The End Of The Game Console Is Coming

The end of the game console era is near, as streaming services and mobile gaming reshape the industry landscape.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Three]

It most definitely is, and is becoming increasingly so by the day. There may be a specific app or another that doesn't work or that you might miss (right now), but that's about the level of issues it currently has.

I think this only applies to those who know the ins and outs of linux/computing (eg know their way around a terminal every now and then). By friendly I assume they mean somebody who is a complete novice will find general purpose tasks more difficult on linux and there is a degree of truth to that. not gaming on steamOS though. SteamOS is a good OS for games as it's specialised for it.

 

[Vroadstar]

It depend on how you define consoles.

Traditional consoles where you can only play on a box under a TV? It has largely died. We ain't in the 90s or 00s anymore.

Almost everyone has evolved their PC and consoles with handheld capability on top of playing under the TV, and you can play them games everywhere now.

With Xbox flatlining, who wants to guess which stage of grief Arthands is at now?

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

If, in the future, consoles are no longer viable consumer products, it won't be because their audiences moved to PCs or laptops. It will be because they are streaming from the cloud straight into their TVs.

 

[T4keD0wN]

I dont want to give them ideas, but if i was Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft CEO id be on a secure private chat with the other 2 CEOs and plotting a silent, but mutual agreement to phase out hardware offerings with the intent of offering cloud consoles in an attempt to force all customers into paying us rent in order to play their games.

Customers are already conditioned to pay to play online or in some instances for cloud saves (unless i am mistaken) so this shouldnt feel too unfamiliar, its not like theyre going to abandon their libraries. Maybe wed still sell consoles for a little while or rent them out physically, but at a massive profit to ease the consumers into the transition and to make the extortion seem less evil.

Whats the worst that could happen if theyve decided to do this? A fine that equals a tiny fraction of their yearly revenue?

 

[Crayon]

If a cheap laptop can effectively match the console, why wouldn't the console be cheaper? People say the are pc in a box, but it's more accurate to say they're a laptop in a box. A mini pc, actually. Components are integrated to make it small and cheap. Without the screen and keyboard, and with a huge advantage in wattage and cooling, the console is going to be cheaper, right? That's how it's always been.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Playstation and Nintendo will keep going.

Though it will become less important to own latest and greatest.

 

[executor]

I think that a possible trend of the future will be virtualization everywhere.. So technically a physical console could possibly not exists anymore but a virtual environment that has specific requirements will probably live on.. Running games inside an OS (windows) is in my opinion not sustainable in the long term (ages from now) due to all the problems connected with security, maintainability etc.. Sooner or later companies will start to abstract. This is already happening to a certain degree and will be more and more practical.. But probably we will still have specific physical boxes (consoles) for a couple of generations, at least..

 

[Felessan]

It most definitely is, and is becoming increasingly so by the day. There may be a specific app or another that doesn't work or that you might miss (right now), but that's about the level of issues it currently has.

Lack of people means lack of software. Lack of software means lack of people.
A viciouc cycle.
And MS in their style do everything in their might to maintain this - so their programs to give free win/office for schools and students so people get into ecosystem from young age and stay in it.

I somewhat agree with the premise that games which aim to lower budgets/risk and mostly aim for mobile devices will mean more powerful machines might become redundant in the future.

We already see that's not the case.
High profile mobile games like Fortnite, Genshin etc have separate packages for PC/Consoles those utilize power of PC/Consoles.
Playing on big screen is more enjoyable and people like to have better picture. So "mobile" games intrude into this territory to have better competition to PC/console native titles.
It's a part of Sony 3rd party live service strategy, especially in Asia - provide value for money device that play gaas in high quality mode (gachastation), and it's work for them.

If, in the future, consoles are no longer viable consumer products, it won't be because their audiences moved to PCs or laptops. It will be because they are streaming from the cloud straight into their TVs.

Unlikely
Streaming is a subscription that has a higher cost than owning a device. And it has a lot of inherenet problems those have limited solutions now.

 

[Baemono]

I'm surprised that, on a video game forum, some of you think laptops will have serious battery and computing limitations and shit in fucking 50 years from now

I'm not that tech savvy, but I think you are GREATLY underestimating where tech will be in 50 years

I think a cellphone, in 50 years from now, will be able to do stuff beyond what we can even imagine today. 50 years is an insane amount of time given the tech trajectory we are on

Eh I believe we won't be using cellphones like we currently do in 50 years.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Nobody mentioned Sony, but you dude. Lol

Yeah well, the angle in the OP was obvious… something was there rent free in his mind…

 

[Mr Moose]

Budget laptops are not for gaming, and gaming laptops are expensive and always weaker than their desktop versions.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I think this only applies to those who know the ins and outs of linux/computing (eg know their way around a terminal every now and then). By friendly I assume they mean somebody who is a complete novice will find general purpose tasks more difficult on linux and there is a degree of truth to that. not gaming on steamOS though. SteamOS is a good OS for games as it's specialised for it.

Modern linux systems aren't black magic. They have a lot of the same conveniences windows has and even if you do need the terminal for anything its as simple as copy-pasting some command lines. The only thing i see stopping people from using it is quite literally cases of people who can barely use computers in general, and are only capable of navigating windows at all in very specific ways they got used to for very specific tasks.

 

[iganinja]

> wouldn't a cheap laptop eventually hit parity with consoles in the not too distant future

Just apply a little critical thinking here. Laptops will never hit parity with console in terms of price/performance, they will always be one generation behind because consoles are not going to sit there doing nothing, every next gen of console will be much more powerful and subsidised to a price point.

The same argument can be made with smartphones in regards to replacing laptop/pc. If any of it were to happen then the first thing to go would be pc/laptop gaming.