Is there a market for a truly high-end console?

NomenNescio

NomenNescio

Dual Sense Edger and Blower
When I see people with USD 1000+ phones complaining about a USD 700 dedicated gaming machine I get confused. Do you even know how much processing power these machines need in order to render games at the fidelity we see today? High-end graphics cards alone cost more than USD 1000 (RTX 5080 onwards).

Imagine a whole console that's north of 1.500 but it's an actual BEAST. HFR performance (80 fps +) with minimum resolution rendering of 1440p (upscaled to 4K), high to ultra graphics, but with a tight closed OS and streamlined experience for the couch.

You don't make that your main device, you make that your Pro model. A truly enthusiast level machine.

I would be all over that thing.
 
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Yes . 🖐️

The PlayStation 5 Pro has proven there's a high end market.
 
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To pull off what the Neo Geo or the 3DO did 30+ years you would need a first party with very deep pockets and the support of every AAA developer in the market. Highly unlikely.
 
I use my phone daily and it's a major part of my work/social life.

I use my PC for nearly everything else.

I have a PS5 and a Switch collecting dust.

For me, that enthusiast console is just not a priority anymore.
 
there is. and I could see either Microsoft of Sony releasing a super high end version right at the launch of next gen.

Microsoft especially has an incentive to do so, should the rumoured PC hybrid concept turn out to be true. as having both a console with a simple frontend, backwards compatibility, and a high end PC in one box could be a promising concept.
 
There is, but it has to be done right. PS5 Pro is not a good example - you pay more and yet you still have to pay extra for the drive or even for a proper stand. The controllers are still the same shitty quality without hall sticks. Not to mention PSSR software issues, indicating a rushed launch.
 
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NomenNescio said:
When I see people with USD 1000+ phones complaining about a USD 700 dedicated gaming machine I get confused. Do you even know how much processing power these machines need in order to render games at the fidelity we see today? High-end graphics cards alone cost more than USD 1000 (RTX 5080 onwards).

Imagine a whole console that's north of 1.500 but it's an actual BEAST. HFR performance (80 fps +) with minimum resolution rendering of 1440p (upscaled to 4K), high to ultra graphics, but with a tight closed OS and streamlined experience for the couch.

You don't make that your main device, you make that your Pro model. A truly enthusiast level machine.

I would be all over that thing.
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Well this gen I bought 1 ps5 and 1 ps5pro... so I would easily drop 1.000 dollars on a console that would take me trough the whole gen if the specs were there.

1.500 thought is too much for this market.
 
NeoGeo AES
xbox 2001

There's your answer, one didn't sell well and the other made $5 billion in losses. Don't forget that profit comes from games, not hardware. A game to make a high-end console viable would cost $400 to $600 million and would have to be sold for a price above $100.
 
There's a market and buyer for everything; the product just has to be sold right. If Microsoft markets their high end console-PC in the right manner, then people will buy into it.
 
Ghd4CnF.jpeg


People will buy literally anything if you can cultivate brand worshippers
 
The real issue with a high end console comes to the necessary optimization required to put the extra power to good use, and as we see with the ps5 pro, most devs won't.
Many pro patches do the absolute bare minimum and increase the resolution further while leaving all the other settings exactly the same.
Worse still are games like Cyberpunk that never even get a pro patch.

There's a market for a pro console, sure, but like we see with the ps5 pro, the devs don't give a fuck enough to cater to that market.
 
Putting that kind of money towards a single purpose machine seems kinda stupid whit PCs around.
Valve is already nudging steamOS towards desktop viability so maybe what you want could become reality soon(ish)
 
I would argue yes and it is highly under served. My evidence, the fact that the most expensive Steam Deck in the most popular, even though Valve thought the cheapest would be.

I feel like there is a happy medium between the $3kish-4k it would cost to build a truly top end PC and $600 bucks.
 
Not a big enough one that any major player will chase the market.

You already have PCs for high end options, finding a space between that and existing consoles for a good ROI will be tough.
 
Consoles are not supposed to be expensive. Sony learned that the hard way with the PS3. If you want to spend a lot of money PC gaming is that way ➡️
 
bigdad2007 said:
I would argue yes and it is highly under served. My evidence, the fact that the most expensive Steam Deck in the most popular, even though Valve thought the cheapest would be.

I feel like there is a happy medium between the $3kish-4k it would cost to build a truly top end PC and $600 bucks.
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SD is still a niche product that is marketed to PC enthusiasts who are already used to spending big $$$ on hardware though.

Everyone I know with a SD, including myself, also has a mid-high range PC.
 
We already have a high-end console, it's called PS5 and it can run this:



The problem is it now takes hundreds of millions of dollars and over half a decade to produce those results.
 
Schmendrick said:
Putting that kind of money towards a single purpose machine seems kinda stupid whit PCs around.
Valve is already nudging steamOS towards desktop viability so maybe what you want could become reality soon(ish)
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Exact people that choose consoles over PC choose them for more reasons then just money.

Tg89 said:
SD is still a niche product that is marketed to PC enthusiasts who are already used to spending big $$$ on hardware though.

Everyone I know with a SD, including myself, also has a mid-high range PC.
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Agreed. Plus despite what some people around here seem to think the Steam Deck and PC gaming handhelds in general are still niche. They have maybe broken 7M combined in 3 years.
 
Sure Sony/Nintendo could do it IF they lined up a steady stream of real EXCLUSIVES that kept coming out 2-3 times EVERY year the problem is they both seem incapable of that for whatever reason
 
Are there people who will pay a big premium for a premium experience? Of course. The high end PC market had proven that.

Can and high end console exist profitably in a world where the high end PC market also exists? No, I don't think so.

I think double the base console price is about the highest they can go for a premium console.
 
Killer8 said:
We already have a high-end console, it's called PS5 and it can run this:

Click to expand...

But you see, that's not nearly enough. They want plug and play miracles that deliver ultra settings and triple digit frame rates, while ignoring the fact that the real bottleneck isnt hardware

People out there are fantasizing about a $1500 console like thats going to solve anything, when the only reason games like GTA6 look that good is because Rockstar spent half a decade and a small country's GDP to make it happen. As if more raw power going to suddenly make AAA development faster, cheaper, and sustainable

Faster machines won't speed up a process stuck in slow motion.
 
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You're confusing things

What the OP suggests is a traditional console that anticipates the future. It would be like playing PS5 games like GTA 6 in the Xbox One and PS4 era or PS6 games right now.

This is not like a PC. PC is an illusion. It runs the same console games with filters and more fps just to justify the existence of high end GPUs. From my experience, I can say that the RTX 5090 is more powerful than the PS6. The question is, where are the PC exclusives to use this power? So the way to go is to play Sonic Crossworlds at 400fps and feel happy.
 
ArtHands said:
You're talking about a market that charge its customers for playing online, $80-$100 controllers, paying $100 for physical collector's edition shits. Of course there is a market for high end console.
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and $90 for cel shading games
 
Geometric-Crusher said:
. PC is an illusion. It runs the same console games with filters and more fps just to justify the existence of high end GPUs. From my experience, I can say that the RTX 5090 is more powerful than the PS6. The question is, where are the PC exclusives to use this power? So the way to go is to play Sonic Crossworlds at 400fps and feel happy.
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Horrible bullshit.
 
$1500 does not get you a high end PC anymore, and no I don't think that there is a market for consoles this expensive.

We don't know how much the PS5 Pro has sold but PS4 Pro was at best 20% of PS4s sold and that was only $100 more than PS4.
 
Absolutely there is, but not for over $999. And at $999 the manufacturer has to lose money on it to offer a truly competent system that even the pc nerds become interested. Offer quality exclusives, full mouse/keyboard support on all titles, free online and the performance of a 5080, and it would sell like hotcakes. Plenty of people have finally opened their eyes and have seen how important frame rate is. If the game looks amazing, while also achieving 100fps+ at native 1440p+, people would be absolutely interested. I am just not seeing this kind of performance at those prices with of the shelf parts. They need to create something custom, and these days, it's not happening.
 
how much battery life does resident evil get on iphones? that's probably the biggest hurdle. shit would get hot.

edit: i misconstrued your topic. i thought you meant high end portable when you mentioned phones.
 
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Geometric-Crusher said:
This is not like a PC. PC is an illusion. It runs the same console games with filters and more fps just to justify the existence of high end GPUs. From my experience, I can say that the RTX 5090 is more powerful than the PS6.
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PCs have historically been the platform where innovation happens first. Ray tracing, VR, ultra wide support, modding, and hardware advances all push the entire industry forward

Consoles often catch up to PC tech years later, not the other way around

Geometric-Crusher said:
The question is, where are the PC exclusives to use this power? So the way to go is to play Sonic Crossworlds at 400fps and feel happy.
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The lack of blockbuster PC exclusives isn't due to hardware limitations or lack of power. Its a business decision. Many big publishers prioritize consoles for exclusivity deals or broader market appeal. Also, the PC ecosystem is full of exclusive hits: from esports titans to mods and indie gems
 
Geometric-Crusher said:
You're confusing things

What the OP suggests is a traditional console that anticipates the future. It would be like playing PS5 games like GTA 6 in the Xbox One and PS4 era or PS6 games right now.

This is not like a PC. PC is an illusion. It runs the same console games with filters and more fps just to justify the existence of high end GPUs. From my experience, I can say that the RTX 5090 is more powerful than the PS6. The question is, where are the PC exclusives to use this power? So the way to go is to play Sonic Crossworlds at 400fps and feel happy.
Click to expand...

PC gamers buy superior hardware to play games at the best quality/performance levels they can. Has nothing to do with your absurd console warrior "exclusive" rhetoric. And you are still grasping at exclusives in this day when console exclusives are timed at best? That's pretty desperate my man.
 
I wish it had but no, crybabies made so much noise with the PS5 Pro which is far from high-end hardware even tho we still had the regular PS5 just fine, imagine if Sony/Microsoft released a $3000 console, it's like they can't spend that much and because of it no one should either.

Holammer said:
Yes, it's called a PC.
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Nah, i have a great PC and the Windows experience is nowhere as convenient as a console.
 
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HRK69 said:
You mean giants games like League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter Strike?

Games that fill arenas and make billions

All PC exclusive
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those dont push graphics. He means exclusives like what Sony makes but for PC. One of those types that still wish every PC game were like Crysis despite it being 18 years ago.
Games on console compared to PC don't look as good. Even if the actual graphical quality might be closer than before, the IQ and framerates tell a much different story

We've had "high end" consoles for years now- Since the PS4 Pro, Xbox one X and New Nintendo 3DS. Still didn't suddenly mean you were playing PS5 games on a PS4 pro.
Generational leaps are about more than visuals. Not to mention it's too much effort to actually squeeze all the juice out of the hardware. Just like on PC nobody's gonna want to make a high end game exclusive to some hypothetical pro console above even the PS5 Pro- it'd sell too little because the platform it's on wouldn't even eclipse 25M LTD.

The low end systems dictate the market. Innovation no longer comes through brute force power- instead thru resourceful and smart usage of our technology. A pinch of originality helps too.
Anyways be the change you want to see OP.
 
NomenNescio said:
When I see people with USD 1000+ phones complaining about a USD 700 dedicated gaming machine I get confused. Do you even know how much processing power these machines need in order to render games at the fidelity we see today? High-end graphics cards alone cost more than USD 1000 (RTX 5080 onwards).

Imagine a whole console that's north of 1.500 but it's an actual BEAST. HFR performance (80 fps +) with minimum resolution rendering of 1440p (upscaled to 4K), high to ultra graphics, but with a tight closed OS and streamlined experience for the couch.

You don't make that your main device, you make that your Pro model. A truly enthusiast level machine.

I would be all over that thing.
Click to expand...
But since the money is in the games, and you would be buying the same games as before, that means the console developer doesn't actually get MORE money from you. So there is no incentive to sell you that hardware because there is no profit to be made.
 
Is there a market for a truly high-end console? Yes.
The market large enough to sustain the cost of R&D, production, and developer support? No.
Will the base consoles continue to raise in price until they're priced like high-end devices despite delivering base-console performance? Yes.
 
The ps5 pro is absolutely fine for a high end console. It performs extremely well but not PC $4000 well. Some people want the best and I get it but the ps5 pro is a fantastic unit.
 
Prebuilt gaming PCs already exist. The teeny tiny user experience differences between it and a $999+ console are not worth the effort of building a new console ecosystem from scratch. Just boot to Steam Big Picture man.
 
I would be completely into this. I basically want the best of both worlds - extremely high-end parts from the PC space mixed with the consistency of consoles - and I'm willing to pay for it.

The PS5 Pro was a laughable half step. It's mostly just software buttfuckery that does a shoddy job of improving the end result. If I'm paying extra, I want to be paying for actual improved hardware.


Also, the concept is totally different than buying a prebuilt PC. It's not about the work required to put a computer together, it's about the relative unpredictability and myriad issues modern games tend to have on computers now. Though admittedly, even if a high-end console did exist, I'd still have a gaming PC. Can't escape it.
 
Yes depending on the specs and level of support from devs.

If we can scale down to the dog shit series S holding everyone back, then surely we can scale up too without going to a gaming rig level of commitment.

I would gladly buy a Xbox again for example if they wanted to drop a $800-$1000 console that can dummy what a pro can do.

I'm just unsure what those specs can be where it's worth that dollar value, but also not be $200 less than an incredible gaming rig. Finding that sweet spot seems tough.
 
Only gaming forums like GAF value expensive high tech graphics but majority of people outside of that don't care and they will never care.
 
PC's are for doing work not gaming. Some of you spend so much on GPUs and don't even use them for valuable stuff, like training AI models to uncensor porn
 
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