I built a gaming PC and I'd say I do about 50% of my gaming on it at present. It outperforms my PS4 on multiplats (GTX 970), so it's mostly my go to there, but most of my friends play on PS, so that's where my multiplayer games go. I don't buy into the argument about the comfy couch; my PC sits right next to my PS4, played on my 70" 4k screen from my recliner about 6.5' away. PC gaming can be really great--games are typically cheaper faster, they can run better if your hardware setup allows, you can prioritize the aspects of a game that are meaningful to you, like FPS or textures, there is a humongous catalogue of new and older games available for purchase... the list goes on and on. However, these benefits don't come without some wrinkles. When I built my PC, everything went incredibly smoothly. All of the parts fit into my case no problem, nothing arrived DOA, and, miracle of miracles, the PC booted up to BIOS on the first attempt. No fucking around with error codes, no double checking RAM sticks, nothing.
Except.
Except that the damn thing had crazy audio stuttering issues. Anything streamed would crackle like a scratched record. Game audio would cut in and out, voices and sound effects out of sync with the action on screen. Save me, Google! After reinstalling my audio/visual drivers, the problem remained. After some searching, I found that I was having high DPC latency issues. Great! Now what? I spent a few more hours downloading latency checking software and fiddling with each and every driver I had. I did fix the problem--it was one of the myriad CPU drivers on the installation disc for my motherboard. Now I have no issues, but it took me several hours of research and trial and error to fix.
Because it was custom built, I didn't have a whole lot of other options, anyway, short of paying a repair shop a king's ransom to Google for me. This is the kind of shit you don't have to put up with on a console. If it doesn't work, you go get a new one. The custom nature of my gaming PC meant that I had to fix it myself (which I personally don't mind doing). This is something that the average consumer isn't likely going to be interested in, even if you can convince them to build a PC (honestly easier than it sounds TBH, everything just kind of fits). It's a double edged sword. A huge benefit of PC gaming is that you can control your build--if it's custom--to get the performance you want at a good price point. But then you have to repair it yourself or prepare to be wrecked by a repair shop if something goes wrong. If you're buying a pre-built, you get wrecked up front on cost and may not get exactly what you need, but you can take it to Best Buy under warranty. I think that it is this that makes consoles attractive to those who don't want to tinker--they provide a low-cost option that "just works." Even though PC gaming has come a long way (driver updates are totally automated and painless, Nvidia has recommended settings that it automatically sets for you based on your hardware, etc., etc.), the core Windows/Linux shell can introduce complex problems for the consumer.
