PC gaming has been steadily increasing in popularity over the last decade. In the early 2000’s gaming PCs were almost exclusively enjoyed by enthusiasts that wanted to enjoy a more refined and customisable experience compared to consoles. This for a long time was the way the average gamer viewed gaming PCs and this is why a lot of PC gamers in this timeframe took a somewhat elitest stance over their console gaming cohorts. As time went on, and the introduction of popular e-sports games, such as League of legends and now Fortnite, more and more gamers decided to jump ship to team PC. The rise of mainstream e-sports games had a transformative effect on the PC gaming industry as these games focused on making an optimised experience which could run on as many machines as possible. Now in 2024 (according to Mainleaf) there are 900 million PC gamers worldwide compared to 629 million). So why is PC gaming the best choice?
Graphics
Yes the current generation of gaming consoles offer impressive visuals, especially with the release of the PS5 Pro, but nothing quite compares to a high-end gaming PC. The new consoles claim to offer 4K gaming, but most games utilize upscaling technology similar to DLSS or FSR to render the game at a lower resolution and upscale to 4K. But what does this mean? Many games though running at “4K” have a blurry visual aesthetic. Nothing beats a native 4K signal powered by a capable graphics card such as the RTX 4070 Super.
(Source: YouTube Video)
Cost of Games
Yes there is no getting around the fact that the cost of a PC is more expensive than a typical console. But for the higher cost you will receive a better performing and more versatile machine. But one of the main benefits of a gaming PC is the lower cost on AAA games. For example the new Call of Duty Black Ops 6 (at the time of writing) is available for £69.99 on Playstation.com, where you can purchase a key for Black Ops 6 on PC for as low as £45 on sites such as G2A.com. This rule is true for multiple AAA games so over the lifetime of your PC you will probably end up spending less on your PC (depending on the configuration you choose).
Peripherals
PC is a clear winner when it comes to peripherals. Period. For example, Xbox is only compatible with an Xbox controller and PlayStation with a PlayStation controller, naturally. But PC has support for both via Bluetooth. Maybe you don’t want to use either, the good news is that PC is compatible with a massive catalogue of peripherals for you to choose from and now with systems such as Steam Big Picture your chosen controller will have seamless support.
And lets not forget the massive benefit that a keyboard and mouse offers in shooting games, FPS games, strategy games and MMORPGs. There is a reason that World of Warcraft has not been ported over to console.
Upgradeability
A massive benefit of gaming PCs is the upgradeability. Say you get a PC today, in the coming years when the next generation of consoles are released, you may be able to match this performance by a simple upgrade such as replacing your graphics card, your old card will also have value and can be traded in towards your new part. Upgradeability is truly a valuable asset that PC gaming offers. You can customise your gaming experience to exactly what you need.
Game Library
Another massive win for team PC is that the roster of games available is truly vast. You can easily play games through services such as Steam from 20+ years ago which have been updated to offer native compatibility with modern operating systems such as Windows 11. Modern games are great, but I would be lying if I didn’t get nostalgic from time to time and wanted to fire up games such as Counter Strike Source.
Conclusion
For all these reasons there is no denying that PC gaming offers a fantastic experience, and biases aside, we think that consoles offer a decent and simple way of scratching that gaming itch. But if you are curious about a system that can offer far more functionality than a console then the answer is clear.