There are really only two console manufacturers left, Sony and Nintendo, and only Nintendo never allows any of their first party titles to come to PC. Not all PS5 exclusives come to PC, but many, if not most, do get ported to PC, at least eventually. Permanent console exclusivity really is a dying practice, as it should be.
The problem with that is, that this makes it less likely to sell consoles. These companies get lot of money from third party games, and they need to sell a lot of consoles. And at this point, exclusivity seems to be the only working strategy for consoles. Do I like it? No. I won’t buy another Nintendo console, stopped doing decades ago. I rather not play those games, or wait until they can be emulated or are de/recompiled.
I played Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom on Yuzu. Both together I think close to 400 hours. If Nintendo sold the games on PC, even if its their own launcher, I would probably have purchased it.
TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 1 day ago
popcar2@piefed.ca 1 day ago
but many, if not most, do get ported to PC, at least eventually.
Not anymore unfortunately, Sony said this year they’ll stop porting their games to PC at all. There might be exceptions to live service games but don’t expect any of their games on PC anymore.
zarathustrad@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Well, I expect their games on PC, just not ported by Sony.
NovaVeles@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It was dying even before emulation/decomps. The amount of Ps5 exclusives after 6 years (in two weeks) is grim at best.
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
PC is the endgame. I also wish console exclusivity should stop, but can’t imagine it will. Either they embrace the open platform, or they have a closed walled garden. Either way exclusivity will remain a “problem”, even on PC with different launchers. If we ignore unintended ways to play (emulation, virtualization, recompilation and so on).
Sony doesn’t want their games to come on PC anymore, at least single player games. So while currently its a mixed bag, it will be worse again in future. Thank god Microsoft puts their games on PC too. And Nintendo, well I have no big hope. But I also never thought we would have seen Nintendo first party IP games on smartphones, even single player games. I do not expect the mainline games to be sold on PC anytime soon.
I would love it, if at least those games come to PC. And maybe the emulated games from their subscription service (N64, SNES, Game Boy and so on) could be made available. Maybe their soundtracks and so on. Nintendo wouldn’t lose anything here, just gain, because those games are already available. So it’s not something exclusive to their service.
NovaVeles@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I think early next year there is going to be a cultural moment in gaming that will be to big to ignore. That being the first team that manages to rip and recompile GTA6 to the PC. It will be the gaming equivalent of before and after the moon landing.
who@feddit.org 1 day ago
Valve has entered the chat.
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
While I agree, the “consoles” from Valve are still PCs with an open platform. A “true” console is a closed walled garden, where only they control it (unless hacked off course). The systems they put out are most console like than any PC before, while still remaining the open platform of it. I just don’t call them a game console.
thoro@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
You’re right, but Sony seems to be moving away from the PC release strategy now
Linken@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I wonder how popular PC gaming is in Japan, as I believe mobile gaming (phones and handhelds) is huge.
pycorax@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
It is becoming pretty big but they fulfill different use cases. A Switch or a phone is great for commute and a PC can’t really replace it yet. Decks are commonly sold out there but it’s a lot bulkier. I’ve been trying using a AYN Thor but that experience might be a bit too unintuitive to the average consumer to set up.
TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 1 day ago
If Nintendo released an Android app, I’d be fine with that.
Linken@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Closest we can do is Nintendo Today and Mario Run.
NovaVeles@lemmy.world 1 day ago
As Gaben said “Piracy is a service problem”. Unfortunately for Nintendo, if they won’t the people will. I am not a fan of most AI stuff but the whole LLM powered de/recompilation thing this year has been wild to see. I don’t think it has dawned on Nintendo and Sony yet that their castle walls are being torn down and their hardware exclusivity isn’t going to hold like it has in the past.
BassTurd@lemmy.world 1 day ago
In most of not all cases, traditional gaming consoles are sold at a loss. A cursory search says that’s true for the switch 2 as well, but I have not investigated with any effort.
It really seems like it would behoove everyone to sell their games on PC, whether that’s their own client or an existing one like Steam. Nintendo will never get a dollar from me because I will never buy their hardware. I would however at least consider buying some of their titles if they were available on Steam. I’m definitely not alone.
brave_lemmywinks@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I hate these takes. Just pirate it and be happy, hypocritical bullshit like these trying to make some idealism out of theft.
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 3 hours ago
Who you calling hypocritical bullshit?