The first console I ever owned was a PlayStation 2, shared with my brother. The first console I ever bought for myself was a PlayStation 4 so I could play Persona 5. The console I bought for myself to celebrate landing a job after university was a PlayStation 5. Now, I may be turning my back on the console that has given me so many fond gaming memories. But why? What has convinced me to change my mind?
For a start, I’ve never been interested in the ever-raging console war. I know many people who have been faithful to the Xbox for many years; my brother, who played the PS2 with me in our childhood (and now sometimes adulthood), changed over to the Xbox when he was a teenager. Sometimes people try and engage me in this debate, and I don’t really bite because in all honesty, I don’t care. Back when I bought my PS4, console exclusives were the only driving force behind me buying one in the first place. Persona 5 was a PlayStation exclusive for many years, Final Fantasy VII Remake launched on PlayStation first, I wanted to play Project Diva, the list goes on. They were all exclusive to the PlayStation. I didn’t feel any fierce brand loyalty, continuing on after I had a PS2 as a kid. The differences in performance didn’t matter either. These days, console exclusives are sparce. PlayStation may release a game first and allow you to access it around a year before everyone else, but with my huge expansive backlog of games to get through, it could be a year or more before I actually start playing a new game anyway, unless I’m mega excited for it. I still haven’t even bought Persona 3 Reload.
The news of PlayStation abandoning physical hardware for their consoles was immensely disappointing to me. I adore physical media, browsing for games in second hand shops and having my collection on my shelves. Seeing them in a digital library is fine, but nothing beats having a tangible object related to my interests. I also love getting my hands on collector’s editions of games and having all the little extras or having a really nice steelbook case. After shareholder value increased when Sony announced the decision to turn their backs on physical copies of games, it’s pretty clear that they’re not going to go back on this decision. It’s disappointing; it makes games even more inaccessible and an increasingly expensive hobby. You won’t be able to lend a game made after a certain point to a friend. You won’t be able to pick it up cheap on an online marketplace. I know that if I change over to PC gaming then I still won’t get a physical copy, but I don’t think we’re going to be seeing physical copies of anything after a certain point if other companies decide to follow suit.
There’s other small things too; the rumours of the PS6 having a touchpad controller, the increasingly unwieldy and downright ugly shapes these consoles take (I’m not overly keen on the look of my PlayStation 5!) and the disregard for fans after the announcement to kill off physical PlayStation media has really put a sour taste in my mouth. I’ve talked multiple times about how consoles are slowly dying out and how PC gaming has swept up massively in recent years, becoming the platform of choice for many gaming fans, and I feel that once my PS5 is outdated I will have to join the other side. A lot of great indie titles are exclusive to PC and the possibilities are endless for modding. I’ve always been a console gamer through-and-through, but it looks like those days may be coming to an end in the coming years! Maybe I should start doing my research into the best parts for a PC…
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