What made you abandon AAA PC gaming

[Deleted member 32374]

Note: By AAA gaming, I mean you buy the latest titles for your PC and play them there exclusively.

From the years of 2007-2016, I was a AAA pc gamer. If I wanted the latest Batman, Far Cry, Asscreed, Fallout, ect, it was a purchase I made for the gaming PCs I had at the time. Now, I never had the absolute latest and greatest, (although my GTX 460 in 2010 was as close to the sun as I got and it was close) but I could confidently run anything.

2017 is when I transitioned over. My gtx 660ti had powered through Fallout 4, TW3, Wolfenstein the New Order, Far Cry 3, parts of Deus Ex Human Revolution, all of the Bioschock games and hell even Dreamfall chapters. Just Cause 3 was the first game that gave me pause, then Mass Effect Andromeda cleared up any lingering hopes for another year of acceptable performance. Worse, I didn't have the free capital to make the complete system jump I needed. So I focused on smaller and older games and my PS3, while biding my time for a PS4 slim sale. The sale happened and with some gift cards I got one for $150. That's my AAA machine now and my gaming life hasn't suffered. I've done a lot more interesting things with that $800 than run at max settings and enable super sampling AA. I've got a giant library and multiplayer, indie and older games and I'm never going back to the AAA pc gaming cycle. Enjoy your RTX 2080tis.


So, if you've left the AAA pc gaming world, what was the final straw? Was it a game, a life event or just a general drift from gaming?

 

[Box]

Enjoy your RTX 2080tis.

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Thanks.

 

[eonden]

Why did you buy indie games in your ps3 when your pc was fully functional? You do not need to run the latest graphic card to play AA (or heck nowadays AAA at ps4 base lvl) at a good lvl.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Thanks.

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I'm not jealous as I think ray tracing will be an amazing gaming tech in the coming years. If you've got the cash and more importantly its one of your core hobbies, go for it. Ray traced VR will be siiicckkk, I can't wait to see it one day.

It just isn't on my list.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Why did you buy indie games in your ps3 when your pc was fully functional? You do not need to run the latest graphic card to play AA (or heck nowadays AAA at ps4 base lvl) at a good lvl.

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I had indie games for my PC and I had a bunch of PS3 games. A few of the cross platforms where on sale for my PS3 so I went with price.

 

[Sandersson]

Enjoy your RTX 2080tis.

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Thanks man! As someone who always desires the best gaming has to offer, I cant wait!

 

[Box]

I'm not jealous as I think ray tracing will be an amazing gaming tech in the coming years. If you've got the cash and more importantly its one of your core hobbies, go for it. Ray traced VR will be siiicckkk, I can't wait to see it one day.

It just isn't on my list.

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Just been playing Spiderman and got to the hall of mirrors and thought damn this needs RT, then I thought damn this would be like gen 3 RT or 5fps lol

 

[Yas]

There are plenty of options for AAA gaming on pc, like geforce now streaming. Alas, the requirements may seem hard, but for me it has been worth it. I actually need 2080+ for my work and research, so that is just an added bonus.

 

[Anno]

It's been the games more than anything. I haven't totally left the AAA life behind and I still have the hardware to run then fine, I just think most recent AAA games aren't for me.

 

[Deleted member 12833]

Nvm

 

[TheGhost]

My friends all play on Xbox and PS4

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Just been playing Spiderman and got to the hall of mirrors and thought damn this needs RT, then I thought damn this would be like gen 3 RT or 5fps lol

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Could be. I should rent it this weekend to see what it's all about. Its on my list....

There are plenty of options for AAA gaming on pc, like geforce now streaming. Alas, the requirements may seem hard, but for me it has been worth it. I actually need 2080+ for my work and research, so that is just an added bonus.

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Is GeForce now a "local device" streaming service or something like onlive?

 

[Mass Effect]

this troll-ass thread

that weird jab at the end seems unnecessary. and you don't even need to buy a 2080

 

[Jayson's Rage]

I simply can't. Especially with AAA. Sure, sometimes you get....less than desireable ports but when they shine they REALLY shine

 

[Deleted member 32374]

this troll-ass thread

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How? Please, enlighten me.

 

[GeoGonzo]

Ray traced VR will be siiicckkk, I can't wait to see it one day.

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That is probably still a good bunch of years away.

Anyway, my 5 year old PC is still a lot better than a PS4, so I'm still mostly buying games there. I'll probably end up upgrading or buying a new PC in a year or two, though... mostly depending on new VR headsets or big titles like Cyberpunk.

 

[Windrunner]

I had capable PC gaming hardware from 1996 through to about 2006 (my last build was for Half-Life 2's release). I stopped because I didn't want to deal with Windows any longer and because there's plenty of indie games, RTS and MMOs that don't demand cutting edge specs. I still play a lot on PC (Mac) but I prefer to turn to my PS4 Pro or Xbox One X for "AAA" stuff as it's significantly less hassle especially with audio.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

I've made PC gaming a secondary thing after having all kinds of hardware failures, driver incompatibilities, cards not supporting specific shaders, shit like that for the larger part of the past decade, that's without going into all the low quality console ports we used to get back in the day (shit like Path Of Neo, DMC3 or Onimusha were practically unplayable). I figured I'd simply pick up a console for like 200 bucks and use it for years, and in fact I've had the same Xbox 360 for 9 years now (bought a spare one but the original one is still kicking), a PS3 for 6 years now and so on, the XB1 for 4 years now without an issue, and so on. On PC I'd barely have a year without some issues, so it's a welcome change of pace. You asked about AAA, this is about AAA, as I keep having a PC and a laptop, except they're not very beefy, so I mainly use them for older games (2012 or before), not too graphically challenging indies or the occasional "big" game with more manageable graphics (eg. Age Of Empires HD).

 

[Durante]

The quality of AAA games.

(I still play exclusively on PC when I have the choice)

How? Please, enlighten me.

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I'll give you a simile:
Enjoy paying monthly for access to peer-to-peer multiplayer, 30 FPS, and the midi DQ soundtrack.

 

[Deleted member 2172]

Good for you OP but the next gen consoles are less than two years away and then you'll need to upgrade again.

Don't pretend that PC gaming is this bank-breaking prospect that will cost you minimum $1000 or more, when in less than 2 years you're gonna need to drop another $400 - $500 for the next console regardless.

 

[Box]

How? Please, enlighten me.

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It does come across a bit like you had an epiphany rather than your GPU reached the end of it's life. That said kudos for the Fallout 4 playthrough with it. that can't have been pleasant.

Anyway, my 5 year old PC is still a lot better than a PS4, so I'm still mostly buying games there.

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I reckon. Look at this triangle abuse!

 

[Blizniak]

I still play a lot on PC (Mac) but I prefer to turn to my PS4 Pro or Xbox One X for "AAA" stuff as it's significantly less hassle especially with audio.

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If you don't mind me asking what's the hassle with audio on PC?

 

[shaneo632]

Cost, sadly. I just can't afford to keep upgrading and generally a console is just more cost-effective for my tastes.

 

[JahIthBer]

Is there really that many people who play on a high end PC & want to go back to Consoles full time? PC gaming spoils you something horrid.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

I've made PC gaming a secondary thing after having all kinds of hardware failures, driver incompatibilities, cards not supporting specific shaders, shit like that for the larger part of the past decade, that's without going into all the low quality console ports we used to get back in the day (shit like Path Of Neo, DMC3 or Onimusha were practically unplayable). I figured I'd simply pick up a console for like 200 bucks and use it for years, and in fact I've had the same Xbox 360 for 9 years now (bought a spare one but the original one is still kicking), a PS3 for 6 years now and so on, the XB1 for 4 years now without an issue, and so on. On PC I'd barely have a year without some issues, so it's a welcome change of pace. You asked about AAA, this is about AAA, as I keep having a PC and a laptop, except they're not very beefy, so I mainly use them for older games (2012 or before), not too graphically challenging indies or the occasional "big" game with more manageable graphics (eg. Age Of Empires HD).

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Its funny that you bring up Path of Neo and DMC 3 bc those were two games I enjoyed on the PC that were awful ports. No widescreen, no x360 controller support, zero visual enhancements. Ugh.

The console life is much simpler, I agree. Pop in the disk, updates and you're off. Dreamfall chapters really bit me with the insane performance problems before the patches it got, I would have been better off just waiting for the PS4 edition by the time I was able to finish it.

 

[AmFreak]

So your stopped with your PC, because of "hopes for another year of acceptable performance".
And then switched to a less powerful device?

 

[Sloane Ranger]

• The constant patching / and patches that make things worse
• Being excited to play a game, and then finding out an auto update to Windows just broke everything - this not only pushed me off of PC gaming, but now my family only has Macs.
• Unrelenting, constant stream of cheaters

 

[Einbroch]

GameFly and trophies/achievements.

I was never fully a PC player, but around the middle of the 360/PS3 era I built a new PC and played a majority of my games there. However, I missed those stupid trophies/achievements and GameFly saved me so much money I eventually drifted away, and when PS4 hit I abandoned it fully.

 

[New002]

I actually acquired a gaming PC this gen and have moved to that for multiplats because I got tired of bullshit in the console space. There's some bullshit when it comes to PC gaming as well but I hit my limit with Sony and MS and was willing to trade one for the other.

With so many of the games I was interested in coming to PC it wasn't a difficult move. It also helps to streamline my setup. I have all the consoles this gen but ideally I would like to stick with PC + Nintendo going forward, so no Xbox 2 or Ps5.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

It does come across a bit like you had an epiphany rather than your GPU reached the end of it's life. That said kudos for the Fallout 4 playthrough with it. that can't have been pleasant.

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It was medium/a bit of high settings at 1080p. All graphics are super out of the picture though and absolutely no cool graphics mods.

It was a bit of the cost but also the realization that I didn't enjoy gaming more back in 07-2012 when I could max every game on the market. The value just isn't there anymore the way it used to be.

 

[Windrunner]

If you don't mind me asking what's the hassle with audio on PC?

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Whenever I plug my computer into my AV receiver it never outputs proper lossless surround that sounds as good as consoles. If I use the Steam Link then I get good audio but then I have to use the Steam Link which is shite! This might be an audio driver issue but I really can't be bothered if that's the case, I hate diagnosing driver problems in Windows 10.

 

[heehofiend]

Only got into PC gaming last year or so ago and I am only interested in AAA games from the perspective of they are what most people play which get the big sales, and to see how well the PC versions are. If I want performance I play on PC, if I want a physical copy because its a series or franchise I love I get on console.

Edit: I never liked many AAA games in general but some do catch my eye like Mass Effect, Witcher, Marvel's Spider-man, but most of the rest are like AA JRPGs/JARPGs

 

[brokenswiftie]

Glad you like your new console, this attempt to jab at PC was unnecessary
Yes I will enjoy my RTX 2080Tis TYVM
along with my free cloud saves, online multiplayer, mods (enjoy playing your next fallout or elder scrolls on your PS4)

you don't even need a 2080ti, a 1060 6gb will let u play most games better than consoles

why didn't you just upgrade your GPU?
but a PS4 is nice, it has some cool exclusives

 

[Deleted member 5167]

I'm not really understanding why the scenario described in the OP required a full new system build rather than just a new GPU

 

[Deleted member 12833]

Reasons I stopped:

Upfront cost
Steam security
Steam support
Windows 10
Permanently broken games
Lack of interesting AAA exclusives
Communities tend to be more elitist
I work from home on a pc

 

[violent]

So much bitterness in that OP. It's OK to transition from one platform to another. The need to look at it as some sort of competition however is rather unhealthy.

 

[potatohead]

So much angst and passive aggressiveness from a small set of users in this thread.

Get over it that people play on different platforms, gawd damn. Embarrassing.

 

[zyvorg]

Instant Suspend/Resume in PS4

I have very very limited time to play now compared to before, with constant interruptions between play times, suspend mode is a life saver.

All the amazing PS4 first party games help too.

I still play PC games from time to time but Im no longer buying the newest games there nor is it my main platform anymore.

 

[HyGogg]

I usually default to PC, all things equal, since I spend much of my downtime/leisure time in front of my desktop and it's comfortable and convenient. Nicer graphics helps as well, but these days is seldom enough to be a deciding factor.

But anything couch-co-op or anything I want to share with my girlfriend gets bought on PS4 or Switch. Time consuming stuff tends to default to Switch when a decent port is available too, just because my commute affords me more time.

 

[Sandersson]

Is there really that many people who play on a high end PC & want to go back to Consoles full time? PC gaming spoils you something horrid.

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I think the number of people who really put together a high end pc who wish to go back is literally zero. No one wants to change a Porsche to a Wolkswagen.

There are propably people who have bought, say prebuild pcs and maybe changed the gpu once and then decided to jump on the next console generation because they didnt want to build/upgrade the old one.

 

[SageShinigami]

Gamers are really sensitive about their platform choices, OP. This thread was always going to backfire on you.

 

[GhostTrick]

I don't understand what was your issue OP or even your hardware configuration.
But whatever floats your boat and makes you feel safe with your purchase !

So much angst and passive aggressiveness from a small set of users in this thread.

Get over it that people play on different platforms, gawd damn. Embarrassing.

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Gamers are really sensitive about their platform choices, OP. This thread was always going to backfire on you.

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When you end your OP with a smug "Enjoy your RTX 2080tis !", you're clearly asking for it.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

Its funny that you bring up Path of Neo and DMC 3 bc those were two games I enjoyed on the PC that were awful ports. No widescreen, no x360 controller support, zero visual enhancements. Ugh.

The console life is much simpler, I agree. Pop in the disk, updates and you're off. Dreamfall chapters really bit me with the insane performance problems before the patches it got, I would have been better off just waiting for the PS4 edition by the time I was able to finish it.

Click to shrink...

DMC3, despite being a PS2 title with those graphics, ran horribly on my PC. My PC wasn't a powerhouse back in the day, but it could run stuff like Unreal Tournament 2003 on max settings or Serious Sam 2 on medium-high if memory serves me right, and yet, this one had wonky controller support and ran like shit. Path Of Neo did not run that bad, all things considered, but for some reason the guns would not shoot at almost any time. I would be stuck in parts of the game because no matter what button I bind the shooting, it may let a few bullets out and then never again, I could not use guns basically. I figured this kind of idiocy would not happen to me on consoles, and I was mostly right. Recently of course there have been bugged or more problematic launches, but it only happened like 2-3 times that a game was bordering the unplayable, and I've played like a thousand games on console since then.

I'm aware that since then things improved on PC, but I'm perfectly happy with my Xbox One X delivering me affordable 4K on most of the big games out there. The ones that are important to me and not on Xbox One are not on PC either (since they're probably Sony or Nintendo exclusives), so if anything I can always pick up a cheap PS4 for like 200 bucks if I need one (I already have a Switch). Would cost me far more to make a fine PC, not to mention it would be outdated pretty soon.

 

[Hella]

When the Witcher 2 released, i played it at the lowest settings, at like 640x480-ish resolution all the way through. The hardest parts were with the dragon due to all of the fire effects, that's when my horrible framerate tanked into completely unplayable territory, but I still got past those areas and finished the game. My solution was to play the game windowed at 340x240-ish resolution during those intense sequences.

I don't know what it would take to make me drop PC gaming.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Glad you like your new console, this attempt to jab at PC was unnecessary
Yes I will enjoy my RTX 2080Tis TYVM
along with my free cloud saves, online multiplayer, mods (enjoy playing your next fallout or elder scrolls on your PS4)

you don't even need a 2080ti, a 1060 6gb will let u play most games better than consoles

why didn't you just upgrade your GPU?
but a PS4 is nice, it has some cool exclusives

Click to shrink...

The price of new GPUs are out of line with the additional gaming value they would provide me. My gaming library/back log is huge as it is.

I will. I'm actually looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 the most, although I may rent Fallout76 to see what its all about.

I'm not really understanding why the scenario described in the OP required a full new system build rather than just a new GPU

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8GB of RAM, a quad core shitty AMD cpu and Windows 8.1=full system rebuild.

 

[GamingRobioto]

Cost.

I built my last PC in 2014 with an i7 4790k and SLI 980ti's, ROG motherboard, 1440p g-sync monitor, etc - it cost me around £2,500. To build the equivalant now would cost me double. I did the sums a couple of weeks ago.

A single 980ti cost me just under £650. A single (same model/brand) 2080ti costs £1,200 - so nearly double. Add to this an increase in the price of RAM with DDR4 and CPUs and high end PC gaming is no longer a valid option for me. I'd rather have worse (but in the majority of cases more than acceptable) performance on a PS4 Pro at a fraction of the cost.

I'll build a new PC at some point when mine falls behind, but it will be a just a machine to play old games, emulate and play strategy and other PC friendly games. PS4/5, Xbox One/Nextbox and Switch will be used for my gaming needs.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

I can tell you why I abandoned console gaming.

 

[Einbroch]

I think the number of people who really put together a high end pc who wish to go back is literally zero. No one wants to change a Porsche to a Wolkswagen.

There are propably people who have bought, say prebuild pcs and maybe changed the gpu once and then decided to jump on the next console generation because they didnt want to build/upgrade the old one.

Click to shrink...

It's not zero. I just gave two reasons in this thread. You might think those reasons silly, but I prefer renting, trophies/achievements, the ease of console gaming, and the fact that I work at my PC 8+ hours a day from home and don't want to spend any more time at my desk than I have to.

People have different preferences and opinions. You can like PC, I can like consoles, someone can like the portability of mobile/Switch. No one is wrong. It's not downgrading if you prefer it.

 

[Shopolic]

Hardware prices in Iran. Each dollar was 4000 toman last year and it's now 16000 toman and it's really hard to spend money for a good PC.
Even playing with consoles is becoming a luxury thing and you should pay 900000 toman for a new game. That was the price of 3 Xbox 360s in 2010.

 

[Deleted member 6730]

I'm the opposite since I got into PC gaming. Thankfully most of the Steam Library is full of older titles so I shouldn't be too worried but I don't blame you since graphics cards are expensive, especially with RTX.