Without Consoles, PC Gaming Would Be Much Worse
PC gamers may often express a disdain for gaming consoles, but the truth is that PC gaming benefits significantly from the existence of consoles in numerous ways. So next time you're dismissive of consoles, here's a reminder of what they've done for us.
Console Games Drive Development
Like it or not, when it comes to mainstream hardcore gaming, consoles are by far the most popular hardware platform. For a studio to put millions or even hundreds of millions into developing the next amazing video game, there needs to be a large-enough market to pay for it. If the only gaming platform out there was PC, then that market would be significantly smaller, which in turn would have an effect on the variety and quality of games that are created.
Consoles Create Reasonable Game Requirements
The current console generation effectively sets the minimum requirements for all new games. As I write this, that minimum requirement is the Xbox Series S, which all games released for Xbox must work on with playable performance. If there were no consoles, developers might not be incentivized to make their games scalable. If you look at what sort of computer the average PC gamer has, this might lead to a situation where most people can't get a good experience. Thanks to consoles, developers have to create games that will run on less than a thousand dollars' worth of hardware.
Consoles Encourage Game Optimization and Innovation
If a game developed solely for PC doesn't make great use of the hardware, you always have the option of upgrading the hardware and overcoming those inefficiencies using brute force. Consoles, on the other hand, are a fixed hardware platform. This forces developers to optimize their games until they reach at least a minimum playable state on that hardware platform.
Sometimes to make this work, entire new techniques are invented. Think about methods such as Variable Rate Shading, dynamic resolution, asset streaming due to limited unified memory, upscaling
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