Helldivers 2 is a Sony owned franchise that is very popular on PC. The problem is PC people don’t care about Sony or PlayStation’s ecosystem on their platform. Obviously Sony doesn't want to give up a portion of their profits to Steam but Steam rules the roost there. Always has, always will. Microsoft ran into the same issue when they tried to sell their Xbox games at the Microsoft store. If it isn’t available on Steam or GOG it’s dead in the water on PC. Epic games found this out the hard way. As usual, it boils down to control but PC is an open platform that is impossible to control with its own unique set of problems aka hacking, piracy ect, vs the closed platform of consoles. There is no clear answer for the industry right now. One things for sure. These bloated AAA budgets are out of control and unsustainable. I disagree with your statement on ''the Console era is dying.'' I think a lot of that thinking comes from Microsoft pushing their Agenda with cloud gaming and game pass not boosting their Xbox hardware sales numbers. Which is why they had to run to Sony and Nintendo platforms to make their games profitable again. There's even weirdos saying ''lol Xbox games are selling better on PlayStation than PlayStation games! Microsoft wins lol" what the fuuuuuuuu? Are you even listening to yourself right now? Lol.
Nobody can compete with Steam is because nobody is putting the effort. You seriously consider Microsoft, Ubisoft, Activision, Epic or any of the many corporations that put out random ass launcher as serious attempts?
Epic launcher took months just to get a goddamn shopping cart for their store.
The best attempt was made by EA with their "ORIGIN". But when I say the "best", I am talking bottom of the barrel best. Still nowhere close to Steam. It had the biggest investment and the most aggressive marketing, but even then it didn't faze the people.
The only reason GOG managed to operate, is cause they offer something that Steam doesn't have. They have a lot of older games that are unavailable on Steam AND if I remember correctly, they offer ability to unite all your launchers into one, so you can access all your games at all times.
As long, as nobody puts the same amount or more effort in building a platform, that can actually compete with Steam in the number of features, nobody will ever touch Steam. And corporates don't push boundaries, they play safe. The only ones who can do that are non corporate types who have no shareholder leash on them and those people have no reason to do that, cause Steam is satisfying everyone with what they have.
And I heavily disagree that the game has to be on Steam to succeed. A really good game, sells itself. Just like any other product. Valve itself showed that with "Half Life: Alyx". People bitched about it being VR exclusive and didn't like the pricing, but it still didn't stop "Index" headset from being a top seller for multiple weeks. And back then that bloody thing cost 1000 bucks.
As for consoles. Xbox and Playstation had multiple elements in the past, that made it superior to PC. Cost, ability to play in the living room on big TV and exclusives.
We have HDMI cables now, so you can plug your PC to TV. Steam Deck also gives an option to play your PC games on handheld device, so you can be crapping out the biggest Number 2 on your toilet bowl, while smacking some poor sod in a fighting game.
Exclusives... what exclusives? In the past both Playstation and Xbox had "platform sellers" games that made it worth it to buy a whole damn console. Not anymore. Both Playstation and Xbox have nothing, that is on the level of "Gears of War", "Halo", "Uncharted" or any other Titans of the past. And now all games are coming to PC anyway. Doesn't matter if it is a year later or not.
So only thing that remains is the cost. In the past people had this delusion that if you want to play games on PC, you need to invest thousands in your PC. Sure, if you wanted to play everything 4k, 144 fps, all Ultra with insane visuals. Then yeah. 5-10k easy.
But in reality? The vast majority of games.... no. The OVERHWELMING MAJORITY of games, can be played on PC under 1k. And with AAA burn out, people are realizing that we have more games, than you could ever play in your life.
Most real good games, don't require you to have latest GPU that costs half of your mortgage, nor a custom RGB light decked out case. Most of the smaller games are made by people that understand the concept of "compression", "optimization" and "fun".
So in the end... what's the point of consoles? Both consoles are incredibly hostile to indie developers, which makes them pretty much exclusive to AAA games. And people are sick and tired of AAA games.
To be honest I was surprised to see how much burned out people are. I have already given up on people, being perpetual consumers that will be fine with spending 70 bucks on garbage like MK1. But nope. Even Gen Z kids prefer older or indie games. And none of those games require UBER PC.
So yeah. Console war is over. Corporations killed their own platforms and Valve won everything, cause unlike their competition, they never tried to have ALL THE MONEY.
