But PC sales being down has actually nothing to do with PC gaming, neither affects it in any way. Playing games from 5 years ago is completely normal in PC gaming. PC's are not consoles shouldn't be treated equally since they are not done to promote sales of games, like consoles are.

Gaming (PC,CONSOLE) have evolved together and separately at the same time. I have quite a lot of experience with both. For me, it began with 'console'. I say it like that because it was in 1975 and it was the Magnavox Odyssey. I think you could play 3 versions of Pong. We had several different consoles after that, one that was a weird triangle thing that had a gun and a steering wheel as well. The first one I remember playing extensively though was the Fairchild Videocart. I think it was the first cartridge based system, beating the Atari 2600 by maybe a year or so. We of course moved on to the 2600, and Intellivision. By the time Colecovision came along, we were into the Commodore 64. Games on the Commodore blew the consoles out of the water.

Along with the NES, the PC started to flourish. They were different in that the console was more platform game based, and the PC went more simulation and story. The original MS Flight Sim was something you would never imagine on a console at the time. Consoles became pretty amazing, particularly with sports and platformer games. the PC was amazing with the Janes series of flight sim and even the original Sim City. Somewhere in the mid 80's there was a console crash. Computers were still going strong.

X-Wing was a major hit on the PC. Tie Fighter and XvT were all amazing. Consoles eventually became the home of the sports game.

I am not the one to write about the history of computer/console gaming, but I have lived through much of it. I do agree that tablet and phone gaming may be the death of the console. I am a gamer, no matter what. I prefer PC for some things (still can't play a shooter without a mouse!) and console for other things (Rock Band anyone?) I just hope that gaming continues to flourish.

The AAA gaming market is going to crash and burn eventually. You can't keep inflating the budgets and keep on increasing the target sales. It just isn't sustainable. I mean, many companies that made mid selling games have gone under. Still, I don't predict another Atari level crash. If just because Nintendo is Nintendo, and seems fairly sensible in it's business practices (ie don't sell consoles at a large loss). I'm actually just fine with Nintendo's current output for the Wii U.

That said, I think there is a bigger issue with gaming than what platforms games come out on. Being called a "Gamer" feels more of an insult at the moment. Until the disgusting under level culture matures, I think gaming may hit a plataue.

I think PC s are around to stay despite what you keep hearing about other devices because it does things other platforms don't do. Just writing this I'd far more cumbersome on my phone than on my computer. And you can see the mistakes as i try to type this and have trouble editing it.

Joysticks have bitten the dist to some degree, i haven't seen one in a while which is a shame for flying games. I think the Kinect has been a bit of a bust the control is not that great. And the range of games rather limited. The mouse is hard to beat as a means of control, much better than touch screens. Being online only for purchases just makes things less visible, online sites at starting to make physical sites because of the experience factor. And what annoys me the most with some of these big games like the total war series i could have driven to the store and back many times in the amount of time it takes to download. It is not exactly convenient.

@Dreadstar,

You can compare them, you just have to be very careful what you infer from the datapoints. Steam being under a billion prior to 2011 shows strong evidence that the console was king, at least within the past few years. Over a billion for one retailer in one quarter shows thst consoles are still alive and well, especially as that figure was profit, not gross sales.

Past that, I don't know how much steam is making, but just looking at candy crushes daily haul shows thst there is an immense sum of money in play and thst we lack visibility to most of it.

I agree it is not good data, I would seek much more if I were basing a decision off it, I would spend more than 5 min googling too...

Still they are the only figures offered so far in this talk.

As for consol death, probably more like evolution. Phones today are not phones, they have absorbed the tech of other devices. Cable companies and telecom companies are becoming competitors, and losing their distinctions.

The future will be fun.

hmmm. I have to add my 2 cents. I have at various times, been both a hardcore PC gamer and a hardcore console gamer. Back in the dual graphics card SLI days PC gaming was king, but something began happening with the xbox / xbox 360, and the software developers seemed to turn to consoles. wlak into any software game store and you will find very little for the PC. I know there are still great games out there, and you can build a PC that will crush a PS4 or Xbox 1. But the instaled community and fanbase for consoles and tablets is much greater. I love RTS as well, and I agree it has never been done well on the console, but that is only because PC like periphials are a rarity. with a mouse and keyboard, i can play Age of empires on my console just fine.

This next thing may be an age thing. My time is limited. I dont have hours and hours to screw aroung with hardware, drivers, patches, etc, anymore. I need my tech to simply work and work well. Consoles by and large do that, PCs, not so much. If i want to hop on and play a little titanfall with my friends, I can be online doing that in 5 minutes, with built in voice chat, etc, already integrated.

Having said that, PC gaming seems to be making a comeback, and that's a great thing. Loving one does not mean hating the other. Here are the barriers to PC gaming. Cost. It costs a lot more to build a high end gaming PC than it does to buy a PS 4

an 8 core jaguar was north of 400 bucks last time i checked (on a motherboard) you can get a whole PS4 for that. Yes, The PC will beat it perfomrance wise, but i dont think most people know what they are missing, and to be honest, these next gen consoles look pretty darn good.

Software availability / visibility: I know, its out there, but the majority of console gamers don't, and it really isnt marketed like the consoles are. this seems to be changing, and again, that is a good thing.

I could go on. I think the OPs predictions are colored by his own experience. I do not think consoles are going away anytime soon. Nor is PC gaming, in fact, it seems to be making a comeback.

Mobile gaming of all sorts is still the game to beat though, and this will be more true as they become more and more powerful. I think the tablet is the gaming machine to beat, and it kind of pains me to say it. If we were to look at dollars expended in each of these categories, I think that money spent on gaming on tablets would far outclass anything else.

my 2 cents, since we are off topic and all.