I know this is PatientGamers, but can we discuss how even the current generation of consoles seems to ask for patience as they aren't that many games 4 years after their release?

Abandon consoles. Embrace the inevitability of the PC master race.

The biggest one for me is that most of the games come out on PC eventually anyway, and will generally run at higher resolutions and frame rates.

I've also got more than enough in my steam account to play whilst I wait for any exclusives to decide they actually want my money

Also I like that I've got my PC, laptop, steam deck and Nvidia shields with steam link that can all play my games in various different situations. A traditional home console kinda limits the situations in which I can play my games.

I have a Switch, which has hundreds of games and great couch coöp. I can't speak to most of the other concerns except creativity, and to that I say: Any platform open to indie devs is one that won't suffer from lack of creativity. You'll have to deal with Sturgeon's Law, but that was always true.

I usually stick to PC which has a stellar track record for backward-compatibility and emulation capability, or with last-gen consoles that have an established game library.

I'm not going to buy a next-gen console based on promises and hypotheticals.

I think the Switch and the Steamdeck/PC are where the creativity is. Indie devs are making games themselves instead of working for large game development studios. If it’s popular enough they publish on Switch as well since it’s Arm based. Mobile is where it’s at honestly.

I was so excited about the potential of the PS5 hardware, yet here we are and I’ve only really bought 2 games really made for it: Returnal and Stellar Blade. In the same timeframe I’ve also bought and played at least a dozen bangers on my Steam Deck, some of those being new releases like Hi-Fi Rush that the Deck could play flawlessly. AAA is an albatross.

Creative industries in general have been somewhat stagnant including TV, video games, movies, and so on.

Part of it is the raw bureaucratization of society where box checkers and rule followers are getting into creative positions and being uncreative.

That's also why there are good things out there in niche spaces, because creative people didn't disappear they're just keeping low.

I have got the PS5 for a year or two and, I haven’t really touched it at all. There were only a handful games that I enjoyed. Didn’t like the new Horizon forbidden west nor God of war Ragnarok, they felt just way to “same-y” (if that makes sense).

I refuse to get a Switch because, I genuinely dislike Nintendo as a company. Though thats for another time.

This also might’ve to do with the fact that I bought a gaming PC and do everything on there. I’m currently busy with Alan Wake 2, Last of us 1 and later on probably Hellblade 2.

But yeah, I agree. Console gaming has been a bit disappointing.

As someone who hates talking on the phone, I do not mind a bit that we're moving away from voice communications

Voice communications are pretty simple on console too. I prefer to turn it off even if games have it, unless I am playing with an actual friend, so that default is fine by me. And when actually using it, it's pretty easy, takes just a few button clicks. PS5 even got discord integration recently, but all my multiplayer friends are on PS, so didn't had a need to test that. Though I don't play on PC so I am not sure if discord on PC is even easier.

As for creativity, indies are leading in that department (and Nintendo has been pretty good too!). There are some great games out there, but unfortunately for AAA when you spend millions of dollars on a game over 4-5 years, it becomes a big risk, specially in today's environment where even a successful game doesn't ensure you won't be layed off, an unsuccessful game is just a suicide.

But in general, yeah, kinda disappointed by the current gen. Eagerly waiting for Switch 2 though.

I don't find a lot of the things in the video that relevant to be honest. Not many people speaking online in games? Sure, but I never spoke with randoms to begin with. Discord seems to work fine on the PS5 from my experience. Do either of those things really affect the decision to buy a console? Games taking a while to download - you have the same thing on Steam.

I could definitely see that developers being shackled to the previous generation is an issue. Having to develop/optimise for 11 year old hardware must limit creativity.

Being a patient gamer, I think a lot of the issues people have with lack of current gen games isn't so much of an issue for me. There are a ton of previous gen games that I never got round to playing, and the PS5 experience in playing them is superior. And there are a ton of current gen games I've now got my eye on - GTA 6, Spiderman 2, GoW Ragnarok, Dragons Dogma 2, Baldur's Gate, FF7 Rebirth, Death Stranding 2, Astrobot, Monster Hunter Wilds, Resident Evil 4 remake and MGS3 remake.

I agree that PC is the best option in a lot of cases. For me, I like sitting back on a sofa with a controller. The Steam Deck is really great for this but it's not powerful enough to play a lot of modern games at full res. The PS5 is filling that niche for me.

I have a PS5 that has probably run for less than six hours, but I have two XBox Series S that are used daily. I never give my smart TVs network access and use my XBox as my main multimedia entertainment device. Add to that Gamepass and the fact that they are hardwired to my network and I can play a ton of games on it too, whether it is downloaded or through XCloud.