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[In Cold Blood]

The way PC players have been treated by devs is pretty shit recently.
For them main they tend to get average ports, and devs are taking the view of Close enough, Good enough.

There is an obvious issue with PC ports, in that it's different for a dev to optimise a game over so many different configurations. We see that they don't even have the time to optimise the three console versions, let alone the dozens of possible PC set ups.
They have to make a game work over three different GPU manufacturers, over multiple different generations of GPUs, with multiple different Compute Units, VRAM, speed profiles, and the same goes for CPUs with Intel and AMD, 4 core, 6 core, 8 core, multiple speed profiles etc.

However at this point they are taking the piss. We have games where a 4090 isn't doing any better than the PS5. Some devs may throw a bone like DLSS on the Nvidia GPUs, but in the main modern GPUs are not even being exploited in any way.

We even have a situation where Epic with the biggest game engine in the industry has an issue with stutter across the majority of PC versions and it hasn't been addressed. Infact, the Coalition has spent more time to try and eliminate it than Epic themselves have

So what's the answer? PC gamers invest a shit ton into their hardware, and they arnt getting the benefit.

What should PC gamers do to push for better outcomes?

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Free market. They can spend their money elsewhere.

If they feel PC gaming isn’t giving them the return they want there are other platforms. But truthfully this “problem” is pretty overblown. Most games run just fine.

 

[killatopak]

It always comes down to money. Vote with your wallet.

At this point, any PC user knows what they’re into. Meaning, they know the disadvantages and advantages of the platform.

 

[Alexios]

Plenty games release in a great state, don't buy bad ports & there are still more games than you can ever play same as any other period, nothing has changed.

 

[Topher]

For me the solution is to not limit myself to one platform. If a game is played better on console then that's where I'll play it.

 

[MikeM]

For me the solution is to not limit myself to one platform. If a game is played better on console then that's where I'll play it.

Yep same. Other PC users cringe when I say I bought X game on PS5 as opposed to PC. They make it seem like PC is infinitely better than console in every way, when holy shit that could not be further from the truth.

 

[Kacho]

Shitty ports aren’t anything new on PC. Most get patched quickly so you don’t have to wait too long to play the superior version. The only thing you can do is vote with your wallet on the bad ones.

 

[Grechy34]

Free market. They can spend their money elsewhere.

If they feel PC gaming isn’t giving them the return they want there are other platforms. But truthfully this “problem” is pretty overblown. Most games run just fine.

I actually don't think it's overblown. I genuinely thought something was wrong with my PC playing Fortnite until I found out the stutter was a widespread issue. More often then not there are various issues with PC releases. If I'm paying that sort of money for a 4090 ( I didn't but speaking on behalf of those who have) I do believe there should be a level of expectation that the experience would be a premium one more often then not.

 

[Fredrik]

For me the solution is to not limit myself to one platform. If a game is played better on console then that's where I'll play it.

Yeah that’s me too. I literally payed $5k for my current PC but I still don’t think twice about playing on console if that’s where a game play best. And some games I deliberately choose to play on console even if they’re worse there if I want to play in the living room with family.

 

[Leonidas]

I'm a patient man. My backlog is so large that the PC port issues that have happened occasionally do not affect me.

I have a PS5, but I bought no games for it, and have no plans to ever do so. Though, I do have PS+ Extra though, so if any PC games with issues show up in PS+ Extra I might play it there...

 

[StreetsofBeige]

This goes for console and PC.

Unless it's a tried and true sequel (which are pretty predictable what you get year after year), just dont buy day one. It's not like digital downloads run out. So just wait it out. The longer you wait the better chance of a deal too. So it might even save you a few bucks.

I can also totally understand for online heavy games like shooters and sports games it's important to jump in right away to level up fast and learn the maps, or joining online leagues before the teams fill up. So maybe for those games you got no choice but to dive in fast or get left behind.

But for most games, everyone can wait it out a month or two for first batch of updates or server improvements.

Even if you just wait one week, you'd get endless people doing gameplay videos on YT, Twitch streams and reviews you can sift though all week.

Gaming has never been faster and easier for launch day info, so why buy blind at launch? Their marketing is that effective on you?

 

[Kataploom]

Free market. They can spend their money elsewhere.

If they feel PC gaming isn’t giving them the return they want there are other platforms. But truthfully this “problem” is pretty overblown. Most games run just fine.

Well, for one I think PC is actually very profitable, there are more than 100M Steam users alone with GPUs at mid range or above, but I think the problem lies on PC players being waaaaaay more patient than console players, we can just wait for fixes for any given problem most of the time, be it from devs themselves or from a modder, or optimization with patches we'll get most of the games cheaper when they run well enough, many PC players aren't even day 1 buyers, so waiting a couple months or years while playing something else always pays off, that's why I think devs just don't give the platform as much of a priority.

Secondly, I think you're completely right on it being too overblown, but that's mostly because games are talked when they release and then when they get fixed most players attention moved to another game while waiting for a patch or a mod.

I'm not day 1 buyer on PC and haven't suffered any these problems people talk about. Some games like Jedi: Fallen Order can't be helped, it stutters on everything it runs, I expected a lot of stuttering on that game when I had a HDD + Ryzen 2200g + 1060 3GB, since I moved to a NVMe + 5600x + 6700 XT I haven't experienced any problem, like it was all due to bottlenecks on my system and not games themselves.

Sometimes these problems can also come from our software setup, I'm currently playing Sekiro and after upodating my AMD Drivers to lastest, I started getting stutters and judder out of nowhere, I thought about rolling it back but I just decided to disable the "Radeon Enhanced Sync" and it started moving perfectly, actually I'm playing it 4K at 60 fps on High settings on this 6700 XT and runs flawless.

Not saying that PC ports aren't releasing in a bad state, just that devs are put attention on consoles first since PC versions tend to have more legs and sell more in the long term... Of course, day 1 buyers are the ones that get the shit, unfortunately.

 

[ChiefDada]

I have a PS5, but I bought no games for it, and have no plans to ever do so.

 

[GreatnessRD]

I'm a patient man. My backlog is so large that the PC port issues that have happened occasionally do not affect me.

This is where I am with it as well. I can wait for the updates. However, Devs do need to show PC more love with better optimized games.

 

[rofif]

For me the solution is to not limit myself to one platform. If a game is played better on console then that's where I'll play it.

Exactly. I don’t understand people who would love to play stuff like bloodborne but refused to ever pick up even ps4 slim because it’s a console. Even when it was dirt cheap.
If pc players weren’t so stubborn, maybe they would discover that console is not hot to touch

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Suppose the development landscape is so bad that they can't even optimize games properly for consoles. How would anyone expect them to optimize for PCs? a platform whose superior strength has always meant that devs never really had to optimize for it in the same way they would have done on consoles.. They just get it Good enough to run on the minimum supported spec they have for it, give the user a ton of siders, and let them go crazy on their settings based on how good their hardware is.

And what people aren't seeing is that we are beginning to get the downside of that PC benefit with consoles. Console optimization was never really ever about getting the game running well on the consoles, it really was always a by-product. They `had` to optimize on consoles or not the game would not run at all. Or to allow the to squeeze out as much power as they can from them. Not something they ever had to worry about with PCs. When devs don't have to kill themselves to get something running decent, they wouldn't spend the extra time needed to make it run better than decent.

 

[rofif]

This goes for console and PC.

Unless it's a tried and true sequel (which are pretty predictable what you get year after year), just dont buy day one. It's not like digital downloads run out. So just wait it out. The longer you wait the better chance of a deal too. So it might even save you a few bucks.

I can also totally understand for online heavy games like shooters and sports games it's important to jump in right away to level up fast and learn the maps, or joining online leagues before the teams fill up. So maybe for those games you got no choice but to dive in fast or get left behind.

But for most games, everyone can wait it out a month or two for first batch of updates or server improvements.

Even if you just wait one week, you'd get endless people doing gameplay videos on YT, Twitch streams and reviews you can sift though all week.

Gaming has never been faster and easier for launch day info, so why buy blind at launch? Their marketing is that effective on you?

Day 1 problems are overblown. At least on console. I’ve finished aall most every major game day 1 on ps5 in last 2 years and if not for df, I would’ve never knew the games had some problems. It’s fine.
On pc I could feel Denuvo stutter when hitting enemies in re8 for example or general stutter in other games. So maybe it’s worth waiting for shader compilation patch few days on pc

 

[Sentenza]

Exactly. I don’t understand people who souls live to play stuff like bloodborne but refused to ever pick up even ps4 slim because it’s a console. Even when it was dirt cheap.
If pc players weren’t so stubborn, maybe they would discover that console is not hot to touch

I already have a PS4 (Pro) and Bloodborne on my PS Account and I’m still waiting for a PC version of it to actually enjoy the experience, because “sub 30 fps and chromatic aberration in spades” makes for a miserable ride.

 

[Teletraan1]

I have a 3090Ti and I have never seen these stutters everyone is complaining about. I rarely ever buy anything new so that probably reduces my exposure to bad releases. The newest game I bought last year Elden Ring I had heard about the stuttering at launch and by the time I bought the game a week or so later it was fixed. I am not saying these issues don't exist but console warrior types love to turn everything negative that happens to the other team into a 4 alarm fire. This behavior dates back to Atari vs Colecovision. I saw someone on here last week talking like the issues with Elden Ring weren't sorted out almost immediately and still persist a year later.

 

[yamaci17]

I have a 3090Ti and I have never seen these stutters everyone is complaining about. I rarely ever buy anything new so that probably reduces my exposure to bad releases. The newest game I bought last year Elden Ring I had heard about the stuttering at launch and by the time I bought the game a week or so later it was fixed. I am not saying these issues don't exist but console warrior types love to turn everything negative that happens to the other team into a 4 alarm fire. This behavior dates back to Atari vs Colecovision. I saw someone on here last week talking like the issues with Elden Ring weren't sorted out almost immediately and still persist a year later.

yup. even then, ER was only stuttery in first initial hours, and then it was a smooth sailing forme for 145 hours.

people really overblown certain things. callisto protocol was fixed mere days after its release, a plague tale requiem and atomic heart launched perfectly yet no one cares or notices

pc ports should improve but really, people attack the platform needlessly. I also see a lot of "generalization" which makes me want to puke. "pc players are this", "pc players are that", "pc players killed my dog" etc. who the heck are you talking about? don't take a vocal minority on forums as a "measurement" point for the whole of PC gaming userbase.

 

[Topher]

Exactly. I don’t understand people who would love to play stuff like bloodborne but refused to ever pick up even ps4 slim because it’s a console. Even when it was dirt cheap.
If pc players weren’t so stubborn, maybe they would discover that console is not hot to touch

Very few want to buy a system for one game. Generally I have PS5 for exclusives and trophies, Switch for Switch games, Xbox for Game Pass and PC/Steam Deck for everything else. Probably overkill but this is my hobby and I like to get a variety of experiences.

 

[Skifi28]

For starters, don't buy day one or pre-oder. It's a good practice in general, but almost mandatory on PC unless you know it's from a dev with a good track record.

 

[Fredrik]

Unusually optimistic PS+ Extra subscriber?

 

[Topher]

Unusually optimistic PS+ Extra subscriber?

PS+ Extra Loot Box?

 

[rofif]

I already have a PS4 (Pro) and Bloodborne on my PS Account and I’m still waiting for a PC version of it to actually enjoy the experience, because “sub 30 fps and chromatic aberration in spades” makes for a miserable ride.

It very very rarely drops below 30.
And that’s the fastest 30fps ever probably. Very low input lag.
If this has stopped you from playing, you don’t really care about games.

 

[Sentenza]

It very very rarely drops below 30.
And that’s the fastest 30fps ever probably. Very low input lag.
If this has stopped you from playing, you don’t really care about games.

Shut up.

 

[yamaci17]

It very very rarely drops below 30.
And that’s the fastest 30fps ever probably. Very low input lag.
If this has stopped you from playing, you don’t really care about games.

dude, some people literally get headaches at 30 FPS. you cannot enforce your own expectations and standards upon others. stop with this bullshit

 

[Topher]

It very very rarely drops below 30.
And that’s the fastest 30fps ever probably. Very low input lag.
If this has stopped you from playing, you don’t really care about games.

I don't want to play games at 30fps either. I think it sucks. Regardless, questioning whether someone "cares" about games based on that preference is just absurd.

 

[rofif]

dude, some people literally get headaches at 30 FPS. you cannot enforce your own expectations and standards upon others. stop with this bullshit

That's not true

Shut up.

uh mommy I won't play the game because it's got some issues!
fake gamer

 

[Topher]

That's not true


uh mommy I won't play the game because it's got some issues!
fake gamer

 

[Black_Stride]

I dont even have a particularly badass PC and im swimming in it.


Maybe its cuz my backlog is long enough I almost never day one any games but generally I havent had much issue.
This is legit the first generation im probably not going to actually own a console since the Sega Master System, my PC eventually gets it all.....I have no FOMO and can wait for a port and once its out I can wait a month for the fixes.

The last game that burned me.....and it burned me hard, was The Callisto Protocol, I was so looking forward to it, I midnight unlocked it......i didnt get to the first elevator until 2 weeks later.
But ended up still being a good time in the end.....i should probably stick to waiting a month to actually get games, clear the backlog first then jump in.

PC Spec: i5-12400 x RTX 3080'10G





Okay im lying im going to own the Super Switch this generation.....but my point still stands!!!!!!!

 

[GymWolf]

I think that if you have an high end pc, some stutter here in there doesn't erase the fact that you have so many plus over console.

Unstable framerate that last for the whole game like in returnal is worse than stutter that only appear when you see something new for the first time but doesn't last for long.

I still prefer playing dead space remake and hogwarts at 4k60 max setting with occasional stutters over choosing res OR framerate with inferior settings.

The problems are with those rare games that really don't work on pc like wild hearts or avengers, but these kinda run like shit on console aswell, and console had stuff like cyberpunk that was way better on pc at launch, people with good experiences with that game were ALL pc users like me.

What i absolutely hate about pc gamimg os how random it is, you can read 50 page and having 29494935858 people with different experience with the same game, really hard to know if the game is gonna run good on your system when you search fro infos.

 

[Sentenza]

uh mommy I won't play the game because it's got some issues!
fake gamer

 

[T4keD0wN]

Thats why you get a console just for unreal engine 4 games

 

[Crayon]

I just let the PS5 do the heavy lifting on the few aaa's I play. I have one anyway. My PC is lower spec than the PS5. Say 75% to get the idea. I do aaa and VR on the PS5 and everything else in the universe on PC.

 

[Nihilum]

To a certain extent PC ports have always been "too many configurations, we'll sort it out later with patches".
But as of late it's been really shitty.

 

[winjer]

One of the big issues is that Unreal Stutter 4 is the most used game engine for this generation.
Had Epic fixed their engine, most of these ports would not be bad ports on PC.

 

[Portugeezer]

Free market. They can spend their money elsewhere.

If they feel PC gaming isn’t giving them the return they want there are other platforms. But truthfully this “problem” is pretty overblown. Most games run just fine.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxAL-GxPyPTTz1swWjTb6ts0ui_V2OSHIe

 

[Graciaus]

I'm just happy to get Japanese games on PC. You can brute force them if you aren't poor.

 

[Schmendrick]

That's not true


uh mommy I won't play the game because it's got some issues!
fake gamer

you have issues......

 

[TintoConCasera]

uh mommy I won't play the game because it's got some issues!
fake gamer

Having standards = being a "fake gamer"

rofif moment

 

[GymWolf]

Hopefully ue5 is gonna be stutter free.

 

[Mister Wolf]

I just play something else. Good games to play especially on PC are a dime a dozen.

 

[Wildebeest]

They know that a lot of PC users will buy every new hype release with good graphics, and enough reviewers will probably just happily play the console version and put PC next to the score. Why bother? High-end PC owners are a captive market for lazy console ports because any PC specific developer would be absolutely nuts to not target the insanely larger market of lower end PC hardware. The best a high-end PC gamer can hope for is an established PC dev that targets PC first for development, but still makes most of their money from their console ports.

Where are these high-end PC exclusives that you would need to invest in PC hardware to play? Half Life Alyx? Warhammer Total War?

The reason for building a high-end PC now is not because you are a traditional "hardcore" PC gamer, but because you are a console warrior who wants to play the big console releases with big dick graphics card to show off to other console gamers.

 

[nkarafo]

The thing that annoys me the most is how tools like DLSS will end up being used to simply cover the lost performance from bloated and shitty code.

And because things like DLSS exist, it gives devs more room to bloat the code and less intensive to optimize because hey, there's an additional thing that helps games run better so we don't have to bother.

 

[rofif]

Having standards = being a "fake gamer"

rofif moment

Ignorance is bliss. Having standards that make you avoid some of best games is just hurting yourself

 

[TintoConCasera]

Ignorance is bliss. Having standards that make you avoid some of best games is just hurting yourself

You are part of the problem. It's because of people like you that devs get away with shitty performance since hey, if the game is cool, it doesn't matter, right?

 

[nkarafo]

Ignorance is bliss.

I agree. Problem is, i'm not ignorant.

 

[Lasha]

I don't bother rewarding poor PC ports with a console purchase. A multiplatform game that doesn't run well on PC is a multiplatform game I don't play. I'm happy to wait for patches or the inevitable 90% off sale to play.

 

[MikeM]

It very very rarely drops below 30.
And that’s the fastest 30fps ever probably. Very low input lag.
If this has stopped you from playing, you don’t really care about games.

That's not true


uh mommy I won't play the game because it's got some issues!
fake gamer

Sensitive about 30fps much?

Most gamers have SOME level of standards. Just because they don’t match up with yours does not make them any less a gamer.