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> If consoles did it, it would most likely mean a break in backwards compatibility or a lot of investment in emulation.

Consoles tend to break compatibility every like couple of generations anyway. The PS5 is only compatible with PS4, for example, because the PS3 used the PowerPC-based Cell. Also, Nintendo has been using ARM since like, the Gameboy Advance (Fun fact is that in handhelds nintendo tended to use the previous generation's CPU as a sound chip, and would use it when running previous generation carts) (Nintendo home consoles before the switch used PowerPC. The Nintendo 64 used MIPS)

I agree with you on the custom PC market, but that has to be pretty small compared to consoles.

> Consoles tend to break compatibility every like couple of generations anyway.

True, generally with an architecture change. (Nintendo being the exception because... well Nintendo).

Recently though, especially with digital stores, companies have been getting more flack for it. There was a lot of concern over Sony being non-commital about the PS5 before release regarding PS4 compatibility.

Xbox was celebrated when they started their initiative last gen to add support for Xbox 360 and OG xbox games (while limited, it was something).

I am just not convinced that gamers are going to be as forgiving of it happening again in the digital age as they were before.

> I agree with you on the custom PC market, but that has to be pretty small compared to consoles.

Oh for sure, but I think it also tends to be a very vocal group. There is a reason `pcmr` is a thing.

This. I understand web devs can just use whatever runs Google Chrome but the real world is a bit more complex.

CS2 has over 900k online on Steam right now... Where people push the game to 200fps plus. A PC that can do that can also do anything else. Dev work, VMs, Docker, whatever. Why switch to ARM? Because their soy starbuxx latte workplace gets 2-3h more in battery life?

But I have to disagree on

>With consoles often being the devices that set a performance standard for PC's, I doubt they would be moving to ARM in the next generation so would not happen until the 10th generation. We are likely 2-3 years away from hearing about gen 9, and then another ~8 years until ARM becomes a conversation for any serious game console. There just would not be any incentive for PC to make a serious switch until that point (or around that time) since it would also fruther complicate game development.

Consoles used to be MIPS, POWERPC and stuff and PCs where x86 "back then".

XBOX is like the first x86 console. So I dunno your point here. Really man.

???

Switch is ARM right. Nintendo Switch.

Sony and MS went from POWERPC to x86 as IBM could not make a PPC CPU fast enough and ARM was not good in a big formfactor. Sony and MS use AMD hardware but in PCs Nvidia GPUS are still the best, yes they are my experiece personally and look at numbers. XBOX1 used to be nvidia gforce 3 but abd pricing. So all went AMD later. PS3 was CELL 8 core PPC and Nvidia 70xx GPU. 360 was PPC and AMD gpu. Wii was PPC and AMD gpu.

>There just have not been much movement in this regard. We are seeing a few ports come to Mac (and iPhone) but those are the exceptions.

Nobody on Mac is actually a gamer.

>(not mobile, I am not dismissing mobile but it is not the traditional market that is relevant to this conversation

I will btw. I do not understand why people here love mobile games. No wait I do. They are easy, quick and P2W. They are busy adults or kids or pajeets with no money.

In mobile, what sells? Gatcha games, pay to win trash. There are some gems but few and far between. They are built in a predatory way to take your money.

> Consoles used to be MIPS, POWERPC and stuff and PCs where x86 "back then".

True, but at those times it was far more common for games to ship on one console or skip PC entirely. Even during the Xbox 360 generation which was still powerpc based.

My point there is less that they won't move to ARM for consoles, just that at this point I would be shocked if they were moving to ARM for the 9th gen and we don't start hearing rumors about it now.

And that doing so would have an impact on developers.

> Nobody on Mac is actually a gamer.

I always hated this generalization, Mac is my preferred OS but because I can't really game on it (despite it being quite powerful hardware) I have my custom build desktop. I would much prefer to have just my MBP.

> I will btw. I do not understand why people here love mobile games. No wait I do. They are easy, quick and P2W. They are busy adults or kids or pajeets with no money.

I agree with you mostly here. But the reason I mention this is I have gotten in an argument about what is "real" gaming and people love to point out how much mobile games make as if that is the important metric.

I think there are just 2 different forms of gaming. Neither are necessarily wrong, but they are fundamentally different.

Although some companies are trying to promote ARM hardware for gaming, current efforts still seem to be focused on mobile devices. Overall, the transformation of the traditional gaming market will take time, and more obvious changes may be seen in the next few generations of consoles.