If there were no exclusives, which console would be best - Xbox, Playstation, Switch or PC?

Imagine for a second that every game was released on every system. The difference would be the graphics based on system capabilities. What systems would you play on and why?

Here's how I would rank the systems.

1. PC - Best hardware, great controller only negative is price.

2. Xbox - Best hardware for consoles, great controller and affordable. If money is an issue but you want great graphics then this is the best system for you.

3. Switch - Worst hardware, great controller, good price and great for those who want portable. Since I don't care about portable that much I rank it 3rd. If portability is important to you then this might be first.

4. Playstation - Bad hardware, bad controller, good price. I don't see the need for this. The Xbox has a lot better hardware with a lot better graphics. The Xbox controller is a lot better as well. I don't see any reason for this system to exist. Maybe it's good for those who love the Dualshock controller but if I were them I would just look for a third party that makes one for the X. I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would ever buy this and argue it's the best system. Maybe just name appeal? Who knows.

Sounds like something a defensive M$ employee would come up with.

There are exclusives and PC is still the best. Take away consoles’ biggest advantage, what do you end up with?

If there are no exclusives then go full PC. Don't even bother with consoles.

PC.

Might as well get the best in this lame market OP lives in.

I’d go with Xbox myself. Love the controller, the interface, ecosystem, online functionality, and the achievements system. I also prefer getting my games on physical format which is a big reason why I wouldn’t go with PC.

PC no question.

PC is not a console. I believe "platform" is the word you're looking for. In that case, PC would win hands down. Customization is key, and PC has that in spades.

So this is the new lem damage control tactic, creating a hypothetical reality where Sony's stellar exclusive library doesn't exist?

It's getting sadder day after day on this forum.

PC...

Certainly wouldn't be the PC thats for sure. Any first person shooter online would be soo desolate. Massive amount of DRM. It would literally kill the cancer called the PC market.

Even sadder is the hilarious garbage Xbox controller that was inspired by the POS Dreamcast controller.

After fifteen years in the market and the Xbox One bombing in sales as badly as the original Xbox, Microsoft is stuck with the crap controller because the Xbox deadenders would go apoplectic if Microsoft fixed it.

PC, from a graphical, UI, and customizational standpoint, is objectively better, so that hands-down. Switch would be second, as it offers portablilty, something that none of the competition offers.

With no exclusives I guess I'd go PC or MAYBE Xbox One X.

I'd say Switch but without exclusives its library becomes much weaker

PC, not even close.

Imagine for a second that there are no multiplats and every game is exclusive to a specific system. Nobody would buy an Xbox.

@def_mode: Nice! Hahahahaha!

If there were no exclusives I don't see why anyone would buy a weak console. It would be PC all the way.

PC

PC of course. Exclusives are the only thing to justify the existence of consoles. Well, SOME consoles anyways.

Heh.

Didn't get it the first time reading.

PC! Although, contrary to what some nutters around here seem to think, the PC exclusives are one of the best parts... literally genres would die if you cut PC exclusives out of existence

Small price to pay to make the Xbone relevent.

Definitely the Xbox One X.

I'm a console guy and I don't like playing games on PC so we can automatically rule that one out for me. And out of the consoles, the Xbox One X is the most powerful console, it has the best online service, it has the best controller, it has more great features than the other consoles, and Microsoft has been the most consumer friendly company of the three in recent years.

Ditto.

Switch since it has tablet, motion control, and is portable.

Well this is some sad damage control.

The best would be PC and then I guess switch for the portability

PC, and why would anyone say anything else in that case?

God of War has shaken Xbox Fanatics to the core of their black hearts. Just late until E3 when Pill Sphincter drop all the great timed launch exclusives on you just like the previous show. I can't wait, in Fill we trust.

PC without a shadow of a doubt

It's actually funny watching people try and find reasons not to say PC. The answer is clearly PC, no amount of mental gymnastics will change that.

@creepywelps: Even if this would actually happen I'd still stick with consoles, price, ease of use, etc. Nothing funny about it, some people just like consoles, why is that so hard for PC elitist to understand?!?

PC for those who appreciate options and want to take their gaming experience to the next level both in performance and graphical fidelity.

Xbone for people who don't care and just want it to work.

@vfighter: I'm an elitist now? Jesus Christ, PC's are not hard to use, anyone with an IQ over 90 can handle it. It would be objectively the best platform if exclusive didn't exist. Price is the only valid remark you made, and like all things, you get what you pay for.

@creepywelps: Price is not the only concern. There's the issue of parity - play on a big screen TV on a sofa with a joypad and get owned by kB/m users online, or play with a kb/m on a smaller screen? Yes, you can play with kB/m on a TV, but unless you bring a desk along, you'll still suffer. Also, a player with a pc playing at 4k 60fps is going to trounce another who can only display 1080p 30fps with a shorter draw distance online.

Then there's the cheaters. Try as they might, punkbuster and co struggle to differentiate between hackers and genuinely good players, and it's only a problem on PC.

Then there's aesthetics. Most high end gaming rigs are simply huge boxes with maybe a few LEDs and see through windows. To match the minimilistic aesthetics of say an x1x, you'd have to invest some serious coin when buying a top of the line prebuilt rig.

There's still the issue of sourcing, assembling and installing. Yes, it's easy enough for most, but it's still a chore...and if something goes wrong with a component, you can't just take the whole pc back to the shop you bought it from.

@def_mode: So the only difference would be the exclusives? Like...the way things are now?

Yup, still Xbox for me...

@sealionact: I honestly don't see any of your first, third, or fourth points as valid complaints. I simply won't accept choice as a negative. Cheaters is overblown but do exist, you don't play on PC though so you wouldn't know. PC would objectively be the top platform if exclusives didn't exist.

PC without question by a large margin, even with consoles having exclusives

That's a pretty bland premise.

@creepywelps: I do play on PC. Admittedly I don't own one apart from a laptop, but I'm a frequent player on my friend's. Ive experienced multiple cheaters...mainly on pubg before it came out on Xbox, but also BF1, BF4 and CS. You can't dismiss cheating on pc as "overblown", when literally millions of players have been banned for cheating on pubg alone. Its an issue that doesn't exist on consoles so its a valid negative.

Aesthetics are down to individual tastes, but finding a gaming pc as small, as quiet and as pleasing to the eye is going to be impossible for most people's tastes.

And parity is a huge point for me. A player on a gtx 660 card won't have the same image that a gtx 1080 owners does...it gives an advantage to those with better cards.

I'm not even going into issues with viruses and stability because they have gotten better since I had a pc, but they are still there.

I'm not knocking PC for fun, just removing all the exclusives and seeing what's left...pc would come in last in my book.

@sealionact: It can come in last for you, that's fine. You will be far in The minority with that thought process. The cheating is overblown, pubg isnt even close to being as bad as you try and make it out to be. China is the only reason the numbers were high in the first place. It's also the far superior version.

Pretty much every point you've tried to make comes down to personal choice, which you cannot make an argument for it being a negative. As for parity, Xbox doesn't have it either. X1X gives an advantage according to your own thoughts. All your arguments also are completely based around MP games as well. Flawed logic, but you do you.

I think I'd like PC gaming even more if there were no more exclusives.

Plus you'd have infinite backwards compatibility when every game appears on every platform.

@creepywelps: Cheating is not overblown, anyway you spin it. Players on GTA 6 were getting banned, unbanned and banned again because Rockstar couldn't differentiate between a cheat and a great player. Over a million players were banned on pubg alone.

https://www.polygon.com/2018/2/5/16973984/pubg-cheat-ban-1-million-january-china-battleeye

Its not as bad as I claim?

There's countless videos on how to apply hacks, and clips of players using aimbots are uncountable...literally.

Hacks are openly available online, and cover most games from fortnite through Destiny 2...it deffo isn't just pubg.

Of course I'm pointing out the problems when gaming online, because I'm comparing them to the consoles online experience. Its a better experience all-round on console, which includes better matchmaking, groups, less problems finding full servers as well as virtually no hacks, and everybody playing with the same control system.

@sealionact: It's overblown and GTA 6 doesn't exist. That article is before death cam, before report feature, and before ping locks. This is clearly your only arguing point since the rest of them had no validity. I believe we're done here unless you have an argument of note. I won't be lectured on topics that I'm more educated than you on.

@creepywelps: Death Cams and ping locks dont help when wallhacks and name ESP tools are used, and report buttons are so overused that salty users have reported me because I camp or get off a lucky long range shot. Players were getting banned for no reason last month.

https://www.pcgamer.com/pubgs-latest-anti-cheat-update-is-banning-players-at-random-fix-on-the-way/

There's hundreds of thousands of people cheating on GTA 5 and other games and sites like unknowncheats have 2 million members - you're living in denial if you can't be reasonable enough to admit it's a negative compared to consoles.

No, I stand by my views on aesthetics, parity, ease of use as well as price - I just can't argue that you can have a different opinion on those matters.

@sealionact: Why are you still talking to me? I've already proven my knowledge on the subject surpasses yours. Xbox doesn't have parity, aesthetics is pure choice that you have on PC, and the only thing you're clinging to desperately is cheating which isn't nearly the problem you're trying to make it out to be. I stopped taking you seriously when you used the gtx 660 vs a 1080 argument. If someone still using a GTX 660 than they haven't upgraded in 7 years and are not a PC gamer. Just continue being your good ole Xbox only self, I won't listen to a non PC gamers lectures about PC gaming.

Now this is what I call a sad thread. If there were no exclusives no console would probably exist. Nintendo sells on its exclusive games, PS sells on its exclusive games, Xbox sells on Halo and PC sells because... well, is more than a gaming tool that also happens to play games

If you mean that multiplats become exclusive to different systems, then you have to identify exactly which systems would get which multiplat games to decide which would be the best system.

If you mean that multiplats don't exist at all and we have to buy each console based on the merits of it's exclusives alone, then it becomes interesting. Playstation would be worthless to me. Xbox would be worthless to me. Switch would be extremely important and a must buy. PC would be way overpriced for the few AAA games available.

Now let me ask you to imagine something for a moment. Imagine each system only had it's exclusives and then there was a new console that had all of the current multiplats exclusive to it but none of the other consoles exclusives. Which console would you want to have?

Here's what I would pick.

1. Mutiplatform console because it has most of the best games on the market barring some great Nintendo games. This still wins out because Nintendo games are too few and without enough variety to compete in my opinion.

2. Switch because of all the amazing Nintendo exclusives.

3. Playstation because it has a better variety in their exclusives than Xbox but I still won't buy a Playstation console that only plays Sony exclusives because that would truly suck.

4. Xbox because I don't really like their exclusives so much. They're similar to Playtation exclusives but with less variety but I just don't see the magic either way.

PC would be the only platform to game on.