feat(notes): the console wars have been lost

Signed-off-by: Xe Iaso <me@xeiaso.net>

Author: Xe

lume/src/notes/2026/console-wars-lost.mdx

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+---
+title: "The console wars have been lost"
+desc: "Valve wins by doing absolutely nothing"
+date: 2026-07-09
+---
+
+Previously I opined that [Valve was about to win the console generation](https://xeiaso.net/blog/2025/valve-is-about-to-win-the-console-generation/). I couldn't have possibly predicted that both Microsoft and Sony would just self-sabotage so hard that they're both going to lose.
+
+Between Microsoft's [decimation of the Xbox division](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c36yy27rnpeo), [slaughtering off the IdTech team](https://tech4gamers.com/xbox-lays-off-every-coder-id-software/), and [continued increases of Xbox hardware prices](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/25/xbox-console-price-update/); there's nothing to really be excited about with the Xbox. Sure their most recent presentation showed off a bunch of exclusives, but none of them really made me think "wow, I should go get an Xbox to play that". Hell, few of them made me think "wow I should go play that" beyond the Halo remake coming out next month (and really I just want to see how much of a trainwreck that is going to be).
+
+Microsoft is also starting to double-down on their in-house games being Xbox exclusives, which really doesn't give me much reason to want to play them because I simply can't buy them without buying an Xbox.
+
+Sony also has [discontinued porting their games to PC](https://www.polygon.com/sony-ps5-pc-games-sales-ended/) because they're not hitting the (probably impossible) revenue targets that they need to make up for [big-ticket failures like Concord](https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/03/an-important-update-on-concord/). I do have a PS5 that has mostly been relegated to gathering dust when it's not playing YouTube and Twitch duty in the living room, it's likely going to be replaced in favour of my Steam Machine whenever that comes in next year. However nothing that's come out in terms of Playstation exclusives is really compelling, and what is compelling enough just isn't that compelling to want to buy it on Playstation as opposed to just getting it on Steam where I can run it on my tower or on the home theatre PC.
+
+Sony also has been [raising prices](https://blog.playstation.com/2026/03/27/new-price-changes-for-ps5-ps5-pro-and-playstation-portal-remote-player/) and recently announced that [they're killing physical media next generation](https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/). It's starting to make me wonder if I should even bother getting the next generation of Playstation. If I can't give people physical games as gifts anymore, why should I bother buying the new console?
+
+My husband and I both can't remember why we even got a PS5 in the first place, maybe it so that we could do couch gaming without hearing the fan noise or so that the video streaming experience from the NAS could support HDR.
+
+We have a Switch 2 at home, it's mostly there to play Nintendo exclusives like Mario Kart World and the Xenoblade series. If those exclusives were available on Steam, we wouldn't buy them on the Switch 2.
+
+Otherwise, everything is via Steam or other PC storefronts anyways.
+
+Man, Valve really does win by doing absolutely nothing while the rest of the industry shoots itself in the head. I fear for what happens when Gabe Newell retires and the MBA cancer fully infects Valve.