Console esports are the black sheep of the family to a certain extent. While the biggest and ‘best’ events take place on PC these days, the likes of FIFA, Call of Duty and Halo have been confined to the plug-and-play platforms, and derided as a result. Regardless of the accuracy, the meme that "PC players are better than console" has caught on and stuck, and today if you play using a controller, rather than with a mouse and keyboard, you are likely to be on the receiving end of a bit of stick.
A great recent example of this would be ESPN’s poll thing they do on Twitter, where the company attempts to engage with the ‘yoof’ by getting them to vote on whether Shroud or s1mple is better on some odd level. It obviously has very little to do with esports when you look at the Canadian or Ninja being included, but some are player vs player, like the poll that saw s1mple face off against OpTic and CoD king Scump.
Despite the fact Scump is one of the few esports stars anywhere, on any platform, that can match s1mple’s sheer brilliance, many PC gamers felt the need to dump all over him in the replies, much to Scump’s sadness. Keep in mind the OpTic man has said in the past that CSGO is the best esport, publicly, and yet the sheer insecurity and rank rudeness of the PC crowd shone through like a fart penetrating the air in a lift.
Console, equal if not better
Sadly for the elitists, console gaming is not only equal to the PC kind, but it is actually a long way ahead in some respects. While the likes of ESL and Blast tell the crowd they are "real fans" and no longer have to hide their love of nerdy stuff, FIFA can call upon England internationals and players who are household names worldwide to promote their game, and the atmosphere is far more natural that you’d expect.
In the video, Liverpool and England FIFA star F2Tekkz features alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold, a real-life Liverpool and England player, and Man City and England star Raheem Sterling. Without spoiling the action for anyone looking to watch, it’s a short, fairly natural film made with a young man who is clearly not just ready for this level of fame, but hungry for it too, who feels right at home rubbing shoulders with genuine international players.
The film was made possible by the English FA, which treats the FIFA side with a great level of respect, and also by the fact that many pro players spend their free time playing a bit of FIFA. Of course, there are footballers who love other games, most notably Casemiro and Neymar of Brazil, who play CS, but the crossover to FIFA will always be more natural and accessible, and give console an advantage over the PC big boys.
As Scump said, "Can’t we just coincide?", and while his word choice might not have been clear, his message is. We are all esports, and most of us know that a Smash, Street Fighter, FIFA or CSGO pro are all essentially pioneers braving the same new frontier, but there is always the squeaky wheel. It’s just very ironic that after years of hearing about Call of Duty toxicity, console gamers and the like, it’s the PC crowd who can’t just be happy that someone else is also good at a game.
