I've heard that for every console generation for the last 15 years. I don't think the arguments are any stronger now than they were in 2013.
1) with Valve's Steam Deck and the console-like experience for the Store on their Steam OS, PC GAMING is going to reach a broader market : you no longer need to install Windows, figure out driver updates or even how to use Windows, etc. in order to benefit from STEAM. edit: I have seen these type of gamers in the reddit discussions : they know about PC GAMING, they want a part of it, to enjoy it like their friends, but they never really got into the whole "building a pc" .. but now they are looking at the possibility finally of playing "PC games" on the Steam Deck (which is "good enough") ... not to mention the countless discussioons comparing the Switch and the Deck
... which ties right into #2 :
2) now you benefit from HUGE sales all year long. Every weekend games go on sale. Every holiday season there are huge sales.
You might argue there are also sales on PS/Nintendo, but I don't think they are as good there?
Plus, with Steam you get access to a huge catalog of "pc gaming", including so many smaller and super cheap games, many of which are actually quite decent.
Basically, if Valve gets thing right with the Steam Deck OS and their rumored "console"... pc gaming is reaching into the console market which they could never do before. And over the years the PC could become a platform to converge to since it is now on handhelds (Steamdeck) and games developed for it can provide a console experience.
And since SONY & al are already porting more of their games to PC, with controller support etc... their games are pretty much already "steam deck verified" and will be a premium experience on the future Valve console, so they've kinda already dug themselves into this "converging towards PC architecture" hole.
Imho the only question left in this scenario, is whether Linux platform + PROTON will be able to support AAA games consistently... but it looks like Valve is confident about it.
I've been playing Forza Horizon 5 during the weekend on my gaming PC. If I look it up on ProtonDB, I'm greeted with a red "BORKED" text for "won't start or is crucially unplayable". Forza Horizon 4, which is now three years old, is given a "Silver" rating. Looking through the comments, it varies between "Single player runs great", "Having minor issues" and "Won't run at all".
2) I think you're way overestimating the amount of money people spend and the amount of titles they buy. I'd wager that most people do not care about massive sales that much and they have a handful of titles they will play per year. And of course, there are the people who just buy FIFA / Madden / whatever when it comes out and play it for a year.
To me the real question left is one of price. Will Valve be able to release a 'Steam Console' at the same price and performance as an Xbox? Or will people buying Xboxes today be willing to pay significantly more for a Steam Console than they are currently paying? As cool as the Steamdeck is, it's also twice the price of a Switch.
Deus Ex Mankind Divided: PSN: $5.99, Steam: $5.24
Mortal Kombat 11: PSN: $17.49 Steam: $17.49
Call of Duty 4 Remastered: PSN: $19.99 Steam: 24.99
Far Cry 5: PSN: $11.99 Steam: $11.99
Resident Evil 4: PS3: $4.99 PS4: $9.99 Steam: $4.99
Oh and for whatever reason PSN doesn't charge taxes in my region but Steam does so PSN is actually 15% cheaper.
Obviously this is just a tiny sample of games I could think of and more comparison could be done but IME PC prices are not significantly lower if at all. Humble Bundles might be an exception on a per game basis but you also get a lot of crap you may not have otherwise bought...
Games go on sale on PSN/Live/eShop all the time, every weekend and week there's usually something. Might not be the best deal ever on a game but that applies to Steam too.
