Most people don't keep around a whole stash of old consoles, while keeping a 10-15 year old steam account is way more common. If you game on PC you will most likely have a steam acc.
Meaning whenever and whatever kind of PC you get, you have your library.
Plus the abandonware, freeware, and all the giveaways (Epic store front regularly gives away all sorts of great games for free, even new AAA titles sometimes) and other goodies that come from an open platform.
If you just go to a store and buy a console, you basically have nothing, other than the F2P lootbox games. It's a closed platform so you have nothing. And have to rebuy stuff from zero if you want to play the games you had in past.
The fact I can just go buy a PC and have the whole steam library dating back to almost two decades is the real value. And that i'm not locked out.
No, the sales are just as competitive. It's been there for years. Take a look at sites that keep price histories for Steam, PSN and XBL. Only real value in PC gaming is free online.