For a long time, the common wisdom was that game consoles would usurp PC gaming, leaving it a niche hobby, ignored by the greater gaming community. And indeed, for a long time consoles were the most popular way to play mainstream games. But recently, especially since the release of the current generation of consoles, the very opposite seems to be coming true. PC gaming has been expanding while consoles falter.
Looking forward to the next Xbox and PlayStation consoles, analysts are predicting $900 as the low end of possible pricing–and that number is seeming more and more optimistic. That’s a lot of money to spend for a dedicated machine that, for most console owners, is just used for playing Call of Duty or the latest football game. Consoles are becoming too expensive for all but the most dedicated gamers to justify–especially when gamers in their teens and early 20s have grown up in a world where a console is no longer needed to play the vast majority of games.
They’re stuck being priced-out of the game with the rising price of hardware caused by AI data-centers.
And to the surprise of no one, those with a vested interest in building and maintaining those data-centers are trying to make cloud-gaming a thing (Amazon Luna, GeForce Now).
You won’t own your AAA games any more, and they’ll make them cloud-exclusive to stomp piracy and game resales.
There are already more games released than one can ever dream of playing in a lifetime. Indie developers also release groundbreaking new stuff left and right that will run on ancient PCs, Steam Decks, and older Switch models.
- Hang on to your older consoles and check Gamestop for the titles you missed the last gen, you might find them cheap.
- Get a cheap emulation handheld or jailbreak your old PSP or DS to unlock thousands of genre-defining titles for games coming out today.
- Affordable adapters let you use your fancy 8Bitdo controllers and whatnot on your PS4 with stick drift or otherwise dead controllers.
I literally cannot get FOMO for the new stuff because there are so many options. Battlefield 6 comes with a rootkit? No problem, I just won’t play it. New Capcom game is too expensive? I’m sure I can get a similar fix elsewhere or wait 6 years for a steep discount.
Every time a game company/dev does something questionable like price-gouging aging hardware, introduce digital download-only games on cartridges, make a racist tweet, or revoke games from digital libraries, it helps me strike a bunch of stuff off of my backlog. That gives me more time to play what is left on the list and maybe even to touch grass.
You won’t own your AAA games any more
Meh, solid indie games are usually better anyway. I’ve generally actively avoided AAA titles. Undertale, Cave Story, Slay the Spire, Hellcard, Slice & Dice, FTL, Noita, etc. can barely be touched by even the grandest AAA titles. Shiny graphics a compelling game do not make.
Consoles are a joke now.
I totally abandoned consoles in 2006 right before the release of the PS3 and never looked back. My shiny new 8800 GTX was a much better use of that cash.
20 years later and my gaming backlog spans decades. All of which are perfectly playable today.
The Atari 2600 was priced at $189.95 in 1977, which is equivalent to at least $1010 today. I think the current pricing is in line with history, although the chip and memory shortage certainly won’t help. I’ve always gotten more enjoyment from PC gaming, anyway.
This is an oversimplification that ends up being deceptive by coincidence, because hardware is supposed to drastically reduce in price as it becomes standardized and mass-produced, and game consoles and computers both did this.
That we’re now back to the point where a console costs nearly the same as the adjusted cost of the very first, hyper-niche, hyper-bespoke hardware units in the 80s, is a HUGE regression. Prices aren’t “in-line with” the Atari prices because that’s just how they scale, they’re there by chance as they spike upwards due to supply constraints driven by AI.
“Even though we’ve lost all engines and are in a nose dive, we’re currently at 300ft, which is in line with a normal landing approach altitude.”
That doesn’t take into account the move to outsource production to countries with cheaper labor. Sure it can be inline with history but the profit margins are so wide the companies are practically scalping the buyers.
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