- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
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.
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I feel like I’ve heard this every console generation, that this time will be the end of consoles for real you guys!
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 think (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.
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.
Within any given tier of gaming hardware*, the main advantage of consoles is not price, but simplicity: They’re convenient and easy. They consume very little extra space (no dedicated monitor/speakers/keyboard/mouse) and require practically no technical knowledge or setup/tuning/troubleshooting effort.
But PC gamers get value for their efforts: The vastly larger pool of games and greater variety in hardware options are part of that value, but there is also the total cost of ownership: PC games tend to be available for lower prices during sales, and hardware upgrades can be done incrementally (ship of theseus style). Over the course of 10 years or so, that translates to either more fun or more money left to spend on other things.
Perhaps this decade’s painful rise in hardware costs is making more people willing to put in a bit of effort in exchange for a gaming PC’s better long-term value compared to a console.
*(I mention hardware tiers because it doesn’t make sense to compare a Nintendo Wii to a high-end Radeon or GeForce PC, of course.)
I mean that’s largely true, but it’s not like PC hardware isn’t currently relevant to the current system as well. About 2-3 years ago I went all out and built my son a 3 grand gaming PC (divorced dad energy), about a month ago I looked up the parts. The exact same build that’s now 2-3 years more outdated components, would run about 5 grand now.
So yeah… while I’ve been largely out of consoles for a while now. gaming hardware in general is pricing everyone out right now as data centers are bidding everyone up…
It usually (or used to) goes the other way. I would expect the same parts to be worth about half after 3 years.
This. Everything’s more expensive.
The nice thing about PCs, though, is you can use the same machine for gaming and productivity. You don’t need to buy two different machines. If you have a PC, you can play games on it.
The best approach for most people right now is to play games on whatever they already have. If you already have a console, then you don’t need to buy one. If you already have a PC, then you don’t need a console. Play games on what you already have. PC gamers do have the advantage of new releases being available on computers built even two decades ago (if you ignore the more demanding releases), but there’s plenty of games to play on all platforms.
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.
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.
The limiting factor is in significant part memory and to a lesser degree storage, and while in some cases, there are options for PCs — like using scavenged DDR4 DIMMs — that aren’t available for consoles, PC prices have also generally been hit by the same factors that have driven up console prices.
