Do they know most of their customers have budget and they can’t just spend entirety of it for gaming stuff?
There are also their potential customers that will gated by those huge cost for entry-level gaming setup.
Also for those who don’t even have budget, why the hell they gonna participate on those out of reach game ecosystem?
It’s the K-shaped economy.
25% stopped buying. 50% are buying and dealing with things as best they can. And the last 25% are rolling in it and paying exorbitant prices to show off and balancing out the losses.
Honestly the cheapest place to be in gaming is PC even with current prices. I could go to my local thrift store and buy a cheap ass laptop for 50 bucks and play and buy a couple really solid games on steam or GOG for another 50. Would that laptop be great? Probably not but you could do it and there’s also the bonus that if you do upgrade to a proper computer all your games still work.
what would you say is an ideal budget for a mid range build these days? i know it’s prob the absolute worst time to build, but i really want a pc to break free from console life lol.
Do you want new or are you willing to cobble together used stuff? If new, $1k is probably about as low as you want to go, but you can definitely squeeze lower. If you’re interested in used stuff, it really depends on what kind performance you’re looking for. You can put together a computer that’s around ps5 performance for around $500 using an old office pc and like a Radeon 6700. I did something similar to kind of meet ps4 performance back in the day when I was a broke student.
i was thinking maybe getting a pre built i saw something around 1100 usd on micro center cause i dont really know jack about building my own pc. i am fortunate to have buddies game share their huge ps libraries and steam libraries so selection of games is def not an issue. i just dont really know much about compatibility and which is good with what. but for performance wise i would LIKE solid 1440p gaming across the board, 60fps or higher works for me. do you think i should suck it up and build now or pre build and upgrade later?
Fair enough, you really aren’t spending much more, if any at all, on microcenter prebuilts if you’re lucky enough to have one close. There are tons of resources for learning, but if your time is worth more than the hundred bucks or so and you don’t care about customizing it to your needs, wants, or preferences, that’s totally understandable.
But yeah, tough time to get/build a gaming pc. Imo there are a few different strategies to deal with the crazy prices.
- suck it up pay whatever it is to get what you want.
- get a good base platform and skimp on some components that can be easily upgraded later.
- get an old relatively dirt cheap system as a stopgap. Office pc + gpu? Gaming laptop with broken screen? But probably won’t have much resale value when/if prices do come down
Personally if I didn’t already have a pc and old parts laying around I’d go with #2. Get a case I like, decent mobo, cpu, psu. And I’d get a used couple generation old gpu, and absolute minimum viable amount of ram and storage until prices come down. Or I get a raise lol
Currently my desktop is a ryzen 7 1700 and Radeon 5700. It’s getting pretty old now, and if prices weren’t insane I’d have upgraded by now. But tbh, it’s fine. I don’t really care about playing the latest AAA games, and all the games I am interested in playing run absolutely fine at 1440p. So for the time being, it’s fine. I could upgrade the cpu pretty massively for not much money, but eh I’m really not bothered enough to do that until I get a new gpu. But a modest gpu upgrade is a ton of money, so not quite worth it to me yet.
Edit: oh and yeah if you do just grab a prebuilt, you will probably want at least a 9060xt or 5060ti for the gpu if you want to play like brand new AAA games at 1440p and high-ish settings
hey buddy just wanted to thank you again for the advice. i was able to snag a 7500x3d with a 9060xt open box for less than 1k at my local micro center. its set up now and playing everything so well! happy to leave the console life
Awesome, enjoy!
i appreciate the write up buddy, i’ve been very inclined but yeah this may be the worst time ever to get into pc building… i’ll keep my eyes peeled for a micro center deal if there’s a good one, saw a 9060xt pre built in the realm of 1300 usd. not sure if that’s really good bang for my buck, im also thinking of getting a bundle and perhaps a single fan nvidia gpu, and other parts. i’ve got an SSD lying in my ps5 i can always take out to save some easy cash on the full cost of the build.
Hell if I know, I don’t look at PC prices when they’re this high.
hahaha that’s fair, looking at it has made me question my choices
PC also has uncountable choice of affordable games thanks to the indie scene booming. AAA is dying and Im here for it
Finding old gems is difficult, but yep, even with $50 laptop you technically have a lifetime (and 10 times over) worth of old video games available. Graphics and game design was atrocious though.
50 might be pushing it here, that is super old and low spec. Even an N150 laptop costs more. Can comfortably find 10th gen i5 desktops for under £200 though. Laptops seem to cost quite a bit more if I skim across CEX. I suspect being easier to store helps as they don’t want to move them so quickly while desktops are taking up more space and they want to shift it faster.
Downside with those desktops is that its often full of proprietary HP or dell bullshit. But then laptops are even worse so I guess that is your choice. Still, CEX have got a 5 year warranty on second hand things which is pretty good.
I was actually thinking quite out of date actually. Also the thrift store near me tends to have piss cheap laptops cause they are locked or have wipped drives. But even if it’s say 16 years old you could still play Kotor, Republic Cammandos, every Fallout up until 4, Dragon Age Origins, and plenty more modern no but good absolutely.
I would probably see if factorio can run on it. Rimworld too.
Modded? No. Unmodded? Maybe. I used to run an ultra modded NV save on a shitty laptop from 2010.
Well it depends on the mods, for both games lightly modded should be fine. Throwing in 100s might be a problem though.
Then again, 1.7 for Rimworld is apparently improving performance by quite a bit. So 2-4 times as many mods?
I thought a hundred plus mods was lightly modded Rimworld? The game is supposed to take over twenty minutes to launch right?
Looking at my own gaming expenses, I’ve definitely stopped buying as much as I did say 10 years ago. To me it seems like the value of what you get for your money has fallen. I can afford it, but why should I? On one side, the corporations are actively trying to lock down everything and make it clear I’m just a guest in their theme park and on the other, they’re offering investment safe sequels and remakes of past successes. I’m also kinda tired of Sony’s “AAA cinematic gaming experiences”.
I may also be getting too old cause all excitement of GTA VI fell through the floor once I learned I can’t own a copy without the explicit approval of either console maker. So fuck that…
Honestly, the value for money in the gaming industry is the best its ever been outside of AAA and consoles.
Market spending correlates this, more money than ever is being spent but its focussed on indies, AAA sales have been dropping and big studios are losing money, deservedly.
Yup, I do this as well. Most of my gaming expenses go towards PC games now.
The world may heal after all …
Og Xbox rocked. Because sega engineers made it.
Sega engineers? I know the XBOX was always seen as the spiritual successor to the Dreamcast, because it was continuation from software by Sega just when Sega stopped with hardware. So far so good. But how does it come it was engineered by Sega?
Several of Sega’s engineers went there after Sega hardware shut down.
Interesting indeed. I was not aware of this. I’ll probably dig into this subject later today.
Indeed. OG xbox feels a lot more like a Microsoft endeavor. It’s built on x86 hardware with very little proprietary components, powered by direct x.
Well, for one thing, compare a Dreamcast controller to an original Xbox controller
The Dreamcast also ran a form of Windows CE and had its own version of Xbox Live. Dreamcast was a prelude to what 21st century gaming would be like more or less.
Woah, this is the first I’m hearing about it running windows CE. Got anything where I can read more?
BTW the Windows CE label was even on the console I think: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast#/media/File:Dreamcast-Console-Set.png (ah yes, I remembered it correctly) I was always wondering what this has anything to do with Windows. I think it wasn’t a full Windows anyway, and components were modular. Never digged into this myself, which is a shame because I’m interested. Found following interesting link:
In the end, this didn’t materialise into a full desktop interface or integration with Microsoft’s online services. Instead, it served as an optional layer of abstraction to simplify hardware operations.
In conclusion, ‘Windows CE for Dreamcast’ was merely a secondary SDK of choice for developers.
- https://blink.copetti.org/writings/consoles/dreamcast/operating-system/
It was an opt in feature, not the main operating system I think. Don’t know what the actual OS of the Dreamcast is.
And the obvious links:
Thank you for the detailed answer! That’s interesting!
It literally says Windows CE on the console…
Because I see so many Sega Dreamcasts in my day to day life, in 2026. Man, fuck off. Have some curiosity about the world.
You fuck off, too lazy to zoom in on a picture of it LMAO
Curious to see Nintendo’s numbers in comparison.
And yeah, those prices are insane. At a certain point, just pay for a PC and have access to whatever you want. Plus, you don’t have to pay an additional fee for online features. It doesn’t have to be the best gaming rig ever, especially for most people. And recoup the money spent on a gaming rig by escaping the closed eco system. Wait for good sales on PC games or turn to the high seas.
And honestly, outside of Nintendo, I haven’t seen a console exclusive game on Xbox or PS5 that I’ve wanted to play in years.
Those prices though. People can still game without consoles, and with the way they’re destroying the economy, it seems people are realizing they can ditch the consoles for other options.
just pay for a PC and have access to whatever you want.
Yes and no. Yes in many cases, but no in exclusives. Also it depends on the operating system, because Windows 11 is terrible. It’s so much cleaner to just boot up a console and play something, than to use Windows. Linux? Yes, that’s better, but then you have less games to choose from (especially with the online multiplayer games). Whether this is enough as a replacement depends on many factors. So saying “just buy a PC” is not always the right choice. And that comes from someone who advocates PC and always says “PC is the endgame”. We are not there yet. Also god bless Valve (for now).
However, some of the exclusivity issues go away with emulation, recompilation and decompilation efforts.
I think exclusives are a bit of a none starter now. Previous gens of consoles certainly had a good chunk of exclusive games that may have enticed people in. But this gen has had very few that would be “system selling good”. And then you have all of the pc exclusives as a counter argument.
I would also say that you have a significant backlog of incredible games that you can still buy and play, and don’t tend to disappear as you move between generations on PC, so unless you are wanting the newest shiny game, you will have too much to play in your life time.
Also windows 11 isn’t terrible… It isn’t good, but it’s fine. And I don’t think I agree with it being cleaner to boot up a console and just play a game. If you have steam run at start up, they are pretty equal.
Agree on the exclusivity thing and also I’m one of those with big backlog; it grows faster than I can play. There is no need for me to buy day 1 expensive AAA games. I disagree with all points made in the last segment of your reply.
Also windows 11 isn’t terrible… It isn’t good, but it’s fine.
Windows 11 is in my opinion terrible. The updates, the spying, the bloat, the UI, the ads, can’t customize much… I don’t like anything in Windows 11. And it gets in the way of playing games too, especially if you want to play with gamepad all the time and messages appear (Steam Controller however helps a lot here). To a point that I will never use Windows 11 on my own computer ever. (and it’s not like I wouldn’t have experience in Win11 too)
And I don’t think I agree with it being cleaner to boot up a console and just play a game.
If you ever used SteamOS through Steam Deck in example, then I think you would agree with me. Starting Windows requires a password entering, which is not an issue with consoles. Then Windows loads lot of crap and bloat and you might use the computer for other stuff than gaming too. Here and there are issues using it to play games, like updating drivers, configuration and so on. Playing games on a console is much cleaner and simpler than Windows 11 on PC. SteamOS is also cleaner than Windows 11, but consoles still a lot less problematic in regard that.
If you have steam run at start up, they are pretty equal.
They are not. Running Steam in foreground in Big Picture mode is just not the same. It looks the same on the surface, but there are lot of little issues.
I do have a steam deck, and have also used several Linux installs. If you are booting a Linux pc you should be entering a password.
You can also have a local account on windows 11 and not have a password. So it just boots to desktop and shows steam. I personally don’t have big picture running on windows, I have a mouse and just click on the game I want to play.
I also have never experienced windows stopping me from playing with a controller(Xbox, ps5 or steam controllers old and new), or interacting with big picture mode.
It seems like you have tiny things that you are blowing way out of proportion. Like a windows pc taking longer to load than a console, we are talking seconds difference.
Also windows 11 isn’t terrible…
Sounds like Stockholm Syndrome. I guess if you don’t know any better…
Linux? Yes, that’s better, but then you have less games to choose from (especially with the online multiplayer games).
It’s pretty much only those mmo games at this point. Pretty much everything else works, often better than they work on Windows 11
@prole @thingsiplay i tried some MMOs on Linux which have a steam launcher. All of those i tried, worked fine - incomplete list: (T)ESO, EvE, Skull&Bones, Nostale, Neverwinter, Elite Dangerous.
Yeah I was referring specifically to ones with anti-cheat, which are mostly first person shooters.
But yeah I think most people who haven’t tried it yet would be shocked by how well gaming works on Linux at this point.
The anticheats actually do work on linix, they just can’t spy on you as effectively so publishers aren’t interested. Really tells you that the priority isn’t on anti-cheat, but on rifling through you shit.
Besides, if they wanted anticheat that works, it would be server side anyway.
It’s not even mmo games but rather competitive multiplayer games.
So online games with large amounts of players?
So like Massively Multiplayer Online games?
Warframe is an MMO and plays fine. Final Fantasy 14 is an MMO and plays fine. So does FF11, so do the mihoyo lot, and a good bunch of gachas. And also many other MMO’s that I’m leaving behind.
No, it’s not MMO’s, it’s a specific subset of them which is the competititive pvp ones.
Nintendo’s numbers
N: “here is a new Mario game or something, whatever, nobody cares anymore, $80 pricing why not”
Customers: excited screaming and trampling each other
Not gonna pretend that I’m not one of them. I’d probably buy a Switch 3 today if they said it was bundled with Super Mario Odyssey 2.
I’m a sucker for first party N games.
Raising Prices and making them the EXACT same as Computers but Worse didn’t bring in MORE Sales? Quick! MAYBE if we Raise the Prices MORE it’ll Reverse course!
-EVERY High Paid CEO ever!
EXACT same as Computers
I wouldn’t call it exact same. Hardware, yes, compatible. But that is not what a console is about. The hardware compatibility to a PC if any is a positive for consoles, because it makes ports and develop on the games much easier without much fuss. And consoles aren’t worse to a PC in all cases, they still have some value. The operating system and game compatibility, and ease of use are major factors.
It was about the prices… THEY are the same
Oh, right. I thought you were talking about the architecture. And for the prices, well I wouldn’t say its the same, but let’s say that consoles no longer have a price advantage of the hardware. Because PCs gone up in prices too, as consoles gone up, so consoles never catched up to PC in that regard.
It’s not exactly the same, but I do feel like it’s almost always worse in the console side these days (excepting Nintendo here).
On console you’re juggling patches and updates, installing to drive, you have concerns about whether games will play well on non-pro versions of the system, Xbox is traditionally hostile to physical media while PS is ending it.
If you’re going to install digital games and download updates, worry about compatibility, might as well play on PC. Those issues are less on console, but present on both.
Meanwhile most games are getting PC ports (since modern consoles are very PC like and games need the extra sales), you’re not as locked down to a single store, you have more room to upgrade incrementally (in theory). Operating system is also in favor of PC.
Ease of use I’d still grant that consoles have advantage, sure.
I don’t argue all this to put down consoles, I love consoles and played only/mostly on consoles for many years. But I think there’s a lot of truth to saying modern PS and Xbox have moved so close to PC that they’re losing the pros and embracing the same cons.
This is a much more nuanced take I could agree with. The previous comment wasn’t like that. I decided to go full PC gaming around the end of XBOX 360 generation, because I saw it coming and consoles were more PC like ever, and PCs (thanks to Steam) more console like ever. It’s been what, 2 decades almost and I can say confidently that consoles are not exactly the same like PCs.
But in an other comment the user I replied to said he didn’t even talk about all of the stuff, but was talking about the price. If we talk about the price, yeah sure, the gap has almost vanished. One of the biggest advantages of buying a console was also its initial price of hardware.
As for the PC more and more like console, it’s even more true with something like Steam Machine and Steam Deck, but without the downside of locked down console. That’s the closest we get to a console like experience and usability. Meanwhile current gen consoles have a PC architecture, getting digital only, supports keyboard (and mouse?) for selected games, updates are similar to PC, but without the issues of a PC. The user does not need to type in password on boot, doesn’t need to update several parts of the system, no need to install drivers.
They are closer than ever in history of computing, PC and gaming. But there are lot of differences that I cannot say exactly the same (which you personally agree with me, based on the reply).
The user does not need to type in password on boot, doesn’t need to update several parts of the system, no need to install drivers.
That’s how it works on a steam machine/deck. You get an update from steam that updates your whole system. That’s it. If you install other stuff from outside steam then things change, but you can’t do that in a console anyway.
That’s how it works on a steam machine/deck.
I know (own first gen Steam Deck myself), but most people don’t have SteamOS. In Windows this is still necessary, because it’s not just for gaming and unlike SteamOS it isn’t read only mode.
That’s an user problem. SteamOS is already compatible with many pc’s, and there are other linux distros that work similar to steamos when it comes to updating. Users still want windows when for the majority of them, it’s a non-issue to switch to linux.
People want windows but then complain that windows is awful. I mean, stop hitting yourself?
these companies have, for decades, failed to provide any compelling reason to spend way too much money on a one trick pony when you can spend not much more on a PC that plays games (better), plus countless other things you can do with a PC, not just for entertainment, but work, production, bills, banking, and on and on.
consoles will never go away though. there will always be a segment of the population who buy into the bombardment of ads telling them that a console is necessary
I looked at buying a ps5 for the first time since it came out a couple weeks ago because I really wanted to play LOTR War in the North again.
Its twice as expensive as it was when it came out.
I just went home and grabbed my old ps2.
Its absolutely insane that this console is so expensive right now.
It is also the last PS I would get because I want physical discs.
The ps5 that comes with a disc drive is useless, as the “physical” copies of games are just empty cases with redemption codes inside.
Wait seriously? No discs at all? For any games?
The majority as far as I know.
I strongly oppose this view: with my disc drive PS5 I am able to play games I bought second hand and games I borrowed from my local library
Yeah, those games are by far the minority.
I have literally bought the last few brand new, 2026 PS5 games on disc. I’m getting Control Resonant this week on disc.
If you mean GTAVI, then yeah that’s bonkers. But you can get most games with a physical disc currently.
Sounds like it’s gotten better? I remember it being a shit show before I sold my ps5.
Nah, that guy is a bit off. I’ve bought several brand new, 2026 titles this year and they all have discs in the box.
Gee, I wonder why!
As a PC gamer concerned about game preservation: good. Consoles are just walled hardware fiefdoms.
Play box, x-station 400, who cares
A console seemed like a stupid idea since forever. I never bought a new one, that would be a waste of money. Meanwhile game after game on sale for the pc.
How long until someone digs up a bunch of Halo Infinite discs from a New Mexico desert?
Fallout 1&2 intensifies.
Doesn’t mention how Switches and Steam Decks are doing, but I would venture to guess that Valve is eating Sony and Microsoft’s lunch.
Sony and Microsoft don’t even know Valve exists. The Steam Deck sold in its lifetime less than each console in a few weeks after launch.
The new Xbox coming out next year is going to have direct Steam support. And that’s no accident.
Xbox series X|S sold a total of just under 35 million. Those are actually estimate numbers, as Microslop stopped reporting their (embarrassing) numbers years ago.
Steam has an average of 38.5 million concurrent users, with a peak of 43.5 million users.
Steam is literally bigger than Microslop’s Xbox division, and infinitely more profitable. Sony’s PS5 has sold something like 91 million units.
The Steam Deck isn’t the relevant metric here. Every single computer with Steam installed is.
They were clearly referring to hardware sales because that’s what this post is about. As far as software sales go steam obviously does better since the market of people of with a pc is greater than consoles. Same reason why mobile is by far the largest gaming market.
Gabecube is projected to sell several hundreds thousand copies. PlayStation 5 is close to 100 million units sold.
“Sold” as in the past tense of “sell”.
It is estimated that Playstation sold 13 million consoles in 2026.
And yet Valve’s revenue was twice that of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s. Steam can run on a generic PC; Steam Deck and GabeCube are merely gravy. Storefronts are where the money’s made. Hell, haven’t PS5s been selling at a loss until recently? What’s 13 million times a negative amount?
I am all for the little guy. I looked up all the stats because of what you said. PS roughly 10 million estimated by end of year, Xbox roughly 2 million by end of year. Gabecube maybe around 60k per month with a total in 2026 of around 400k units sold. That will be roughly half of Xbox sales if they performed similarly the entire year.
Impressive start, but the PS blows them out of the water.
You’ve missed the point. Any computer can run games from Valve. Why buy a stupid expensive console when you’ve already got everything you need? This is why Sony and Microsoft are losing sales.
I will be curious how PS5 does moving forward and how well any PS6 does. Seems like Sony is in the FA stage and might be transitioning to FO.
PS5 pro prices are through the roof so it will likely keep sales muted plus everyone is ready for the new console by now. With prices the way they are the next console generation could be three years away. That is an extremely long cycle and will further hurt their sales.
Given that RAM prices are up on everything, probably not.
People aren’t avoiding new consoles because they object to Sony’s business practices. They’re avoiding them because they’ve been prices outside of the “toy” category.
Congratulations to PCs for winning the console wars :3
The win is in vain if you can’t buy PC hardware either.
There are still many thousands of games playable on older hardware.
Console players living in a world of only triple A games. Have yet to discover that 20$ games from indie developers are thousand times better
Yes you can it’s just now comparable in cost to a flagship console
I’m amazed they’ve not crashed more. The PS5 and Xbox whatever the fuck they called it are both 6 years old, if you haven’t already decided to buy one why would you get one now after the price hike?
Some people really want to play gta 6 before it comes to pc I guess
I’ll eat my shoe if a PC under $1000 will be able to play GTA VI even halfway decently when it comes to the platform. My handheld PC is nominally way more powerful than my Series S, but I’m lucky to get half the performance out of it because the Series S gets a bespoke treatment from devs to make it work well.
That’s how I ended up buying a PS3 back when GTA V was released. Well, that and Gran Turismo and wanting a Blu-ray player. But it was still not really worth it.
Same, but mostly because a cute girl told me we could play GTA together if I got it on PS3
Well did you?
Gran Turismo 6 was a fun game though
I was actually a little disappointed. Friends of mine were huge GT fans and played the shit out of it, but when I played it I found the AI opponents horribly stupid and the missing damage model was mildly weird, to say the least. I expected more than what I got. It wasn’t a bad game, but just not what I expected.
Every GT game has shitty AI. I mostly play them to just drive a whole lot of cars fast on a track for fun.
Same, was expecting sales to plummet. Guessing gta6 presales tempered the fall
