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It's Becoming Impossible To Buy A Steam Deck (kotaku.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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[–] 29 points 9 months ago (8 children)

...and pay orders of magnitude more money for games, be forced into a subscription to play online, and be unable to run software like emulators officially.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    If you have access to a local library with video games on offer, then you could very well play more popular physical releases for much cheaper on consoles.
    Re emulation, Xbox Series consoles do wonders in dev mode (granted, that's not official, but it works very well).

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    But then that's undermined by access to piracy then. Romsets for emulated consoles are widespread, and repacks of cross-platform releases are similarly ubiquitous.

    Purchasing a closed hardware/software ecosystem makes little rational sense from a monetary perspective. It only makes more sense from a "simplicity" or "integration" perspective.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    I'm simply pointing out that your statement might not be absolutely true. Whether or not it makes sense financially speaking is not as cookie-cutter as it tends to be presented. If you aren't interested in multiplayer, you have access to either libraries and/or a fair used market, consoles certainly can be financially better than PCs, even Steam Deck.

    There are many other reasons why consoles don't make sense - lacklustre modding scene, censorship, content delisting and "ownership" - but imo it's hard to argue against how cheap they can be compared to a PC.
    Piracy is certainly an option, but then why even bring up pricing in the first place, unless any and every game suddenly becomes free on PC?

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    In the end I guess it's just centered around whatever this hypothetical gamer is looking for, but my current stance is predicated on Boots Theory, where purchasing an enticingly cheap console will absolutely screw you in the long run compared to an open platform such as the PC ecosystem. Open platforms are resistant from enshittification and software distribution monopolies, whereas the console market thrives on subsidized hardware that entraps their user into a locked in cage that seems impossible to leave the longer you spend.

    I would even argue if I bought a cheap used office PC from some liquidated company for 50-60 USD and placed a modest GPU within it, even with lower specs compared to current console hardware, I have gotten better value for my money and have better future game and software prospects than the PS5/Switch2/Xbox Ecoystem owner.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    I wouldn't call current consoles "enticingly cheap", but I see where you're coming from and I agree with the stance that there's essentially two (three if you want to include cloud and/or subscription-based) models with fairly different standards.
    The PC ecosystem isn't as resistant as we'd like to think imo, with its over-reliance on Steam vs other storefronts (but that's kind of a moot point if you take into account piracy I guess).

    Yep, if that hypothetical gamer doesn't care about the "latest and greatest", then they might be better served by a lower spec'd PC.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    Idk, before the current bubble-fuckery I still know/spoke to a good portion of gamers who were strictly console. They grew up with consoles, and their perception is very much that it's too expensive to get into PC gaming. And I mean...I get it. I'm still rocking my 1060 on my desktop, even before the ram shit I wouldn't be able to afford to upgrade to modern hardware.
    It's definitely all the ancillary costs to consoles that people are kinda trained to not think about. PS+ started on the PS3 and was a nice bonus for people who weren't fussed about paying extra for more stuff that wasn't required. Over the years it went from a non-essential extra to mandatory to access all the functions of a console you "own".
    It's the tendency to extract as much money as possible, and if you go slow enough then there's only minimal kickback from the consumers.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

    People are very bad at making good long term financial decisions.

    Hence why the Xbox and Playstation outsell the Steam Deck nearly 100 to 1.

    (Edit: update the math - including the PS5 sales really don't hold a candle...)

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