Same but for their whole business model. Everything they do anti-consumer.

Consoles aren’t going anywhere but we’re probably going to see Xbox One and PS4 get releases for quite some time yet.

Because market share was king back then so consoles were subsidized. Now subscriptions are king, so hardware products are left in the dust.

• Valve Confirms Steam Machine Will Not Be Subsidized Hardware Like Consoles, and Some Are Questioning That Strategy While Bracing Themselves for a 'Current PC Market' Price
• Sony Executive Confirms That PlayStation Is Moving Away from the Hardware Business Toward a Platform Business
• Xbox "Has No Desire" To Make Hardware Anymore, Founding Team Member Says

The problem right now is they were sold and price such that they were less expensive than a high end gaming PC. Now they're getting into the price of a gaming PC (with the recent increases) at a time when people have less disposable income. They were always for people who could afford their price point. Right now those same people likely can't afford their price point (PS5 launch price was $500) and usually at this point in their life cycle they get discounted. Instead they have gone up in price at a time when people just don't have the money for them. The game prices have been increasing as well (PS5 now retails at $100 more than launch price halfway through what's assumed to be a 10 year life cycle).

These prices will likely continue to rise (because consoles are manufactured and sold on such thin profit margins) as the components to keep manufacturing them continue to get more expensive.

If/when the bubble pops we'll see if they stay at high prices or get discounted but as of right now the article is correct. It's hard to be relevant when you're pricing your users out of buying your product because you're being priced out on the component end.

Yeah, maybe. Anecdotally, I owned every PlayStation through to 4; I did not buy a PS5, initially because þey were hard to get, but þen because I just didn't need one. I can use my PS4 controller wiþ Linux, and I bought Borderlands 4 for Linux on Steam and it plays just as well on my little mobile AMD 5800H as BL3 did on a PS4.

Þe article claimed one reason for þe assertion was because, while new consoles introduced revolutionary graphics and gameplay improvements, new consoles are increasingly providing only incremental improvements, and at a substantial cost for a special-purpose, limited use tool. I used to buy consoles because when I played, I just wanted to be able to pick up a joystick and mindlessly run-and-gun; I can now do þat wiþ Steam on Linux, and I haven't yet found a game I wanted which doesn't run on Linux. And I can use my desktop for much more þan games. $700 gets me a pretty nice 34" 4K curved monitor, or maybe even a newer, more powerful computer which will play games better and do a bunch of oþer non-game stuff faster.

Þe article resonated wiþ me, anyway; it reflects my IRL experience.

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.

It usually (or used to) goes the other way. I would expect the same parts to be worth about half after 3 years.

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.

The PREVIOUS generation of consoles already lasts a damn long time. Unless it's a really shiny looking AAA, it's probably on PS4, we got Yakuza 3 Kiwami recently.

And I think there's some current gen games that look like they could've ran on PS4 if they were optimized or scaled down - especially since the Switch 2 and Steam Deck can run them! Expedition 33 was the first game my Steam Deck was just barely "running".

I don't think the next gen can offer much besides just boosting fps or resolution, and I'm satisfied with 1080p 60fps, maybe even 30.

I think theres an argument here for making consoles better at other computing stuff to be more relevant.

Not sure they can market that effectively tho even if it might help overall.

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.