Today’s game consoles are historically overpriced

Comments

• rafoix@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Decades of corporate consolidation only leads to higher consumer costs and record corporate profits.

  Corporations should not be allowed to exist above a certain market cap. Break them up. Make them compete.

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  • ampersandrew@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    There’s a very good couple of paragraphs in this article showing where the likely culprits are in the pricing of these consoles. There’s about as much competition now as there has been for the past four decades, but Moore’s Law has broken down.

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    • Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Can’t speak for competition in consoles, but parts costs have radically increased, particularly GPUs (and it’s getting much more difficult to have generational leaps in graphics quality).

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• mhague@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  But even before recent tariffs, modern console prices weren’t dropping nearly as fast as history suggested they should. In fact, Sony first raised the nominal starting price of the PS5 Digital Edition back in 2023, way before Trump’s current trade war was even on the horizon.

  I’m not saying Trump is to blame but this is misleading. Trump hurt our economy with tariffs during his first term nearly 10 years ago. During 2023 he was releasing “Agenda 47” policies, in which he specifically mentioned more tariffs. Here’s Trump threatening tariffs 8 months before Sony raised the price

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• HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  tariffs and inflations dude. tariffs and inflation

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• missingno@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  As the article states, I think the biggest factor is just the slowing of Moore's Law. Not only is new tech improving at a slower pace, old tech just isn't getting cheaper to manufacture.

  Though I think one more factor the article fails to account for is that console generations themselves are lasting much longer, and even bleeding into each other as last-gen games continue to get released well into the new generation. The steepest price cuts on the graph came at the end of a system's lifespan, those are just fire sale prices to clear out old stock. Comparing those numbers feels a bit misleading, because five years into an old console meant it was ready to be phased out, while five years now means we're only halfway through the generation.

  I know there's a lot wrong with the industry, a lot that's worth circlejerking about, but the fact that we're seeing price increases isn't just some greedy CEO trying to pocket a few bucks, it's a sign of some serious extenuating circumstances. Whole damn economy's fucked, it's a problem bigger than gaming.

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  • frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    They could just not have new consoles. We’re 5 years into this console generation and still don’t have a compelling reason to bother. They could admit that Moore’s Law is dead, and stop worrying about games being giant photorealistic open worlds full of fetch quests.

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• ieatpwns@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Some enthusiasts would have you believe that with prices adjusted for inflation the switch 2 is actually a deal at $450 and get mad when you say other wise

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  • sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    That’s not what this article is talking about though. It’s talking about how single generation consoles don’t get any price drops anymore. The comparison isn’t Switch 1 vs Switch 2 prices, it’s launch Switch 1 vs current Switch 1 prices.

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    • subignition@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Article title probably should have been "yesterday's" consoles if the focus is on the previous generation not getting price drops 🥴

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  • null@lemmy.nullspace.lol ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Compared to what?

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    • ieatpwns@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Switch 1 in 2017

      But then they won’t tell you that switch 2 uses the same type of capacitive analog sticks cursed with stick drift instead up updating to Hall effect sticks. Or that you really really don’t own the games because the games are actually just download keys.

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• 0li0li@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  And as always, more expensive than a PC with free onoine gaming and similar power. You pay more upfront, and recoup within 18 months…

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  • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    i mean, i don’t like pirating. i get a shitton of “free” (okay, minimal cost tax-subsidized if you want to pedant. probably a dollar a month that I’m gladly paying anyways) games from the library. i buy maybe one game a year.

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    • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Steam sales: Humble bundle deals: GOG giveaways: itch.io’s existence: FOSS games: Modded total conversions of existing games: Browser/F2P games:

      I mean libraries are awesome, but let’s not say pirating is the only option to get content on PC for cheap/free.

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• SpicyTaint@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  That’s why the OG Switch is possibly the last console I’m getting. Which is really unfortunate since Nintendo is finally now releasing an Air Ride sequel. 😭

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  • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I feel you, but there’s some good news! There’s an indie games team working on a game that’s Air Ride combined with the Chao Garden from Sonic Adventure.

    Star Garden:

    First announcement on the lead dude’s main youtube channel

    Kickstarter trailer

    More recent video about it on the main dev’s channel

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• jordanlund@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  You can’t compare current generations to previous because starting with the PS3/Xbox 360 the generations became artificially extended.

  With no no new impending hardware, there’s no impetus to reduce prices and clear stock.

  The OG Xbox 360 launched with a 20 GB hard drive (2005). That got a price cut when the 60 GB version was announced (2008) and that coincided with the much more expensive “Elite” with 120 GB. Similarly that had a price cut when the 250 GB version came out in 2009.

  …wikipedia.org/…/List_of_Xbox_360_retail_configur…

  We aren’t currently seeing models be replaced like this.

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• Damage@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  The solution is time travel: buy 2-generations old PC hardware and play with a plethora of first-class games!

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• Eternal192@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Main reason why i haven’t bothered to buy one.

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• Skullgrid@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvPkAYT6B1Q

  Video Game Pricing videogamedunkey

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• LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Honestly can’t imagine why I’d ever consider a new console anymore. Got a PS3 gifted recently and it’s been a blast, InFamous, Jak & Daxter HD Collection, Motorstorm 1 & Pacific Rift, Sonic Unleashed, original TLOU.

  It even streams games straight from my home server, no USB hard drive required. The poor thing can even play videos off Jellyfin with DLNA and a lot of patience.

  As far as modern games go, most games I play aren’t on any console at all, and I’ve no idea what exclusives (if any) the consoles have.

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