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Why is gaming becoming so expensive? The answer is found in AI

⁨161⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Valnao@sh.itjust.works⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/apr/01/pushing-buttons-cost-of-gaming-artificial-intelligence-ai

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Comments

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  • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Gaming is cheaper than ever. Just don’t buy new games. I haven’t bought a new AAA game in decades. There are thousands and thousands of games you can play for free or nearly free.

    It’s like music. You can listen to lifetimes worth of music for free or nearly free. The only expensive thing is going to some fancy concert and giving a ton of money to Ticketmaster.

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    • Bratosch@lemmy.world ⁨41⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      Well, you still need something to play it on. And since GPUs and RAM costs about a child and a half these days, I’d say it’s quite expensive.

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    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      You can buy new AAA games. Be /patientgamers. Just wait a few weeks or months after release and they almost always go on sale when companies want to boost server numbers to make quarterly reports look good. I haven’t paid release price for any AAA game in years. And it should go without saying: Do not preorder!

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      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

        Brother, this isnt 2004.

        AAA games rarely go on sale anymore, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is like 7 years old, and still 50 bucks, and last sale it went down to 25. 25 for a 7 year old game is just brutal absurdity.

        and I just use that as an example, its the same almost across the entire board.

        The only saving grace in gaming right now is indie games. Which are typically affordable.

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    • pirate2377@lemmy.zip ⁨58⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      Just don’t let the Nintendo ninjas know that they are free

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    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      a humble bundle subscription pays for itself a dozen times over, too.

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    • CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      I disagree about concerns being equivalent to AAA games but you have a good point otherwise

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  • nialv7@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    main stream medias are finally catching on i see

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    • leoj@piefed.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Is the Guardian mainstream? I thought it was often derided as being fringe or a tabloid in the UK (this also may of been an effort to misinform, as I typically find myself agreeing with their articles, or at the least the ones I am presented with)

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      • Ethalis@jlai.lu ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Yes, it’s a mainstream center-left newspaper in the UK, definitely not fringe or a tabloid

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  • Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    gaming started getting expensive when micro-transactions became a thing. AI is just the latest fad they can blame their price gouging on. because when the AI bubble pops, that PS5 ain’t going back down in price.

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  • johlits@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Good oppurtunity to work on your backlog.

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    • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      But if I do that I’ll never buy another game!

      Hmm. You may be on to something there…

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    • Krauerking@lemy.lol ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Or do as I do and buy random games for cheap. I’m on like hour 4 of Tim-Tim 2; The Almighty Gnome, that I got for like 50 cents.

      Honestly a pretty good time.

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  • d00ery@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    As a PC gamer I would never condone such a statement about my console brethren (and sisters), but lol.

    The new Super Mario Galaxy Movie is out today – as expected, it is a bare-bones story supported by a cavalcade of Nintendo cameos and bright action scenes. Dubbed “a bland screensaver of a movie” by the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, expect smooth-brained entertainment for Nintendo enjoyers.

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    • yermaw@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Is it bad that smooth-brained entertainment for Nintendo enjoyers sounds about exactly what I’m equipped to handle right about now?

      Like zoning out to some seriously tepid nostalgia-slop sounds good.

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      • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Last time I checked Mario Bros was supposed to be happy and fun and simple not an art house intellectual experience.

        I wonder if a lot of the reviews are just the bitterness that it’s going to be a 1.5B movie and that ‘real cinema’ movies do pitifully at the box office these days, very rarely to they even make $100mil

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    • Zahille7@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      That sounds like almost an exact description of the first Mario movie.

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    • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Nintendo fans are smooth-brained thesedays though. I dont think its console specific, its Nintendo specific.

      • Former Nintendo Game Enjoyer
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      • CatZoomies@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Hard disagree. Nintendo first party games (the reason to buy their consoles) are always top-notch.

        The ones I’ve bought on Switch 2:

        • Mario Kart World - wonderful game with excellent driving mechanics. Open world and lots of fun.
        • DK Bananza - endearing game with a heartfelt story, great music, fun gameplay. Really enjoyed my time 100%ing this game.
        • pokemon Legends Z-A: good game overall. Nothing groundbreaking but fun.
        • Pokemon Pokopia - I’m absolutely obsessed. Heartfelt story, hits so many nostalgic beats, tackles a difficult subject of humans destroying the environment. What happens to our Pokes when we humans have to leave them behind? Amazing game with deep breadth, excellent quality of life that builds upon typical sandbox games, and the music is so nice. When I first heard the Pokémon healing melody adapted into one song, or when I reached a destroyed Palette Town and heard all the original Pokémon Red/Blue musical beats embedded in the overarching musical theme, I was so moved. Very touching game, too. One of the best Pokémon spin offs I’ve played, and this game is canon.

        Still waiting on more first-party games that are on the horizon - the potential Ocarina of Time remake if the rumors are true, Pokémon Winds/Waves, and the new 3D Mario game.

        Any other game I haven’t picked up because I would rather play it on PC.

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    • Krauerking@lemy.lol ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Man, I remember when the DS was the thinking person’s console of choice. Oh the art you could draw on it and send to others. Oh the traces of goatee.

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  • QuandaleDingle@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Well no shit.

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    • Agrivar@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I honestly expect better from the Guardian.

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      • Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        At least they’re discussing the problem.

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  • IWW4@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Gaming has been getting expensive long before the latest AI Fad started.

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    • ElectricWaterfall@lemmy.zip ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Yeah before it was crypto and NFTs.

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    • hushable@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      growing up in a 3rd world country, it has always been, specially when considering the language barrier since games were not translated into my language back in the dat

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  • StillAlive@piefed.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Cause Jensen needs to keep buying weird jackets. Only way to achieve that is by selling GPUs to AI ghouls. 

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  • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Businesses started acting like every product ever is a luxury product and people keep paying the higher prices.

    The only way to get prices back down as to not buy them.and hope the little businesses survive long enough.

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    • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      The only people with money to spend are the upper-middle class consumers.

      Hence if you want to make money, you have to move your products up-market to appeal to people who have all the disposable income to spend. This trend is all over the economy. Travel, clothing, food, etc.

      The days of appealing to the mass market of lower and middle class consumers, is over, because they are broke, so nobody gives an F about them.

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      • ampersandrew@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        The days of appealing to the mass market of lower and middle class consumers, is over

        It’s not over forever. We’ve had K-shaped recoveries in the past, which is why we have a name for it.

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    • Krauerking@lemy.lol ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      The wealthy have become very easy to sell to. Disposable cash they dont think about and a tailored algorithm and wide variety of available designer drugs.

      Do some ketamine, go on an amazon binge and book a holiday to Greece to see a band you barely like cause fuck it, world is burning and I want a good time.

      Honestly we just need to move on and start doing our own things and try to get into a place of power to maybe shore up some of the wealth hoarding.

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