we're being priced out of our hobby.

PS5 and XSX launched at $500 with 4K and HDR and up to 120fps support.

Switch 2 will launch at $450 (which is $50 cheaper) with 4K and HDR and up to 120fps AND IT IS ALSO A HANDHELD WITH A SCREEN THAT WENT FROM 6.2 INCHES TO 7.9 INCHES AND INCREASED ONBOARD MEMORY FROM 32GB TO 256GB.

I despised Nintendo for much of the last almost 20 years and here I am of all people excited for Switch 2.

Yes, the caveat for much of that is "select titles" which I take to mean most first party stuff, but that's why you buy a Nintendo in the first place. I don't give a shit about most third party stuff on a Nintendo console BUT GUESS WHAT?! Third party stuff is now on board with Nintendo since they finally upped their specs. More games, people. Nintendo fans are always crying for more games. Now you can't cry anymore.

As for game prices, it is hard to find something positive about that. I find the entire inflation argument tiresome though. That isn't the hill to die on.

Overall the usual doom and gloom suspects are piling on this, but I think Nintendo is finally in the ring with specs and tech. And before the tired drone cult starts with "But they sold more consoles so they don't need the specs and tech," I say to you that I don't work for Nintendo and neither do you, so stop touting their sales numbers like some shill who gets a bonus when Nintendo sells more hardware. I buy -a- Nintendo console if the appeal is there, and they finally appealed to me. You're not an employee. Stop acting like one. We all win when Nintendo is bringing the hardware, coming in cheaper than the competition, AND garnering more third party support. Don't worry, your precious toy will outsell the competition by even more now. And if it doesn't, maybe you should drop gaming or go to PC if a little more money is too much for Mommy to afford. I hate to be that guy, but I bet that most of the people talking shit about prices can afford them. Just stop buying all of the stupid, pointless Amiibos and other gimmicky crap that Nintendo blinds you with.
 
64gigabyteram said:
Go to PC. 1000 dollar GPUs.
PbOQWV2.png

Go to Switch (2). 80 dollar games.
IYierXw.png

Go to PS5. 700 dollar consoles
RGG5VYO.png

Go to Xbox..... No games.

Are we fucked?
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Only if you buy the things listed. I on the other hand will do a modest pc upgrade and will still be perfectly happy to play discounted games at 1080/1440p.
 
PC gaming is still the best deal. It has a high upfront cost but nothing is better than Steam when it comes to discounts and cheap games. As far as the 50 series cards, people just need to be patient and wait for a while.
 
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There are more ways to play games at affordable prices now more than ever. It's impossible to be "priced out". Unless you always need the newest system or highest end pc/options.
 
Great Auk said:
Will it give an American a job? I'm willing to pay extra if that's the case.
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Its gonna make a lot of Americans need a second job.

Most Americans have jobs. The jobs aren't covering the expenses as is. Adding to the amount of people who are spending their days at work and still coming up short for bills is going to solve nothing
 
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Im getting 4 switch 2 games every month. I only have to pay $38. I get the games i want, including upcoming games.

Its called a gamefly subscription. You can rent sw2 games and even lock them in so you get them on release.

I rarely buy games but have rented hundreds of games that would have cost thousands if bought.

So i won't have to pay $80 per game.
 
Gaming has never been cheap, and there are way more expensive hobbies out there. The reaction to this stuff is hilarious to me, games have been fucking 50 60 bucks for 30 years, and snes games were 90-100 dollars in the 90s. We were due for it to finally increase after 30 years.
 
saintjules said:
Kinda where I am too. Lesser games but can afford to buy them at their premium price if I decide too.
The hobby has been expensive for years. Can't really expect less now.
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It's always been expensive in terms of games.
That said, less expensive consoles would translate into more game sales.
Nintendo could've made the "SNES Classic" a $100 online console, reopened the platform and started selling new SNES games.
New SNES games could sell for $40-50 instead of $70 and studios would end up making more money via SNES than Switch.
 
digital_ghost said:
Im getting 4 switch 2 games every month. I only have to pay $38. I get the games i want, including upcoming games.

Its called a gamefly subscription. You can rent sw2 games and even lock them in so you get them on release.

I rarely buy games but have rented hundreds of games that would have cost thousands if bought.

So i won't have to pay $80 per game.
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Playing games can be dirt cheap.

I do GP (which for 6 years has been almost zero money as I took advantage to the top up promos they had where you buy Gold and pay a piddly amount of money to convert to GP), do home sharing with a buddy to split costs on games, and almost never buy games at day one regular price. I try to milk GP and buying games on deal as much as possible. And for regular priced games ($90 CDN), split it with a buddy doing home share. Heck, the game we always split is now even on GP (COD). And when I dabble with some Steam or GOG games, I wait for 50%+ off deals.

Dirt cheap gaming and I dont even do F2P games.

But gaming can be expensive if someone:

- Buys lots of games not on sub plan (includes backlogging)
- Buys at launch (gotta have it asap, even being so amped up preorders digital copies that dont run out)
- Buys at regular price (doesnt wait for deals)
- Buys digital so you cant sell or trade back old games (loses opportunity to get something back)
- Buys tons of MTX (wallet drainer)
- Doesn't do home sharing with a buddy to split costs (pays for everything himself)

Back in the 90s, Genesis and SNES games were about $80 CDN. Games hardly went on sale, when they did was only $10-20 off, and even used copies were $50-60. I think min wage working PT in high school was about $6/hr. Never had an N64, but those games were $90-100. That's expensive for 25-35 years ago.
 
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I remember even in the 80s nes carts were 50 bucks, that was a number etched into my brain as a kid when asking for games from my parents it was a clean cut 50 dollars for nes carts 40 years ago. Plus we get so many sales, now I know Nintendo doesn't go on sale much but it still seems case by case basis with some games still being lower like Donkey Kong.

I still compare it to movies, you go spend 40 50 75+ for a 2 hour movie and snacks, and games at 80 90 bucks can offer 30 40 50 100+ hours in some cases. That's still a win. I'm amazed gaming went decades at 50 60 bucks, it sucks but we were due.
 
mayham2199 said:
100%. Just all the free games alone. You seriously can buy an Xbox/PS5 and just play FTP games for years.
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You could have any platform, including a phone, and play video games 24/7 365 for the rest of your life and not pay a dime for those games. It's kind of insane.
 
Hollywood Hitman said:
I remember even in the 80s nes carts were 50 bucks, that was a number etched into my brain as a kid when asking for games from my parents it was a clean cut 50 dollars for nes carts 40 years ago. Plus we get so many sales, now I know Nintendo doesn't go on sale much but it still seems case by case basis with some games still being lower like Donkey Kong.

I still compare it to movies, you go spend 40 50 75+ for a 2 hour movie and snacks, and games at 80 90 bucks can offer 30 40 50 100+ hours in some cases. That's still a win. I'm amazed gaming went decades at 50 60 bucks, it sucks but we were due.
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Gaming can be insanely cheap if someone focus on F2P games too. And dont have the temptation to get hooked buying mtx. In that case, you buy a console and MP sub plan, or use their current PC with no MP fees and milk playing whatever F2P games are out there. It's a relatively new way of playing games because there was no such thing as playing a game for free back then with your option to pay for more features.

Gaming sub plans are great value and content, assuming someone isnt looking for the latest new games. Again, just imagine if the NES or 16-bit days had sub plan options where you pay $100-200/yr and get 100s of games to play when you want. I think tons of people would do it. But in modern day, some people shun it like it's a low brow service.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
Gaming can be insanely cheap if someone focus on F2P games too. And dont have the temptation to get hooked buying mtx. In that case, you buy a console and MP sub plan, or use their current PC with no MP fees and milk playing whatever F2P games are out there. It's a relatively new way of playing games because there was no such thing as playing a game for free back then with your option to pay for more features.

Gaming sub plans are great value and content, assuming someone isnt looking for the latest new games. Again, just imagine if the NES or 16-bit days had sub plan options where you pay $100-200/yr and get 100s of games to play when you want. I think tons of people would do it. But in modern day, some people shun it like it's a low brow service.
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Oh I know there are cheap options, but like the new game aspect is what I was referring to. But my whole gist was that gaming still is a great value, so many avenues to enjoy like you said f2p and other avenues, tons of sales etc. But I meant more or less brand new games when they drop have always been pricey since the 80s, and it's nuts that it took 30 to 40 years for base prices to finally move.
 
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Hollywood Hitman said:
Oh I know there are cheap options, but like the new game aspect is what I was referring to. But my whole gist was that gaming still is a great value, so many avenues to enjoy like you said f2p and other avenues, tons of sales etc. But I meant more or less brand new games when they drop have always been pricey since the 80s, and it's nuts that it took 30 to 40 years for base prices to finally move.
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Gaming is weird industry because when you look at console and game prices over 40 years, only the past 10 years did hardware and games pricing really start jacking up. From lets say 1980 to the 360/PS3 gen, consoles seemed stuck in that $150-300 range and games around $40-60. Ya, there's outliers like Neo Geo, 3DO and PS3 launch, but most stuff seemed to hold to that price band.

In a way, any big price increases hated by gamers can perhaps be blamed on gaming companies conditioning gamers to expect those samey kinds of prices for decades. If they slowly creeped up prices over each generation like lots of other products, gamers probably wouldnt be sticker shocked by Switch 2 or PS5 pro.
 
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Nah, just being priced out of Nintendo's stuff. I ain't paying 80 bucks for a game with last gen graphics. PS5 still has a steep upfront cost, but considering how long it's been out, sales usually have a lot of good stuff. While buying a series s/x isn't advisable at the moment, anyone who already owns one can use gamepass. Also I'm not a PC gamer anymore, but I know for damn well sure you don't need a 5070 to enjoy pc gaming.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
Gaming is weird industry because when you look at console and game prices over 40 years, only the past 10 years did hardware and games pricing really start jacking up. From lets say 1980 to the 360/PS3 gen, consoles seemed stuck in that $150-300 range and games around $40-60. Ya, there's outliers like Neo Geo, 3DO and PS3 launch, but most stuff seemed to hold to that price band.
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The bigger story for me is man, i just struggle wrapping my brain around how long gaming as been at it now and how IPs from 40 years ago are still relevant, it blows my mind because I think about when I was in the 80s as a kid how ancient the 1940s seemed, know what I mean and here these Nintendo games are still relevant, it's just nuts to me when I think about it.
 
Hollywood Hitman said:
The bigger story for me is man, i just struggle wrapping my brain around how long gaming as been at it now and how IPs from 40 years ago are still relevant, it blows my mind because I think about when I was in the 80s as a kid how ancient the 1940s seemed, know what I mean and here these Nintendo games are still relevant, it's just nuts to me when I think about it.
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I think it's because they are family fun franchises and trend to younger people who wouldnt know or play all the old timer games from back then. And the adults buying or playing the games themselves just want some familiar fun even if it's same kind of stuff for decades. A while back, youd see young kids with NDS handhelds being lead by mom and dad in every store. They bought it for the kids and probably dont play or give a shit about whatever little timmy is playing. As long as the game shuts up the kid for an hour of shopping it's worth buying.

In general, I think they arent the types of gamers looking for the latest third party games, uber graphics or sweaty palm MP games that just came out.
 
All this pithy stop-being-poor advice sucks. Being hard up all the time is incredibly stressful and beats you down. It's not as easy as it sounds to get out.

There are people who are hard up and stressed about money on this board. For anyone who is broke as fuck (which many of us could become any time), I'd beg you to not give up on gaming.

To calibrate:

Here's an absolutely badass game currently going for $40 on keysites. It's been on sale for $30.


Here's a $300 nothing-special mini pc running the game at 720p 40fps. If you don't know, these are basically laptop guts but they are always on wall power so they can be tuned up to run faster and more consistently. Take this out of the box and pair any controller you have. Don't forget to install linux and stick it to the man.



Okay. I am suddenly really unsure of my financial situation and this thread seems to have got me thinking about what gaming will be like if I can't afford hardware or $70+ games. Honestly I smile thinking about it. My approach to gaming is totally compatible with that.

720p 40fps low settings. In a ps4 game. Does that sound awful? Performance somewhere between a ps3 and a ps4? I could live with it. I could even thrive with it.

Last time I was piss poor, it was 2013 and my launch ps3 died. Me and wife just plugged in the ps2 and kept gaming. She played sotn and ff12 for the first time. I got sucked into a 100 hours of ff12, myself. We practically took shifts on it. Jumped into my old gt4 save. We had fun going to game shops and trying to find remnants of ps2 gems. Buying cheap sleepers on ebay. We even bought dvds out of the bargain bin at walmart because we had used the ps3 for netflix.

Along with the ps2, I had a netbook. Some good fuckin gaming on there. I was playing Avernum, magic carpet, demon's crest, front mission, fightcade.

After a year of that, a friend found out about this and gave us his ps3. Hell yeah. That is still in use at my wife's studio with her successful business even when now I can replace it with a ps5 at a whim. We will always appreciate the shit out of that gift.

So we were in poverty living with my mom and our dogshit setup in 2013 sounds like a joke to some of you. Or maybe a nightmare. But for us, that was some of the greatest gaming memories we have. Because we couldn't afford much of anything else, either. We made a little money but always tried to give what we could to my mom. (She was having it a little rough, too. Me and mom really fucked some shit up...) So we weren't having nice meals or buying tickets to anything. Actually, we did get a pair of tickets to a final fantasy symphony. That was worth it.

When your friends go out for a birthday and you can't join because you can't afford 2 drinks, dinner, and a show... that sucks. And when it happens more it can start to feel pretty bad. Each time, you think about all the other times. It's embarrassing and it feels like your life slipping away.

Compared to that, gaming life was hardly scratched. A saturday morning was well spent with coffee and toast and dark cloud 2. A friday night playing kof2002 on that netbook while she plays choro-q on our little tv by the fireplace really took the sting out of missing that cabin trip with our friends. Playing champions of norrath together might have been better than that cabin trip.

That $300 mini pc would have been pretty bad ass. I did eventually pull a pc out of a recycling bin at staples and bought a 750ti for $110. That thing was the king. Cheap, contemporary games at medium settings in glorious 1080p. I could have played armored core 6 on that thing. Maybe couple years after it came out when it was $30. I could do that right now. And it would be 95% the experience as on my ps5 and big tv because a good game is not about the graphics. Or the hype train.

Hours and hours of engrossing fun while so many other things are out of reach. Like a home. Or even an apartment.

You can't price me out. I'll find an old phone and pair a dualshock if it comes to that. I never finished landstalker, after all. An army can't stop me and the devil can't and maybe god can't. Video Games Forever!
 
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Great Auk said:
TLDR: yes you make more money now but you spend more of it on your rent and heat/electricity, so in the end you don't have any money for those 80 dollar Nintendo games.
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This is dependent on where you live honestly. The 1 bedroom apartments I used to live in are still under $700 and only 25 mins from downtown in a decent area. This is 10 years after me moving out.
 
dragonyeuw said:
Yes,exactly what I'm saying but you expanded with more finesse. On a personal level its disappointing because I've been casually collecting Switch and was looking forward to continuing that with SW2, but the prices have dampened any enthusiasm ( and even with what was shown, the only thing I'd buy if I was in at launch was the $500 bundle, but I don't want Mario Kart digital and paying $90 for a physical copy isn't remotely a consideration). And even then, I probably wouldn't buy anything else till Metroid Prime 4 so I'd mostly be working through my backlog. Donkey Kong looks good but not paying $70 for it, and I buy third parties on Steam or PS5.

But the way they've positioned pricing here (and with how they keep MSRP), my purchases would be few and far between and limited to first party, because third party I buy on Steam and/or PS5. Hell, I don't really buy games nowadays until they're well discounted and I more or less made an exception for Nintendo because I knew barring the odd 30% off, their games were always going to be $60 so little point in waiting( and they have good resell value). But $80/90? I just can't get with that. They'll manage to hook millions obviously( to what degree I don't know), but I feel like they've lost some people wanting to upgrade from Switch 1. I'm really interested to see how parents respond to this, they may come to the conclusion little Timmy is just fine with the current Switch as long as he can play Fortnite and Minecraft on it, for the time being at least.
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The third party games they showed have been available on other platforms (and better versions, at that). I understand there is a tradeoff to being able to play these on a handheld, and it looks great all things considered. But people are not going to pay $70, $80, $90 for exactly the reasons in your post. Nintendo still hasn't shown off all their first party output, so time will tell if they (once again) can justify a purchase on the strength of first party. But this showing tells me they didn't think they needed to, Nintendo's largest market is the US and when planning the Switch 2 launch, they did NOT expect the economic turmoil we are currently seeing.
 
awwr999999 said:
It's always been expensive in terms of games.
That said, less expensive consoles would translate into more game sales.
Nintendo could've made the "SNES Classic" a $100 online console, reopened the platform and started selling new SNES games.
New SNES games could sell for $40-50 instead of $70 and studios would end up making more money via SNES than Switch.
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I think the problem for many gamers thinking gaming is expensive vs the old days is simply because compared to 30 years ago, gamers probably amp up buying more games and extra perks that cost money.

There is no way back during the cartridge or even CD gaming days that gamers were buying so much backlogged games, mtx, collectors editions and any other wallet buster habits hardly anyone did back then, nor even could.
 
This is the perfect time to explore older/retro games. Newer games are generic and perform horribly on even the best PCs. Xbox gave up on exclusives, and PS only makes Hollywood movies once a year. Time to appreciate some real video games from previous generations.
 
Rush2112 said:
This is the perfect time to explore older/retro games. Newer games are generic and perform horribly on even the best PCs. Xbox gave up on exclusives, and PS only makes Hollywood movies once a year. Time to appreciate some real video games from previous generations.
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Just as long as they aren't retro games on their OG hardware. I gave up on that during COVID when NES and SNES games got crazy. I mean I bought Hagane for $350 and within a year it was pushing $1000.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
I think the problem for many gamers thinking gaming is expensive vs the old days is simply because compared to 30 years ago, gamers probably amp up buying more games and extra perks that cost money.
There is no way back during the cartridge or even CD gaming days that gamers were buying so much backlogged games, mtx, collectors editions and any other wallet buster habits hardly anyone did back then, nor even could.
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The reason for all of the sleazy add-ons and gouges is that the ROI for new game development has gotten exponentially worse every generation while game prices stagnate.
PS3 games costing 2x what PS2 games cost to make and selling for the same price (adjusted for inflation) led to what we have now.
Game development ROI for new digital-only games on legacy platforms (SNES, PS2, PS1) would be good enough that studios could just go back to making games and selling them.
People love legacy platforms because they aren't cursed with DLC, incomplete games, collector's editions and other scams.
 
Rush2112 said:
This is the perfect time to explore older/retro games. Newer games are generic and perform horribly on even the best PCs. Xbox gave up on exclusives, and PS only makes Hollywood movies once a year. Time to appreciate some real video games from previous generations.
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This. PC gaming FTW.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
I think the problem for many gamers thinking gaming is expensive vs the old days is simply because compared to 30 years ago, gamers probably amp up buying more games and extra perks that cost money.

There is no way back during the cartridge or even CD gaming days that gamers were buying so much backlogged games, mtx, collectors editions and any other wallet buster habits hardly anyone did back then, nor even could.
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I dunno dude I bought a fuck ton of snes jrpgs and ps1 rpgs out the ass, all collectors editions and all that shit... I agree obviously there were no mtx, and we weren't buying like steam sales or psn sales but the jrpg game back then was intense.
 
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Krathoon said:
PCs and emulators kind of have a way of balancing out the corporate greed of the gaming industry.

Nintendo seems to be the only ones that hate this.
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I am actually in the process of building a Windows XP box with late Gen XP hardware. It's going to be pretty cheap (picked up GT780ti for $60 and 3770K for $40) and I am going to play around with 2001 - 2010 games as they were meant to be played. And I Already have a Win98 box.

Going back to those older systems and playing original games from 90s and up are super fun. Throw in emulation and there are a metric ton of games that you can play.

And of course going back to X360/PS3 is cheap and so is Xbox One / PS4 as far as game prices go in general. You could even get a used PS5 disk version or used XSX and get a ton of games on the cheap.

The only time the hobby is expensive is if you MUST have latest and greatest and even there it can be much more reasonable if you play at say 1080p.
 
Steam Deck is pretty cheap. The hardware isnt that much up front and you get access to Steam sales. Then you can emulate all your old games on it as well. It's the best way to game right now.
 
Grechy34 said:
Been down this road, generally becomes a time vs money factor at this point. I don't think simply "get a better income" is the right answer for the worlds problems at present.
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I've used stock earnings to pay for gaming almost a whole decade. I used strategic investments, started out by placing a graphics card upgrade worth of money on Nvidia between upgrades, then I could upgrade without touching the work salary since the stock went up about 100% per year.

But those days are gone. Now I'm down to only using Gamepass, free Epic games, Steam sales. Fortunately I already have decent PC hardware and a Pro. So Switch 2 is the only bigger gaming purchase needed in the near future.

Btw, a 5080 goes for $17,000 in my area. $35,000 for a 5090.
Yeah. Ouch.
And who knows what will happen going forward. I doubt prices will go down.
 
Just buy an Xbox Series X with Game Pass, and even better...look to pick up the cheap OG Xbox and 360 titles that support BC and enjoy life and gaming
That way you get a great lineup of modern games, and unlike SONY or the evil bastards that is Nintendo !!! You aren't charged for pointless remakes or graphical updates
 
Blank Space Invader said:
PS5 and XSX launched at $500 with 4K and HDR and up to 120fps support.

Switch 2 will launch at $450 (which is $50 cheaper) with 4K and HDR and up to 120fps AND IT IS ALSO A HANDHELD WITH A SCREEN THAT WENT FROM 6.2 INCHES TO 7.9 INCHES AND INCREASED ONBOARD MEMORY FROM 32GB TO 256GB.
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You know damn well they are NOT THE SAME! Having 4K, HDR on a GameCube box doesn't mean it should be priced at $450 in 2025.

being a handheld is not an achievement in itself, also are you really bragging about 256GB of onboard Memory? Lol
 
Suddenly my other hobbies, which used to be much more expensive than gaming, have become comparatively more affordable.

So I guess I'll be doing more of my other stuff again in the future ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It looks like the new console generation will be standardized as digital only versions, with a possible option for an additional drive for additional fee, which will also be tied to the internet and must be activated. In addition, the trend is spreading that games can no longer be installed and played offline.

If it develops like this, it would be a lie to say that I'm no longer interested in the games, but I don't see the point in paying so much money for hardware and digital licenses - subscriptions are out of the question.

Since new computers have also simply become too expensive, I'm hoping for a powerful Deck 2
 
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digital_ghost said:
Im getting 4 switch 2 games every month. I only have to pay $38. I get the games i want, including upcoming games.

Its called a gamefly subscription. You can rent sw2 games and even lock them in so you get them on release.

I rarely buy games but have rented hundreds of games that would have cost thousands if bought.

So i won't have to pay $80 per game.
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This really depends on your personality. I see the pressure of having to play 8 games in 2 months. If I'm too busy, I lose the games and could have just bought one. It's the same issue with Gamepass.
 
Gaming is still a lot cheaper as a hobby compared to lots of other hobbies.
If you're not chasing high end hardware and feel the need to have the best stuff all the time, gaming is not a very expensive hobby.
Paying 500-700 dollars for a device that will last 7-8 years is still a pretty great deal, and 90 bucks for 15-20 hours of good fun is also quite good.
 
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I'm not getting a switch 2 day one I might wait a few years
I'll work on my switch backlog and play my older systems this will keep me entertained
 
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Stop buying into the hype of day 1 at $100+ for the "full" game of single player games.

Stop buying/playing paid multiplayer games with aggressive monetization.

Stop playing f2p games even as a free player, because without free players whales have no one to whale against.

I have been patient gaming for years on PC. Got priced out of the high end build market after crypto/covid happened.

Now I just enjoy my backlog on my Steamdeck.

This has been the norm for years. I don't know why all of a sudden Nintendo gets flak for $80 games. Most EA/Ubisoft/take2 games have been $100+ for the actual full version of the game for a long time.
 
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