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.
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.
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.
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.