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submitted 1 week ago by mereo@piefed.ca to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I think more people are going to be driven to PC gaming (and therefore Steam) in the coming years as consoles lose the physical media and pricing advantages they had over PC. I know I'm dropping consoles as my main platform after this gen. Might keep getting Nintendo for the exclusives if the price is decent and the games are good.

[-] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 14 points 1 week ago

I don't think consoles have had a pricing advantage for a looong time. It's been several generations at least. Unless you mean specifically a pricing advantage on physical media, but that mostly went out the window when the disc on many games just became a glorified DRM dongle.

[-] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

Long term, you're correct. The upfront cost of a PC was always more expensive, but when you factor in games, game sales and lack of subscription requirement to play online and such, it doesn't take long for the cost to balance out before shifting the other way.

All of these price hikes and attacks on consumer rights are just going to make it significantly quicker for the cost shift to happen.

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

They have until recently. A PC equivalent to a PS5 would have been way more than $400 in 2020. And most discs do not require a download to work.

[-] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 4 points 1 week ago

Ah, I was thinking game cost, not console cost specifically. So fair point.

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Digitally, PC wins easily on game cost, but it evens out more when you add in physical media. Of course, a lot of games don't have physical versions. Aaaand the pay to play online thing adds to the cost. Consoles are (were) a "pay less now to pay more later" proposition. Now it's "pay slightly less now and more later".

this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2026
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