- cross-posted to:
- games@sh.itjust.works
- cross-posted to:
- games@sh.itjust.works
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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
For regular people, Trump tariffs came out of nowhere in 2024. Corporations and people holding stock have different perspectives.
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.
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.
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).
The implication for that is new console generations are unnecessary. At most, they only need to refresh aspects of the design to control costs.
And this is a direct result of Moore’s Law breaking down. As originally formulated, it isn’t just about density of integrated components, but the cost of integrated components. That factor is gone by at least an order of magnitude. Nodes are still shrinking the size (roughly in line with a 24 month doubling rate), but they’re not making it cheaper.
https://www.wumpus-cave.net/post/2024/03/2024-03-20-moores-law-is-dead/index.html
tariffs and inflations dude. tariffs and inflation
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.
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.
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
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.
Like let’s vent about Nintendo all we want, but at least let’s read the article first.
Article title probably should have been “yesterday’s” consoles if the focus is on the previous generation not getting price drops 🥴
You misunderstood: current gen isn’t getting price drops while previous gen usually did. Current gen PS5/Pro and Xbox Series S/X are all actually more expensive now factoring in inflation (excluding the impact of the tariffs) than at launch. Since the Switch 2 literally launched two months ago, we can’t really talk about price drops for it, so we compare the Switch 1. The article headline is correct, and all of this is in the body of the article.
fair enough. I didn’t scroll past the first graph in the article, which was comparing switch 1 prices. That plus this part of your previous comment had me thinking current-gen consoles weren’t the topic.
The comparison isn’t Switch 1 vs Switch 2 prices, it’s launch Switch 1 vs current Switch 1 prices.
Compared to what?
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.
Edit to add: Pro controllers also cost more than last gen and they’re lower craftsmanship and aren’t repair friendly because they weld plastic instead of using screws
I mean, historically it seems pretty in-line with Nintendo releases, adjusted for inflation:
- NES: $582
- SNES: $480
- N64: $410
- GCN: $362
- Wii: $399
- WiiU: $419
- Switch 1: $396
- Switch 2: $449
It’s only ~$50 more than the Switch 1, and they just raised the price of the Switch 1 by $50.
It’s the part where the Switch 1 hasn’t gone down in price that the article is talking about.
Which is not what the person I replied to was taking about…
Shhh the sweaty neck beards are venting.
With each gen we got some advancements. Now they’re cutting corners for share holders
I mean, to pretend the Switch 2 is identical to the Switch 1 is pretty ridiculous.
I’m not implying there aren’t any improvements this time around I just feel like the improvements and corner cutting cancel each other out but that’s just my opinion
That’s fine, all I’m saying is it’s not like it’s significantly more expensive or out of line price-wise historically.
More to the point, the article wasn’t talking about launch prices of consoles at all.
If you want to complain about other unrelated things, go ahead. But the price is pretty reasonable compared to everything else on the market.
Existing switch owners can use any wireless controllers they already have with the switch 2. The pro controller 2 does have much nicer joysticks IMO, but you don’t need one unless you really want the dedicated button for GameChat or the grip buttons
And as always, more expensive than a PC with free onoine gaming and similar power. You pay more upfront, and recoup within 18 months…
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.
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.
You didn’t even mention Epic’s giveaways or the games that come with a month of Amazon Prime. If you needed a gaming library in a hurry, there are great games given away for free or cheap on PC all the time.
Fair, although you couldn’t pay me to use the Epic Games Store or make an amazon account lol
I was going to buy my wife the latest Lara Croft trilogy for Christmas a few years ago and then epic gave it to me for free so I had to actually think about her gift
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. 😭
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:
Main reason why i haven’t bothered to buy one.
The solution is time travel: buy 2-generations old PC hardware and play with a plethora of first-class games!
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.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_360_retail_configurations
We aren’t currently seeing models be replaced like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvPkAYT6B1Q
Video Game Pricing videogamedunkey
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 og & Pacific Rift, Sonic Unleashed, original TLOU, Black Ops Zombies with couch co-op.
Even being beat up the thing looks sleek as ever, it’s a CECHK03, Piano Black with Silver trim, 80gb.
Chrome trim too gaudy, I said what I said smh.
It even streams game data straight from my home server (via PS3Netsrv in docker), no USB hard drive required, no FTP or file transfer, and it actually runs faster than off the internal HDD (for the same reason it ran faster off BDROMs).
The poor thing can even play videos off Jellyfin with DLNA and a lot of patience.
Set up a custom fan curve too. Wrote a custom bash script of curl requests to the webman API to simulate a YLOD to trigger panic attacks in visitors.
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.
