I'm pretty sure the "peasants" label wasn't meant to be taken literally.
You're correct in that PC games, at launch, are usually about as expensive as console games. Steam sales and the likes are usually where the money is made up, though; there's simply no console equivalent where so many games are sold at such a discount. For example, the most recent Steam sale had Assassin's Creed 4, a game that released a mere 6-7 months ago, at 1/3rd of its usual price. (I'd list more examples but I quite honestly don't remember that much outside of what I bought, which was mostly older games).
If you know when and where to buy games, you can probably make up the difference. All in all, it really just comes down to what you specifically prefer. Consoles are better for some things, PCs are better for others.
