Pemalite said:
Soundwave said:
Or not.
Nintendo and Sony don't control inflation and certainly not how much wages rise. At some point either you can afford it or you can't.
There is a cheaper option for price sensitive consumers and parents of younger kids, they are called the Switch 1 and Switch Lite and they still play perfectly fine today. That's why I don't see a problem with those systems being continued to be made for another 3-4-5 years. A 6 or 7 year old doesn't need something as high end as a Switch 2, it's overkill.
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Switch and Switch Lite are last generation devices.
I could argue a 6 or 7 year doesn't need any video gaming devices, but that's not the point of them, they aren't a "need".
Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have control over how much their consoles cost relative to wages at the time of release.
They chose the hardware they have, they chose the initial price they had, they chose not to subsidize hardware like they have historically through game sales/services.
They don't have control over component price rises, but they do have control over cutting costs, die-shrinks and arguing for better component/assembly contracts.
Consoles are for lower-income demographics and households, they need to be accessible for everyone.
Right now in Australia the Playstation 5 Slim with Disc is $1,000 AUD, Switch 2 is $670 AUD.
That's messed up... If you don't see the issue with that, then I am not sure what to tell you.
But it's not acceptable and we need to advocate for lower priced, easier to access, hardware.
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On the other hand gamers need to accept reality, you can't have everything for nothing. There's no other industry in consumer electronics that's going to give you hardware subsidized and even at a loss at times.
People want good tech, well then pay for it. You can't have it all.
I remember my dad paid $85 (!) in Canadian (over $90 with tax) for Super Mario Bros. 3 in 1990, that would be like $220+ just for that game today and at the time we weren't swimming in money.
You can't subsidize hardware the same way today anyway, there's far more retail investors in the stock market today because you can trade easily on the phone, the moment your revenue takes even a tiny dip your stock price will tank.
