It's just games, if finances are a big concern I'd say just get a used base PS5 or new Switch 2 (before price increase) depending on your use case/preferences and that will keep you playing for a long while yet.
Games are just supposed to be a distraction, provide some entertainment, you're not supposed to go broke in the process, there's tons of legacy stuff as well to play that can keep one occupied for weeks/months/years that's cheap. If gaming as a hobby is causing you significant financial duress ... it's time to back away, find cheaper options or go outside and try doing something else, really you'll be fine, probably better off.
The next gen consoles will be expensive, just is what it is, you don't absolutely need one if that money is better spent elsewhere. The generation leaps are not what they used to be anyway, it's not like you're missing out on Super Mario 64 or Final Fantasy VII style experiences by being "stuck" with a Super NES or Genesis in 1997 or something.
If someone time travelled to today from 1997 and all you could show them was a 13-year-old PS4 even ... more or less you could show them everything modern gaming is and they would be largely up to speed without much fuss. The games even still look fairly comparable. Whereas a 13 year gap in the 80s-90s would be the gap between the NES (1985) and Sega Dreamcast (1998) ... that's a crazy difference.
Last edited by Soundwave - on 28 May 2026
