Nah. It'll be a depression globally. There is only one path forward and that's if people accept AI and doubly that AI is actually good and not dogshit like it is now. I admit you're right, much will get worse but much will get better too, there are big boons of the digital era, I wouldn't go back for one. As for AI, I see people having on it but the gamble has already been made, the big players have set things up so that life for the rest of us depends on good AI that doesn't kill us and some kinda of financial reset. It almost seems planned in the stupidity of it all. 

People don't have to accept AI, the market is still driven by consumer demand. It's going to be a great time for those developers rejecting generative AI. Recessions usually stimulate creativity. New players might even enter the market. The old boys gamble is just that, a gamble. 

NVidea and AMD are digging their own graves

https://www.eurogamer.net/amd-and-nvidia-will-reportedly-raise-gpu-prices-significantly-in-2026

Expectations are that these price increases will impact certain GPUs, including Nvidia's GeForce RTX 50 series and AMD's Radeon RX 9000 series which are already expensive. According to Newsis, the Nvidia RTX 5090 which was released at a price point of $1,999 could eventually increase to $5,000 this year.

The silver lining is that the current gen will last a lot longer, devs will get to be creative getting the most out of current hardware instead of expecting gamers to upgrade. 

Not looking good for the Gabe Box and Steam Frame. Switch 2 should be all right, I imagine Nintendo has some contracts secured. Plus the longer the gen lasts, the better for games coming to Switch 2. MS next premium XBox plans are DBA, dead before arrival.

Yes. That is indeed a silver lining. 2027 was too early and all but this is one shitty gen to get stuck on, they can't even get the games to run properly half the time on console. 

And as for what you said, mayhaps, it just seems like everything is lining up for something far greater the 2008-2010... but gaming not only survived but thrived then...though, nah, memory didn't increase in price 900% back then lmao. Oh Idk. It's probably best not to dwell on it or think too much about it. 

I don't see Switch 2 doing well but Nintendo has 120 million on Switch 1 and those people show no signs of dropping the system. 

Now they have time to get it to run properly :/ Time for graphics engines to mature before slapping on 8K textures and what not. Proper HDR is still severely lacking. 

Switch 2 is still best positioned price wise. PS5 price will go up, XBox already did and is leaving shelves. Steam Deck, Gabe Box, Rog Ally X, all no competition to the Switch 2. Switch is the competition... Just like people sticking to PS4 is holding PS5 back. The lack of cheaper mid gen slim consoles is keeping people on last generation hardware. Switch and PS4 are still getting new games.

Gaming will be fine, it's still the cheapest form of entertainment. Now my grocery bill today, ugh.