Microsoft and Sony don't want your business. Playstation is ending the production of disks for new games starting in 2028. Microsoft is laying off 20 percent of X Box, including half of id Software, the guys behind Doom. Sony is no longer porting their popular single player games to PC. Due to the incredibly slow pace of development for most Sony Studios, that's not as big a flex as they think it is. The AI bubble has inflated hardware costs so that a PS5 costs and an X Box Series X cost 600 dollars, up one-hundred bucks since their launch five years ago, with more increases likely as data centers gobble up RAM and SSDs. The next gen machines, which are rumored to be delayed, will likely cost one-thousand dollars if the AI bubble doesn't pop.
Let's add it all up. 1000 dollars consoles with no new games, less studios, and no physical media. Considering the dearth of disposable income and the worsening economic outlook, who is going to buy this shit? If a console is going to cost over 1000 bucks, why not just switch to PC, where you have more options, from the hardware in your machine to what store you buy your games from. Unlike Playstation and X Box, a PC is a continuous platform. You don't have to depend on Sony or Microsoft to port your old games over or worry about them deciding that you don't own them anymore at a whim.
I've always been primarily a PC gamer, but I understand the value of consoles. In my basement, we have an N64. My kids play it all the time, and I just recently bought Mario Kart 64 on ebay for 20 bucks. Decades on, it's a useful machine, simply designed and easy to use. It would be great if the geniuses at Sony and Microsoft realized that there are customers out there that they should appeal to rather than their shareholders. What happened to good ol' fashioned capitalism where you deliver a quality product at a decent price? All I know is that at this point, I see no reason to purchase whatever overpriced machine either company delivers in the future.
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