PC gaming is becoming 'unaffordable' to gamers on a budget, players fear

Do you remember when PC gaming was somewhat affordable? Oh how times have changed.

PC gaming is becoming increasingly expensive, especially when it comes to purchasing the latest hardware and then staying up to date with the ever-evolving video game landscape. While updating your gaming PC can be expensive, there was a time when purchasing actual video games on PC cost less than their console counterparts. Now, mostly, PC and console video games are around the same price.

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There’s also the debate on inflation. Yes, comparatively, video games from the 90s were technically more expensive to purchase, and yes today, they can be more expensive to develop. However, unlike yesteryear, many modern-day video games are flooded with microtransactions - and expansions are certainly more plentiful today.

Reddit users took to the site to discuss just how much PC prices had risen by. “Me and my brother were planning on a 1440p build and were looking up the parts and prices online this weekend, in India. The R7800xt and the Ryzen 5800x3D alone cost $1100 (We have around 20% customs duty). Our final build came to an equivalent of around $1900,” said Redditor shadowblaze25mc.

They continued: “Then we looked at the Xbox Series X price and were shocked to see that it was ~$580 here (after customs). So we theorised that we could get a Series X, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for a year, an RTX 3060 laptop on sale for around $900 (or a pre-owned 3070ti laptop), a $200 1440p monitor, and still have money left over to buy a couple of games."

It's becoming increasingly clear that console gaming may be the more cost effective option. “Always has been. It’s definitely fluctuated over the years, but in general PC gaming is more expensive,” replied khamelean. “PC hardware prices have undergone a huge inflation this past decade, making building a gaming PC capable of playing the same games as current-gen consoles at comparable visuals and performance is vastly more expensive,” exclaimed DarkLThemsby.

Yet, users in the thread mentioned that the cost of building a gaming PC can be trimmed down by quite a lot if you’re willing to play at 1080p and not 1440p. Not to mention that if built correctly, a PC can be used for much more than just gaming.

“I think it’s becoming affordable but only if you are ok with 1080p/60fps gaming. My friend recently built his PC that cost $700. He’s able to run mostly everything at 1080p/60fps,” explained Zombienerd300. “Gaming has not become unaffordable. Going off of the parts you are looking for tells me you think you need more than you actually do need to game at 1440p,” suggested All-Cesco.

At the end of the day, both PC and console gaming have their own positives/negatives over the other. Yes, building a gaming PC can get very expensive without research, but it also offers far more flexibility. At the end of the day, there are options for everyone.

Topics: PC