Consoles, Computers, and Capitalism

I think it’s about time to start voiceing concerns. Personally, I could’ve seen this massive inflation in the gaming industry from a mile away, but I do respect how long the industry took to catch up with others. $60 games and $400 consoles are now a thing in the past. As a consumer, be prepared to fork over $80-$90 per games and $600-$800 for consoles. Forget about adding in the accessories such as controllers, headsets, memory, memberships, and DLC’s. I would like to defend the gaming industry in their endeavors, and say they are completely justified in their actions on raising the prices of all these items. Unfortunately, I can’t stand here with a straight face and do that. Simply due to the fact that they intentionally put blocks on their games, consoles, and cross platform potential to further increase their profits.

To start, I would like to harp on the DLC’s and the circus this industry provides when releasing a game, then charging for further content. Games like COD literally have about 8 games within it, but you can only play the one’s you have purchased. At this point, are they really separate entities? It really feels as if I’m not paying $70 for the game, but I’m paying $70 for 1/8 of the game. I still have to pay for future content that has not yet been made available, If i want a certain version of zombies, I have to put more money out to gain access to that particular game that contains it. It’s honestly out of hand. I stick to games such as Overwatch, Rocket League, Sea of Thieves, and Marvel Rivals for the sole reason that they structure their content release into seasons. It’s fun to keep up with the tide, and stay informed because I am not going to have to fork over more money for the patches that get release during and between seasons. It’s a much more relaxing, entertaining experience.

This isn’t the only type of capitalistic nonsense major game developers exploit. They also restrict access between devices that are clearly capable of handling the game data. For example, My PC is perfectly capable of processing XBox Seriex X/S games/ I even have the Xbox console and xbox utlimate game pass so I can play xbox games on my PC. Despite all this, I am incapable of downloading newer games that were developed for the fourth generation of XBox. Why? The simple fact that I don’t have the console. The blocks they put in the code to restrict downloads for games onto inferior devices, prevent me from downloading the game on the inferiro device, despite the fact that I will be playing the game on my superior PC. So now, to get the game, I have to spend the $600+ dollars just for the console that I technically am not using. It’s really insane when you think about it, but this is a direct example of abuse. They are abusing the capitalistic structure through monetary power and monopolies.

This rant stems from the recent surge in prices. Gamepass for Playstation and XBox have increased their monthly subscription rates. Console and game prices are increasing by about 20%. And the cross platform “firewalls” prevent the consumers from having access to playable games by requiring said game to be downloaded on a specific device.

To Add: This same type of manipulation is down in the TV/Movie industry. Streaming platforms will only contain a certain library of media, and slowly rotate the ownership requiring you to buy into the others. The biggest poser in the scene right now is ESPN and all major sports affiliates. Say I want to watch an Eagles game. I have to pay about $40 a month to gain access on a television, and I don’t even have access to every game. Apple, and other broadcast stations will pay to air the game exclusively through their median, taking the chance to view the game on your already paid subscription away. And this is just one sport. An average sports fan spans their attention across multiple affiliations. I know my Philadelphia pride has me cheering for my Eagles, my Phillies, my Sixers, and my Flyers Special shout out to the Union :P. Anyway, I know that if I were to dish out what is needed to be able to view all my favorite sports teams. I would be dishing out around 90$ a month just for sports.

I used to play video games and watch sports due to it’s cheap appeal, and relaxing provisions. I could get competitive without exerting a lot of money or energy. Sadly this has died out, and I would like to take in other thought and feelings on the matter. It is always fun to build on a conversation.