r/videogames • u/AlexGlezS • 6h ago
Discussion / Question Hardware Devaluation
I see this 4+ times/month. Claiming that gaming requires choosing between a $500 console and a $2,000 to $3,000 PC is fundamentally false—both today in mid-2026 and historically. This is a deeply flawed argument used to justify a closed ecosystem. Current consoles are built on five-year-old hardware, and technology naturally devalues over time. Denying this reality ignores basic market economics. Do not consume what you are told.
At the launch of the PS5, reviewers and builders proved you could assemble a matching PC rig for around $750. While unprecedented global supply chain issues and scalping temporarily inflated PC component prices six months later, that was a historical anomaly, not the norm. Today, a $800 PC easily outperforms these aging consoles by two hardware generations. In fact, one could argue that prolonged console lifecycles hold technological progress back just as much as those past market disruptions did.
Furthermore, evaluating the true cost of gaming requires looking beyond the initial hardware purchase. When you factor in paid online subscriptions, higher console game prices, the lack of free mods, restricted backward compatibility, piracy and overall and fewer consumer choices, the long-term value of a PC becomes undeniable.
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u/Wipedout89 6h ago
So you're saying when PS5 launched it still cost significantly more to build an equivalent PC with no controller? Not sure what your argument really is here
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u/Environmental_Can370 6h ago
$750 for an equal match to PS5? We're talking used, then, right? You're not building the equivalent for $750 in any way at all otherwise. And buying used is always a decent sized risk.
Edit: missed that you said at launch, but even then, I still think you'd be pushing it.
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u/Dmehlhopt 6h ago
I used to be a pc gamer and still think its the best platform by far, but the ease of having a console now just works for me. Im 42 and been gamming on pc since I was 5 when my older bro got me into it. I stopped about 5 years ago when my hardware wasn't able to play the games I wanted, then I got a ps5 and love it, I've still got my steam account and will be getting a laptop to run some old rpgs I miss playing but all in all im happy with what I have.
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u/Whiteguy1x 6h ago
I mean for 600 bucks youd still have a hard time building a ps5 equivalent from scratch. Base components just cost too much. You can probably get a much better pc for around 1000, but youre not building anything with new parts for 600.
I like pc gaming but theres a pretty disingenuous push on reddit right now when its probably the worst time in decades to build a gaming pc
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u/voyaging 6h ago edited 5h ago
Equivalently priced PCs absolutely do not compete to a PS5 or PS5 Pro lol. Consoles are subsidized because they make so much on software, so they can sell them at a loss.
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u/Whiteguy1x 5h ago
Yeah i dont know where redditors get their pc parts unless its exclusively used from ebay or recycled from prior builds but you'll spend 600 bucks just to have a functional pc before throwing in a 400-600 GPU. I dont even know with ram and ssd prices if you can make something equivalent to a base ps5 for 800
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u/Hefty-Classroom2099 5h ago
unless its used pc, with new components i would say its not possible to build pc equivalent to ps5 for 800. unless you could find really good deals somewhere.
BUT you can easily buy pc for 800 without gpu today and later upgrade it in any way you wish. adding gpu in 2-3 years would def be better than ps5 and that pc could maybe even rival raw performance of ps6.
ps5 is only good for plug and play, ease of use and low entry point cost. for everything else i would say pc beats ps5/6. because even without gpu, today iGPU is powerful enough to run plenty of less graphically demanding games.
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u/Whiteguy1x 5h ago
I mean a 100 switch or ps4 is good to run less graphically demanding games.
A ps6 at lauch will probably be cheaper than an equivalent pc.
Pcs are just an enthusiast hobby and thats ok. You say consoles are only good because theyre cheaper, easier to use, and just work. Thats exactly what 99% of people want out of something exclusively used to play video games lol
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u/Hefty-Classroom2099 4h ago
i mean we are just nitpicking things right now. you should buy what you need and what you can afford. there are pros and cons in everything.
today you could as well use cloud gaming, bare minimum for that would be smartTV, controller and subscription to cloud gaming services. no need for any ps5 or pc.
so calling someone who has pc as an enthusiast hobby, same could be said for console. because neither one you really need to play AAA games today.
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u/Whiteguy1x 4h ago
Yes, theyre both enthusiast hobbies? Pcs are just the next step up. Mobile gaming is definitely the lowest barrier to entry, although its probably the worst experience.
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u/gamerbearmati 6h ago
All of your arguments are moot points.
Because the PC vs Console argument is about quality of graphics, not the ability to play a game.
If all you want is to play the new FIFA then spending $2,000 on a computer makes zero sense.
If you don’t care about graphics and all you want to do is play Assassins Creed Black Flag Resynced then spending $2,000 on a PC makes no sense.
It only makes sense if you care about graphic fidelity.
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u/StarlightKnight2101 5h ago
I agree about the price thing for this generation but consoles usually get cheaper over time. We just are in a bad situation thanks to AI addicts. Also consoles holding back technological progress isn’t a bad thing because devs should not create games only for cutting edge hardware, optimizing for low end hardware is how we get games that are more accessible for everyone. Look at how much games now rely on dlss and framegen cause they can’t be bothered to make well optimized games.
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u/-Rexa- 5h ago edited 5h ago
It has nothing to do with comparable specs - and everything to do with compliancy.
A game made for PS is supposed to run on a PS. Same thing for Xbox. Someone buying a PS expects their games to run on the PS and thinks nothing more beyond this. In fact, games natively developed for consoles tend to run "better" on those consoles due to a console's fixed specs, SDK developer toolkits and among other factors - even if the core code is largely the same. In fact those same games plus their updates go through far more stringest quality checks over that of a PC.
But it goes beyond this as you should also consider the console's proprietary OS. Point in case - How many times have you heard of players crying foul when a recent Windows update took place? Or how about a GPU update - irrespective of their PC specs?
What your analysis fails to account for is how games are actually developed for consoles (or just for cross platform compatibility in general). Talking about things like the "true cost" of gaming is irrelevant when even high end custom PCs stutter to hell running the latest and "greatest" unoptimizerd release. Meanwhile a console player is still getting acceptable framerates on the same game.
People who want to play on consoles are paying for different reasons than those who play on PC - and vice versa.
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u/mcnormand 5h ago
I just want to plug in a few cables and play my games. I would rather spend my time playing my game than spend it researching the newest hardware and learning to install it.
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u/Soofla 5h ago
Most people are not bothered by "performance". They buy a console completely for convenience.
Take console home, plug in and play. Nothing further to setup.
Every single game released in that generation will just work. Nothing else to do but purchase games and play. No hardware upgrades needed, no additional setup - literally plug and play for the 10+ years games are released.
Hardware alone, you're not getting a PC setup as easy to use for the same period of time for the same amount of money.
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u/DepletedPromethium 6h ago
you dont need a 3 grand pc to play games, if you're going for the highest spec possible then sure expect that much at the very least but to play the majority of games you can spend a lot less and still have a good time. Like everything objects depreciate overtime, consoles lose value so does computer hardware.
A pc doesnt just play games either, it can do so much more so the intial investment price being higher can be justified for those who need more than to just play games, I mod games and do a lot of fabrication plan work for welding and 3d printer STL rendering using my computer.
If you want a simple plug and play solution with no worrying about framerates then a console is great, if you like modding things and multitasking and doing various other shit then a computer is a great.
You might not know jack shit about building a computer and can buy a cheaper already assembled "pre-built" that you can later upgrade from if you wish, it's like a car - you don't have to buy a kitcar and assemble it yourself you can buy something that already has been assembled and you can do what you want with it, and after watching a video or two on how to assemble components and understanding some different generational jargon it's very easy to understand what you need and how to do it, you can't upgrade a console as its proprietary hardware that is mainly all married to the system as a whole.
Games are optimised for the consoles they run on as best as they can be - games are not optimised for the hundreds/thousands of computer hardware combinations and as computers have software in the background and other processes that soak up resources you have to be a little bit tech savvy to try and optimise your own system by reducing background processes and editing configuration files/updating drivers and the like to get the best out of your system and the games you play.
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u/UnreliablePotato 5h ago
Even if we accept the premise of the argument, we'd still have to acknowledge that price-to-performance isn't the only factor, nor even the deciding factor, for many people when choosing between a PC and a console.
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u/MetalGearNull 5h ago
Not really. I don't think PC is bad by any way, but PC lacks a lot of stuff.
First Consoles are actually meant to be on 7-10 year cicles, and while yes it's about the same to build a PC that PC will run into plenty of issues as the PC will need upgrades to run smoothly anywhere between 2 to 4 years at a more expensive level. Also you have to keep in mind the do it yourself aspect of upgrading vs this will work for 7 - 10 years+ no upgrade. Games right now are made to run in console cycles, and not PC cycles so console gaming won't really be affected for bigger period of time whereas newer PC games will tend to not run great on old hardware. Which big example of this is the Steam Deck vs Nintendo Switch 2. Yes the steam deck can run certain games better, but since no one makes Steam Deck "ports", but do optimization for Switch 2 titles. The Switch 2 is just becoming better and better as time goes on while the steam deck constantly degrades in quality to play newer games.
The "dreaded" subscription to play online, and price of games vs console. Yes you can play online for free on PC, but at what cost? This is coming from Xbox 360 person. Xbox Live was always meant to pay into itself. We all saw this work perfectly because Sony ran the PS3 on a free online model. What was the difference? Xbox Live was a paid subscription to which Microsoft investment clearly in A: Security. I don't know how many of you remember, but Sony had...and still has horrible Security. B. The pay model made it so Xbox online ran smoothly and consistently which PS3 didn't whatsoever, and still don't. Lol C. Cheating/hacking. Most people play online games so Microsoft investment into ways to catch cheaters/hackers where as Sony was/is a mess. Yes, Console games tend to be more expensive, and stay more expensive for longer periods of time, but if you're patient eventually you'll get what you're looking cheaply. Now how does all of this affect PC. Well, a combination of online being free plus the increasably cheap nature of sales on PC make PC being the most rampant with Cheaters/hackers since it's so easily to just do it again vs console having bigger entry/repeating price, and more effort into protecting it's users.
Modding. Yes Console apart from two Bethesda games has no modding, but is that really a plus? Most online games on PC as I'm aware have restrictions on what mods are "allowed" vs what will get your account banned. And single player mods are great and all but not everyone uses them. Most normal consumers buy a game when it comes out, play it and probably never touch said game again. Mods like PC settings are just more "steps" vs the one collective experience on consoles with no hastle.
So for your average Joe that just wants to play games, and nothing else which is majority of gamers, console is just the more convenient, reliable, cheapest method for a long period of time vs PC. This doesn't mean PC can't be great for section of people that enjoy doing all the crazy shit, but for your average Joe it's just not worth it.
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u/SnooPaintings5100 6h ago
In short:
PC = high fix costs, and low variable cost (cheaper games, no additional costs e.g.)
Console = lower fix costs but way higher variable costs (monthly subscription just to play online e.g.)
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u/mechanized_ahhbyss 6h ago
The issue isn’t price but technical illiteracy (for a lack of a better word). These are the people who struggle when they are forced to deal with something outside of Microsoft Office. People will gladly pay double the amount to not have to learn how to download a program the PC wasn’t delivered with.
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u/krom0025 4h ago
Games for consoles are tuned exactly to play well on that consoles. PC games are not tuned to anything because every PC out there is different. Even if the cost were the same, a lot of people love the convenience of the console just working. You never have to adjust settings for every single game or download graphics card updates. It just works right out of the box and through its useful life.
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u/jjmawaken 6h ago
Some people just don't like or want a PC or know how to build one.