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QOTW: Is the cost of gaming getting out of hand?

by Parm Mann on 28 September 2018, 16:31

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Gaming can be a hugely enjoyable hobby, but if you want to experience the best the industry has to offer, expect to pay handsome sums for the latest equipment and today's top titles.

Premium graphics cards have been in the headlines this past week, but those really are just the tip of the iceberg. Today's best consoles can fetch up to £500, there are online subscriptions to consider, peripherals are now a hefty investment, and new games tend to start at £50, and that's before you consider any micro-transactions.

It seems as though prices for just about everything are rising at an alarmingly rapid pace, yet while the gaming industry continues to enjoy year-on-year growth, we're keen to hear about your personal experiences. Have costs forced you to change your gaming habits? Perhaps you've switched from one platform to another in order to keep costs down? Or maybe you're limiting yourself to just a few select titles each year? It's an interesting topic so let us open the debate by asking: Is the cost of gaming getting out of hand? Share your thoughts using the comments facility below.



HEXUS Forums :: 75 Comments

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Yes it pretty much is too much today especially if want ‘topend’ equipment
Not necessarily, it depends on if you must have things the instant they're available.

If you must have the latest GPU and buy games on or before launch day you'll pay more, but discounts on games are usually available within 6 months of launch and a GPU capable of running most things at max settings @ 1080 can be had for less than £200.
It seems GPUs are back to reasonable levels if you don't convince yourself you need the new 2080ti (ie RX580, GTX1060), past that its only ram which is an issue now, the rest can be done with reasonably priced hardware if you don't want to spend a fortune.

With that the consoles do look more attractive now for what they achieve for the cost so I wouldn't blame people for going that way.
I build a pre-use gaming rig with RX 470 / 16Gb RAM and i5 3rd gen 3.2ghz for £275. It does 1080p 60fps gaming without any major issues. I think it's still possible to game with a small budget if you know tech well, but the upper limit on the high end side has been increased dramatically.
Prices are getting pretty high. The only thing cheap these days is an AMD cpu. I don't really blame people for buying consoles. The tariffs on GPU's are going to kick our butt. With nvidia price gouging and AMD not having anything useful to counter them. No matter what the fanboys say. Samsung's price fixing plans for 2019 will not be fun for 2019+. So yes everything except AMD prices are getting wei tu hai. Just glad I built the rig I did before it all went to hell.