I’m so tired of console gaming
The past decade in console gaming has an overarching theme: it's anti-consumer.
I've been playing on consoles since I was five. The first games I ever played were Combat and Asteroids on the Atari 2600, and they were glorious.
For better or worse, console gaming has come so far since then.
During the past decade, however, the experience has considerably gotten worse, so much so that I want off this ride. Let me explain my reasons why.
Just a little caveat: These reasons are based on my experiences and circumstances. They’re in no way representative of anyone else’s, even with fellow gamers from my corner of the globe.
I keep experiencing the same game
Every console generation has a glut of certain types of games.
The PS360 generation had too many brown and gray shooters.
The PS1 era had a surplus of Japanese-made RPGs.
The SNES saw a lot of side-scrolling platformers and brawlers.
I’ve noticed, however, that with the PS4/Xbox One period (which started in 2013) and well into the current hardware generation, I’m still playing the same third-person action-adventure.
Shouldn’t there be an overabundance of another type of game by now? The current console generation is already three years in and I’m still seeing the same formulaic, watered-down, AAA third-person, open/semi-open world games with RPG elements.
You've probably heard of them: The Watch Dogs games, Forspoken, the Assassin’s Creed RPGs, the Dying Light games, Red Dead Redemption 2, the Horizon games, Spider-Man from 2018 and the 2023 sequel. Hogwarts Legacy. Heck, even the latest Diablo is open world.
Pretty much every major publisher has released – or will be releasing – an open-world game, and most probably have at least one in the pipeline.
(Worse still, some will be a live service but that’s an issue for another day).
Sony has an observable formula to making such games: They’re story-driven, which is fine, but they’re also excessively cinematic. Cutscenes frequently kick in during gameplay, taking control away from me. Instead of letting me execute kickass moves, the cinematic sequences are presented as these impossible-to-fail quick-time events.
Worst of all, nearly all these action-adventure games (regardless of who made them) play the same. They control the same. They offer a very similar experience. They also sound the same with all this aggressively preachy and performative activism.
I just want something else. Something new.
They’re too damn expensive
US$70 for a newly released console game is a lot of money. Yes, factoring inflation makes the price roughly (or maybe close to) even to previous years, but the amount is nothing to sneeze at, especially when I convert that to my country's currency.
That’s nearly PHP4,000. I can pay for plenty of everyday house stuff with that. If I wait for a sale, that’s worth upwards of around eight digital PC games, give or take a few.
Then there’s multiplayer. As of this writing, here are the prices:
PS Plus now charges US$9.99 per month for its most basic tier (Essential), or US$79.99 per year. The higher tiers go as high as US$17.99 per month or US$159.99 per year.
To play with other people online on Xbox, I need either Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (US$16.99 per month) or a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Core (US$9.99 per month), which is sold separately.
Switch Online costs US$3.99 per month or US$19.99 per year.
Because of this, I hardly ever paid for access to online multiplayer during the previous generation. Some of these rates were lower during the PS4/XB1 era, but they accumulate anyway, just so I can play with others? No thanks.
I recall getting a year’s worth of PS Plus twice in six years, mainly because there were some compelling titles given away for “free” as part of the perks of the service.
I put “free” in quotation marks because these games are just rentals. Once I stop paying, I no longer have access to them. I prefer owning my games, even digital ones, so I’ll pass.
Console hardware costs an arm and a leg too, despite being supposedly “cheaper.” As of this writing:
The leading video games retailer our country is selling the PS5 for about PHP30,000. That’s the disc version; their digital edition is about PHP23,000, which isn’t bad, but its 825GB SSD (which has only 667GB of usable storage) kinda sucks.
The Xbox Series X costs nearly PHP29,000, while the Series S is worth about PHP15,000. Granted, the cheaper Xbox version is pretty compelling, especially versus owning a PC, but I don’t want to pay for multiplayer. Plus, I’m not very compelled with the selection of games of either console, even three years in.
The Switch, while underpowered, provides the most bang for the buck of all three, but its first-party games hardly ever go on sale, so I find them almost always expensive.
Looking at these prices, consoles feel much more expensive in my country because the price of their hardware and games represent a larger proportion of my income.
In contrast, PC games – especially the niche titles – are generally cheaper. Not to mention that they go on sale frequently with discounts of up to 90% (or sometimes even more). That and I get free games regularly on different storefronts.
Did I mention I don’t have to play for multiplayer?
Digital ‘ownership’ is murkier
As the name of this publication suggests, I play primarily on the PC, but Windows gaming isn’t exactly a bed of roses either:
Ports typically stutter.
GPUs are pricey (a good one costs as much as an entire console).
Game companies don’t release PC games on discs anymore.
If I buy a recently released PC game in a physical store, it doesn’t even have a disc inside. It’s just a piece of paper that contains what’s most likely a Steam code.
But even with these complications, I think it’s not as anti-consumer as what most consoles offer, especially in terms of game ownership.
With GOG, which is DRM-free, I can back up my games on physical media at any time.
While I regularly get free games on Epic, I’m admittedly not very attached to my library there because I haven’t spent a single cent on that storefront.
If Steam ever shuts down, Valve has stated in their support emails that:
“In the likely event of the discontinuation of the Steam network, measures are in place to ensure that all users will continue to have access to their Steam games.”
Yes, it’s vague and doesn’t prove anything, but I’ll take this any day versus what most console makers have been doing since games were available on digital platforms.
For instance, I have a Switch Lite and it’s pretty great, but I expect its days are numbered because its successor’s launch date is rumored to be just around the corner.
This means the Switch eShop isn’t long for this world either, given that Nintendo closed the Wii U and 3DS eShop last year. When the Switch eShop inevitably closes, I won’t have access to my digital games anymore, so I need to keep all of them stored in an SD card when that happens.
Xbox 360 Marketplace will also shut down this year. The good news is that customers can still re-download digital games and play them. This to me might be the only bright spot among digital games ownership in consoles.
Surprisingly, the PS3 and Vita stores are still around. Sony originally planned to shut those down, but they reversed the decision after public backlash.
But unlike the stronger certainty of physical media, there’s no telling when (not if) Sony will decide to shut down its digital game storefronts. Or that customers would still be able to access their digital games when this happens.
The point is that I detest the relatively short duration of owning digital games on most consoles. I dislike it more than not being able to own physical copies of newer PC games.
The road ahead
Look, I still enjoy playing on consoles. When I pop that disc or cart in, I’m sure the game will work. Even with the seemingly prohibitive prices of newly released AAA games, I find that console hardware is still cheaper than laptop or desktop PCs.
Like I said earlier, I enjoy the Switch. I take mine with me whenever I go out, and the sheer amount of niche games there is just astounding.
My Switch Lite, however, is a handheld gaming device. I usually play it away from home. The experience it offers is quite different from plonking in front of a big-ass TV and playing for hours. For my couch-gaming fix, I’ll stick with the PC and play non-generic games there for the foreseeable future.
During the course of navigating this less-travelled road, I’ll be chronicling my adventures here and I hope you’ll join me! I’ll be updating A Console Gamer Plays PC about once per week – or at least as much as adulting permits.
So, grab that keyboard and mouse (or a controller, if you like) and let’s get going. We have puzzles to solve, battles to strategize, and worlds to conquer.
Thanks for reading my first-ever post! If you liked it and wish to help out my tiny new Substack, please tell share it with your friends.