Are consoles a rip off?

[Seth The Cartographer]

before I talk about this I'd like to preface that I own all the Play stations, an Xbox 360, Nintendo switch, and a $2500 PC. So are Consoles a rip-off? I've been struggling with this a lot in the past year for a few main reasons. The first being that after a few years they become obsolete, this was very apparent with the PS3, once the PS4 came out there was little need to play on the PS3 and mine got moved to become a very expensive DVD player. The PS2 is the only console I believe kept its relevance for a few reasons I won't get into but I still play the PS2 today for guitar hero and GTA. Another reason is the fact that they are expensive for what you are getting, my PC I built in 2016 and since then I have had to upgrade it once but that was only to play VR, if I didn't upgrade then I could still play the AAA games that come out today. And the last reason would be the game selection, The indy scene on consoles are a lot better but with a console, you are limited in some indy games that are only available on PC.

For me nowadays I've been trying to sell my PS3 and 360 because they are just collecting dust and I really enjoy my PS4 but when the PS5 comes out and support is lost for it, I'm not excited to buy all the games I own on PS5 for the same or slightly reduced price. Now I'm not arguing that PC than consoles at all, there are a lot of things I really like about them but with the price tag and when the new and improved one comes out making the one you own lesser or obsolete I just can't see myself going further with consoles than what I currently own. The saving grace that may pull me over is the exculusives, it's upsetting that so many great games you have to buy $300-$400 consoles just to play, the only real reason I have a PS4 is for games like spider man and shadow of the collosus

Id like to hear what you guys have to say about this and your thoughts, id also like to say I'm super excited to join this community, and I hope to see a lot of you around


Edit: Id also like to point out the biggest ripoff of consoles is PSN, nintendo online, and Xbox Gold (Live? idk i never have used it) Having to pay to be able to play online is ridiculous i and highway robbery. If i were to give any reason on why PC is actually better than console it would be not having to pay to play with friends. Its straight up highway robbery in my eyes and in the long run you will save money having a gaming pc than a Console

[RevolverGirl]

I dont particularly think they are, (I define "ripoff" as buying something and not getting what you payed for) or at least I used to think they werent. The jump from PS3 to PS4 isn't that impressive. And I dont see any graphical improvements to justify a PS5 or new Xbox 4. We are literally only going to buy the next gen consoles for the exclusives and that gane companys will flock to the newest toy. So in that sense...yeah consoles are kind of bullshit.

Outside of PC which provides the best graphics and online and the Switch which provides me a new way to play on the go, the PS4 and Xbox1 are kind of the same thing. And the PS5 and Xbox4 are not something im hype for...why wpuld I get hype to buy yet another slighlty upgraded box which will provide nothing different just to get the newest games coming out.

[Seth The Cartographer]

I would say that the switch is the only thing I can justify myself for buying because it's so nice to take games on the go, I've rebought Binding of Isaac and gungeon just because its so nice to have them close anywhere

[Justince]

It really comes down to personal value I suppose. The Xbox One X, in my case, is of lesser value than say a PS4, because everything I could play on an Xbox I can also play on a higher end PC. Inherently, consoles are not a rip-off; they provide plenty of current term value for very little maintenance/investment. They also provide a necessary and simple approach to just getting into the game. If people want to invest more, like in a PC, they simply get more, but not without certain caveats. The PC market isn't for everybody, I know hardcore gamers that simply won't put up with PC hardware problems, cleaning, or upgrades. They want to buy a box, and set it up on the TV and be done with it. That's not going to change, and for many, that makes up for the entry fee and the eventuality that the system becomes obsolete.

Besides, I think backward compatibility is becoming a real force once again, especially with the shift from unique processor architectures in consoles to moving everything to something familiar like x86, will almost guarantee ease of this feature in the next generation of consoles.

[ISP]

Nope. They offer a good value but with their own benefits and trades offs as compared to a pc.

[Kraneloran]

Nope. They offer a good value but with their own benefits and trades offs as compared to a pc.

I must disagree. In my opinion, such a thing only stood true, when Consoles were offline, or at least, before they started shipping games in unfinished states, for which you get a slower patch-process with less horsepower. The Idea behind consoles was Plug&Play, and the modern Console Market couldn't possibly be farther away from that.

To me, Consoles are overpriced less powerful and limited-use computers. (Please don't take offense, Console Owners, but this is definetly my standpoint)

[ISP]

You're coming at it from the viewpoint of "one is and must be superior". You are looking at a fraction of a percent of console games that ship with series issues and judging the entire ecosystem from that, which is just foolhardy. Also where you get the idea that consoles are not "plug and play" (an old Windows 95 feature btw but I think we get what your attempting to say) is just beyond me. They just work, out of the box, all cables and hookups included.

As to being less powerful, well that is a given just due to the nature of the space they occupy yet often in the beginning of their life cycles they can do more than most PCs. Also they are not computers, they play games. No need to worry about antivirus, no need to worry about a OS, no need to make sure you have Office installed to actually get something done. Nah, they take up some cubic inches near the TV and do their job cheaply, easily and for years. They are wonderful devices for many people and without them you wouldn't have even half the games come to market in a given year today.

[Kraneloran]

@ISP
@ISP

I am not coming from the viewpoint of "one is and must be superiour".
I didn't mean to deny the positive effects consoles themselves had on the gaming landscape.

But I believe, that the greed of the providers of these consoles have failed to utilize the fact, that they have less to program for those consoles and instead put things in place solely for the reason of being able to make more money and being able to monitor their users. Consoles were supposed to become the stronger gaming machines than a pc, and they are just not. Many games, not just a few, need to be downgraded, either graphically or internally, so that the console can handle it, because you cannot possibly upgrade a console.

Please don't feel like I'm trying to become personal, I'm not, but:

1. The Size is not the issue. I can build you a computer, for a budget, smaller than any of those consoles, with way more horsepower. (yes, even at the time those consoles were new)

2. I get the notion that consoles are not "plug&play" from the literal meaning of those words. It used to be, buy a super nintendo, push in a game, hook up the caples, sit down, play. In seconds. Okay, Minutes. Nowadays its "plug-install-have'internet'connection-update-play". These are supposed to be the drawbacks of a PC-Gaming, because except installing an OS, which you do once, regardless of gaming, this is all the steps a PC-Gamer has to make to play the same game. With better graphics (which should be on the consoles side, which is specifically built for games, as you say yourself) and usually faster installation-times. And yes. A few more cables to be hooked up for a PC. Bottom line: Consoles are supposed to be way more convenient than PC's are and way more than they actually are.

3. Your High-End Machine is playing every other game with loading-times of minutes. My Computer, build 5 years ago, will play you the recent games with close to none loading times. To be fair, that's because of SSD-Drives and high processor power, as well as sufficient V-Ram. And I didn't upgrade my pc either.
In that time all of you have bought 2 consoles, for a little less money I admit, than the 1,300 I spent, and needed to completely build the pc myself, which I spent 2 evenings on. But I buy games cheaper than you do. And when I don't, I still have the benefits of PC-Gaming, which used to be a trade-off for less convenience, Higher Graphic and Speed Limits, Modding-Support for many mainline games, more games. And yet I can play all of those on an X-Box controller. And If I'd really, really want to, I could make an Atari-Controller work on PC.

4. Finally, I still admit the following: My argument is strongest from a financial long term aspect. If for you it is not about the cost of the games, the console and the horsepower, but about convenience, the console is a little more convenient. However, a PC is inconvenient the first week, when you are still setting up everything, after that, it is not less convenient than consoles of today, which was not supposed to be that way.

5. Finally, Console Gamers always identified with the type of games they can play on their machines. Fighting Games, Racing Games, Platformers, etc. They become proficient with controllers and enjoy shortening their reaction-times and getting a feeling for optimal gameplay. The believe in many, and I assume (ASSUME) in you as well, is that this is also the way it is, that people who use consoles are people who enjoy this type of game more than certain puzzle, strategy and tactics games. And I will not argue with that. They are. Although all of their types of games are played on the Computer as well, the identity of those games clearly came from consoles, the same way that games that simply demanded a mouse-controller came from the pc-realm. But, and I am again, sorry, but stand by this standpoint. My PC-Games as well as your Console-Games run better on PC.

Edit: Where all of my arguments here don't matter is the nintendo-console. A PC cannot handle (yet), not through emulation, nor through hardware, some things that nintendo is doing with their console. You could get out of your way to make a Wii-Mode work on an emulated version of Wii-Mario, with alot of programs, and a hardware piece which replaces the thing reading the signals of the wii-mode. But that's impractical. The Switch itself, in the way the hardware is built, is a true console with handheld-support. In that, Nintendo completely destroys the only pc-like competition it would have: Android. The only negative thing I can say about nintendo, regarding the comparison between console and pc, is, that I don't understand why their platformers and every game that does not require ultra-special hardware were never released on PC.

[ThyToaster]

I wouldn't say they're a ripoff. I think they appeal to a different portion of the gaming market honestly. They're more for the casual user who's really looking for a media machine. There's not any exclusives anymore that makes it a necessity for the hardcore gamer, and they really just offer some fun games for a casual time at a cheaper price point than building a gaming PC.

I enjoyed my ps2, ps3, xbox 360, and PS4 when I had them, but they really can't compare with a PC.

[John Freeman]

I wouldn't call them a ripoff at all. I'm a PC Gamer through and through, my most recent consoles are a Wii and Xbox 360, and I think PCs are objectively the best platform for anyone serious about games, but they definitely have their drawbacks. As you mentioned, price is the obvious one, as you really do need to spend at least $800 to get anything really worthy of calling a true "gaming PC", even if you're going for barebones minimum hardware, planning on playing everything on low-medium settings at no more than 1600x900, I can't see you getting away with anything less than $600, and at that price point, a console probably would deliver better graphics for less money. Granted, console games tend to cost you more money, but that cost can be drastically reduced if there is a decent game store near you that sells used games, especially an independent one and not a big chain like Gamestop - When I lived in Phoenix, there was a great local chain with about 4 locations called Fallout Games where you could get most AAA titles for under $20 as long as they were more than a year old, and I've picked up plenty of games for $5-10, cheaper than some of the best Steam sales, for highly-rated titles that were just a little older.

For those of us who have built multiple PCs its easy enough to say that it's not hard to put together a gaming PC, but really, if you've never done it before, it can be pretty intimidating, it can take a while to get your OS and all your drivers working right, and I can't fault anyone who would prefer the simplicity of a console they pull right out of the box, plug into the TV, and boom you're ready to go without any hassles. And even though your overall graphics capability is limited, sometimes limitations can be a positive thing, just knowing that your graphics are what they are and you can't change it, you just deal with any framerate drops or not-so-detailed textures and you live with it, where with my PC, I often find myself constantly going into the graphics settings trying to tweak things to be just right.

It really comes down to how much disposable income you have and how important gaming is to you in terms of how much of that income you;re willing to allocate toward gaming. For me, video games are my primary hobby so it's worthwhile to invest the $1500 I've put into my PC, but for others who enjoy video games but not so much to justify spending over a grand on their gaming setup, it makes perfect sense for them to spend $300-400 on a console and $100 on the two games they really want to get into and maybe another $100 on a handful of used, slightly older games. Plus there are the console exclusives as you mentioned, I can certainly see myself buying a Switch somewhere down the road for Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, and maybe a PS4/5 for a definitive God of War and Metal Gear Solid collection (though I would greatly prefer if they just released all those on PCs).

All things considered, if you're really really into video games, have a moderate degree of technical skills, and money isn't super tight, it's worth the money to go for a PC for their versatility and longevity, being able to keep and play all your old games, I love the convenience of being able to keep dozens of games installed and not having to get up and swap out disks - But if gaming is a more occasional hobby and/or you can't justify shelling out the amount of money it takes to build/maintain a quality PC, a console is a perfectly viable and reasonable option.

[Dub-Z]

People just play on what they can. It's only a rip off in the sense that you might end up paying more over time, like renters with no credit, no vehicle etc going with Rent-A-Center just to get some furniture.

[manesni]

I don't think theyret a ripoff personally. I've never been much of a console gamer myself, but I have owned a PS1 and ps2 as well as an xbox360 and several handhelds. My primary gaming method is still the pc.

In general a console is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to play games in your living room compared to pc gaming. While console hardware is generally a lot weaker than PC hardware (especially a year or two after release) the damn thing just straight up works and you don't have to think about it at all. You generally have less upfront costs for a console than a pc (let's face it, a reasonable pc quickly goes up to 1k euros or even more if you want truely top of the line performance, and that is assuming you already have a great monitor. A console is what? 3-400?). An additional point is that in general you can probably get away with putting a console in the living room. Pc's tend to go in different rooms

Bottom line? You want affordable and easy? Go console, you want best of the best with lots of options (mods!) Go pc.

[Oysterhead]

Definitly a ripoff. A PC can do everything a console can and muuuch more. Performance is better and this silly "I want to play on a couch with a controller" """argument""" is void aswell. There is nothing stopping you from doing that with a PC. Other than the anti consumer exclusive titles, the only reason to buy a console is because you're dumb, lazy, or poor. Of course there is nothing inherently wrong with any of those reasons ...except exclusives. Fuck that.

[Naryo]

Although being a primarily PC gamer myself, I will try to approach this with as little bias as possible

In a perfect world, PC gaming would be the be-all and end-all for gaming as a one stop shop for any game that you would be interested in playing. However, due to console exclusives there are very valid reasons to own a specific console in order to experience certain games that go above and beyond. Some titles that come to mind from this generation of consoles would be Persona 5, God of War (ps4), and the last of us.

While it is quite unfair that in order to play many of the most unique or interesting games of this generation you would need to buy one or even multiple different consoles, it is the nature of the gaming industry and we just have to accept that.

[Eriixas]

I will be mostly talking about PlayStation and XBOX as they are close enough to PC gaming overall, while Switch offers different way to experience games - on the move.

Consoles are ripoff. Not only you cannot upgrade the consoles, they also become redundant as soon as a new "generation", as people call it, comes out. These consoles will no longer receive new games and owners of newer consoles will not be able to play games of older generations, unless, in certain cases, you pay once more when game gets re-released on newer console. Meanwhile on PC you can play (sometimes tweaking is required, I'll admit) older games that did come out a decade ago or so.

Another issue is that to play online console owners have to pay on top of their internet cost and I have heard of countless people defending this practice with "I pay to get free games". There are dozens of free games one may get over the course of a year on PCs, also, there are a lot more free to play games available, and one is not required to pay anything for them while console owners are obligated to pay for games such as Warframe.

Exclusives (namely of PlayStation 4) is the only reason for many to purchase a console. Now why I don't see it as a good practice it's because it's basically a "hostage situation". One may want to play this game, but you have to buy a console to play this and maybe 3 other games, even if one doesn't like consoles in general. This practice of exclusives is very evident in PC gaming recently as well with "Epic Games vs. Steam" going on. Epic Games aren't inviting their players via convenience over Steam, they are trying to get new players with exclusive games instead, although, ironically, when it comes to free games they are offering, at very least, they are actually free.

--- The PC market isn't for everybody, I know hardcore gamers that simply won't put up with PC hardware problems, cleaning, or upgrades. They want to buy a box, and set it up on the TV and be done with it. ---

I wouldn't call such gamers "hardcore" if they cannot even maintain their computers, not that console gamers cannot be hardcore, but if that's the reason they play on consoles they throw away their "hardcore" title. Also, the PC upgrading myth... PC doesn't require upgrading every few months, not even every single year, unless the upgrades are extremely minimal, but that would be very cost inefficient. Moreover, this "plug and play" attitude falls short when one take into consideration that on PC, after initial set up, one is basically able to do the very same. Click "turn on" button, login to Windows, login to Steam and play any game one owns and desires!

[Ronnin426850]

No, they are just cheap PCs that can only play games and have 0 upgrade path. If you buy a PC, do nothing else on it, and never upgrade it, a console is better bang for your buck. Console GAMES, now.... that's a whole different deal The majority of those are a ripoff.

[CrassiusCurio]

Nope

Sony PS4 500GB Console and Red Dead Redemption 2 Bundle
£229.99

= Very Reasonable Price

[Seth The Cartographer]

i would say thats a fair deal but if you want the best RDR2 experience its meant for "PS4 pro"

[ripghoti]

Well, it depends on the person buying the console. Personally I have had the NES, Genesis, Playstation, Xbox, Gamecube, PS2, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, PSVita, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC not built for games, and a PC built for games. Each has its own merits and draw backs. Were it a perfect world where all games released on each system with no difference in quality or input and a $200 PC setup was just as powerful as a $4000 setup, it wouldn't matter what was bought as it would just be a matter of preference. That's a dream world.

I have multiple systems for the following reasons:
1: Exclusive games. Some games are only on one system; be it PC, Playstation, Nintendo, or Xbox. Some of them are worth it to me (Last of US, God of War, Halo, Etc.). Would I buy a system for one game? No. But there are enough to give me a reason to save the money and get different systems.
2: Backups. When the RROD happened for my first xbox 360 I lost some games till I got a new one. However, some of the games were multi system. Fallout 3, for example, was a game I had on both systems. I could continue to play on my PS3 and then when I got a new xbox 360 I picked up where I left of on there. Having just one system would leave me hanging if something happened to that system.
3: I just like games. I mean, I like them on all systems. Sure, PC can be modded, but it doesn't have the ease of use of most console games (to me). Consoles are easy to use, but no modding or save backups (fuck the cloud, I want to back the save up on a local USB or something in case my system decides to die while I don't have internet access).

There is nothing wrong with owning consoles, PCs, or both. It's all up to how the owner feels. I know there's the PC Master race meme, but that's all I see it as. The people who actually whine and argue over what is better and insult people for not liking "the right thing" are just imbeciles.