So...the steam deck just jumped in price $200-300, where they now cost like $789-949, which is insane. And of course the nintendo fanboys are coming out of the woodwork going on about how the $500 switch is a great deal. Like, man, STFU. The fact that nintendo priced their switch at $450 is why i was so intent on criticizing them, because it just opened up a pathway for the other companies to charge ridiculous amounts for their own products. I DONT wanna see a $1k next gen console, or anything close to it, really. I kinda find the $500 price point most acceptable. And I get it, the AI crisis is driving these insane prices at this point, but these increasing costs were an issue before that. Let's not enable ANY of this.
I mean, I saw a video recently, well, part of it. Gamers nexus did a video called "the collapse of personal computing" which is talking about how this AI crap is KILLING the PC industry. Basically, ever since RAMpocalypse, sales of DIY parts is falling off a cliff and no one wants to upgrade any more. Can you blame them? It's INSANELY expensive. And GN seems to think that the tech billionaires are reshaping the industry in their image and killing personal computing so they can have us rent AI powered terminals and the like to us instead. You know, "you will own nothing and be happy." I wouldnt doubt it. This crisis is driving the price sky high, demand is collapsing, that's making small time suppliers crash out too, and yeah, we're going in a corporate direction where the tech bros who run everything will basically force their crappy business models on us saying (after they killed the industry) that oh, you cant afford new computers? Why dont you rent some stupid cloud based chromebook or some crap? Ya know?
It's insane. No one should be cheering this on. And no, I'm not gonna give nintendo credit for ONLY keeping their overpriced $450 console at $500. They can do that because they overpriced it in the first place. And the other companies are raising their prices and no one can afford crap, and no one wants to buy stuff. Acting like $500 is "a good deal" because it's the new bottom isnt a good outcome. It's the last thing we should want. Even then, it aint truly the bottom. A lot of retro handhelds can still be $300 or often a lot less. You can buy a retroid pocket 5 from Amazon for $250 and maybe even something like a 6 directly from retroid for less than that. So there are options. None are as potent as these oversized, overpriced handheld PCs, but thats the point. The market is demanding too much. Software should be made for the hardware available. You target software for hardware that most cant afford, and either you fail because most people go lol no F this because they cant afford it, or gaming becomes a niche hobby for the upper class like it was in the 80s and even 90s to some degree. We're seeing the reverse of the personal computing revolution that happened throughout my life where devices regularly became cheaper and more ubiquitous over time where you can buy like a $200 smartphone or tablet and still have a decent experience, to now going in a direction of things becoming more expensive, and the industries being brought to the verge of collapse.
And again, I wanna point out a big focal point of GN Steve's video, PEOPLE ARENT BUYING CRAP! WE CANT AFFORD CRAP. like, I go on tech subs on reddit and the people there are just so stupid and out of touch, my god. They're all a bunch of upper middle class hobbyists who arent very price sensitive, and who seem to justify every corporate decision ever even though its pricing out most consumers. But it doesnt price THEM out so they dont care.
You take me, someone who already found the steam deck a dubious value at $400-550 for reasons I've stated before, and you raise it up to like $800-950, and I'll look at you like you're fricking insane. But for some reason people are so quick to point out "but but they HAD to do this". Maybe so. I'm not actually gonna completely trash valve for the price increases, if anything they're the one company I kinda give the benefit of the doubt to here. BUT...that doesnt mean I find the price acceptable. And that doesnt mean Im gonna look at nintendo charging $500 and be like "lol, I wanna buy that now.' NO! I dont wanna buy anything from ANY of these companies at this point. I cant afford to. it's that simple. It's the law of demand. You raise the price, you lower demand. People drop out of the market because they'll say F this. Or they'll buy something else completely. Id rather put money into my PC, and as long as I can run games on my PC as is, I'm probably sitting out this crisis. not gonna lie. My GPU is going on 4 years old this year, I'd LIKE an upgrade, but given an RX 9060 XT 16 GB was $350 BEFORE this crisis, and now it's $450...fat chance on that. As long as I can run the games I wanna play, I'll stand pat.
I mean, the idea of running AAA games on a handheld is kinda stupid. Given the target specs developers aim for being...closer to my desktop PC than those things, youre always gonna get an underpowered borderline experience anyway if they run at all (it should be noted the steam deck is indeed incapable of running many games properly, partially for software compatibility reasons but also raw power related reasons). And then on top of that, the compromises to make it happen, the large size, the low battery life, the high price. I mean it's the same reason we PCMR types have always said gaming laptops are a bad deal. Youre paying for form factor, and the compromises involve paying more for something that has less longevity and staying power. And the steam deck is just more of that.
So no. Again, the idea of a steam deck even at $400 was always a questionable deal to me. At $800+....F that. And no, I wont buy a switch 2. I wont buy anything. I built my computer in that 2022-2023 golden period and I plan on sitting out the next few years hoping the market adjusts where things go back to normal. It's possible they never will. At which case I guess I'll just become a perpetual retro gamer. It's the law of demand. You raise prices so much, people drop out of the market. I feel like the rich ###holes on reddit love to quote basic economics at us when it benefits the supply side, but the simple demand based reality is that. You make stuff more expensive, less people buy, and steve made it clear that yeah, less people ARE buying. A LOT less people are buying. Because we cant afford this crap. Period. Take THAT economic reality and smoke it.
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