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“Gaming is becoming unaffordable” — Xbox CEO says the industry has an accessibility crisis
(www.windowscentral.com)
There's that passive voice, striking again
this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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Technology
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I have enough that I could go out right now and drop $5k on a new PC build and not have it affect me.
My last mostly full build was in 2016. I'm still on ddr4 ram and just 6 months ago I upgraded my system to a used AMD R 5 5600x processor I got for $150 and an AMD 6600xt GPU I paid $200 for.
I'll play one of the million older games I haven't played yet before I ever spend so damned much on a new build or $900 on a console.
Is it though? I feel like there are a ton of indie games these days that are reasonably priced and run well without using a fuck ton of resources.
I don't really care if GTA 6 is $100+. It's the best of the best, maximum effort, no expense spared tier of video game making. I might eventually get it and I might not.
Keep in mind that Super Nintendo games were $60 or $70 in the mid 90s. Games have come down in relative price recently and are only now starting to creep back up, but that's because gaming has become a massively popular hobby and a lot of people want huge masterpieces like GTA 6 or Elder Scrolls 6.
It's honestly shocking to me looking back that we were able to afford new games back then. I saved up literal pennies to buy SMB3. The lady at Toys R Us was visibly pissed at me, and more pissed at my mom for letting me pay that way. We weren't rich, though we were slightly above the middle of middle class. But even my lower middle class friends could afford to buy video games back then.
It helped that there were used and rental markets for relatively "modern" titles that are now almost entirely non-existent.
Conversely, games had little to no resale value back then despite self-evidently coming with the entire contents right there on the cartridge. Basically everything in my NES library when I was a kid except, perhaps ironically, SMB3 came from yard sales and so forth where I bought them for a quarter or fifty cents or whatever.
It's probably never been a better for indie games.
Life is unaffordable because of them and now they’re crying about a lack of consumers to buy their stuff.
Middle class exists only by virtue of subsidies. It was an artificial creation invoked by FDR. Then Reagan started a destruction of the middle class that never ended with him. And now we are here.
I'm sure the AI agents will buy all their stuff /s
The arms race inherent in the world of computer gaming is reaching a point of unsustainability. I started thinking that way back when I could donate cpu time on my ps3 to protein folding simulation.
And, like most of our field, it’s a ratchet that only goes up. Efficiency and clever engineering to create an accessible experience is almost always lower down the list of priorities for these big corporate AAA publishers .
They’re more interested in swinging their dick further than the other guy. A lot of the time this doesn’t actually buy something more fun, popular, or playable. But the mind of an exec beholden to shareholders is obligated to invest in bloat. meanwhile I’m having a delightful time running clever little indie games on my steam deck.
It’s interesting how people are finally starting to notice after being told for years this will all eventually come to a head.
Plenty of good indie or AA games with low system requirements.
Or, you know, do something else than incrementing the version number on your old games while adding nothing new.
Same old games, at a higher price, this might just not cut it.
In the meantime, the Indie games are flourishing.
That's what the industry has to say, Mr. The CEO... Open your eyes.
-- Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
It's like they're catching onto why the urban legend about drug dealers intentionally poisoning their customers is bullshit. Turns out your sales go down when people can't buy your product.
Says the company charging a minimum of $10/mo to play online (Game Pass) when you can do it for free (with the same game) on the PC.
PS6 and Xbox whatever aren't going to come out for a very long time.
There was some recent reports estimating 2028 or even 2029, probably because you can't make a device better than the ps5 at current prices.
Either new technology needs to come along or prices need to drop and that's not likely for the next year or two.
I though "accessibility" in video games meant, like, color blind mode and shit.
Emulating is becoming Easier.
They're talking about their own "industry", not the entire gaming industry, right? Riiight?
There's plenty of affordable stuff. But I'm not the target audience for their 50 or 60 € release titles. And my backlog is long enough either way.
If things going like this long enough, people won't be able to play pirated games too.