Hardcore PC Gaming Is About to Die

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PC gaming is facing a tough future. It’s always been a costly hobby – games often cost $60 or more, consoles are at least $400, and there are ongoing expenses like online subscriptions. Despite the cost, gaming offers great value, with games offering replayability, free-to-play options like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone that are open to everyone, and many titles providing hours and hours of content. Unfortunately, costs are continuing to rise, making it increasingly difficult for people to get into or continue enjoying PC gaming.

At the beginning of the year, companies like Xbox and Nintendo considered raising the price of new games to $80, up from the $70 that’s been typical since 2020-2021. While most companies haven’t done that yet, it’s likely we’ll see it happen within the next couple of years. The monthly cost of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate also increased to $30, making it one of the pricier subscription services available. On top of that, consoles themselves have become more expensive, with price increases for both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, which now retails for around $650. But it’s not just consoles that are becoming harder on the wallet.

PC Gaming Is Starting to Price Players Out

PC gaming has always offered the best experience, but it comes with a cost. You have complete freedom to customize everything – not just how your games run, but also how you play them. With options like Steam and the Epic Games Store, it’s a fantastic platform. However, PC gaming is becoming increasingly expensive, and prices may soon become unreasonable.

Unlike consoles like Xbox and PlayStation, PCs are built on an open system. This means many different companies make PC parts, rather than one company controlling everything. While you can buy a pre-built PC, many people choose to build their own by purchasing components separately. However, if you don’t already own a PC or haven’t updated it recently, the cost of getting a new one can be quite high.

Prices for essential gaming PC parts, especially graphics cards (GPUs) and memory (RAM), have increased significantly. For example, I bought a graphics card in August 2023 for $640, and it now costs almost $950 – a $150 increase in just the last three months, according to Amazon. RAM prices are also climbing quickly, with some types now costing twice as much as they used to. It’s unclear what’s causing these price hikes.

For years, GPUs have been expensive and hard to find due to their use in cryptocurrency mining. Now, the growing demand for artificial intelligence is creating a new problem: a need for a lot of computer memory (RAM). AI companies are getting priority access to these resources, which means regular consumers are facing difficulties. This impacts people trying to build their own computers, and it’s especially frustrating for those switching from consoles because of rising console prices and subscription costs. We might even see the price of Xbox increase due to these RAM shortages.

There are reports that NVIDIA is planning to dramatically reduce its GPU production, potentially by as much as 40%. According to sources, they might even temporarily stop making the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB. This is reportedly because AI companies are buying up so much memory that there isn’t enough supply for other computer component manufacturers.

Everyone agrees that artificial intelligence is here to stay. While RAM prices might drop if supply catches up with demand, that seems unlikely given how quickly AI is becoming popular. It doesn’t look like cheaper RAM is on the horizon anytime soon. One potential solution could be Valve’s Steam Machine, which is like a PC built for gaming. It will probably still cost more than a typical console, but it will offer more flexibility and function like a regular computer.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to get into serious PC gaming. Costs are rising, parts are hard to find due to production issues, and gamers are understandably frustrated with the situation.

Reddit user Sperium3000 expressed frustration about not being able to upgrade their graphics card, blaming it on someone creating a viral video of an oversized sushi roll. Others compared trying to build a PC before the RAM shortage to a desperate escape. The situation is chaotic and appears to be deteriorating. RAM manufacturers aren’t incentivized to fix the problem, as they continue to profit significantly. NVIDIA is also expected to sell most of its current stock, despite production limitations.

Building or upgrading a PC is getting harder, pricier, and more frustrating. While someone might eventually fix these problems, it doesn’t seem likely right now. For years, the PC gaming community has grown steadily, but that growth could slow down or even stop if building PCs remains so difficult and expensive.

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2025-12-22 04:40