This is why many of us can’t wait for a bit of an AI crash…
Console gaming is cooked…on one hand the platform holders “have to” raise prices but on the other hand all this will eventually shrink the console market. It’s like walking towards a fail state knowing that will come. lol
At least Nintendo had the decency to announce this 3 months before the price raise.
Oof. I don’t think I’ll be buying all three consoles ever again. The launch price being $450 for the hardware capabilities and how expensive the Nintendo ecosystem just is. Maybe by the Switch 3 the world will have calmed tf down 
Next generation, I will get Helix day one and the rest I will wait on it until it gets me interested in, which could be a while, especially in compare to this generation. I haven’t touched PS5 for a year after it was launched. My library is almost complete. I can’t afford (no pun intended) to do the same for the next gen.
Honestly it’s just impractical for me. The new generation started when I started university and since them I’ve had less physical space and less time for gaming. Having multiple consoles setup and bouncing between systems just isn’t worth one or two games. Especially not when most of what I play is available on every platform. Xbox for me offers a more unified expansive experience. I can play a lot of my favorite games on console, on my phone with cloud, and even on a handheld with PC and my progress follows me. A switch 2 might be the best handheld but I’d at least need a better system for third party games cross save. Otherwise it’s just like why? I don’t even finish games… on my OG Switch I played through and loved Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Astral Chain. On my PS4 Infamous Second Son & God of War 2018. The prices are just the nail in the coffin. I can get one system from now on and I’ll go with what will carry forward most of my library and game progress and put me on the most open ecosystem to keep carrying that forward. If I didn’t grow up gaming on consoles though, man I’d be a hardcore PC gamer right now. There’s just no point dealing with the walled gardens at these prices.
I was gonna get a Switch 2 but I lost interest a few weeks ago. The only game I was interested in is the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment and other Warriors games. I’m content with just playing the Xbox releases
Wish it was only console, so i could have upgraded my PC already.
Anything using CPU, GPU, RAM… that’s not being used for AI nowadays is fucked
I give Nintendo credit for putting out their first party titles already, though the one comment I saw at Twitter was savage to say it has a lot in a year than PS5 in a whole generation, but I digress. I can see why Nintendo did a surprise Direct on Star Fox. The report was coming and so, they want to announce it to please the investors.
I always owned all the major systems since gen 6 (in gen 5 I didn’t have a Saturn which I regret so much) and this is the first generation that I have only one console though I am thinking of getting a Switch 2 if I find one used at a good price because Nintendo is making fun games that I want to play. PS5 on the other hand is not even a consideration at this point, their 1st party output is so freakin’ boring and bland plus the Japanese support on Xbox is at very good levels so I don’t need to get one like I did with the PS4.
Strangely takes effect in September.
Funny (though really sad) that Japan will get theirs really soon. Guess they feel that their loyalty is so strong, they don’t mind “screwing” them over.
Maybe in Japan they are so dominant they think they will buy it regardless. Or could just be supply chain considerations.
Supposedly, as of now, there are many people buying Switch 2 to avoid price hike. I guess in a way, the long wait before price hike is their tactic to sell consoles more for quarter sake.
Every price increase we see really makes me think about next gen pricing and strategies. If next gen pricing creeps up toward $1,000 usd, they aren’t going to sell a lot. which would mean current gen might stay relevant.
Some of the next gen helix rumors said helix could have hardware flexibility where every couple of years new iterations can happen seamlessly. Maybe that is part of the xbox strategy. launch at a high price due to higher than normal manufacturing costs, ride out the low sales hoping component prices come down in a few years, then refresh at lower prices.
Who knows.
I’m curious to see how the Helix lineup actually pans out. Will we see another Series S iteration? Beyond the launch will there be a mid Gen upgrade? Will they just release new parts and let us upgrade? Will they follow a PC strategy of yearly refreshes like you said? How will OEMs play a role if the AMD partnership still works like that? Will we see keystone return as a “budget” option? Personally, I’d like a first party handheld as my mid gen device (mid gen so it can take advantage of newer tech and pack more of a handheld punch).
Really $499 is still not a bad price all things considered. I was expecting more, I bought my girlfriend a S2 last month expecting price increases to be a bit more than what we got.
It takes effect in September so fingers crossed we get an absolute beastly system selling game in October!