Opinion - The Era of the Console Is on Life Support

Are Consoles Becoming Niche, and If So, What's Next?

Since the mid-1980s, video game consoles have been the most accessible way to play mainstream AAA video games. They had the perfect storm of form factor, accessibility, games, brand, and most importantly, price. However, I think the era of the impulse buy console is coming to an end and the start of something new, something more expensive, and unfortunately, something that will price potential gamers out.

---

The Point of Video Game Consoles

The video game console has been the perfect way to play mainstream big-budget video games. Yes, we’ve always had computer gaming in the background, but consoles answered the issues those presented. First you had price, when adjusting for inflation, most consoles launched at about a $500-$600 price in 2026 dollars, and then came down gradually over a console generation (an average of five years originally, and then became seven years) as it picked up users and a legacy. Second, it was easy to just put it by your TV and press start, and it works without any hassles or tech know-how. Third, it had an easy, friendly form factor that made it usable in any living room or bedroom. Fourth, consoles were supported by major companies and had exclusive titles from the console maker that became household names in the medium. Last but not least, consoles became an easy way to track video game history and the eras of gaming. However, all of that is slowly fading, and the industry now faces a messy, uncertain future for the video game console.

Microsoft’s Project Helix is a planned Xbox console that blurs the line between traditional console and high-end gaming PC

The Potential Future of Consoles

The main problem video game consoles face is price. It is becoming increasingly expensive to make a console, even with the sacrifices they make to bring it to a consumer friendly point. This was a problem even before the current memory and storage issues or even tariffs. Before tariffs were even a thing, Phil Spencer warned that making systems cheaper as generations went by was becoming increasingly difficult. Today’s systems are essentially optimized X86-based, game-centric computers, and the parts needed to build powerful, multi-teraflop machines are getting more and more expensive. The obsession with realistic graphics was always going to lead to this… expensive technology in order to keep pushing the boundaries. Although those boundaries are getting harder to reach with weaker generational leaps as we hit ceilings. Add in fancy tech like ray tracing and path tracing, which also add to the cost, as well as more memory and bigger, more expensive games, and you start to see why even subsidizing a system is becoming harder to pull off.

Now, here we are, with systems planning a price at $700-$1000 in a new generation that no one is asking for. The video game console, which has been the face of gaming, has been the best and most accessible way to enter the hobby - that is no longer the case. The closest system we have to an impulse-buy territory is the Nintendo Switch 2, which, as of this article’s publication, has a $450 starting price. However, even that’s a bit high, especially for a Nintendo system, considering Nintendo’s history of being cheaper, since a good chunk of their target audience is family and kids. The PlayStation 6 isn’t going to face the competition of Xbox, so it’s probably going to push how high it can launch at, and Microsoft is trying something new and exciting, but pretty pricey. So what does this mean for video game consoles?

My opinion is that the video game console, outside of Switch 2, will take the place that medium-to-high-level gaming PCs of the 2010s did. Consoles will be where a good chunk of people who see gaming as a lifestyle more than a hobby gamers. They’ll still be successful, just not to the level they used to be. Outside of a surprise where prices do come down a lot, and Sony decides to aim for lower prices, that’s where this is all heading. Think of it like this. Today, most cinephiles are holding up physical movies, especially 4K Blu-Rays. That’s what consoles are heading towards - the place for the dedicated hardcore gamer. The Switch 2 will be more accessible to the casual crowd, so I think it will blur the line between hardcore lifestyle users and casuals (as long as Nintendo keeps the price affordable). Again, something could happen that saves consoles from becoming more boutique, but at the current moment, this is where it’s heading. So what is the future of video games for middle-income households and gamers who want games better than mobile titles but don’t want to pay for systems near $1000?

Many have said PC gaming is the future

Is PC Gaming the Future? Maybe, but Not for Some.

Here’s an interesting quick story. At a baby shower I attended, I had a quick chat with a younger brother-in-law in his early twenties. I was telling him about my time so far playing Cyberpunk 2077. He then told me how much he wanted a gaming PC. I asked if he was still interested in a console, and he didn’t hesitate; he said he mostly wanted a PC. This echoes something I’ve heard from a lot of people on multiple podcasts and in articles - PC gaming is the future. Younger people are interested in PC gaming in ways I never saw when growing up around the medium. So the question is, is PC gaming the future as consoles stumble? My answer is a bit of a cop-out of both yes and no, so let me explain.

I think PC gaming still has a lot of problems that many die-hard community members seem to ignore. This isn’t me taking any shots at hardcore PC gamers; I'd be open to getting one myself. It’s an observation that I feel a lot of them are living in bubbles. While consoles are getting high enough that they're threatening middle-income households' ability to participate in gaming, they are still cheaper than high-end gaming PCs. These computers are still very expensive, and they face the same issues consoles are running into with part pricing and tariffs. Also, PC gaming has yet to address the ease-of-use issues that consoles have dominated. Is it much easier today than before? Yes, with Steam's Big Picture mode and Microsoft’s work on its Xbox Full Screen Experience. I’ve also heard that SteamOS on the Steam Deck can feel close to a console experience. However, until there’s a solid, easy-to-use OS and UI that makes your gaming PC feel like a console without requiring you to know a bunch of tech details, it will always have that problem. The same goes for form factor - these things are massive and eat a lot of power.

However, with more powerful $500-range laptops and maybe even some $500-$800 mid-range but solid PCs, some of those will be used by even some more casual types as their main gaming devices. So I think PC gaming will be adopted more, even by the “normies”, but it won’t be the ridiculously expensive gaming PCs. As for those high-end PCs, I think they’re used by the most hardcore of hardcore gamers or lifestyle gamers who decide to go bigger with their investments beyond consoles.

This is where Microsoft’s polarizing strategy comes in. Microsoft is trying to become more platform-agnostic, but it’s been hard to juggle, and most gamers who stay in the news are confused or outright hate their new direction. However, if my theory comes true that consoles will become a little more boutique and low to mid-end PCs will be more popular to game on, I think Microsoft has a chance to take a good chunk of the market with their new strategy. Microsoft's Project Helix is a console that will also act as a gaming PC… details are still iffy, and we still need more information, but this hybrid PC-console could be exactly what the future of video games looks like. Now, it’s still going to be expensive, and that’s where Microsoft’s support of more affordable computers comes into play.

The Steam ecosystem is growing, and I believe it will be ecosystems that take over consoles’ power over the industry

A Bold New World

Here’s the overall theory I have, as I can explain it as best as possible. From the Atari 2600 to the PS4 era, video games have been part of a neat order. You had the big three (or four at one time) of console makers, and they tended to be the most used and dictated video game stories and history. You still had PC gaming and handheld gaming in the background, but they were more niche, or in the case of handheld, they were supplemental. However, that neat order is about to break wide open, and I think gaming is about to become more chaotic and messier. Rather than console wars, it’s going to be console vs. PC, rather than platforms, it’ll be ecosystems, and rather than generations, it’s going to be eras that aren’t defined just by console launches.

The consoles have been coalitions of casuals, gamers, hardcore gamers, and fanboys. However, that coalition is broken. The casuals are leaning towards cheap computers and mobiles, gamers are split among mid-range gaming PCs, consoles, and Switch 2. The hardcore gamers are going to be the console’s biggest audience, the most hardcore of hardcores will still get the high-end gaming PC, and the fanboys will try to stay with consoles or be part of a potential future “war” with Steam Vs. Xbox on PC. You also have potential technologies that could disrupt everything, like cloud, if it gets much better. All of this is to say, gamers are going to become more spread out, and just following consoles to understand the AA and AAA gaming spaces is pretty much over.

Now, a lot of this could change if prices get better. Maybe consoles have one last juice of an era to keep being the most accessible and powerful factor in gaming. But I’ve been on record that gaming is in a transition. I don’t agree with the predictions of a video game crash because I think it’s more of an evolution. Video games are going to become less about consoles and more about ecosystems, and consumer behavior will drive it, because in the end, you go with what you can buy. A lot of us who have been gaming for decades want the old order to stay, but how much longer can it? We are getting older, and the younger generation will demand change if the industry wants to keep growing. The console price problem, if not solved soon, will lead to a new era.

---