I feel you. Iāve played video games almost all my life, but during a period of unemployment last year, I had to sell my PS5 and Switch (which I got during much better times) to pay a winter power bill. And consoles have only gotten more expensive since then, thanks to AI data centers monopolizing digital components. I did find a new job, but Iām making less money than ever, and canāt save, Iām paycheck-to-paycheck. As for my PC, itās a mid-range Win10 laptop from 2016 thatās barely holding on, it canāt upgrade to Win11 and can only run the simplest games.
So Iām now mostly priced out of a lifelong hobby. Canāt play GTA6. No idea when Iāll be able to play big new games again.
Honestly that all really sucks to read, and Iām sorry youāve had to make those sorts of compromises. I canāt offer much besides hope that all this shit is temporary, and that youāll have better times to look forward to before you know it.
Man honestly. With how tough my life has been.
I have been extremely angry and vindictive against Nintendo as a whole and Microsoft and Sony especially.
Like they pretty much priced me and many others who are relatively young and wonāt ever get jobs that pay well out of their own hobby.
That and the fact that Sony and Microsoft bought the entire game industry and fired a metric shit ton of people and bypassed unions and ruined entire lives. I just canāt anymore. Like it really is starting to look like the end to the triple A game industry as a whole. As me and many others move onto games that can be sustainably made and funded and supported.
But itās a real shame that GTA 6 is going to be the last of its kind. Because Gen Z really doesnāt have the money for any of this. As we move onto a market of millennials and Gen X supporting most of the economy even outside of gaming as a whole and well that will eventually implode in on itself.
Thatās how i feel recently before i saved enough money to upgrade my pc from a lower end pc from 2015, but in your case, you can just install linux(mint, cachy, steam) and play indie games, thereās thousands of great indie that iām sure you havenāt played. Thereās no need to quit gaming just because the latest and newest looks so shiny and you canāt play it, i literally replayed games from 2010s before this and to this day thereās still tons of games i havenāt even touched.
New games doesnāt mean its good though.
Also since your laptop is older gen, 2nd hand part should be plenty. After i got my new pc, the old one i upgraded it to better hardware before i give it to my sister. It can run AAA game released up till 2024/25.
My laptop is only one year older than that commenterās and Iād also describe it as āmidrangeā (at the time), and it struggles even with those types of games. Itās partly the lack of software support for the iGPU, but it just isnāt fast enough even for most pixel graphic games - they donāt need a LOT of performance, but they also just arenāt programmed as efficiently as they would have been in 2015, nevermind the actual 90s console games that inspired them. My options on that device are basically visual novels, emulators for like SNES or Game Boy, or games more in the vein of Minesweeper.
That said, I could upgrade to a much more powerful refurb laptop for only ~200ā¬ that should be able to play at least pixel graphic games. I do have a PC for gaming, though, so I donāt bother.
Nice art!
I feel you. Iāve played video games almost all my life, but during a period of unemployment last year, I had to sell my PS5 and Switch (which I got during much better times) to pay a winter power bill. And consoles have only gotten more expensive since then, thanks to AI data centers monopolizing digital components. I did find a new job, but Iām making less money than ever, and canāt save, Iām paycheck-to-paycheck. As for my PC, itās a mid-range Win10 laptop from 2016 thatās barely holding on, it canāt upgrade to Win11 and can only run the simplest games.
So Iām now mostly priced out of a lifelong hobby. Canāt play GTA6. No idea when Iāll be able to play big new games again.
Man sorry to hear that. I am sure there are better times ahead for you.
I feel you about the price hikes, had the same issue with my old machine.
But started looking for games at GoG and found some fun old classics or god games that do run on my old machine too.
Honestly that all really sucks to read, and Iām sorry youāve had to make those sorts of compromises. I canāt offer much besides hope that all this shit is temporary, and that youāll have better times to look forward to before you know it.
Man honestly. With how tough my life has been. I have been extremely angry and vindictive against Nintendo as a whole and Microsoft and Sony especially. Like they pretty much priced me and many others who are relatively young and wonāt ever get jobs that pay well out of their own hobby.
That and the fact that Sony and Microsoft bought the entire game industry and fired a metric shit ton of people and bypassed unions and ruined entire lives. I just canāt anymore. Like it really is starting to look like the end to the triple A game industry as a whole. As me and many others move onto games that can be sustainably made and funded and supported.
But itās a real shame that GTA 6 is going to be the last of its kind. Because Gen Z really doesnāt have the money for any of this. As we move onto a market of millennials and Gen X supporting most of the economy even outside of gaming as a whole and well that will eventually implode in on itself.
Thatās how i feel recently before i saved enough money to upgrade my pc from a lower end pc from 2015, but in your case, you can just install linux(mint, cachy, steam) and play indie games, thereās thousands of great indie that iām sure you havenāt played. Thereās no need to quit gaming just because the latest and newest looks so shiny and you canāt play it, i literally replayed games from 2010s before this and to this day thereās still tons of games i havenāt even touched.
New games doesnāt mean its good though.
Also since your laptop is older gen, 2nd hand part should be plenty. After i got my new pc, the old one i upgraded it to better hardware before i give it to my sister. It can run AAA game released up till 2024/25.
My laptop is only one year older than that commenterās and Iād also describe it as āmidrangeā (at the time), and it struggles even with those types of games. Itās partly the lack of software support for the iGPU, but it just isnāt fast enough even for most pixel graphic games - they donāt need a LOT of performance, but they also just arenāt programmed as efficiently as they would have been in 2015, nevermind the actual 90s console games that inspired them. My options on that device are basically visual novels, emulators for like SNES or Game Boy, or games more in the vein of Minesweeper.
That said, I could upgrade to a much more powerful refurb laptop for only ~200ā¬ that should be able to play at least pixel graphic games. I do have a PC for gaming, though, so I donāt bother.