Buying a console or PC makes for an expensive barrier to entry. Consoles range from $300 - $500, and a gaming PC can cost anywhere from $600 - $2000+ depending on your willingness to part with money.
These costs continue to rack up with mid-gen refreshes, CPU/GPU upgrades, paying to play online, and storage.
Using Google Stadia as an example since it's the only one with pricing available, the price of entry is $0/month for 1080p gaming and $10/month for 4K gaming. I'm sure XCloud and other streaming platforms will follow a similar pricing model, maybe even a better one such as Netflix of gaming.
Even so, streaming provides no need to spend money on hardware upgrades or online fees, because you will always be gaming on high end hardware managed by the streaming service. You can always play the latest games no matter what using any browser, smart TV, or smartphone. For example, using the premium Stadia tier for quality up to 4K.
5 year cost = $600
10 year cost = $1200
This is likely much cheaper than what many folks on era spend on gaming hardware and related costs.
And before many of you mention data caps and ISP charges, plenty of countries outside of the US have unlimited bandwidth internet available.
With hardware costs rising, streaming may just be the cheapest way to play the latest games in the future.
These costs continue to rack up with mid-gen refreshes, CPU/GPU upgrades, paying to play online, and storage.
Using Google Stadia as an example since it's the only one with pricing available, the price of entry is $0/month for 1080p gaming and $10/month for 4K gaming. I'm sure XCloud and other streaming platforms will follow a similar pricing model, maybe even a better one such as Netflix of gaming.
Even so, streaming provides no need to spend money on hardware upgrades or online fees, because you will always be gaming on high end hardware managed by the streaming service. You can always play the latest games no matter what using any browser, smart TV, or smartphone. For example, using the premium Stadia tier for quality up to 4K.
5 year cost = $600
10 year cost = $1200
This is likely much cheaper than what many folks on era spend on gaming hardware and related costs.
And before many of you mention data caps and ISP charges, plenty of countries outside of the US have unlimited bandwidth internet available.
With hardware costs rising, streaming may just be the cheapest way to play the latest games in the future.