Why do people say gaming on PC is cheaper than on a console?

Jun 13, 2013
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I bought a PS4 Pro for $370 in 2016. In average I have pay for PSN Plus $40 per year. The PS5 will come out in December 2020. Until that date I would have spend $160 on PSN Plu. In total the console will me $530 until December 2020. I have 10 games for PS4 Pro that in average cost $30. I also have free games from PS Plus. The console is guarantee to work for all its lifetime. Game released will work on it, it does not matter to me the settings. I know the game is optimized to work on the console.
Please explain to me with numbers, how is PC more affordable?
 
Solution
Games are usually a lot cheaper on PC. You generally have to pay a bit more for the hardware though, but you can do a lot more with a pc than just gaming.

King_V

Illustrious
Ambassador
A PC is also available to do other things besides just gaming.

A PC capable of guaranteed 60fps might cost a bit more than a console. However, while I can't speak for other services, I can say this: Steam sales.

EDIT: and, as pointed out by richiestang, no monthly fees
 

Dugimodo

Distinguished
Who says it's cheaper? If you buy a lot of games and don't mind waiting for a while and not buying them when they first come out then you can often get PC games very cheap. Consoles games tend to hold their value for longer in my experience. So you have much more expensive hardware, that probably doesn't last as long between upgrades, and potentially a larger library of cheap games.

Nobody I know games on the PC because of price, we do it because we prefer it. And a lot of us also own consoles or have in the past, it's definitely not cheaper if you own both. I stopped buying consoles after the PS3 because I wasn't really using it enough.
 
PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4v7byX
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4v7byX/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Athlon X4 845 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($53.13 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI - A68HM-E33 V2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot - Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($42.20 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card ($164.99 @ B&H)
Case: Rosewill - SCM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($22.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - BT 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($9.99 @ B&H)
Total: $388.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-09-11 19:43 EDT-0400

That's the cost of building a PC with specs similar to PS4 Pro.


Games are cheaper on PC if you know where to look to find the deals. Smart PC gamers never spend retail price on games while console gamers often have to pay retail on new games.

Also you save the PSN plus fee. AKA the online play Tax that Microsoft introduced with the Xbox 360 and now everyone else is adopting it.

So yes. PC is cheaper. And also it isn't. PC is whatever you want. It can be much more expensive or much cheaper. It all depends on what you want out of the PC.
 
Jun 13, 2013
79
0
10,630


Thanks for the numbers man. Can you build one that is slightly more powerful than the Xbox One X?
 
Depends on what you mean by "cheaper" a PC might have more up front cost but can last longer. Next Gen PS come out like every 4 years... that means another console, set of games, controllers etc... while a PC can easily last over 6 years if taken care of.

So in long term. Yes I'd say a PC is cheaper.

And that is just speaking hardware. Now thing of software and deals we often see on PC compared to console and no monthly fees for online gaming etc...