You kinda missed most of my points. Because a core advantage of building a PC from individual parts is that you can buy some parts used, or adjust them to what you actually need. You can’t buy the PS5 used cause it just came out, but the components are actually relatively old.
A case can be had for cheap (often with fans). Also a used GPU might allow you to get a bit more performance for the same money (or the same perf for less money). Keep in mind that the hardware specs of the PS5 aren’t exactly cutting edge top tier performance. You can also find a complete used PC with roughly the right specs, and a quick check showed an eBay listing for case+PSU+mobo+3700x+16gb and 512gb nvme + 2tb HDD for 309€. And that was the first hit, with “buy it now”, after 30s on the site.
You can also tailor what exactly you buy to your needs. Maybe 1TB nvme is enough for you, or you can even start out with 500gb. It’s a PC, just buy another m.2 when you really need it, takes 5 minutes to install.
But all that is kinda not the point either. Mainly the advantage is that it’s a PC. It’s not just a gaming thing (though it can be). That is what makes it worth it, also obviously depending on the individual needs. And that’s the point. The PC does what you need, and can be made to change to whatever that is.
When you said “from a pure budget standpoint, no PC isn’t worth it” you also one again COMPLETELY IGNORE that you need to buy games to play. Those are so much more expensive (and have a much more limited selection) on console. And over the lifetime of the console, game costs will have been much more than the device. That’s the point, and why they are relatively affordable, they are subsidized by the manufacturer who makes money on every game bought for it. When a console comes out, they typically loose money on it.
Finally, once a few years have gone by, you can actually upgrade PC parts individually where needed. You don’t have to buy the next generation new one, like with consoles. Again, much cheaper. For people who are on tight budget, this is or should be a huge consideration. Once you got a PC, the next upgrade is so much cheaper than a new console, yet it’ll be equivalent to that new console.
Consoles are cheaper the day you buy them (and not by a lot). Even just weeks or months later the PC is cheaper. Years later it’s cheaper by a lot.
Unless I misunderstood something, the PS5 isn’t “true 4k”, but uses upscaling just like any semi-modern GPU can do as well (DLSS and FSR I think is the AMD version). That changes that equation quite a bit.
I would argue that reocmmending a PC over a (new) console has gotten easier, especially for someone on a budget. Because you can actually get an incredibly competent machine these days (used of course). Even if you decide to pay more to get a better PC, you then have access to the vast PC library with all the bundles, frequent and often deep sales, giveaways, … The cost of the console isn’t just the console, but also what you can play on it and what it costs, and this aspect has improved massively on PC in recent years (and was already pretty good before then).
Of course, if you’re interested in exlusives or first-party titles (like nintendo), or you generally play mostly AAA games, the console might just be the better or only option, but you better bring the wallet for the whole journey.
I understand that not everyone has the expertise, but for 800$ you can put together a very capable system that will beat the PS5 easily. It will probably include some used parts. You don’t need a 4070 in there, not even remotely close.
But yes, obviously the prices have gone up quite a bit over the last years.
The article makes it sound like it’s just about the “older” games, but layoffs affect core smite 2 development, too. And not just 1 or 2 people either. Also literally everyone related to eSports, so that entire concept seems dead to them as well. Kinda looks like we’re on a downward spiral, so don’t get too invested.
I actually have it on my wishlist. One of those games I wanted to play eventually. Had it on my wishlist now. Certain actions by companies make me lose interest.
There’s enough good games out there. Can skip some based on company actions just fine.
Basically any game that doesn’t in itself follow a story, so you are the story (or make it). For me personally it’s building and factory games, like Factorio, cities skylines (1 or 2), satisfactory, Kerbal Space program (1 only), Rim world.
There are open source implementations of their launcher. Specifically there’s “legendary”, which is the thing that can download and launch games (this is a command line tool). Fortunately there’s also “Heroic”, which will use legendary in the background and give you a normal/usable user interface, desktop shortcuts and so on. Also doesn’t work like spyware for epic on your computer, as their own store/launcher does.
Probably “ports of call” on PC. Still haven’t found an actual modern version of it. There were some half assed attempts in recent years, all with such huge flaws that they still haven’t managed to be considered “playable”.
You can use legendary worth heroic as a user interface (both open source projects) to download and play games you own on epic, no need to install their software.
There is no need to use their launcher, as there are open source alternatives. “legendary” is a tool that can download sand install games from epic, but it’s command line only. Fortunately, there is also “heroic”, which is a GUI for it and honestly a pretty good one. Can also handle GOG games.
They work well for me, haven’t had epic’s launcher installed in a very long time.
A Ryzen 5 is a pretty large span of processors, ranging from “old and mostly obsolete” to “modern and highly capable for gaming”. Which one exactly would be helpful for others to help judge their own.