https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/pc-gaming-figures-fall-again-in-germany-down-to-just-13-1-million-marking-a-20-percent-de-since-2019

Most likely Down to the increasing cost of PC hardware.

I wonder if people just aren't upgrading as much?   Steam games still seem to do very well.  

Honestly, if I wasn't running a flightsim that really pushes my hardware, I would still be on my 5+ year old PC.  MSFS is really the only reason I upgraded.  

Hardware prices seem reasonable if you shop around and don't want the absolute latest.  I got myself a nice system with a 4080 super last Black Friday and it was reasonable (way better than what I spent in 2020 for a PC).  You're obviously going to pay a big premium to be on the biggest 5000 series card.  

2 hours ago, kerosene31 said:

I wonder if people just aren't upgrading as much?   Steam games still seem to do very well.  

Honestly, if I wasn't running a flightsim that really pushes my hardware, I would still be on my 5+ year old PC.  MSFS is really the only reason I upgraded.  

Hardware prices seem reasonable if you shop around and don't want the absolute latest.  I got myself a nice system with a 4080 super last Black Friday and it was reasonable (way better than what I spent in 2020 for a PC).  You're obviously going to pay a big premium to be on the biggest 5000 series card.  

The rig I run my Steam shooters and driving games on is a 5 year old i9-9900 and 3090.  I tried a couple of those games on my 13900KS+4090 flight sim rig, and there wasn't enough of a difference to even consider upgrading the gaming machine.

https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/xbox/microsoft-tests-xbox-app-with-battle-net-integration-updated-app-brings-third-party-game-library-aggregation

With the escalating cost of computers, the possession of a computer may return to the days of government agencies, universities, and businesses having them, but the average citizen could not afford one.

If it wasn't for MSFS, i wouldn't even have a videocard. Moved to linux long ago for all my other computer needs and my (mostly retrogaming) takes place on an ROG Ally handheld. No need for mega-overpriced video cards there.

Just glancing at Alienware, you can get a decent 4060 TI system for $1350 US.  For those of us trying to run MSFS at JFK with full traffic and a complex aircraft, that's not what we need, but for most general gamers, that's fine.  We're the outlier in that group with needing tons of performance.  There's some lower end 5000 series cards still under $2000.  

Of course you can always do a lot better elsewhere and/or building yourself.  Things obviously spike way up once you get into the 5000 series cards, but there's still value systems to be found.  

Keep in mind that game consoles are pushing $700 now.  Xbox raised their prices rather dramatically and Sony has a $700 option (granted they still have the regular PS5 at a lower price).  Next gen is very likely going to be at a higher price point.  I think the days of $500 consoles will be ending.  

Console is always going to be a cheaper price point, but there's some very reasonable PCs out there.  Again, flight simmers are the exception when it comes to performance.  What we do really benefits from better hardware.  

To build my present PC would cost over £3,000 and that`s not the most expensive parts and no 50series GPU.

It used to be I would upgrade my PC under every 2 years through the 90s up until near 2010, now I can get about 10 years on a PC. I upgraded to what I have today about 5 months ago, my last PC did last 10 years and that was unheard of in years past, to be honest that one was still good I just wanted to upgrade anyways. 

Game consoles are similar they probably have a lifespan of about 7 years between new releases, so really 7 to 10 years on a game console isn't unreasonable either.

Neither PC or Consoles are dead they are still very popular, game sales are still way ahead of film sales and music sales combined, the only difference is we are holding onto hardware for much longer then we used to, but we are still buying games.

Edited June 25, 2025Jun 25 by Matthew Kane

I'm currently flying MSFS 2020 with the ASUS Z13 (2025), a tablet PC which has an iGPU.  It compares to the 2060Super in performance. Now I hear you say "but a 2060 is years ago" and you would be correct. But this is an integrated graphics chip on the CPU, inside a tablet..... 

I have it at 30fps locked (can go higher but the re is no need to) and get the same fps at add-on airports such as East Midlands or Southampton.

Combine this with an Xbox controller and you have a great setup for the dinner table or when not at home.

Edited June 29, 2025Jun 29 by Maarten Otto

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/as-microsoft-lays-off-thousands-of-employees-the-company-insists-that-xbox-boss-phil-spencer-isn-t-retiring-anytime-soon/ar-AA1HUM4X

 Triple AAA studios getting the chop after 5-6 development by MS, ASBO could be left with MSFS on its own.

8 hours ago, G-RFRY said:

 Triple AAA studios getting the chop after 5-6 development by MS, ASBO could be left with MSFS on its own.

Not surprised.  M$ dropped the ACES team and exited the flight sim world in January of 2009 because flight sims were not making money for them.

On 6/24/2025 at 1:59 PM, G-RFRY said:

Most likely Down to the increasing cost of PC hardware.

Nope. The reason is that mobile gaming is on the rise.

Most young people don't buy a gaming PC any longer and play on their Cell-Phone or Tablet instead.