It is not just gaming and tech, almost everything is getting enshitified & expensive, how to pivot?
For the Gamers and hardware enthousiasts among us,.. I feel like it has been the worst news week in gaming for many years! To wit:
- New console prices (of exact same devices that came out yeeeears ago) up by 100 to 300!
- The three sole manufacturers of RAM in the world have done cartel style price fixing and to be in large degree responsible for the RAMpocalypse, they have had a class-action lawsuit filed against them.
So, they are doing it again, after have been convicted and fined, and pleading guilty before in the 2000s, for the exact same thing.
DRM price fixing scandal wiki article
They will not care one iota if convicted again, since they are currently making insane money! "Cost of doing business". "Tax write-off".
AI thing is only half of the equation of hardware price hike, price fixing is the other half.
Analysts all say they do not expect hardware prices to go down before 2028,. if ever! New ""Normal"". It is important to remember that prices for many devices will go up, DRAM is in phones, tablets, SSD/storage, routers and switches and much more.
Sony / Playstation Physical disc production ending in January 2028 You will own nothing, including any new PS games, ever again.
ESA (The Entertainment Software Association, biggest lobbying group that represents all of the largest game publishers) lying like a rug, getting awful laws passed in California, that pave the way for non-ownership of any software as well as lying about private Minecraft servers being illegal.
Pcgamer site reporting on ESA saying private servers are illegal
Steam machine / Gabe Box costing $1049 for cheapest configuration
Rockstar charging $80 and $100 for GTA 6 and also not including any disk, only a code.
It is So over. Evil Big Tech Brother needs to Die. 🤷🏻♂️
I don't even game, I just hate all the above and the extreme greed on principle. Also, the things above are happening to a large degree with every digital product + media, series, music, books, messengers, software, OSes etc, almost everything seems to be getting worse or more expensive in terms of monthly cost or privacy.
I do see points of light.
I heard about:
The Ennies, the award for best in person tabletop roleplaying games, they seem to have more amazing nominated games than ever:
And if you do want to play a single person RPG on your computer,
"The Secret of Weepstone" and "Esoteric Ebb" are (very) affordable and seem really great:
Bazzite/Steam OS etc means (indie/retro/affordable) gaming on Linux is a very viable way to go, you can get 1000s of awesome, affordable and DRM free games on Good Old Games and Steam. However with hardware prices being what they are,... if you don't already have an ok gaming PC now, you better have deep pockets.
Pivoting
I wish I could write more about this. But I am aware that possible pivots and solutions may look very different for you! For me pivoting has meant:
using Stremio for series and movies at little to no cost.
Getting a bit more second hand things.
Buying less, accepting that things on Aliexpress will be way more expensive in EU, forever but that I don't need more stuff, or only very little anyway and that Aliexpress was never a good store, not for the people making and shipping the stuff, not for the environment!
Leveraging that I can travel freely in EU for work or cheaper accommodation.
Saving when I can. Relying on friends and putting time into IRL meet ups and other free or at least cheap entertainment and hobbies.
Learning how to (batch) cook better.
I realize the above is not possible for many people, some people are truly stuck between a rock and a hard place, and that makes me rather sad, I always hope society will move in a more equitable direction.
Great video below. As it states, too many people online are "Cosplaying at poverty" rather than actually being poor and knowing what it is like to be at the bottom. The short video is about rising food prices and feeding your family, something which affects every single one of us. It makes excellent points about the poverty trap and how time and planning, and preparation are luxuries that most poor people simply can not acquire.
Stop telling poor people they need to get better at being poor