Games Have Changed

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]I've been playing video games since I was about 4 years old.

[00:00:04]I still remember playing Return to Zork on my Mac before I was even tall enough to see over the desk.

[00:00:13]Games have been a big part of my life.

[00:00:16]They've been a constant source of fun, of enrichment, and games have been a gateway for knowledge as well as self-experience.

[00:00:27]Games are a great thing. Because of games, I have a so-called career.

[00:00:31]And because of games, people's lives can become better.

[00:00:36]And that's why it's such a shame what's happening to this industry in the late 2020s. I'm Jordan Lee.

[00:00:45]I make video essays, or as I pretentiously once named [music] them, electronic virtual essays or EVs.

[00:00:54]Mostly, I make video essays about video games.

[00:00:58]My content is available to watch for free, even if it is [music] with ads.

[00:01:04]Why?

[00:01:05]Yes, it's decent money.

[00:01:08]But it's also because I see video games as something that belongs to everybody.

[00:01:17]And I see the internet as a great tool for connecting and sharing not only just information, but more than that, thoughts, dreams, experiences.

[00:01:30]As well as of course research and lore theories.

[00:01:36]Video games, if used in a certain way, can be more than just a way to waste time.

[00:01:44]They can be these incredible tools [music] for self-discovery, for generating meaningful experiences in one's life.

[00:01:53]Games are like the new albums, the new movies, the new novels.

[00:01:59]They are part of global culture.

[00:02:01]And staying part of global culture is key to keeping this medium alive.

[00:02:09]But now in [music] 2026, it seems all these things that I've taken for granted about video [music] games might be going away.

[00:02:20]They may not be for everyone for much longer. In fact, they've already started to only be for a very, very select few.

[00:02:30]People with a huge amount of disposable income to spend on them.

[00:02:36]From the war in Iran to the tariffs to the AI bubble, the US is destroying the global economy on multiple fronts.

[00:02:46]And one unfortunate consequence of this among many is that the affordable games console has it seems gone extinct or at least entered the endangered species territory.

[00:03:01]Nintendo built its legacy on cost-effective machines like the Super Famicom, the N64, or the Wii.

[00:03:10]These consoles were designed to be relatively affordable.

[00:03:16]Nintendo's whole philosophy used to be like mine, that gaming is for everyone.

[00:03:22]I mean, it's partly because of Nintendo that I got that idea.

[00:03:28]So, it's particularly sad to see this company gating off its newest console and newest games from those who don't have half a grand in disposable income just lying around to burn on the console and then $70 a pop per game.

[00:03:44]Not to mention other expenses like if you want to play the retro games, you have to pay Nintendo a monthly fee. Same goes for Sony. If you want the most out of PlayStation Network, you also have to pay a fee.

[00:04:00]Obviously, with PlayStation, you get a lot. And the same goes [music] with the Switch online. So, it's not like I'm saying that you get nothing out of these or that having access to all the stuff that these subscriptions [music] come with should be a right.

[00:04:19]This video also isn't really saying that games are just going to disappear from the lives of the non-wealthy overnight.

[00:04:29]The point isn't that non-wealthy people will completely lose access to video games.

[00:04:34]Because after all, fortunately, mid-tier budget titles will continue to exist.

[00:04:40]PC gaming, provided you already have a rig, is a booming [music] industry.

[00:04:46]And there will be cloud computing options. So, [music] people will still be able to enjoy new AAA games on a good rig without having to actually own one.

[00:04:54]So, no, games aren't going away completely.

[00:04:58]The games console might be, but [music] games themselves are surely here to stay.

[00:05:03]They're not going away, but they are changing.

[00:05:06]And let's face [music] it, games have been changing for the last 15 to 20 years.

[00:05:12]And it's hardly the only time that they've changed since games became part of the commercial electronics landscape in the 1970s.

[00:05:23]Once the 3D game evolved out of arcades into living rooms, and it was at that point we stopped having [music] to pay 75 cents a life.

[00:05:35]Now, we've reached a point where gaming is becoming inordinately expensive [music] once more. But this era is much, much worse on the wallet than was [music] the age of the arcade.

[00:05:47]Will the whales really be able to compensate for a potential mass exodus of minnows? Or will the AAA games industry detach [music] from the rest and become its own prohibitively costly luxury activity, [music] not unlike VR?

[00:06:03]Well, VR gaming is an interesting case [music] in point because it has not really taken off. And why? Because VR tech and games remain too niche and exotic and expensive [music] for the average player to afford or care much about.

[00:06:22]VR games have no relevance because they're too expensive. And I worry something similar could happen to the AAA space and certainly to [music] the games console itself.

[00:06:33]But look, even if all that happens is that less people overall can afford to play the biggest newest titles on the newest machines, >> [music] >> and that those who can just get used to dropping hundreds more dollars on subscription fees, console upgrades, and new releases, well, that would still mean that games will have become something [music] people will have to choose over their financial security.

[00:06:55]The big money that you're spending [music] on that PS5 Pro could have gone to a lot of other things, maybe more important things. Personally, I think the games industry, like so much else today, is just becoming straight [music] greedy, mask off greedy, and it's disgusting. And also, like everything else, mark my words, this greed is going to bite the industry in the ass in the end.

[00:07:18]As Doritos found out recently, [music] there is a tipping point where the cost of a product becomes no longer worth it.

[00:07:24]>> [music] >> When an eye-wateringly high price turns what was formerly a everyday joy into a rarefied luxury [music] and into a joke that nobody is going to spend the money on. Only someone with more money than sense would pay $8 for a bag of chips.

[00:07:41]At what price [music] point does this Dorito effect come for games? I suppose only time will tell.

[00:07:52]Over my lifetime, I've seen this nickel-and-diming of the consumer or the player, or whatever you want to call them, going on for quite a long time. But, this isn't just about lamenting broken traditions. The whole point of a game console used to be that it did what a normal PC could not.

[00:08:11]And part of that was that it did not cost as much as a high- or mid-end gaming rig.

[00:08:19]Now, don't get me wrong.

[00:08:21]Consoles are still different than PC.

[00:08:24]They're designed so that their specs don't change, and they use [music] proprietary technology. So, I'm not saying that consoles are completely redundant.

[00:08:34]It's not going to be long before modern consoles become as expensive to own and use as a gaming PC.

[00:08:42]I saw a recent article on this, actually, from GameSpot about how the games console is pricing itself out of relevance.

[00:08:52]And Microsoft is only worsening the problem, arguably, by marketing the new Xbox as essentially a gaming PC.

[00:09:01]If the distinction between gaming console and gaming PC disappears economically, it will, of course, disappear conceptually.

[00:09:09]This may mark the end of gaming consoles as we know it.

[00:09:14]And that has been, I'm sad to say, inevitable for some time.

[00:09:24]I knew this day was coming. It's just sad to see it sort of feel like it's happening all at once.

[00:09:32]Even if you look at Hideo Kojima and his interest in cloud gaming over the last decade or so, Kojima may have understood earlier than many that in the future games console hardware and hardware in general is going to matter less because we're going to have this era of cloud computing.

[00:09:52]There once was a time in the 1990s when, you know, buying a PlayStation 1 got you CD quality audio and got you a device that could do things that would cost you quite a lot of money to get your PC able to do them too and the game wouldn't be as optimized and easy to just plug and play right out of the box.

[00:10:15]So, that was the era that I was raised in. The late 20th century is when the games console, of course, really was born and came of age.

[00:10:25]Even if you don't get the optimization or the plug and play, PCs have caught up somewhat with consoles in terms of affordability with gaming [music] accessories.

[00:10:36]Unlike in the 90s when it was really exotic to have like a Voodoo card.

[00:10:42]When it was really exotic to have like a graphics processor.

[00:10:46]But between the 90s and say 2024, it became cheaper to obtain a PC that could play games well.

[00:10:58]If you're interested in my video on MGS2 and the medium, I delve into how the PlayStation 2 in particular differed from a standard PC. But suffice to say, the salience of the console has been gradually disappearing since I would say the PS4, which hardware-wise wasn't nearly as different from a typical mid-tier gaming PC as say the PS3 had been with its incredible cell processing. But the PS3 was, of course, incredibly expensive and tragically underutilized by most of its developers.

[00:11:34]So those of us who did shell out the enormous amount to actually get our hands on a PS3, very rarely got to see the console's full potential.

[00:11:47]The PS5 sports incredibly fast load times.

[00:11:51]It's got pretty good performance for a 4K system. Again, it's not that the PS5 and a mid-tier gaming PC are exactly the same. There are many things you can get from a PS5 that you can't get from just a normal or mid-grade gaming PC.

[00:12:06]But that being said, the PS5 is way too expensive.

[00:12:10]The PS2 was such a monster hit because it was a [music] games console and a DVD player in one. Just as the PlayStation 1 had been a CD player and a games console in one.

[00:12:21]This idea of two home entertainment devices in a single product was a big part of the appeal.

[00:12:30]Now, games consoles are more expensive than ever, yet they seem to offer less genuine value than ever.

[00:12:37]You don't really own the games. You just sort of buy the rights to download them.

[00:12:43]>> [music] [music] >> Mid-tier PCs today are close to about as good as any games console that's on the market.

[00:12:59]But many people are not going to buy new PCs, are not going to buy new consoles anytime soon.

[00:13:06]Because the cost of consumer electronics in general >> [music] >> are getting so expensive that only rich or semi-rich people can be able to afford them.

[00:13:17]I understand that video games have always been a lucrative business that required the player to put a lot of money in in order to experience. And I understand that money and [music] popularity obviously are not only are they not bad things inherently, they are the essence of what took games from this obscure thing and made it this cultural force.

[00:13:42]So, it's not that money is always or inherently bad when it's in the industry.

[00:13:49]But, I think we've long hit a tipping point where the influence of money and business has somewhat taken over, and it's become kind of insidious, if you ask me. A force of corruption in the industry, infecting it from all angles.

[00:14:05]Look at how the Saudis are ruining fighting franchises. Look at how the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia recently acquired a decent chunk of Capcom.

[00:14:17]They know that there's lots of money in this industry, the Saudis, and they they're starting to profit from it.

[00:14:26]While they're also trying to turn Saudi Arabia into a e-sports hub.

[00:14:32]Look at how greed seemingly ruined Konami's relationship with Kojima and led them to part ways.

[00:14:39]Look at how microtransactions and loot boxes have paved the way for shameless cash-ins under the guise of remakes like Oblivion, MGS Delta, or even the nightmarish upcoming take on Star Fox 64.

[00:14:57]Couldn't believe this.

[00:14:59]I have a terrible feeling that GTA 6 is going to be soulless, bloodless, and ball-less because it is too expensive to develop for it to fail.

[00:15:09]So, they're not going to want to take risks.

[00:15:13]I could be wrong, but if you ask me, the days of Rockstar being this extremely subversive, yet brilliant studio that made these games that really commented on society and took risks and put for instance in GTA 3 in an insane parallel to our current situation in 2026 there is a character who an Epstein-like character in GTA 3 who it's like they combined an Epstein type character and a Donald Trump type character together.

[00:15:45]If you remember Donald Love from GTA 3 who is a cannibal. It's like you're not going to see stuff like that I don't think in GTA 6 but I could be wrong.

[00:15:55]I could be wrong and I hope I'm wrong.

[00:15:57]I just think it's not going to be as subversive as it might have been if it hadn't cost two billion dollars to make.

[00:16:09]And if six flops, if it's even just like not that big of a hit, I mean who knows it could crash the industry.

[00:16:20]But what's even worse is the likelihood that it won't flop. That people will just get used to things as the new normal as the new status quo and games will become more than ever just distractions to pass the time and maybe people will forget that GTA as a series ever used to be anything more than just like oh a vacation simulator which is what six looks like it's set out to be.

[00:16:46]I certainly think if you look at how Take-Two Interactive treat their customers and how all of their games are blocked. You have to log in to your Rockstar account and all this stuff. I mean because of that I can't even access my copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 because when I first got it I was using an email address that I no longer have access to.

[00:17:07]So I just can't access my copy. These kinds of anti-consumer practices they've just gotten worse over the years.

[00:17:16]And it's gotten to the point where we are now, where it's become a situation where games are becoming a rich person's hobby more than ever.

[00:17:33]The industry more and more seems mainly after the whales, not the minnows.

[00:17:39]Rather than catering to everyone games are starting to cater only to those with money, with the money and free time to spend big.

[00:17:48]This feels both like a heartbreak and a disaster, potentially.

[00:17:52]If games lose their connection with the hearts and minds of the world, if they lose their artistic power and become just some boring new version of, you know, the next Marvel film that comes out that people just turn their minds off and go see, yes, these companies may carry on earning lots of money, but how will their products continue to really mean anything?

[00:18:18]I would hate to see video games become merely the toys of the super wealthy to idle away their hours.

[00:18:24]Imagine only writing novels or directing movies [music] for the rich. That isn't culture and to me, that isn't video games.

[00:18:34]Of course, all along there have been wealthy people who have been early adopters of some of the more cutting-edge technology in this industry and, you know, there were people who shelled out what what was it? 300 in the early '90s for a 3DO?

[00:18:50]So, it's not like game consoles being really expensive or video games in general costing a pretty penny is some new thing, but it has reached a point, along with everything else that's in our society right now, that it's just too expensive. It's It's destroying the middle class and it's pricing out people who aren't able to spend an outrageous amount of money without flinching.

[00:19:19]Fortunately, indie games aren't going anywhere.

[00:19:22]But if owning a PC becomes financially ruinous for the majority of working class people, how can games survive?

[00:19:31]If people can't afford gaming PCs or consoles, then where is the audience for games going to go?

[00:19:40]Think about all the examples of overly expensive consoles whose high price and low relevance kept them from breakout success.

[00:19:51]I'm talking about the 3DO, Sega CD, the Dreamcast, the PS3 to some extent, and of course the Wii U prior to Breath of the Wild.

[00:20:01]All these examples readily come to mind.

[00:20:03]Maybe this obsolescence and irrelevance is the ultimate fate for the games console as an idea. Given how consoles cost more and more while offering in terms of real value in some respects [music] less and less.

[00:20:17]This trend towards extinction long predates the current era >> [music] >> and its chip war, trade war, and actual war.

[00:20:25]But things have really started to accelerate in this new normal.

[00:20:29]The game console as an idea to a '90s unc like myself seems inseparable from the games medium, but maybe it's been a long time coming to say goodbye to the games console >> [music] >> and to affordable [snorts] AAA games.

[00:20:45]Maybe it's time when it comes to belief in the console or even the AAA game as somehow the site of cultural relevance for this medium. Maybe [music] it's time to finally let all of those dated ways of looking at the industry go as well.

[00:20:59]Maybe the future won't be so bad, just more virtual with less ownership and more importance >> [music] >> placed on mid-tier, less expensive, and shorter games.

[00:21:12]Or maybe that's just the system unconsciously priming me [music] to accept I will own nothing and enjoy it.

[00:21:19]At this stage, I'm really not sure.

[00:21:21]But no matter the outcome, the games console was fundamental to the growth of gaming into [music] the 21st century.

[00:21:28]I'll never forget these weird plastic rectangles or what they meant once upon a time.

[00:21:33]Whatever's coming, we'll just [music] have to try and greet it with open arms.

[00:21:41]Where exactly are we heading right now as a society?

[00:21:45]All I know is how it seems to me as a somewhat paranoid and pessimistic person generally.

[00:21:52]And it seems that something wicked slowly slouching towards Bethlehem this way comes.

[00:22:00]Here's hoping we all live to see this awful period of wars and inflation and social conflict come to an end.

[00:22:08]Until next time, boss.

[00:22:19]>> [music]