Games Inbox: Have video game consoles become too expensive?

The Friday letters page is dubious about the future of Xbox and Game Pass, as one reader is frustrated at Nintendo’s 2026 games line-up.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Cheaper options
Not in the least surprised to find that consoles are increasingly only for the well off. Why is it that publishers are always complaining about the games business not expanding and yet they’re constantly increasing the prices of the hardware, the entry point you need in order to buy any of their games. This has been happening long before the current RAM supply issues, as we’re made to pay more and more for consoles that are less and less different from the last ones.

The prices are still set to go up, and the Steam Machine and Xbox’s next gen machine have both already been branded as ‘expensive’. Where does this end? If you’re a middle class family then they’re still easily affordable but almost every year they get more expensive for everyone else.

This perfectly explains why consoles are in decline and PCs are on the rise. And it makes it obvious why free-to-play games are all casual gamers play anymore – they can’t afford anything else! Video games have crossed a line where they’re just not worth getting into anymore. I hear it from my co-workers all the time. Why buy an expensive console and its games when you can play a game on your phone for nothing?
Craterus

Surviving the future
It’s obvious to everyone now that Xbox is dead as a console format but it’s interesting from those new financials that they make no mention of Game Pass. Remember when that was the future of Xbox and even Satya Nadella’s bonus was tied to it? That didn’t last long.

I‘d be surprised if Game Pass even still existed in a couple of years. If it was doing well Microsoft would never stop talking about it, so it’s obvious it isn’t.

Their entire future now rests on streaming taking off. That’ll be the future at some point, but the question is will the Xbox brand last long enough to see it?
Bonk

Memorable moment
For a minute there I thought Tomb Raider: Legend was the first remake of the original game, but I now realise it was the one with King Arthur in it. I wouldn’t have thought it was old enough to need a remaster but I guess it’s 20 years old now, which is pretty scary.

That middle trilogy was Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld, which I’ll be honest I struggle to remember the details of, even though I know I’ve played them all. Anniversary was the remake and Underworld was the one with a lot of underwater sections, I think.

The point is there’s been a lot of Tomb Raider games but very few of them are all that memorable. 30 years on and we’re still talking about the T-Rex scene from the first game. Even though a lot of the later games were better they weren’t as memorable, they just melded into each other, and I think that’s a problem the new games have got to overcome.
Zeiss

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Open to interpretation
I wouldn’t have expected Code Vein 2 to have been a worthy successor to the first game. Or a masterpiece in any shape or form. I expected an average game and that’s what I’ve seen, from the reviews. So that’s fine. At least it’s not another Code Violet situation.

So, I’ve taken the leap and pre-ordered a few select titles, that will indefinitely keep me busy in the coming few months. 007 First Light, Saros, Crimson Desert, Resident Evil Requiem, and Fatal Frame 2 Remake – which has a demo releasing on March 5th and from what I’ve seen in the gameplay overview, it looks faithful to the original.

Only time will tell how these games will turn out and if 2026 can get off to a brilliant start. Resident Evil Requiem looks great and judging by the expensive price tag I hope it’s justified. So a few great releases to look forward to and a lot of gaming goodness.

On a final note, Bloober is teasing a reveal for Valentine’s Day. Some say it’s Born From A Wish, others say it’s a remake of Rule Of Rose. Which I’ve previously asked for, actually. GC, if you’ve seen the audio and the teaser would you say it’s teasing a remake or something new, possibly? Could it in any shape or form be connected to Rule Of Rose?
Shahzaib Sadiq

GC: Anything is possible but the legal text at the bottom of the website makes no mention of Atlus.

Secret rules
That story about Dispatch being censored on the Switch is very odd. So Nintendo wants them to censor giving the bird but is fine with full frontal nudity in Cyberpunk 2077? How does that make sense? Maybe it’s because it has cartoonish graphics but it’s not as if it’s something kids would be interested in anyway, and it has an adult age rating.

I hope Nintendo clarifies what’s going on here as this actually worries me a bit, about getting third party games on the Switch 2. If this is because of some new rule then they really should say because I thought they gave up this kind of nonsense years ago.
Badgerman

The C-Team
I was disappointed to see that Escape From Ever After didn’t get a very good review from you as I thought it looked great. Graphics don’t make a game though, as we’ve always known.

I really hope that when the Switch 2 does get a Paper Mario game it’s a proper role-player like The Thousand-Year Door. The fact that that got a remake is very encouraging, but we all know how random Nintendo can be, so it’s not a guarantee at all.

There’s so many Nintendo franchises that I want to see on Switch 2 but, as many others have pointed out, Nintendo seem to be going for the least interesting choices off the bat. Or, I should say, probably the quickest to develop.

But that means that the exciting 2026 line-up so far consists of Mario Tennis, Fire Emblem, a Yoshi kid’s game, and a couple of new Switch 2 editions. If you’re excited about those games then good for you but I don’t think anyone’s going to pretend those are Nintendo’s A-list. Even the Pokémon game is some weird Harvest Moon knock-off by the people behind Hyrule Warriors. I mean… wow!

Where is Zelda and 3D Mario? Where is Smash Bros. and Animal Crossing? What about Luigi’s Mansion and Splatoon? No one has a bigger list of A-listers than Nintendo and they’re all AWOL, with a bunch of C-listers taking their place.

I really hope the next Nintendo Direct is a good one but I have a horrible feeling it won’t be.
Austin

They Live
Just to add to the list of big anniversaries but Duke Nukem 3D turns 30 this year. The shareware version is 30 today (Thursday) and the full version on April 19. That was the first 3D shooter I ever played and blew my young mind back in the day.

It’s a shame it never managed to build on that, but it did a lot of things first, especially a full 3D map, but the character was a bit too dumb to really survive into the modern world. I don’t expect to see him get another big budget game ever, but probably some cameos or something. I’m a bit surprised he’s never turned up in Borderlands actually, considering the developer connection.
Franky

Impulse purchase
In answer to the question of when did I last go to an actual shop to buy a physical game, I go all the time. Unfortunately for GAME though it’s mainly Smyths I’ll go to.

I find they’re often quite competitive with their pricing against online retailers and I don’t have to wait for the post to arrive.

One thing I appreciate about physical shops is being able to buy games for friends’ birthday presents. If Nintendo gave an option to gift titles on the eShop then I’d probably save on the shoe leather a bit.

GAME and Smyths can often have physical editions of indie titles too, and rifling through the shelves is easier than navigating the shovelware that can fill the consoles’ online stores.

It will be a shame if GAME goes under, particularly for anyone employed there, but as a company it has been a hard one to love when it comes to pricing and is probably an outdated relic now.

The only downside of buying games in Smyths is the temptation of getting some Lego at the same time.
Euclidian Boxes

Inbox also-rans
I see Mandy Patinkin is going to be Odin in the God Of War TV show. I imagine the show will take itself too seriously to sneak in a Princess Bride reference.
Anchor

So if Leon’s in his 50s now how old is Chris and Jill? I always took Leon to be the youngest of the crew. And what about Barry? He must be drawing his pension by now.
Cranston

GC: Canonically, Chris was born in 1973, Jill in 1974, Leon in 1977, and Barry in 1960. Resident Evil Requiem is set around 30 years after the nuking of Raccoon City in 1998, so Chris is roughly 55, Jill is 54, Leon is 51, and Barry is 68.

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
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