Gaming has evolved into many shapes, sizes, and forms since the introduction of the console in the 1970s. Constantly reinventing the gaming container, the device that reproduced its contents, and the gadget that sent input data for our control.
Handles, floppy discs, sensors, cables, wireless, CDs, and cartridges have all led to today’s digital context, where most of the magic happens online. Long gone are the days of showing up to your store to get a box, let alone a physical copy of the game’s contents.
Now, the only tangible thing in gaming is the hardware. Your controller and your preferred platform to run your favorite games. Console and PC players all agree that, while digital-only video games lack that nostalgic feel, their convenience and availability make it worth their while.
.webp?width=700&quality=10&blur=40)
All that, however, can change at the snap of a couple of billionaires’ fingers, with the latest threat coming from Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos. “Everybody has their own data center, and that’s not going to last; it makes no sense,” with the Twitch-adjacent tycoon guaranteeing users will need to “buy compute off the grid.”
Essentially, privatizing resources and processes while dumbing down PC builds into digital keys. Just like several platforms can only truly function with internet connectivity, PCs would only be usable if their computing bills are paid.
Calling PC ownership and usage inefficient and unsustainable, while justifying cloud computing due to ginormous amounts of unused data centers, curiously owned by the companies backing this initiative, is nothing short of absurd, yet it could still be our reality in the following years.
Bezos also alleges that AI would optimize this service, putting data centers to good use while providing PC makers with the ultimate user experience, cleverly avoiding the fact that AI’s popularity has driven up DRAM prices due to a severe shortage.
This creates the perfect excuse for large corporations to push for outsourced computing, taking advantage of a self-inflicted supply-and-demand imbalance while capitalizing on those who can afford pieces and preying on those who can’t.
Like any sudden shift in the status quo, it’ll start by sounding like it’s too good to be true. PCs will no longer be called Personal Computers but something like Home Stations, being ultra-affordable in the early rollout stages.
Then, a variety of providers will arise, with your household names being front and center, plus a few independent brands trying to break into the market and strike while the iron is hot with amicable, monthly plans for your basic PC necessities.
Graphics, memory, storage, you name it, they’ll provide it, and you’ll pay for it. Monthly charges that promise to always keep up to date with the best available technology, divided into performance, office, and luxury tiers for different needs, and gaming will not be an exception.
Highly demanding in the component department, gaming will be taxed heavily under this system as the people in power know their demographic’s capital and spending patterns. They will know the lengths gamers are willing to go to have the best experience and will not shy away from overcharging for it.
This, combined with an exclusively digital catalogue, will render old school gaming obsolete, including boxes, manuals, wires, and components, making streaming and esports careers as expensive as ever, with recurrent payments instead of upfront investments as current PC builds cost.
PCs will join fax machines and beepers as everyday artifacts forgotten after capitalist reforms, and Home Stations will become glorified cyber stations, which we’ll overpay for and underdeliver all because of AI cat dances and Will Smith memes.
As the immediate backlash continues, players, publishers, and developers alike need to push back on a single front to keep Personal Computers personal. It’s in all gamers’ best interest. “Who are we to tell you how to use your computer?” Well said, Steam.
For more like this, stick with us here at Gfinityesports.com, the best website for gaming features and opinions.