Will technical progress in consumer electronics ensure that gaming hardware and software, for example, will in future be luxury consumer goods reserved for the elite?

Sony justifies the continuously increasing entry-level prices for PS5 games and consoles and subsequent generations with increasing performance and quality. From my point of view, the ongoing pricing policy reveals a dilemma that gaming is becoming too expensive and unaffordable for more and more consumers and gamers. In order to counteract a shift of the target group to the upper middle and upper classes, the income, i.e. Salaries and wages of those affected, would have to grow proportionally to the price increase, which is hardly possible. Otherwise, this branded company divides the community into two classes, financially constrained and unconstrained buyers when it comes to the latest technology. What do you all mean?

Sounds like you've made up your mind, it doesn't have a hold in reality.

Games used to be more expensive (sometimes games (converted and inflation included) cost more than 100 euro).

Hardware was also more expensive. You've already paid a good monthly salary for a pc.

In the past, gaming was reserved for the upper class, today anyone can do it on their 100 euro smartphone.

Take a look e.g. Here https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/06/22/cost-of-a-computer-the-year-you-were-born/36156373/

Or here

Or a couple of games

Don't underestimate inflation

400 euro for a console is not a lot… And games are far too cheap in terms of the effort required to produce them.

When should it have been earlier? Back in the days of the DM? In any case, inflation is a good keyword, because it threatens us soon to an even more devastating extent than between 1914 and 1923, because the money printing orgies by the ECB to cope with the corona crisis and the upcoming wave of bankruptcies (the obligation to register insolvency is suspended until the end of April, i.e. It is brewing Huge amounts together) lead to historically unique debt levels and the euro is sure to go to the dogs soon. Of course, this will also fuel consumer prices and artificially turn games into antiques.

The same earlier what you understand.

These "continuously increasing entry prices" that you are talking about do not exist.

Purchasing power, especially that of the middle class, is steadily declining due to austerity policies. The effects of the Corona crisis do the rest. I don't think that 400 euro will be reasonable in the future. If the game developers really suffer serious losses from price dumping, they will have to accept it for better or for worse in the future.

Then you just have to save 2-3 months… Such a console doesn't have to be a bargain, after all, you can use it for several years.

Jain, I think that the variety when it comes to gaming is for the bigger, in addition to that it is becoming more and more popular that everything is cross-platform. In the past, consoles were also very expensive and not everyone could afford one, I think that if you choose the right one and what every average citizen can get at least an average device nowadays. Some prices are really very expensive, no doubt until really prices for the rich. But for that we have enough diversity that I hardly believe that there's no longer any room for the middle class. Because of all the diversity, there's also tough competition and the franchise is big enough in the gaming community that not everything is completely ignored. A little bit transparent you are then more or less when there's an uproar.

No, the opposite is true. The higher the production volume, the cheaper the product and the lower the profit margin on the individual item.

In itself correct, but this does not reduce the overall profit. This is a common misconception. For example, in an assumed case, an entrepreneur keeps 1/3 of the sales proceeds to cover operating costs, while 2/3 is paid out to employees as wages. This principle, applied to all companies, leads to the conclusion that 2/3 of another consumer is exchanged for products from the first-named company. Thus, in the end, all money is always in the possession of the capitalist and leads to enrichment, while the proletariat owns consumer goods, but their value can't be stored and even expires if properly written off.

One of the problems that game players have been facing for years is that the market is finite. That means, at some point everyone will have their PS1, 2, 3, 4, 5 …

so new consoles with new functions MUST be launched on the market. And if you look at the price developments of the things, you will quickly see that the prices may increase slightly, but are still comparatively inexpensive, if not cheap, compared to the performance.

the price will always be relativized so that as many people as possible buy the consoles. Because even sony knows that this is a mass market.

the so-called elites you are talking about, there are also people who could invest their little money more sensibly than for

electricity
eat
rental fee
heating costs

and apart from it? Who forces you to get these things when they are not really on the market? NOBODY!

You can just as well wait a little until things decrease in price due to the demand and or buy used games or live with the previous generation.

Much more important would be the question of whether we will soon be able to afford gaming because electricity is becoming so expensive.

I didn't say that either, just that the product would be cheaper. If I'm not mistaken, your question was not about distributive justice.