I’ve been having some thoughts lately that I would have believed crazy just a few years ago. I’m starting to think it might be time to move on from my PS5 and triple A gaming as a whole. I’ve had a PlayStation from the PS2 all the way to the latest generation of consoles. I remember fondly time spent roaming the lands of Fallout 4 or getting lost in the great Naughty Dog games Uncharted and the Last of Us. I was giddy beyond belief when Uncharted 4 came out in 2016 and after a recent replay it still holds up. I’m noticing as I’m getting older that gaming isn’t providing me that same excitement like it used to, and I can’t remember the last time I got lost in a game after Last of Us 2 came out.
I’m wondering if it’s time to pawn the PS5 and move on.
I think the main motivation that is killing my drive is the direction the gaming industry is heading. I was a big Madden fan for alot of years, but now EA has effectively killed that franchise with their unwillingness to invest or inovate. Other games now feel like they are becoming like that and selling out to just get you locked into a subscription model with their game (gta online with their recent subscription comes to mind).
Recently I’ve been cutting out subscriptions in my life as I feel it is better to own rather than effectively rent media. Netflix and Spotify are now raising their prices and looking back, I could have just bought the movies I liked and found another way to stream tv. It’s clear these companies just want to take the power away from you and keep you paying forever for the same content.
I look at my PlayStation and I just see a big subscription box. The games don’t even do it for me much anymore. I’ve been finding the games that do excite me are the small indies like Firewatch in the past and Dredge which I have heard great things about. If I want to play indies, a PS5 feels like a bit of overkill for that. I could get my on my Switch and a laptop. Maybe even a steam deck would be a worthy trade in.
Anyway, I wanted to get others thoughts as it sort of depresses me to think about moving on from a system that I’ve had since childhood, but it also feel like it’s time for a change.
There’s tons of indie games everywhere nowadays, PS5 included, and some of them even launch(ed) day one on PS Plus Extra (Stray, Tchia, to name a few). There’s a great digital selection (you might as well check it out now, since it’s the PSN Summer Sale), and if you’d rather own (physical), then LRG and other limited print companies have been releasing a number of those indie games on PS4/PS5.
If you’d rather play on a smaller screen then you might be better off with a Switch or a Steam Deck (and you might even get a few more indie games on the latter, but that’s debatable), otherwise I don’t really see any reason to trade in your PS5 - but to each their own!