Console games are usually cheaper By Edward Willis (gopher://encw.xyz and http://encw.xyz) Published Mar/28/2026 PC digital sales events, like Steam seasonal sales, reduce prices and make regular high digital pricing more tolerable, but if you want to buy a game on your own schedule rather than waiting for a deal, then games on console are cheaper. Take Elden Ring, the highest rated game on PS5 on Metacritic. According to steamdb, its lowest ever recorded price on Steam is $35.99. It hits those prices for brief periods throughout the year during the Steam seasonal sales, but is for most of the year priced at $59.99. On the PlayStation side, you can get Elden ring for $32.48, sold and shipped by Amazon whenever you feel like it. What things cost most of the time is more important, I think, because when you get a hankering to play a game, waiting months for a sale is no fun. When your friends are playing a game, and you want to play too, waiting months for the next sale is not a satisfactory solution. To further illustrate my point, I am going to compare the prices of the top 10 games on PS5 according to metacritic between PS and PC. I will ignore discount prices and report only the regular price, because sales come and go, and what I'm really interested in here is how much things cost most of the time. Games taken from metacritic's list of all time best PS5 games. Where there is no PC release, the game will be noted and skipped. I will similarly be skipping expansions; full games only. PlayStation methodology: PlayStation prices are physical first, taken from Amazon, GameStop, or Best Buy, depending on which is cheapest. I will only be using the non-sale price, except for discounts under list price from Amazon because their discounts don't seem to expire. I am only including U.S. releases, and prices in U.S. dollars. In the case of GameStop I will also take used prices, as GameStop allows for the return of scratched or defective used items. I have returned faulty used products to GameStop before and found the experience to simple and easy. In the case of PlayStation games on Amazon, even though third party sellers are usually fine, I will only use the price if it is sold by Amazon. Only if there is no PS5 physical release, I will look at PS4 physical prices, and then if there is no PS4 physical release I will take the digital price from store.playstation.com. If I include a PS4 price it will be noted. PC Methodology: For PC I am checking the regular, non-sale prices on Steam, GoG, and the Epic Games Store (EGS). Those are the prices that people can expect to pay most of the time. I am only including U.S. releases, and prices in U.S. dollars. 1. Elden Ring, $32.48 from Amazon, $59.99 from Steam 2. Baldur's Gate 3, $59.99 PlayStation Store digital, $59.99 on GoG and Steam Astro Bot, SKIPPED: no PC release Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, SKIPPED: expansion 3. Witcher 3 Complete, $44.99 used from GameStop, 49.96 on EGS 4. Metaphor: ReFantazio, $30.32 from Amazon, $69.99 on Steam 5. God of War Ragnarok, $44.99 used from GameStop, $59.99 on Steam and EGS 6. Hades, $27.99 used from GameStop, $24.99 on Steam and EGS 7. Tetris Effect: Connected, $34.99 PS4 used from GameStop, $39.99 on Steam and EGS 8. Resident Evil 4, $18.99 used from GameStop, $39.99 on Steam 9. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, $44.99 used from GameStop, $49.99 on GoG, Steam and EGS 10. Hollow Knight: Silksong, $19.99 Playstation Store digital, $19.99 on GoG and Steam Note: Some of these games have cheaper (in some cases much cheaper) physical PS4 versions available that also work on PS5. TOTALS: PlayStation: $359.72 PC: $474.87 Difference: $115.15 It bears reminding that most of the PS games were also physical products, and the purchaser would retain their consumer rights. You could freely lend or sell those games -- you retain equity in them. Digital games cannot be resold and have no (legal) monetary value. This comparison also leaves out cheaper options for used games like craigslist and ebay. And I left out other big retailers like Walmart. In the long run, if you buy and play a lot of games, and want to buy games when you feel like it, rather than when publishers decide, you will save a considerable amount of money by using a console instead of a PC. Enough, even, to put you ahead even including the awful $80 yearly fee that Sony charges for access to multiplayer. Another example, the inspiration for this post: My wife and I are considering whether to buy and play Elden Ring: Nightreign and Monster Hunter Wilds on PC or PS5, and sharing a single PS+ Essential across two consoles. Nightreign can currently be had on PS5 for $20, so two copies is $40. Monster Hunter Wilds can be had on PS5 for $33.33, so two copies is $66.66. And the PS+ Essential sub is $80. Total: 186.66 On PC Nightreign is 39.99 and MH:Wilds is $69.99. That's 219.96. It would be cheaper for us to pay Sony their ridiculous $80 fee than buy from Steam at regular prices. That's just how it is. One final thought: Steam sales, which were a real advantage 10-15 years ago, and are now largely no better than year round physical console game prices, are used by the PC gaming community to justify the cost of expensive PC gaming hardware. Time to reconsider that position.