Topic: DF Patreon feeback bias.

On the latest DF Q&A regarding the potential price of the PS6 I was a bit surprised by some of the feedback from supporters. While there were a few, I would say sensible, folks hoping for around a £700-£800 entry point, there were arguably more claiming they expected, and would accept, £1000 or more.

I think this feedback may be skewed by two complimentary factors: DF supporters are a) Gaming enthusiasts. And b) Have disposable income.

I know a DF subscription isn't much, but it's also not nothing, and I think in cases where DF is soliciting feedback on things like price, it does mean the responses they get may not be indicative of not just the wider publics' opinion, but even the average gamers'.

I can totally see a world where the PS6 launches at over a Grand, but that's a world where not only are far fewer people actually going to buy one, but that fact itself feeds back into why it's so expensive. Sony may decide if they're going to be losing th lower end of the market, they may as well get as much from the middle and higher end buyers.

This may seem like Doomposting, but... have you looked around lately?

To be fair, Rich acknowledged on that podcast episode that DF supporters and viewers don't reflect the wider consumer audience for consoles.

@Bigmanupstairs Yep, this.
My guess that the proportion of PS5 Pros, RTX 5070 or higher, X3D CPUs etc. owned by DF supporters is well ahead of the Steam survey. We are probably more likely to have monitors or TVs with VRR, high refresh displays, HDR, OLED etc. so we are probably not representative of the wider population.

Everything is also proportional as well though, gaming is not actually that expensive as a hobby. PS5 over a generation, the console works out as £5.35 a month if one does not sell it at the end. PS plus includes loads of games, games on sale or second hand discs can me pretty cheap. A mid range PC, free games on Epic and things in the Steam sales can be reasonable. Going to a lower league football match, or even just out for a good meal and a few drinks is easily £100 a head now.

One has to compare the cost of hardware and games to average incomes. The PS4 generation was incredibly cheap, but previous generations were much higher as a percentage of average income, we are really just returning to the historical average, rather than that (console) generation of cheap gaming.

@Bigmanupstairs Dang, must have missed that. My bad.