PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC… The best solutions for playing video games without breaking the bank

In recent years, the shortage of electronic components has shaken the video game industry. The latest generation Xbox and PlayStation 5 consoles were nowhere to be found as soon as their release was announced. On the PC side, the graphics card – essential for gaming – is a rare commodity that can be bought at a high price.

The solution ? The arrival on the market of “digital edition” consoles and their games that can only be downloaded online or played via streaming. For manufacturers, it means less logistics, more margins and sales which have been able to resume their course.

Also good news for the consumer? Not so sure… To help you see things more clearly, we have reviewed the strong points and weak points of the available gaming options.

On PC, dematerialized gaming already represents almost all sales. A sign of the announced end of physical computer gaming: few laptop PCs still have a DVD reader. On console, this is still far from being the case: “The French market is an anomaly on the international scene where digital is king. In France, we want to have the game in our library” explains Charlotte Massicault, multimedia and gaming director at Fnac Darty.

And for good reason, the profile of the major consumer of video games knows the rules of the resale market well, on which he can count on to optimize his budget all year round. To attract collector profiles, mass distribution is playing the game: “We offer pre-orders on releases and reward our customers who come to pick up their box on the big day with discounts, gift cards and limited edition goodies,” adds Charlotte Massicault. The physical game is therefore still a dream.

Benefits : only a physical game can be loaned or resold. With a little patience, good deals come quickly: the discount on a title can reach -30% to -50% a few months after its release, particularly in supermarkets or during sales, and especially on second-hand purchases.

Disadvantages: stock shortages due to high demand when the game is released are frequent, and the physical support is more fragile (risk of deterioration due to shocks, in particular).

Download your game without leaving your sofa: the ideal? “We have the game as soon as it is released, but we must not forget that you must have a good connection to download it quickly and storage space on your PC or console. Some current games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor can go up to more than 150 GB of downloaded data » says Melinda Davan-Soulas, Tech & Co journalist at BFM TV.

Storage can, in fact, very quickly become a problem. On PC as on console, with demanding games, we find ourselves forced to uninstall a game in order to install another. If you are more PC and like the latest generation games, you will need an optimized configuration.

By choosing a desktop PC rather than a laptop, you gain flexibility to choose and change your components and thus benefit from your computer in the long term. You can buy a commercial configuration or have one fitted by a specialist. Belgian YouTubers RTBF iXPé recently released a complete “guide to the best PC Gamer configs” where they recommend very respectable PCs starting at €650.

Benefits : available upon release on your console store or online sales platforms, the digital game can also be re-downloaded. A plus when you know the fragility of DVDs.

Disadvantages: the price, generally as high as the physical version. But also the impossibility of reselling the game to finance future purchases.

For this option, the games are also dematerialized, but the gamer has access to at least 100 titles for the fraction of the price of just one.

Nintendo Switch Online subscription (€3.99 per month) is quite poor in references. With the Additional Pack (at €39.99 for one year), the most nostalgic will however be able to do a little retrogaming with the Game Boy Advance or Nintendo 64 games. But the main titles from the Japanese publisher can only be purchased individually, in physical or digital version on the Nintendo eShop.

At Sony, you can subscribe to the PlayStation Plus streaming platform with games from €8.99 per month for the Essential plan, and up to €16.99 for the Premium plan including a cloud streaming option. With the latter, you no longer need to download your games. To take advantage of it, the PS5 digital edition can be found at around €450 (€100 cheaper than the classic version).

At Microsoft, to play on Xbox or PC, you opt for Game Pass, at €14.99 per month on console and from €9.99 for the plan on PC. The digital version of the Xbox, the Series S, is a significantly less powerful model than its big sister for playing in 4K with games supported in Ultra HD Blu-ray. But occasional players can purchase it new for around €300. Like the PS5 digital edition, it does not have a DVD player.

Ubisoft+ is a subscription offered by the eponymous publisher. It is divided into two parts: Classics, to play a selection of games on PC and Premium, to play the entire catalog on PC and Xbox. The first is €7.99 and the second is €17.99 per month.

Benefits : this is the most interesting formula for players eager for new things.

Disadvantages: we do not have access to all the games on the market on subscription platforms, and games can regularly be removed from the catalog.

The physical game is therefore not dead, it is rather the console distinction vs. PC which seems outdated, since you can play indifferently on one or the other support according to your preferences. But to make real savings, it’s better to be patient and bet on the second-hand physical game on console… and resell it when you no longer want it to renew your collection!