In a country where basic needs such as comfortable transportation, decent housing, and clean drinking water don’t come free, gaming is obviously a luxury.
THE PAIN OF NOT BEING ABLE TO AFFORD current-gen consoles that cost bigger than your monthly salary, the rush and excitement when Steam slashes up to 80 percent off AAA titles, and putting your three-year-old laptop against the electric fan to prevent it from overheating are all too familiar experiences shared by the gaming community in the Philippines.
In a country where basic needs such as comfortable transportation, decent housing, and clean drinking water don’t come free, gaming is obviously a luxury.
I eat well (mostly junk but well enough that I don’t starve), can afford rent on a small apartment, and can even buy the occasional Starbucks drink; but it took me more than a year to get Overwatch—the only and most recent premiere game that I own on my MSI. Most of the titles I own are 10-year-olds on the Xbox 360 or indie games that I could steal at 70 percent off.
As I await patiently for Nier: Automata’s price to go down (and my monthly expenses to go down, too, to no avail), I can’t help but grind my teeth as developers like Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Rare announce their upcoming titles—which I know will only take me forever to afford.
Gaming is expensive. It’s just too expensive.
This story is from the January 2018 edition of Speed Philippines.
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This story is from the January 2018 edition of Speed Philippines.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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