Level Up: Forget the PS5, there’s never been a better time to become a PC gamer

There’s no denying it’s been a tough year thus far for any gamer keen to get their hands on the PS5. 

Despite, as we noted in our best PS5 games list, having one of the greatest launch line-ups we’ve ever seen, the console has been nearly impossible to buy due to ongoing stock shortages.

This week the problem reared its ugly head again when new stock of PS5 sold out in nanoseconds. To make matters worse, based on the subsequent eBay listings I’ve seen, most of them went to scalpers looking to make a quick profit, not the gamers they’re intended for.

Editor’s Note: There’s a special place in hell for PS5 scalpers that’s traditionally reserved for people that take their shoes off on airplanes and play music on their phone’s speaker while using public transport.

But for me, rather than give in and reward the scalper’s bad behaviour, there’s a better, more elegant way to jump on the next-gen gaming train. I speak of course of PC gaming.

Think about it for a second. What’s the main issue with PC gaming? Answer: it’s very expensive. But when the only PS5’s on sale are retailing for close, or in some cases over, $1000/£1000 this isn’t really much of an argument.

Such a stance is especially true when you consider quite how good PC gaming is at the moment. Having reviewed them I can confirm Nvidia’s latest RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 are among the best graphics cards I’ve ever tested. AMD’s RX 6800 and RX 6900 XT also aren’t to be ignored, offering the same Ray Tracing gaming experience, albeit without the added efficiency benefits of DLSS.

For those not in the know, Ray Tracing is a graphical technology that lets games render more realistic shadows and lighting effects, including real-time reflections. DLSS is a clever AI technology that lets games run more efficiently.

Even if you can’t get one of the current generation GPUs, Nvidia’s previous gen’ RTX 20-series graphics cards are still available and with very heavy discounts making them cracking bargains for any would-be builder.

Then there’s the games ecosystem. Backwards compatibility? I’ve been playing Fallout 2 hassle free via steam for days. “What about the console exclusives,” you say? Nioh 2 is set to launch in a few days and we’re getting all the Yakuza titles in mere weeks. Microsoft’s also pretty much confirmed all Xbox games will run on Windows as well going forward.

Still not convinced? Well have you heard of a little thing called the Epic Games Store? It’s throwing out awesome free games faster than an Amazon worker can package up your latest lockdown wine order. Only a week ago I was treated to a free copy of Star Wars Battlefront 2.

Which is why, for me, if you’re thinking about paying a scalper’s fee, you should step away from the edge, jump on over to your digital tech retailer of choice and invest your hard earned cash in a gaming PC instead.