I Added Up What One Year of Gaming Actually Costs. Then I Stopped Buying Consoles.
โก The short version
A normal year of modern console gaming costs about $934 once you add the console, the games, and the subscription. Not a collector's year. A light one.
A RetroVerse Pro 2.0 costs $79, once, and the games are already on it. That gap is the entire reason I'm writing this.
I stopped playing video games about two years ago. I told myself I got busy. I told myself it was a kid thing and I moved on.
That wasn't true. I know that now.
What actually happened is I stood in a store, picked up a new release, looked at the price tag, and put it back down. Then I did it again a few months later. Then I stopped going in.
I never made a decision to quit. I just kept doing the math and kept walking away.
So last month I finally sat down and added it all up. Not just the console. The whole year.
1. What a Normal Year of Modern Gaming Actually Costs
๐ก In short: Not a collector. Not a whale. Just a regular person who wants to play a couple of games and go online with friends.
| What you buy | Why you buy it | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Console | The entry ticket | $499 |
| Second controller | So someone else can play | $75 |
| One new game | The reason you bought it | $70 |
| One more game | You finished the first one | $70 |
| Online, 12 months | Required to play with friends | $180 |
| Season pass | The rest of the game | $40 |
| Year one total | Before a single extra | $934 |
Nine hundred dollars.
For a hobby I used to be able to do for the price of one cartridge and a rainy Saturday.
2. The Part That Actually Bothers Me
It isn't just the number. It's that the number never stops.
You buy the console. Then the game. Then you find out you need a subscription to play with your friends. Something that used to be free.
Then the game gets a season. Then a pass. Then a currency you buy in packs, and the packs never divide evenly into what things cost, so there's always leftover money sitting in their system.
Then a year later they turn the servers off and the thing you paid for stops working.
I grew up plugging a cartridge into a slot. That was the whole transaction. You owned it. It worked forever. Nobody could reach into your living room and take it back.
"It feels like they're actively daring us to quit."
Comment on a gaming forum, 2025I read that line a while back and it stuck with me for weeks. Because that's exactly what it feels like. Not that they raised prices. That they're testing how much you'll take before you walk.
I walked. Quietly. And then I missed it more than I expected to.
3. Then a Friend Pulled Something Out of His Jacket
We were at dinner. He reached into his coat and put this small thing on the table.
Screen on the front. Buttons on the side. Two thumbsticks. It looked like a Game Boy that went to college.
He handed it to me and I started scrolling the library. NES. SNES. Game Boy. Game Boy Advance. Genesis. PS1. N64. Systems I actually grew up on, all sitting in one list.
I kept scrolling and it kept going. I stopped after a couple of minutes and asked him how many were on it.
Around twenty thousand.
I asked what it cost. Seventy-nine dollars.
I asked what the subscription was. There isn't one.
I asked what I'd have to download. Nothing. It comes loaded.
I sat there for a second trying to find the catch. So I ran the same math I'd run before, for this thing.
๐ฎ One year. RetroVerse Pro 2.0.
Console$79
GamesIncluded
Online fees$0
Downloads$0
Season pass$0
ShippingFree
There's no year-two cost either. That's the part that took me a minute to believe.
4. What It Actually Is
๐ก In short: A pocket handheld that runs the classic systems, with the library already loaded. No app store, no account, no WiFi needed.
| Feature | Spec | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Systems ๐น๏ธ | NES, SNES, Game Boy, GBC, GBA, Genesis, PS1, N64 and more | The eras most people actually grew up on. |
| Library ๐พ | About 20,000 titles preloaded | Nothing to download. It's on the card. |
| Screen ๐บ | 3.5" IPS 640ร480 (4:3) | The shape these games were drawn for. |
| Battery ๐ | Up to 10 hours | Recharges in under 2 hours over USB-C. |
| Controls ๐ฎ | D-pad, four face buttons, shoulders, dual sticks | The sticks are what make PS1 and N64 playable. |
| Internet ๐ถ | Not required | No account, no sign-in, no updates to chase. |
5. Let Me Be Honest About What It Isn't
๐ก In short: This is a classic-era machine. It's excellent at what it's built for and it's not pretending to be a modern console.
- NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy and GBA run flawlessly at full speed.
- PlayStation 1 is the sweet spot. The library runs beautifully, and you can upscale the 3D.
- Pick up, play twenty minutes, put it down. No loading screen, no login.
- N64 and Dreamcast are playable, but the heavier titles need some per-game tuning.
- The sticks sit low on the face. Past 45 minutes, adult hands may want a break.
- This is not a PS5 replacement. No modern AAA releases, and it isn't trying.
- Heavy 3D PSP titles push past what the chip can do smoothly.
- It's a $79 plastic handheld. It feels solid, but it's not a machined metal luxury object.
I'd rather tell you all of that now than have you open the box expecting something else.
6. Who This Is Actually For
It's for the person who used to love games and quietly stopped because it got ridiculous.
It's for the twenty minutes you spend waiting for an appointment. The train. The lunch break. The hour before bed when you don't want to start a sixty-hour open-world thing.
It's for the games you loved when you were ten and haven't touched since, and the ones you never got to play because you only had one system and your friend had the other one.
It is not for someone who wants the newest, biggest, most expensive thing. If that's you, buy the new console. Seriously. I'm not going to talk you out of it.
7. What Happened After I Got Mine
I've played more in the last three weeks than I did in the previous three years. That is not an exaggeration. It is just what the numbers were.
Not marathon sessions. Twenty minutes here. Forty minutes there. On the couch. In bed. Waiting for food.
And the thing I didn't expect: I found games I'd completely forgotten existed. I was scrolling the list at midnight and hit the exact one I used to play at my cousin's house every summer. Hadn't thought about it in twenty years.
Sat there and played it for an hour like an idiot. Best hour I had all month.
8. The Offer
RetroVerse Pro 2.0
Single ยท Duo $129 ยท Trio $179
- About 20,000 games preloaded and ready to play
- NES, SNES, Game Boy, GBA, Genesis, PS1, N64 and more
- 3.5" IPS 640ร480 screen with true 4:3 scaling
- Up to 10 hours of battery, USB-C charging
- No WiFi, no account, no downloads, no subscription
- Correct screen driver pre-installed and tested SD card
- Free shipping ยท 30-day money-back guarantee
9. Questions People Ask
Do I need WiFi or an account?
Quick answer: No.
The games are already on the card that comes with it. Charge it, turn it on, play. There's nothing to sign into and nothing to download.
Is there a subscription or any ongoing cost?
Quick answer: No. You pay once.
No monthly fee, no online fee, nothing to renew. The $79 is the whole cost.
What systems does it play?
Quick answer: The classic era, through PS1 and N64.
NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Genesis, PS1, N64 and several others. It handles the classic era very well. It's not built for modern console generations.
How long does the battery last?
Quick answer: Up to 10 hours.
Depends on brightness and what you're running. Recharges fully in under 2 hours using the included USB-C cable.
Can I save my progress?
Quick answer: Yes. Instant save states.
Every game supports save states, so you can save and load in a second, even in games that never originally had a save feature.
Can two people play?
Quick answer: Yes. Grab the Duo bundle.
A lot of people buy a second unit for a sibling, a partner or a kid. You can pick the Duo or Trio bundle at checkout.
Is it hard to set up?
Quick answer: There's no setup.
It ships ready to play with the correct screen driver already installed. That's the main thing separating it from building your own emulation handheld, which takes an afternoon and a lot of forum reading.
What if something's wrong with it?
Quick answer: You're covered.
Every unit is verified before it ships. If anything's wrong, the 30-day money-back guarantee has you covered and support will help you sort it fast.
10. Where I Landed
I didn't quit gaming. Gaming got expensive enough that I quit without noticing.
The part I actually missed was never the graphics. It was the feeling of picking something up and playing it without a checkout screen in the way.
That's the whole reason this worked for me. It costs $79 once and then it gets out of the way.
Get the RetroVerse Pro 2.0 for $79Free shipping ยท 30-day money-back guarantee
Danny Rourke โ Hands-On Tested
Danny is RetroVerse's retro hardware editor. He grew up on the SNES and PS1 and has spent years testing budget handhelds to help people find the ones actually worth owning.
- Hands-on tester of retro consoles and handhelds
- Focused on honest, real-world performance
- Writes plain-English guides for newcomers and collectors alike
This page is an advertisement published by RetroVerse. Danny Rourke is the pen name used for RetroVerse editorial content. The cost comparison shown reflects publicly listed prices at the time of writing and is provided as an illustration only; your own costs will vary. RetroVerse is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sega, or any other console manufacturer. All product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.