It's pretty tough for young people out there, nowadays. While your uncle might tell you to stop buying avocado on toast so your life can improve, rising rents, job scarcity, and massive student loans make it quite difficult to get a start in life, and that's without even thinking about things like hobby expenses.
It shouldn't be too surprising to read that 18-24 year olds are currently spending way less than other generations on video games. As posted by Mat Piscatella of research firm Circana on Bluesky (thanks, PCGamer), overall spending trends are down for Gen Z, but this is particularly apparent when it comes to video games.
With console and game prices rising, it's easy to see why people might want to spend less on video games when they've already got nothing to spend in the first place. Thanks to things like Steam and other marketplaces, there are plenty of sales to grab cheap games for the gamer on a budget, and free-to-play titles are also pretty enticing when you've got no cash to get a brand-new title.
The debate around $80 games is also not likely to be an encouraging one for younger generations. However, as we've seen this year, just because certain titles will aim for the highest price possible doesn't mean that you can't get a new game much cheaper. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 released at just £40, after all.