There Are Now Game Console Setup Services. Wait, What?

This isn’t something that actually surprises me, given the nature of capitalism and the ability for marketing to make people pay for damn near anything, but seeing that it’s actually a thing now amazes me.

There are now services you can pay for that will set up video game consoles.

Yes, seriously.

And yes, they are total ripoffs.

I just can’t quite wrap my mind around this, though – not that it’s offered, but that people would actually pay for this! Let me explain…

Setting up a game console is a pretty trivial process. Not only are physical connections standard (HDMI and the like) but instructions provided with new hardware are pretty concise. If you can connect a DVD or Blu-Ray player, you can connect a video game console. The software side of things, getting accounts and stuff set up, are equally trivial – systems hold your hand for everything, and explain it in plain English.

Now, I’ll admit connecting older hardware to modern TV’s, or connecting a dozen classic game consoles to one TV can be quite the complex task, that isn’t what is being offered here – this is all about connecting new, current tech to new, current TV sets. Stuff that generally goes together like cereal and milk!

Quite honestly, if you at all use any kind of modern tech – a cell phone, a tablet, a computer, what have you – and have any real understanding of it all (as in, enough to actually take advantage of it to begin with) then you damn well can grasp how to set these things up yourself.

I question who the target audience is for these services. I guess everyone would, really – that’s the first thing you tend to wonder about such. The best idea I can think is people who have not a clue about any of this, which means probably older people – grandparents buying their grandchildren a game system, probably at the child’s request, given that the purchaser seems to know what to buy to begin with.

Certainly there are probably plenty from my generation and younger possibly using these services, those who truly don’t have a clue, but odds are they fall more for marketing and hype, being sold the service by a sales rep rather than actually asking about it themselves because they really think they need it. Sales reps of course make you think you need something when you don’t, so someone susceptible to such might well sign up on suggestion alone, not thinking about it, or believing whatever lies they are told by the sales rep.

Whatever the reason people go for it, it’s a damned scam. At least, for the price you pay. Reports I’ve heard of (so this is 3rd-hand information, take it with a grain of salt) say all some of these services do is set up the console at their store, install updates via their own internet connection, have you come pick it up and still take it home to physically connect yourself.

Others, it’s reported, will come and physically set it up at your place, and even help you with the software end of things, but for prices of $60 or more, that’s just insane – you’ve already spent $300-$500 on a good, new console, plus however many games for anywhere from $20 to $80 a piece, another $60 or more to have someone else do something as piss easy as setting up your console is insane!

I don’t know for sure what places (in America, mainly) would be offering such, but I know this much – if one starts, I’m sure all of them will soon enough, and all of them will be needless.

No one needs these services. Even if, for some reason, you don’t want to set up the console yourself, you probably know someone who can do it for you, and will be happy to for free, or at least for a snack or something. Alternately, a quick search online, via Google or YouTube, can easily walk you through the entire process – this not ignoring  the instructions with the console, and some common-knowledge logic.

Haha, someone sent me this pic of a service that a big German electronics retailer is offering when you buy a new console:

– initial setup
– software update
– controller connection
– functions check (what?)
time saved: 30 minutes

ALL FOR ONLY 30 BUCKS, GUYS. pic.twitter.com/f7fR5J7j1x

— Bouken (@boukenjima_) November 22, 2017

Seriously, one should know at least the basics of modern devices – you should know some basic things, and setting up something like a game console is a great way to learn these things – if not a Blu-Ray player or something similar, if slightly easier, solving that need as well.

It’s funny, there isn’t much to say on these, but at the same time there is plenty to say. I’ll end with this: You don’t need these services. NO ONE DOES. Never, ever pay for someone to do something as simple as connect a modern game console to your tv. This isn’t installing a washer or dryer (which is pretty damn easy anyway) or some new light fixture (which someone skilled, at least, should do.) No, connecting a device to the TV and to your homes internet is super easy.

Here’s a random video from some guys on YouTube because, why not share it? Finding the original image that spawned all this discussion (as shown in this video) is actually difficult.

By the way, calling them “some guys” is a joke – Grumpy Retro Gamers seem like a cool little group and are worth checking out, certainly! Hence me sharing.