the problem is that as you mentioned it's a very vocal minority. I would say that a majority of PC gamers are actually not significantly above mainstream specs except for having midmarket GPUs and maybe an improved CPU or more RAM (not that those two things really impact gaming performance all that much). the console manufacturers are gonna be very quick to point out the neckbeards building $3000 rigs because it helps them play up the 'cost-effectiveness' of their own platforms. I'm lucky because I can obtain components more easily and cheaply than the average consumer, but even adjusting for that, my current system (into which I've sunk maybe $500 by this point) would only cost about $900 for most people, and it exceeds requirements (and even recommendations) for all current-gen games by a significant margin. except crysis 3. which isn't a game so much as a GPU benchmark that lets you shoot things.
