I don’t know if UK ever had the gaming cafes but they’re still common in east, if you can’t afford console/game, it made so much sense to go to gaming cafe, meet your friends there and you can play from library of hundreds of games without having to pay for games themselves.

I know it’s still more expensive than buying hardware and games long term, but at least that way you don’t lease console and then pay for games as well, and invest in controllers, good headphones etc etc.

You get all round package.