Is there a "go-to" budget microphone for gaming? (up to £40 or so)

[King Mustard]

Is there a "go-to" budget microphone in 2024 for talking to people within games?

My budget is £40 or so.

[Saracen999]

No idea, as I don't do that kind of gaming. I thought headsets with mic were pretty common in the gaming arena, though, unless you're well served by existing 'phoes, I guess.

Only mic's I have are standard audio mics, not aimed at gaming, but at traditional uses. That type certainly vary HUGELY in price, and by and large, you get what you pay for (with diminishing marginal returns, of course). I certainly have one mic (a really cheap Behringer, about £10 in a sale) that can be made to sound pretty much like a £350 Shure provided you EQ it right. That is worth remembering - it is possible to manipulate the sound coming out of the mic. Be careful what you use if you do thst, though, or latency can become a real pain.

[AGTDenton]

I still have a couple of Creative Labs mics from my soundblasters back in the day. But for some reason in modern audio cards they are very quiet. I can only assume some extra power was being provided to the ports back then.

I've moved to an analogue condenser mic and very happy with it. The setup came to £55 and is radio quality. That includes the mic, extra power and cables.
If you want a more compact setup you'll probably have to go USB.
This would be a great starter kit: https://amzn.eu/d/h5jLKYa
I personally don't like USB because the quality is lacking and there is often a 1 second delay, which in FPS or survival could matter...

[MrJim]

I wouldn't know about gaming specific microphones, but I sometimes watch reviews on the 'Podcastage' Youtube channel, which covers just about every type of microphone usage you can imagine:

https://www.youtube.com/@Podcastage

As ever with these things, it can lead you down a bit of a rabbit hole in terms of the minutia of the subject!

[jimbouk]

Just a mic? What are you using for sound otherwise? I switched from a headset to separate speakers & mic on the desk as my ears were getting sore being on zoom all day, fine for voice but it would pick up keyboard chatter during gaming (different positions would solve probably) and I'd imagine you'd get some feedback if you had the volume up during gaming.

I got a Razer Seiren Mini which people can hear me loud and clear on calls. 'Not too big' and 'not too expensive' were my main criteria, didn't go too far down any rabbit holes researching and think I got it on offer.