Gamers have remained blissfully & willfully ignorant when weighing the value of their purchases for literally decades. They'll happily buy a digital copy of a game that confers no ownership rights, to save $10 on a physical copy that you can play so long as you own hardware that supports it. They'll happily spent $60 on the next FIFA game that comes out a year after the previous one, for marginal benefit. They'll happily pay top dollar every time a company peddles the same game mechanics in marginally different skin (looking at you, Ubisoft & Bethesda).
I don't really blame Sony -- they're doing what all corporations do, which is apply the leverage they possess to make as much profit as they can. I blame the individuals who have chosen to support them over the years & and are now blubbering about it. Without gamers dumbly supporting their anti-consumer practices, Sony & other game corporations wouldn't have been able to accumulate this leverage in the first place. The proverb "a fool and their money are soon parted" seems apt here.
Bro who are gamers? School and college kids with no income trying to buy something with lunch money and gifts? Trying to have good time with friends because you can't even walk/bike in your neighborhood anymore? And you want them to understand the nuance of anti-consumerism and pay $10 extra, when they are up against megacorps hell bent on exploiting them? Someone really dropped the ball here.
Gamers will never get the ownership rights they deserve because they keep making silly mistakes like confusing out dated media and ownership. Discs deserve to die. You should own your digital media. Both statements can be true at once.
Instead we get minor protests over discs being eliminated with click bait gaming journalists only too happy to cover the story because they tied their livelihood to ad income.
The protests did nothing. Sony already has the spreadsheets showing physical media is meaningless. I myself am a very happy Sony customer and will be buying whatever their next console is. Will I lament we haven’t all fought for digital ownership rights? Of course. But until everyone is on the same page about what we actually want nothing will change.
Discs are the only way to come even close to owing your games today. If companies want to replace old technology they have to first make the new technology not be a downgrade and its not up to users to accept the new technology before that happens.
The page I'm on is "I am not supporting these companies anymore until they change their business practices"
But enough people are like you, happy to continue to support their practices with your wallets, that nothing will ever change
> But until everyone is on the same page about what we actually want nothing will change.
From my perspective you're the one on the wrong page. You claim to lament not fighting, but also admit you're not going to fight because you're a happy customer
It's ok to admit that you actually just don't actually care much.
> They'll happily buy a digital copy of a game that confers no ownership rights, to save $10 on a physical copy that you can play so long as you own hardware that supports it.
Do you even save $10 anymore when buying digital? Every time I've looked in years the price is the exact same
Then again, from what I understand gaming companies stopped shipping disks with content on them ages ago too. They just contain a download key basically nowadays so there's almost no actual benefit to owning a physical copy
Gamers are somewhat to blame here for being willing to go along with this, but let's not pretend the game industry didn't push this outcome hard.
How would people even really push back against this, realistically? A large scale boycott and consumer revolt?
Gamers have remained blissfully & willfully ignorant when weighing the value of their purchases for literally decades. They'll happily buy a digital copy of a game that confers no ownership rights, to save $10 on a physical copy that you can play so long as you own hardware that supports it. They'll happily spent $60 on the next FIFA game that comes out a year after the previous one, for marginal benefit. They'll happily pay top dollar every time a company peddles the same game mechanics in marginally different skin (looking at you, Ubisoft & Bethesda).
I don't really blame Sony -- they're doing what all corporations do, which is apply the leverage they possess to make as much profit as they can. I blame the individuals who have chosen to support them over the years & and are now blubbering about it. Without gamers dumbly supporting their anti-consumer practices, Sony & other game corporations wouldn't have been able to accumulate this leverage in the first place. The proverb "a fool and their money are soon parted" seems apt here.
Bro who are gamers? School and college kids with no income trying to buy something with lunch money and gifts? Trying to have good time with friends because you can't even walk/bike in your neighborhood anymore? And you want them to understand the nuance of anti-consumerism and pay $10 extra, when they are up against megacorps hell bent on exploiting them? Someone really dropped the ball here.
Gamers will never get the ownership rights they deserve because they keep making silly mistakes like confusing out dated media and ownership. Discs deserve to die. You should own your digital media. Both statements can be true at once.
Instead we get minor protests over discs being eliminated with click bait gaming journalists only too happy to cover the story because they tied their livelihood to ad income.
The protests did nothing. Sony already has the spreadsheets showing physical media is meaningless. I myself am a very happy Sony customer and will be buying whatever their next console is. Will I lament we haven’t all fought for digital ownership rights? Of course. But until everyone is on the same page about what we actually want nothing will change.
Discs are the only way to come even close to owing your games today. If companies want to replace old technology they have to first make the new technology not be a downgrade and its not up to users to accept the new technology before that happens.
You buy a lot of discs on Steam?
The page I'm on is "I am not supporting these companies anymore until they change their business practices"
But enough people are like you, happy to continue to support their practices with your wallets, that nothing will ever change
> But until everyone is on the same page about what we actually want nothing will change.
From my perspective you're the one on the wrong page. You claim to lament not fighting, but also admit you're not going to fight because you're a happy customer
It's ok to admit that you actually just don't actually care much.
How many discs have you purchased on Steam?
I absolutely would buy hard copies of all of my games if that were still an option, even if it did cost a little more
Steam killed physical media. Consoles are just catching up. The rage at Sony while Gabe on his yacht is universally loved is hysterical.
> They'll happily buy a digital copy of a game that confers no ownership rights, to save $10 on a physical copy that you can play so long as you own hardware that supports it.
Do you even save $10 anymore when buying digital? Every time I've looked in years the price is the exact same
Then again, from what I understand gaming companies stopped shipping disks with content on them ages ago too. They just contain a download key basically nowadays so there's almost no actual benefit to owning a physical copy
Gamers are somewhat to blame here for being willing to go along with this, but let's not pretend the game industry didn't push this outcome hard.
How would people even really push back against this, realistically? A large scale boycott and consumer revolt?
Yet gamers celebrate Valve for having done the same.