Alright so, i’ve been watching the latest E3 from Microsoft and, i’d gota say, as a retro fan and a person who still plays Retro games, whether it’s on an Emulator such as RetroArch or a Physical Cartridge, i was thinking to a subject which i 'm not sure if people has been noticed or not I gotta say i was really impressed by some of the games such as the Flight Simulator, Psychonuts, etc… But what Microsoft was pushing the most was The Game Pass Game Pass is subscription which u can have access to thousands of games without paying anything extra, you don’t own the games but, u can literally pick any of them and play and, that was somehow concerning to me They are pushing something which is totally takes away the control of Ownership Ok let me explain what i mean exactly The way it was working before was, you go to an store, you, buy a game for your console whether it’s a cartridge or an optical disk, no matter what form it is, it’s a physical media, by other mean your game on your hands right ? it means that you have the ownership of that game, you actually own it and as an owner you have the right to keep it, play it whenever you want, or sell or exchange that to anything But, what the Corporate is planning for you, is you are NO LONGER own your game in near future you subscribe, and play just like you do on Netflix or Hulu and, and that is something concerning to me because, as a gamer i would still want to own my game and do whatever i want with it, give it to my grandkids or whatever they are building the base of this since before the COVID and, they want to Completely wipe the ownership of media from the consumer side People see it n say, $100 bucks and i can play whatever i want for the whole year ? hell yeah i want in, but, people are losing to see the side that, you are no longer the owner I still feel great when i feel my Genesis Cartridge in my hands, or my SNES, or whatever and having them on my shelf They want to destroy that completely and after that, they want to Control what people can or can’t play anymore they want to control the prices they wanna control the media, they wanna control the developers and, everything at the next level, I don’t fuckin want that to happen ok ? i just don’t i don’t know and i know many people are excited for this, to pay $100 and play whatever they want for the whole year but, what about the future i mean, have you ever think what will be next then ? They want to silently clear the meaning of ownership and control everything themselves and, they wanna rule the developers that what you can or can’t release in our platform. They 're not thinking about your convenience they are after a bigger thing i’m just, i don’t want a Gamepass i want to have my game next to me just like the old times I don’t want owning a game become a retro and everyone see it as a, ummm, i don’t know, everyone would say that, Remember the times that we used to exchange games with eachother i don’t want that to happen I JUST WANT TO OWN MY GAME
It’s not just the big publishers but many dev’s and studios have gotten greedy and underhanded. Many gamers are at fault for supporting that by voting with their wallets. Even with PC gaming, if a dev really wanted to they can have their games on physical media. It will need to be a message to share with gamers to bring gaming back to to a better state than what it has devolved into. Not only are you no longer able to own your games, but there’s the whole censorship, microtransactions, cut content that is sold as DLC, and even propaganda in our games today.
If i ever get into game development I will always remember my roots as a gamer and pave the way to better it. I recommend you support FOSS as well (Free and Open Source Software), games can be made freely due to it, For example there is Godot the free open source game engine.
That’s exactly another problem You see, as developers don’t see consumers not owning the game anymore by other means they don’t pay for the game, then they will definitely try to make more money out of Micro Transactions such as selling you items, Costumes, DLCs and etc… So that’s why i’m standing my ground as that the Consumer still must own its games
I couldn’t agree more and it’s why I only support platforms with DRM-free games like GOG and itch.io. It’s not even about the money. If I buy a game I want to be able to play it whenever I want.
I know paying that $100 or whatever the price is would be more suitable and wallet friendly than buying those games but, with that you’ll vote for a future of more Control and tightening and developers selling you in game purchases for more earnings Yes it might not happen over a night but it will if u vote for $100 subscription in near future
I agree with you on principle but I feel like you’re a little late to the party with this: Steam took away your right to own years ago (read the EULA, if you haven’t already). Why choose this moment to stick the nut on Microsoft when most games in brick n mortar stores have been Steam keys for at least 10 years? Half Life 2 (first game to use Steam as DRM) was the point when people should have voted with their feet and that ship sailed a LONG time ago.
This isn’t quite right. On Steam, yes you no longer own physical media, but you do own the actual game. For example, I can quit Steam for months, even years, then come back to Steam, install, log in, and there are ALL my games. With Microsoft Game Pass, you RENT the games, and the moment you quit game pass you lose them all. Now, obviously, if you quit Steam then unless there is no DRM, then you can’t play them without the Steam client running, but you still own them. Some AAA games can even be cracked, so you could crack the games you own, and then play them offline.
I do miss owning an actual physical disk, it’s nice to have something with a case, artwork, and a disk/Blu-ray etc… Thankfully, PS5 is still available with a Blu-ray drive, and you can still buy pre-owned games. Which is why corporations want this to end, to kill the pre-owned market because they don’t get a cut. This is where the greed sets in, because they want their cut in the pre-owned market, despite them getting their cut in the first sale doctrine. And this is where the slippery slope starts because you have to ask, where would it end ? What about a 3rd or 4th sale ? Then you have eBay shops, and Amazon marketplace, etc…
I do buy from GoG, but they are so far behind Steam that you can’t stick with GoG. And if you want the latest AAA game then it’s either Steam, Epic, Rockstar, Ubisoft, EA, etc…
You may feel like you own the game and for all intents and purposes you effectively do BUT legally, according to the EULA, you don’t.
Here’s an excerpt from it:
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We do not sell the Game to you.
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We own the Game, and brands or content in the Game, so you are buying permission to play the Game yourself in accordance with this EULA.
Well, technically, Valve do NOT own the game either. They just allow the game, owned by the company the devs work for, to be sold on Valve’s platform. The wording is a bit disingenuous, and I doubt Valve would have much legroom in a court of law to deny you your game. EULAs are rarely challenged in court, mostly due to not having the funds to go up against a huge corporation, but it wouldn’t surprise me if all EULAs contain wording that wouldn’t stand up in court.
Alright so, even if we buy the Physical version of a game whether it’s Blu-Ray or Cartridge, we’re not Legally own it !!! You gotto be kidding me
That’s not what I said.
They do that so they think it makes games to be Pirated
Many steam games still require internet connection to steam, or steam makes it very difficult to play games without a login into steam client.
If you really want to own games, buy from places like GoG.
Or, play only old games which you can actually own.
This is why I only play old games. Newer games cannot be owned.
With a new generation of consoles, I can only imagine this issue not getting any better. I’ve noticed that many adult video games don’t have this issue of DRM.
A while back i saw a YouTube video on the CMOS issue for PS3 that would cause gamers to lose their games as well.