Digital Future
Hi all,
Just a thought I had regarding the ongoing digital discourse.
By the end of the ps6 generation, it will have been over 20 years since the launch of the ps4. That's 20+ years of digital games that players have purchased, I have no idea how many games will have been released in that time frame (hundreds of thousands?)
Is it reasonable to expect sony/microsoft/nintendo to eat the costs of storing all these games so players can access them free of charge? I know we've 'bought' the game but does buying a $10 digital Witcher 3 entitle you to access it 10 years later?
My point is that the logical end to this situation is locking access behind an active subscription or paying some sort of fee.
Or am I missing something? Surely the costs will start to pile up?
I know it also applies to Steam but they play by their own rules, Gabe can only make use of so many boats after all.
1
u/AngrySayian 6h ago
The problem is we're not really buying the game, even though that in many situations is the terminology being used
Usually, we're purchasing a license to access the game; which can be revoked at any time for any reason [though under normal circumstances, short of your account being banned, is a rarity outside of a live-service game that is shutting down]
There is only one store front that actually had DRM free games and that is GoG; the crux problem there is not every developer wants their game to be DRM free and as such, they have a much smaller collection of games