I understand this may make sense to some users, but the whole concept of subscribing to games just makes me... Very uneasy. You stop paying, and suddenly your console is an empty paperweight
Xbox Game Pass Core subscribers will get access to a small selection of the games available with the regular/higher tiers of Game Pass, starting with more than 25 games
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2 years ago I had to move to a temp place. First evening, I unpacked my PS3 which I hadn't had time for for a long time. Lots of games on it (and on discs), so I could just sit and play Journey.
Had all my games had been this subscription sort, I'd have nothing.
Now I know you can still buy games - for now, anyway. But since these companies make you pay for multiplayer anyway, it's an easy upsell for them. Just pay a bit more and you can play so many games... Just pay forever.
I mean, something like Spotify is the same. I don't really buy music anymore and if I stopped subscribing then I'd not have access to music... But the quality of the service is good enough and value good enough that I don't really mind.
Its just a balance of are you getting more value out of it than you'd get just buying games when you want to play them
I've not been gaming on PC for a while so I won't judge, but a few years ago it was often quite a nightmare. Has HAWX2 been cracked already? How's the situation with playing cracked online (non-MMO) games? Can you play anything that comes out?
(I'm not trolling... I'm quite curious actually. I don't know I'd have the nerves for it today.)
That's a very unusual game to ask about so I have no idea. Way newer games have been cracked with way worse DRM (Denuvo).
As for playing online I think it depends on the game. Some I believe you can play but only with other pirates. I wouldn't rely on it.
I don't get why you would need nurves for it. If you stick to something like FitGirls official website it's not too risky.
That being said if it's better for multiplayer games to take advantage of steam sales. For an old game like Hawk2 it probably is only a few quid/dollars to buy.
Well I'm just against all DRM on PC, and wouldn't be installing, never mind paying for, any of that bloatware like the game launchers.
As I said I don't know how piracy is now, but a few years ago it was way too annoying, with patches not being cracked or properly distributed and whatnot. Then I also hear Linux isn't as well supported as I'd like, and I wouldn't accept W10 on a computer. (My last machine, that's in storage, still had W7 as a primary with a W10 VM. Yea I know, it was also picky about what to run.)
It just sounds like a whole mess I don't like dealing with anymore.
Now granted, consoles are getting worse as well, with the discless releases and paid multiplayer and whatnot. But I think it still flies that if I install an old 5 € game, I can disconnect the internet and play that thing offline forever until the consoles rusts to pieces, without the thing constantly bugging me about updates that break my stuff, or my downloaded DLCs becoming "inaccessible".
I never had a problem with PCs, whether using them, setting them up, pirating or paying for games, but from AssCreed II onward and the onset of shitty launchers, I eventually quit. That HAWX2 I was waiting for years to be cracked, is just pop-in and play on PS3.
And rather than things becoming better, I rather suspect that shit has become normalised that nobody thinks about it anymore.
You don't pay for launchers. They are free. You also don't pay for multiplayer. If you don't want launchers look at DRM free sites like Good Old Games or pirate them.
You can play Steam games without an internet connection. This is just like how consoles are packed with DRM but you can still play them offline. Why would you even think PCs are any different? Like consoles have always had worse DRM.
discless releases and paid multiplayer
Paid multiplayer has always been a console thing never a PC thing. Discless releases seem only a good thing to me. Why would I want to wait to go to a store in order to have a game when I can download it at home in a few hours? From what I understand there are still releases where both are an option but frankly I don't care.
Piracy on PC is very much alive and well outside of multiplayer games.
Have you thought about Windows 10 LTSC? I think that is your best option.
Also we are on Windows 11 now, not 10 as the latest version. Keep up.