2y ago

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

cross-posted from: https://yiffit.net/post/475688

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

==========

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.

Games @sh.itjust.works

soyagi @yiffit.net

2y ago

Xbox Live Gold changes to Game Pass Core

Games @lemmy.world

soyagi @yiffit.net

2y ago

Xbox Live Gold changes to Game Pass Core

Gaming @lemmy.ml

soyagi @yiffit.net

2y ago

Xbox Live Gold changes to Game Pass Core

68 comments

All of the games on gamepass are available for purchase at reasonable prices. Gamepass is a choice for people that want a wide variety of games to play right now for a reasonable price. Maybe one day sony or Microsoft first party games could become sub only but that seems very unlikely given the relatively high selling price of games compared to Blu rays, cds, books, etc... . It's too profitable not to offer them for sale.
This is a very silly argument.
- Just watch this silly argument become less silly as we first see indie games become exclusive to subs, then an odd MMO, until in 5 years the first MicroVisZard game will be exclusive. There will be outrage of course, but it will die down, people will become tired of protesting, and sub-only games will be the new standard. Just like it always is with every crap these companies pull.
  
  You still didn't provide any logical reason why anyone wouldn't also sell the games outright. Please explain the business case for a third party developer to make their game subscription only. First party games I could see this happening with, maybe, although I still find it unlikely. For third party? What benefit would their be for either side of that deal? They would both be limiting their income stream.
  
  We’re already seeing big name titles come out exclusively digitally, and companies like Bungie charge so much for their games that it might actually be cheaper as a subscription. I don’t think you’re too far off at all.
  
  I wish Memmy supported bookmarking a specific comment because this would be the first one. These predictions are made time and time again and they prove themselves every time. I absolutely believe we will have at least some subscription exclusive games within 5 years, if that.
For now at least, I see it as what I used to do back in the good ol’days and rent games from blockbuster. What I don’t like is having to be connected online to play a game. Even though you buy a game online once that service disappears your screwed.
I see it as a library. I pay a fee, I read as many books as I want, I give them back when I am done, I can get them again if I want to.
What I see as a problem is preservation of games. One day they stop providing a download and then these games are gone for good. Books get preserved by the government(s), games rarely.
I also get free (not F2P) games a week on PC, more than I will ever be able to play in my life and good games too. There is no chance my PC will ever be an empty paperweight, especially not because of backwards compatibility and because legally DRM free games (GOG for example, itch.io etc.) exist that you can even download and store yourself so if your internet is down you can still install them.
Subscription services will start to become a problem once one business has a monopoly and Microsoft is on their way there maybe. But I guess it will work how it is with Netflix. First Netflix was good, then everyone wanted to make their own version of Netflix and now people decide more and more to set sail again, because one subscription might be ok, three or more are not anymore. Game Pass, Nintendo, Ubisoft+, EA, ...
- This is the way I look at it. I sub to Xbox game pass a couple times a year. It's generally been a dollar but I think they changed that promo recently ish. But I play the game I want for like 3 hours then promptly forget I have game pass. But I always go in and cancel it after buying the first month so no harm no foul there.
- The preservation thing is just a problem with all sources of digital media, it seems. Even video isn't archived nearly as much as books and papers. There are physical copies of things that collectors have in their possession and could archive for historical purposes but don't because they're selfish and don't want to "devalue" their collectible.
I blame Call of Duty & Gears of War & Halo. As soon as people accepted a fee for multiplayer, it was over. I remember thinking “PS3 is gonna win this; who’s gonna pay for Xbox live, no way,” and then people did it.
Admittedly, I like Game Pass lol. It’s awesome for trying out games: I got it to try Psychonauts 2, then bought it, also tried High on Life & decided to skip it.
Considering how few actual gamers seem to have become game devs, it’s only a matter of time before you’re right about not being able to buy games. Just like car seats not heating if you don’t subscribe.
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
- Music is at least easy to ~~pirate~~ back up.
  
  Games are also easy to pirate if you have a PC
This year alone, I’m looking forward to playing Starfield, Lies Of P, Payday 3, Forza Motorsport, and STALKER 2. At $60 each, that would be $300 of games.
At the end of the year, I will have paid $119.88 for Game Pass.
Along the way, I’ve discovered other games I wouldn’t have otherwise known about and dipped my toes risk-free into games I would not have otherwise purchased. When looking for something to play with a group of friends, the fact that we all have Game Pass makes it easy to explore something new without asking anyone to spend $60.
If we look at Starfield alone, I’m probably going to let it ruin my life for 3 months ($29.97 in subscription). By the time I’m looking to jump in again, it will probably have gone on sale on Steam for less than $30.
At the end of the day, you don’t even own the games you are buying anyways. You get a license to play them while they are available and that availability can be revoked at any time.
I mean I only ever use it when I get a new card and get the one month for one dollar and cancel it after.
There is also the matter of value psychology that's in play. Of you pay for a title, it automatically gains value. Of it's given to you for free (or as a all you can eat buffet) - the same title suddenly does not feel so premium.
Going to the movies vs watching a film on Netflix. Buying a vinyl of an album vs playing few songs on Spotify.
I understand that to some the value proposition is just too hard to pass. To me however it cheapens the games and makes them less interesting.
(I got a year of ultimate in some promotion. Installed a bunch of games, then never played them, instead enjoying other titles I actually personally picked and paid for)
I get your fear, but how is this any different (it's actually much cheaper) than the rentals of old?
- If you mean renting physical stuff like cartridges, there's a limited amount of physical goods, so you rent what you need temporarily, and buy what you want to keep, just like with a moving van or whatever.
  With digital goods, any scarcity is artificial. Any price change is just changing the number in a database. The whole concept is to make you pay for stuff you don't need, and you won't even be bothered by it, because there's no physical clutter.
  Subscriptions are the next level, to make you keep in perpetuity, forever, whether you're using the service or not, and to make you afraid of ever cancelling lest you lose all "your" games.
  Worse, in cases like this it's even an easy upsell for them, because first they paywall multiplayer from you (which is ridiculous since you're already paying for the game and console) and then they go "oh pay just some more to get all this"... Creating a problem and selling you the solution.
  And also don't forget that the conditions and price that are now won't last. Remember when Netflix had everything and was really cheap.
  I'm not great at explaining this, but it's just overall a rotten business model.
  
  When compared to the rental service it's absolutely superior. Selection is limited, but it's cheaper for sure. Before you payed per day per item, or had a subscription not unlike what we have now and still likely payed after renting so many items in a month's time.
  And in terms of paywall for multiplayer, they've been doing that since the original days of Microsoft consoles. It's nothing new, you know it when you purchase an Xbox. I don't like it, so I don't buy Xboxes. I stopped buying PlayStations when Sony started. That said I do pay for Xbox Game Pass because the value I get is worth the cost.
  I'm not gonna argue over the digital/physical divide and artificial scarcity. You're not wrong, but that doesn't have much bearing when you're talking about $15 a month to play a rotating catalogue of games for as long as they're on the service.
Gamepass also gives you a 20% discount if you decide to purchase the games
- Oh great, paying for an opportunity to pay. How generous.
  
  So it costs less if you decide to keep a game you like and cancel gamepass? The discount works for gifting games as well
I've heard that gamespass is supposed to be excellent value considering what you get. I don't have an Xbox so I can't say personally.
- You pay for a subscription, just like this community loves.
- At least I have the game on the console as long as it works... Not perfect by any means, but it's not that far.
  But I actually have most games on discs anyway, and on the PC side I only buy from gog and itch.
  But true, it keeps getting worse. Most disc releases are just trash, as the whole game or a game-worth of patch needs to be downloaded.
I mean I hate it too but there are plenty of other options, you can easily just not use these services
It’s a much more convenient, modern day version of video game rentals like Blockbuster. If you’re thinking about it any other way, you’re the type of person that keeps this system profitable for Microsoft.
And that's why I play single player games.
Of all the subscription based services that exist and fucking suck, this is far from one of them. It's a great value for what you pay if you're actually interested in lots of games. I can end up playing everything that comes out in a month and end up paying less in a year than buying those games outright in that single month.
Similarly, PS+ Premium, which I spent $120 for a year and it paid for itself within a week as I installed and played through 4 different games that would have totalled twice the subscription I paid. (4x$60=$240).
A better example would be the subscription cost of a single MMO like World of Warcraft. You pay the same monthly/yearly fee as GamePass. For one game. One game that is old as fuck and not really too relevant any more, at that.
Then don't subscribe?
- comes to a "Fuck Subscription" community
  tells people to not subscribe
  Genius.
  
  Oh, I didn't come here specifically. I just had the misfortune of encountering this rage-bait echo chamber on my feed.
  But rest assured, I'll block the community so that you can continue to seek validation for your trivial and irrational complaints in peace.
- Not a good take. If everyone subscribes but only the OP doesn't, he's still gonna feel the difference it'll make on the games.
- DELETED
You can buy games too, of course. This ain't the Switch, which leaves many of its games locked behind a subscription.
I pay for ultimate while purchasing games. I have access to everything for purchase at a discount and have a unlimited selection on day 1 while getting the discounts when the games get old ... if you only ever use the subscription service to play while it's on there you are misusing the service. When games leave gamepass I've played them they go down in value and I buy them 80% off in a year
Game Pass is super cheap in my country (RM 15/month ≈ 3.2 USD) and it allows me to play Starfield and Persona 5 Royal without having to pay the full price.
The combined price of both games is RM 491 which is equivalent to 2.7 years of Game Pass. I haven't even counted other games I play like Atomic Heart and Forza Horizon 5 so it's a great deal.
- The next step will be streaming only like Stadia (pretty sure MS has that too already?) and piracy won't be a solution then.

68 comments