I feel like I'm going to summon somebody from c/latestagecapitalism but it really seems like we've gotten to the point where companies are so big, so invested in everything, that the "scrappy can-do company" can no longer challenge the ingrained supremacy.

So we just kinda... wish for less abuse from whoever is still in the market.

I asked all the gamers I know who they think could turn around that Playstation news and enter the market by promoting physical media. All I really got was shrugs. Nobody really can. Sega is out. Gamestop probably would benefit most, but they don't design hardware. Evercade has hardware and production lines, but fills a niche at best. You've got giants like Google who failed with Stadia, so Amazon and Samsung probably wouldn't dare try.

It's uhh... not good.

Games Media has been acting like they want Xbox to die off and have only Sony and Nintendo making hardware, but I have been saying for years that would be horrendously bad for gaming.

Nintendo pulled the ultimate anti-consumer move by actively removing themselves from competing with PlayStation and Xbox.

Right now Sony is acting like they have no competition, pushing the envelop of what they can get away with while Xbox is still barely in the game: No more disks, absurd price increases, etc. They figure the same thing I was warning: Don't like it? Where are you going to go? To what competitor? See you in two weeks.

But for all the Normies? They don't care. Just eat up the slop until the water is boiling them alive and they won't have noticed until its too late.

https://kazeta.org/

Why root for MS when you don't have to? We have never had more megacorp-free gaming options.

It's true; Game Pass exists in part because Microsoft didn't have a great inroad against Playstation. Playstation kicked PS+ features forward in part because Game Pass was eating their lunch at a time when subscriptions seemed like a critical market element.

But these days, if I see an appeals board reject a corporate merger, it seems like a failed measure regardless - that both parties are already colluding as much as possible.

I’m back and forth on that… it might have had a hand in that because gamepass making them try to pump out content / games asap in order to populate the service… but also, MS is just generally shitty so maybe they just bungled two things at once.

Pretty sure Skyrim is on gamepass and that games still selling everywhere

Yeah. I had a game pass subscription back when it launched but I didn’t play it because of the full gameplay and world.

Until Gabe has a heart attack, venture capitalists takes over and stab all the PC gamers in the back. I guess there will be warning signs and it’s still people to un-DRM some Steam games so for now we’re ok.

Sony has always been 'cool but evil' and haven't really changed.

That's fine and dandy but what if it was the only option to play games? What happens when Gamepass is 49.99 a month? And a couple years later, it is 54.99, the 64.99.

What if they start gate keeping your save files? What if licenses expire and they get delisted and you can't play them ever again?

This is the problem with Gamepass, and all subscription services if they dominate a market.

People dont want a subscription to play games, it only made sense as an extension of Xbox Live. Outside of that it was mainly used as a way to demo some games for a month, or play that one game for $1.

Just buying games has way more value overall.

I can spend the monthly Game Pass cost on a new Steam game once a month and add to am ever growing, "permanent" library rather than just piss my money away on renting games.

Game Pass was great when it was literally only $1/month. After that, the value of it rapidly declined.

i have played so many games i woild have never tried and i live having the xbox studio games on release. i am a patient gamer so i always waited for a game to drop below $40. its nice having access to so many.

Subscription gaming has its problems but I'm with you on this.