I agree with your video. However, you should really consider putting a list of the games you use for footage. I haven't seen some of these and I'm genuinely interested in them. And I'm sure the developers would love the bump, no matter how small. As it stands, I'll likely never find out the identity of many of these and neither will most people. Even if you list them in the comments, most people don't check the comments.
The problem for me is subscription services really aren't a good deal, because 99% of games and films I have no interest in. I'm not paying a rental to play a game or watch a film on a month deadline. Another thing is universal rental models will surely kill discounts and sales? A lot of people only buy things this way, and indeed companies know they make a lot of money when things are discounted (otherwise they wouldn't happen-- they know a small chunk will buy on day 1 at full whack, but they also know probably a whole lot more will only buy it at half the price or whatever in the sale months or years later). It's probably why sales seem to be increasingly less impressive, and why games years old absurdly retain close to full price. It's probably a way of artificially adding value to sub services.
Why would a developer try their hardest on a game when Xbox will just pay them upfront for releasing it day one on Gamepass? There's no doubt in my mind that a lot of these games are half-assed for this reason.
I see a parallel to the ongoing writers strike. The move to a subscription model is a big part of why it started. Writers got residuals through DVD sales, syndication and other licensing agreements. Back in the early Netflix streaming days, Netflix licensed shows and that produced residuals...but no more. Those have all but disappeared now in the age of every studio each having their own streaming service that, largely, only provides content produced and owned by the same entity. Now, writers get paid a lump sum for their work, and that's it...quite similar to an indie dev puting their game on a subscription service, getting a payout upfront, but receiving no recurring income thereafter.
i love advancements in technology. For the most part, advancements in technology lead to the improvement of the average person's life. High end hardware eventually becomes cheap, and things once viewed as luxuries become available to the common man. The transition to a, 'rental', or 'subscription' service hinders this evolution. Their prices will only increase, they'll keep pushing the boundaries, seeing how much content they can cut, how much they can charge and get away with. It doesn't have to be this way, but the current company/institution culture doesn't focus on providing excellent service. They always start good, but once they got the monopoly, it's game over. I like the idea of Game Pass, but if the "worst case scenario" happens, and it takes over, degrades modern gaming even further, eventually the natural evolution of human creativity will take over, and these fads will fade. Just look at the impact Baldurs Gate 3 has had. Gamers loved it, but the competing "suits" were terrified. It's only a matter of time until patience and quality prevails once again. Money can only go so far, especially with the dollar dying as it is. But our passions will out live their corporate shams for eons.
I get my money's worth from Game Pass as I play several things on offer. That said, you make some very important points and I completely agree. It's so refreshing to see someone thinking long term for once. You do a great job presenting this stuff in a well thought out manner. I bought a Fenek controller to throw some support your way.
It's definitely an interesting issue and I've been feeling this way for a while. I used to play on PC, both on popular games and indie games. Common among them were the DLCs and microtransactions, often brought in as the game was updated. It feels like the spread of what I'd call 'hypermonetisation'. To maximise the profit, everything is designed to appeal to everyone and not be offensive or have much character. The other thing is the new expectation that games should be continuously updated. If you come back in 6 months or a year, you won't be able to pick up where you left off. So you're either playing regularly or you have to abandon and restart. I found my PS2 in my cupboard and I've been enjoying playing these older games, with no updates or DLC. I just turn it on, and play. The online games are fun too, mainly because the people playing are other nutters like me.
I don't mind renting my games for a fraction of the price of buying them. Most modern games I never return to anyway after completing them Valid point about how it does promote microtransaction inclusion tho, then again, isn't that what the entire industry is heading towards anyway?
I bought some 70+ ps3 games this year and another slim console as a backup. It was a jet engine but some cleaning and thermal paste later it ran quietly.
It has been a big source of funding for some of the indie publishers in recent years, allowing them to publish more titles. However, I believe Microsoft is currently cutting back the funding for smaller titles due to financial constraints (nothing to do with their ATVI acquisition I'm sure 😉).
Gamepass only makes sense if you have the time to play lots of different games offered on the platform, it's also good for trying games that you're unsure you're gonna like. But if you only get the gamepass so you can play forza, then it's better just to buy the damn game instead
And you better be quick about buying it (Within three years generally), otherwise, each Forza game becomes de-listed afterwards. So... if you missed out on buying the game, plus all of its DLC within that time-frame? Then you're SOL for the most part.
You can allways settle for a game you really love because the saves transfer from subscription to ownership. Or just keep the subscription and keep playing that game you really love plus lots more.
I absolutely loved Driver SF! I remember playing it for hours on my ps3 back in middle school. Sad that Ubisoft let it go. Luckily I was able to grab a used disc on Mercari so that I can play it on the new xbox but this just made me realize all my games I have purchased digitally (which is like all of them) are at risk of being lost forever :(
Indeed, that might very well happen. But let's hope that at that moment, we as gamers can stand together to say NO! I loved my PS3. Bought 2 "phat" ones last year and i couldn't be happier. Bought a lot of the physical games i owned back then and i'm able to play them without the need to worry about online or anything like that. 🙂
I have been stocking up on bluray movies lately. I don't understand the appeal of digital content. If I want to lend or sell my movie or game to sombody I can.
right now gamepass is pretty good but I can totally see a future where games are just demos and all the effort will go towards DLC or microtransactions
Developers have a host of options to choose from when working with GamePass: 1. Developer receives a lump sum of X dollars. The larger the advance, the smaller the royalties on the back end. 2. Developer has Microsoft foot the bill for all development costs. The game will be exclusive to GamePass for a certain period of time, or forever. However, the developer still gets to sell copies outside of GamePass. Just being on GamePass doesn't mean you cant sell physical or digital copies. 3. Developer completes and funds game on their own, but agrees to terms with Microsoft. They get a larger percentage of royalties. In all of these scenarios developers still get residual royalties based on overall GamePass activity. In addition, games that are popular on GamePass will get additional royalties. GamePass allows indie developers to finish games they may not have the funds for. Developers could try and put shovelware up there, but they'll receive minimal back end money.
It was five years ago that I last bought any AAA title. It's been all about small developers since then. Sprinkled with a fee-to-play while avoiding the microtransactions, I've had the most fun with games since like I was a kid in the 80s. The games I look forward to the most this winter are coming from single person developers. Steam's Early Access has really enabled loads of small developers. Sure it's "buyer beware" but it's the really same with AAA games.
Exactly. In the last few years I've lost all hope in any new game. Never excited for anything, no matter how cool it looks. I just assume it will flop or just not be as good as what was expected. As someone who followed No Man's Sky through it's development, it's hilarious to see the exact same thing happening again with Starfield. I will be absolutely floored if Starfield isn't a complete disaster at launch. After NMS I was a lot more skeptical, but one game I got excited for was Cyberpunk, mostly because of CDProjekt Red. When Cyberpunk came out, that was the nail in the coffin. I don't care about any game now unless it is released. Last month I broke and bought my first AAA game in years, Diablo 4.... I did want to play the campaign, I had time off and my friends were playing it, I just absolutely didn't want to spend $100(CDN) on it. But I did, beat the campagin in a few days and after hitting lvl 50+, the game got incredibley boring. I was going to start a new character in a few days when Season 1 started, and yep, Blizzard of course dropped the ball so hard. This was why I didn't want to give any money to Blizzard. And somehow a multi-billion dollar company can't make gems not take up inventory space until 6+ months from now? On an game that has basically been using the same UI for 20 years? Insane. While two of the best games I've played in a long time are Subnautica and Stardew Valley.
The thing I hate the most from Game Pass/ PS+/ Nintendo Online etc is that online multiplayer is not available to 98% of multiplayer games unless you have a subscription. Downright stupid.
YES it is not because of the products(although a lot of gp games are horsehit) it's the companies behind the all digital trend they WILL make you pay for the cheapness later without a doubt
heh, the 10yr outlook reminds me of the "shareware" days. "You can have this for (near) free (sometimes diskettes were like $5), send us money and we'll send you the full game!"
Hark, though I tender my gratitude for the brevity of thy spectacle, I find myself compelled to express a chagrin born of fleeting moments squandered. Alas, in but half a minute, I hath witnessed naught but a cascade of preposterous proclamations that doth vex the very fabric of reason. As the sands of time slip through the hourglass, so too did those moments slip from my grasp, leaving behind a sense of having ventured into a whimsical void. A fragment of my time, thirty seconds it may be, hath been consumed by this tapestry of incredulity. With due respect to thy creative endeavors, let it be known that my interaction hath earned a disapproval as heartfelt as it is concise. Mayhaps in the mists of future endeavors, a harmony between substance and brevity shall grace thy creations.
I dunno if its evil but let me tell you it saved me a lot of money, because my 13 year old and I share 1 subscription between his Series X and my PC. Plus we get to play online at the same time with only 1 Ultimate subscription. I let him borrow my PS5 with all the exclusives for a couple months but returned it back to me because he said it was boring 😂 kids nowadays are different I guess. BTW I have amassed thousands of games from the high seas and GOG too, I don't trust steam, GOG yes because you can back up the executables.
For me i like Gamepass...but its the DLC that is the pain as some games are not complete without it ....but having the DLC as a separate purchase not connected to game pass creates that issue, If i buy the DLC i really need to buy the game as when it leaves i have the dlc but not the game
It's going to be funny when Game Pass goes away and people will still complain about games being too expensive. I don't think Game Pass or video game subscription services are sustainable at all and I already know one day it's going to be gone, but I am soaking in this period of time so hard.
great points you made on game ownership and the connection made with said game. thanks for the video.
9 месяцев назад
Remember Devotion? One of the most gorgeous horror games made. No? That's because Communist China had a problem with a painting reference in the game. It's one of the best if not the best horror games made.
Game pass will kill gaming if it becomes mainstream/meta. Subscriptions kill media. DRMs are bad enough, because you don't own your games, but game pass is infinitely worse, because you need to repeatedly pay to have access for your games and since games cost hunreds of millions to develop, they can't give them enough money from a 12$ subscription.
Steelbook releases of 4KUHD movies are still very popular. Limited Run Games still does special physical edition releases, even of PC big box games. This last year, vinyl records outsold CD sales for the first time since 1987. *Quality* physical media ownership is still valued by many. Is that "many" a minority now? Probably... but it's a minority that is willing to put their money where there desires are. So I think there will always be someone fulfilling that, at least I hope so.
You can still sell it on competing platforms but you get no royalties from game pass. So many devs are building games with dlc or microtransactions so they can get paid after the initial deal.
Those of us that have grown up playing games in the early 80’s till now, have witnessed the decline in many games being enjoyable (some are, but not all or the majority) and the massive rise of the mobile phone games and micro transactions 🤑💰💵 and DLC’s with content that should’ve been included in the original game and outlandish prices 😡🤬. I think games like BG3 which is an awesome game, vg graphics, no bugs (that I’ve come across) and features no micro transactions is a blessing and for me a pleasure to play.
I get Discs cost company a lot of money. However i prefer to own my movies, Music etc. Streaming and digital means a company can remove the product anytime. And if you lose your account then you lose everything and if you make a new account then that product you had on previous account may not be available to purchase again.
It really depends on the person. We once went to tower of records for our music but now listen to Spotify. I don’t believe it’s people that are shallow minded. I used to like physical media. A lot of my media would collect dust because I wouldn’t use it. I like the convenience of “renting” video games via PC Game Pass. The convince is the only reason why I am building a Plex server. I buy physical movies to add to my Plex server. If I really like a game that I play on PC Games Pass, I will buy it. I only subscribe to a service only if I enjoy it. Just like I subscribed to your chancel today. I will unsubscribe if I no longer find entertainment via PC Game pass. All RUclipsrs are jesters. We are the simpletons that “rent” the entertainment.
Make a video about corporate consolidation and how it will affect game quality and development. @ 8:38 we are already there. Corporations are buying all the developers. Its going to be Sony and Microsoft at the end of the day.
video game communism is coming. They will tell you what to play, what you can and can’t do in their game. You will own nothing. You will eat the bugs and be happy. Your game play style and social interactions will feed into your social credit score. Just like in China they will regulate the amount of hours you can play. The old games will be forcibly buried so the next generation won’t experience the freedom that ownership brings. As for pirating rented games. How exactly will that happen when all games are stored and rendered on the server so you don’t actually get any of the files on your PC? Unless the servers are compromised no one will ever get a copy. The future of gaming is looking very bleak as well as the future in general.
Bleak only if you allow it to be and willingly go along with it. You aren't forced to play games created and owned by big corporations. There will always be some indie developers who provide offline ownership. Also if I stop buying games now I still have enough old games in my backlog to play for the rest of my life.
a great example for why its always better to own physical copies will always be the original cut of star wars. fans have been wanting the original cut back for two decades now but except for the few dvds that exist of it its completely lost
I think a huge benefit is if the developer makes a sequel it will have more eyes on it. People who played the first game on Gamepass might be more inclined to buy the next product
I almost don't even buy games anymore. In my online accounts I have like 700+ games and maybe I had bought like 50 of them. They are always giving away the games. I have played so many games without buying them, but by getting them when they are doing giveaways. Some examples of games (some are super amazing top quality like Alien Isolation and some are just OK) that I have in my "online libraries" and I have played, but I didn't buy: - Alien Isolation, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Civ VI, Fallout 3, Titan Quest, Alan Wake, Borderlands 2, Borderlands The PreSequel, Control, Dead Space, Dead Space 2, Frostpunk, GTAV, Mutant Year Zero, Pine, A plage Tale Innocence, Prey, Rage 2, Tomb Raider 2013, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Stranded Deep, Subnautica, Surviving Mars, Talos Principle, Total War Shogun 2, Transistor, Watch dogs, Watch Dogs 2, Tropico 4, Tropico 5, Windbound, Wolfenstein The new order, Abzu, Alba a wildlife adventure, Bad North, Brothers a tale of two sons, Brutal Legend, Deadlight, The flame in the flood, Faster than light, Inside, Into the breach, Limbo, The long dark, Medal of honor pacific assault, Metro 2033, Naissancee, Obduction, Rime, Soma, A Short hike, Spec ops the line, Symmetry, The Vanishing of ethan carter, warpips, What remains of edith finch The game that I have bought, and I have played the most (600h) is Kerbal Space Program. It cost me like 15 bucks.
"You can't stream 40GB - 50GB movies" ... Hold my beer! haha no for real though, agreed - which is why I absolutely love my Plex library. 50TB of a mix between 720P, 1080P and massive 50-100GB 4k rips of movies/tv that I wouldn't watch in any other way. I have two entire walls in my basement that is just filled with DVDs - Blurays and 4k Blurays, and while I love a good physical copy - the convenience factor of streaming is just too sweet to pass up.
You can get the operative online btw, games like that are called abandonware, and there's ways to get them easily, I've never had any https issues with the site I use Silent hill 2 and 3 are on there as well as McGee's Alice, all digital with patches and widescreen fixes listed on the same page Tbh there's very few classic games ( 90's-00's) that they don't have the PC versions of, and to my knowledge its entirely legal due to there being no one to hold those licenses
I kind of like the idea that after a game is abandoned and not sold online anymore it enters a state of being public, like what's supposed to happen with copyrights I'm not sure if its a coincidence or not but I have noticed a lot more old games being rereleased to steam recently
$15/mth to play one game (*I know there are more titles*) for a year, or spend $75.00 to play for a year and many more years after that. I know which one I would prefer to spend my money on. Look at it from a different perspective, 1000 people buy a game for $75 ($75,000 from the maker) and play for 12 month, or 1000 people pay $15.00/mth ($180,000 from game pass) for 12 months,,, who benefits, you do the math.
As a very small indie developer, getting that initial payment from Game Pass is like insurance in case the game doesn't sell well on Steam. However, there have also been reports now as you know showing this actually hurts long-tail sales of the game. It is a hard decision as a small dev what to do but the allure of that instant payment is tempting. As a gamer, it's a great value and allows me to try games that may not have demos on console or PC. I'm a little worried that if everything goes the way of the netflix model for games, then it'll hurt small devs even more in the long term, and end up locking people into endless services and price increases like we're seeing on all the video streaming services.
Bro i have been watching your channel since 2012. Please play the enhanced edition of Silent Hill 2. It will blow you away as it is the definitive way to play it thanks to all hard work from the team of modders
Sadly, this is the future and it sucks. This is why game preservation and sites like the Internet Archive are so important. I still have all the games I purchased from retail, including all the manuals, and most of the boxes... C&C, System Shock, Baldur's Gate, Diablo, Myst, Quake, basically all version 1.0 of the Blizzard games, Dark Forces, Ultima, and so many more. I have made .ISO copies of all my games to preserve them and to protect against disc rot.
Do you think your backups will be used in the future to some great historical success? Or do you think someone in your family will toss them when you eventually pass? Its not like those games are being deleted from the internet. Seems just like mental illness.
The way i see it, in our current time where there is no more demo's (like the 90 hoo the god old times) GP is a way to tray diferent games and buy the one you realy enjoy and not spend 70 bucks in something that its not of your ike.
Video game ownership on PC has being pretty bad for a while. You don't really own any of your games on steam, unless you buy from gog. Personally though a lot more annoyed with movies and tv show. Enjoyed The Bear, but it's no where to be found on Blu ray 😔 Almost have to pirate to get a "physical edition".
The thing is we don't have game demos and trials anymore. Steam has a good refund policy, but most platforms do not. Gamepass solves this very neatly where I will try out a lot of games on the service that I would not risk money on otherwise. And guess what, I end up not liking a lot of those games or sometimes I find hidden gems. I think as long as we can still buy games that we like gamepass is a net positive. You can reduce the price of the subscription with some tricks to the price of a single AAA game per year and I play about 10 or more games from start to finish on the service every year.
"luckily" i'm the type to play like 1 game for years over and over, lol. so i buy game on discs if possible, but i also buy dvds and blurays and cds so, lol.
Good thing about gamepass for me is that I can try many games that look interesting without full out buying them and getting disappointed afterwards.. Many games don't have demos these days to try and differences in reviews ain't trustworthy for me. Another point for me is that there's so many games launching these days, big or small, that I don't have time to play them.. Very few games are worth it for me to play through twice. Just started Assassin Creed Valhalla again after starting and stopping it 3 times already. I always drop in the timesink territory of trying to get everything in the game instead of going through the story... Just wanna finish it because I did so with Origins and Destiny. And I have 6 other games in the pipeline and then there's Starfield coming next week... Need more time.
@@weplayvrgames Just now I have 3 games from gamepass installed that I will finish. All of em 60-70€ normally. So in a situation like this, gamepass is saving me money. Not always the case each year. Wanted to get forza but didn't like it. Normally would've bought it and lost money. In my region there's zero used disc game market so it's new games physically or digitally. And played through starfield twice.
Hi. Xbox fanboy here. Please forgive my fellow man-children, the Xbox One left us all scarred. So, a few things. You wanted some more positives to Xbox Game Pass, and I'd like to provide a few. Discoverability is one I'd like to go into a bit. I've gotten to enjoy and follow many indie-developers that I hadn't before thanks to Game Pass, buying older and newer releases from them. Letting me get a foot in the door with unrestricted access to some games have been a tremendous help to me discovering indies since I don't follow that scene closely. Another thing that I think is hugely important is just making games more accessible. Not in the easy-mode sense but just being able to play stuff. I fully support Microsofts mission-statement of lowering the cost of entry. I understand that gaming is a luxury, but I also think it's just important art of the 21st century. Lowering the cost of entry is something I'm hugely interested in, which is why I deeply respect Xbox fighting as hard as it does to keep the Series S relevant, and having started adding numerous child-friendly games to Game Pass. Games are for everyone, but you wouldn't know that with ballooning prices, mounting piles of paid DLC and deleted content, and expensive hardware just to get started. Lastly, Game Pass have allowed Microsoft to put some money behind projects nobody else would touch. Where as most of the other AAA space is occupied with making the next Fortnite (or Overwatch, or LoL, or CoD, or WoW, the list is long), Microsoft have been releasing some stellar smaller releases recently. Grounded, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, with even more smaller releases coming out of otherwise rather large studios. Obviously, nothing is stopping other companies from just releasing games like these aside from shortsighted greed, but Game Pass gives Microsoft an incentive, by diversifying their releases and project-sizes to fill up a release-schedule and keeping fans invested in Game Pass. Now, all of this is well and good. But I'm not blind to the problems. Game preservation is a tremendous issue, not helped by Microsoft announcing the death of the Xbox 360 next year. Over a hundred games are expected to perish with it. The death of ownership is likewise tragic, as consumers and companies alike have been happy to sell preservation and consumer-rights away for convenience. All of this is bad and is going to get worse. But I don't think we can boycott our way out of this. I think, more than anything, the governments of the world needs to have their dinosaurs replaced with young, engaged politicians that actually understands the world and the internets role in it. These companies needs to be held to a higher standard not by consumers because we're stupid and contradictive, but by laws, with real, tangible consequences for not fulfilling their, frankly, responsibility to culture when they're in the business of producing art and toys. Thanks for the level-headed video. Let's hope that these things doesn't go out of hand before we get a chance to stop them.
As much as I'm concerned about it I kinda love gamepass, I don't have a lot of spare cash so being able to play a bunch of games I want to play for $15/month and on day one is a gamechanger for me. Not to mention I've rarely actually payed that, between all the $1 for 3 month deals and using microsoft reward points to get free months I've barely payed anything. I grab a couple of months here or there play the big releases on day 1 and play a bunch of other games I've been wanting to try and after that I go back to my backlog or whatever, and if I really like the game in a few years it'll be $5-10 anyway and I can grab it then without worrying about spoilers or missing the conversation on release day. Plus I've also gotten several months of different streaming services too, which when I have no money is really nice to not have to worry about paying for one more thing or sailing the seas.
Another thing about this that I don't think you mentioned. If you stream music or video, you can record it locally and have a copy that's identical. It had to be copied to your system to be played, even if it's being played in parts. A video game hosted on a cloud server, you can't even pirate it. Someone would have to leak the code or break into the servers. Personally I'm very against intellectual property and copyright. They're played as these great boons to small creators and used almost exclusively to abuse and take advantage of them. I don't think it even makes sense, though. Right now, we have this system where you're expected to make a salable product, then sell it. Creators should get paid for creating, not for selling! Most creators suck at selling, so they depend on a relationship with a salesperson, and that salesperson is also going to have the skill advantage in dealing with the creator, leading to an asymetric power dynamic.
What you describe is pervasive in other industries too, such as corrupt oligarchy of the American meat packer corporations (and the rancher associations) against the ranchers.
I don't see how game pass is worth it. Not every game is worth playing, plus you have to factor in time to complete each game or the amount spent playing it, to have time for the others.
Watching the video made me think of a few things. Music licenses really screwed things around. Grand Theft Auto games lost music. I don't recall the exact details, but I am sure re releases of IV and San Andreas lost songs. I am sure there is a list somewhere. And there was also Mortal Kombat IX with its licensees characters. It's tough for the indie though. Do you take the easy money or do you take the risk in order to get more. Minecraft would not have been as profitable. Among Us as well, and that didn't get their big burst of popularity until years later. If things get locked down more it'll be harder and harder to take the risk. And there are mods too. I still wonder how Bethesda will fare. Graphical Mods will still live on to be sure, but there are plenty of MODs that will suffer because they require more than what was designed in the game, script extenders. And that has been a staple since the third game.
Another problem I see happening is that if this is the way the industry shifts it can reduce competition and drive up prices. If this becomes the de facto way that people experience games, it gives all the power to the service provider to decide prices. If only 1 or a few service providers exist in this space with dwindling alternatives like physical media, suddenly services like gamepass might not be the “greatest deal in gaming” as Microsoft would have you believe
if it's 80% accurate, then cool. The fact is that most videos have 97% upvotes and 2-5 minute watch times average... this was was subject to a hate brigade because some RUclipsr made a video about it... complete with antisemitic memes and such. So, they showed up.
For better or worse we haven't had wide release physical copies of games in the PC space for over a decade now because bluray was never widely adopted. Your example of a boxed copy of Alice is 23 years old.
I agree with all the points about ownership and how gamepass might affect the way games are made. Another point that should be considered is what the consumer landscape will look like in 5-10 years. I don't see any reason to assume the trajectory of subscription game rental will be different from film. Gamepass is a good deal for the consumer (setting aside ownership), CURRENTLY, but what happens when all the big players decide they want a piece of the action and we are wading through a pool of 10+ rental services, all charging between 10 and 20 bucks, all with smaller libraries because exclusive content is how you compete in that space, and most of it is unavailable as a physical product. It's a short trip from $15 a month to rent games you can decide to buy to $90 - $120 a month to rent games that aren't available to buy at all.
I like what you said about pirating. I'm one of those people that does not know how to do it and if I ever wanted to, I need to call somebody like you. You can probably do a whole video just on the ethics of it. As far as I'm concerned, if it's available for purchase, then I would rather purchase it. I have no interest in pirating anything just to save money. But, pirating software to own it. Don't even get me started on Adobe products!
It seems that online, digital gaming is the future. But like you, i'm not really here for it. I never liked services like GamePass. Now i know that pc games have been gone digital for a long time (thanks to the removal of the cd/dvd-rom.) But in consoles, we starting to see this trend taking fast pace. It is absolutely scary, the thought of not "owning" a disc based version of a game anymore. Now i'm mentioning GamePass because Microsoft is pushing really hard with that service, (i can't blame them $$$.) I understand that very well. But look at what Sony is doing right this moment, the increase of the PS+ subscriptions. And not by a little mind you. How do you think companies will act once you don't own anything. (Once they own you...?) Because you will lose everything when you stop subscribing at that point. Right now, we still have a choice. Like i'm unsubscribing from my PS+ essential. But after we only have the option of digital games? Yeah try that again. And it's not like Sony is alone in this. (Microsoft tried it with GP a couple years ago and if i remember correctly that was a 50% increase. But don't quote me on that one, i might be wrong.) But there was a huge backlash on that as well back then. And they reversed it because we as gamers had the power to say NO! We could get our games elsewhere and Microsoft knew that so they reversed it. These things happen also with the PS3/VITA store, the Nintendo Wii/U storefronts and even a library of digital movies that were completely removed (i don't know where it was but it was a library by Sony.) Anyway, i don't like these practices and i hope we will keep getting physical media for as long as possible. But seeing these new trends, the uprise of digital vs physical, the actions some companies take (PS5 without the disc drive etc...) Collector's editions without the physical disc's... I could go on. But that's all a push towards digital. And once they've hooked you, you either can choose to keep paying or stop and lose all of your games.
never thought I'd see another copy of Alice today, which by the way, PC hasn't released a physical in years. when Steam happened and got popular, that killed any chance of actually finding a disk in a PC case. although you can still buy PC games, but it's not like it was back in 05. it's one of the reasons i still hold onto one console or two, because i like to own things. the day all gaming goes to a service, is the day i retire from gaming. you know that's what Microsoft wanted to do originally with the Xbox One, but they wanted to go a step further at the time by adding a bunch of always online BS. but they sort of got what they wanted with gamepass, they couldn't get all the BS they wanted, so they came up with gamepass. now the only reason im not too concern with gamepass, it's because these developers want money to. so if your one of them, would you want one of your big games in there, i know i wouldn't. it's typical greed, but as long as games remain available for sale, most people will go that route, but i don't know what would happened if everything went to a service. Sony has there own, but there not nearly as dedicated.
We need to support small game studios and creators.
I agree with your video.
However, you should really consider putting a list of the games you use for footage. I haven't seen some of these and I'm genuinely interested in them. And I'm sure the developers would love the bump, no matter how small. As it stands, I'll likely never find out the identity of many of these and neither will most people. Even if you list them in the comments, most people don't check the comments.
I’m an Xbox fan, I’m getting tired of gamepass being everything to the company and some of the fans. Your video is spot on.
The problem for me is subscription services really aren't a good deal, because 99% of games and films I have no interest in. I'm not paying a rental to play a game or watch a film on a month deadline. Another thing is universal rental models will surely kill discounts and sales? A lot of people only buy things this way, and indeed companies know they make a lot of money when things are discounted (otherwise they wouldn't happen-- they know a small chunk will buy on day 1 at full whack, but they also know probably a whole lot more will only buy it at half the price or whatever in the sale months or years later).
It's probably why sales seem to be increasingly less impressive, and why games years old absurdly retain close to full price. It's probably a way of artificially adding value to sub services.
Monthly recurring costs are a turnoff for me. I will always shy away from this kind of thing for something more usage based.
Why would a developer try their hardest on a game when Xbox will just pay them upfront for releasing it day one on Gamepass? There's no doubt in my mind that a lot of these games are half-assed for this reason.
They won't let us watch your starfield hairstyle video💧
The sheep will be our downfall.
Sheepchops, anyone? The Sheppard's bringing the charcoal and propane.
I see a parallel to the ongoing writers strike. The move to a subscription model is a big part of why it started. Writers got residuals through DVD sales, syndication and other licensing agreements. Back in the early Netflix streaming days, Netflix licensed shows and that produced residuals...but no more. Those have all but disappeared now in the age of every studio each having their own streaming service that, largely, only provides content produced and owned by the same entity. Now, writers get paid a lump sum for their work, and that's it...quite similar to an indie dev puting their game on a subscription service, getting a payout upfront, but receiving no recurring income thereafter.
I cant stand why people cant see the harm this is doing to gaming let alone one gaint company owning all these studios
i love advancements in technology. For the most part, advancements in technology lead to the improvement of the average person's life. High end hardware eventually becomes cheap, and things once viewed as luxuries become available to the common man.
The transition to a, 'rental', or 'subscription' service hinders this evolution. Their prices will only increase, they'll keep pushing the boundaries, seeing how much content they can cut, how much they can charge and get away with. It doesn't have to be this way, but the current company/institution culture doesn't focus on providing excellent service. They always start good, but once they got the monopoly, it's game over.
I like the idea of Game Pass, but if the "worst case scenario" happens, and it takes over, degrades modern gaming even further, eventually the natural evolution of human creativity will take over, and these fads will fade. Just look at the impact Baldurs Gate 3 has had. Gamers loved it, but the competing "suits" were terrified. It's only a matter of time until patience and quality prevails once again. Money can only go so far, especially with the dollar dying as it is. But our passions will out live their corporate shams for eons.
You read my mind. More people need to see this
I get my money's worth from Game Pass as I play several things on offer. That said, you make some very important points and I completely agree. It's so refreshing to see someone thinking long term for once. You do a great job presenting this stuff in a well thought out manner. I bought a Fenek controller to throw some support your way.
It's definitely an interesting issue and I've been feeling this way for a while.
I used to play on PC, both on popular games and indie games. Common among them were the DLCs and microtransactions, often brought in as the game was updated.
It feels like the spread of what I'd call 'hypermonetisation'. To maximise the profit, everything is designed to appeal to everyone and not be offensive or have much character.
The other thing is the new expectation that games should be continuously updated. If you come back in 6 months or a year, you won't be able to pick up where you left off.
So you're either playing regularly or you have to abandon and restart.
I found my PS2 in my cupboard and I've been enjoying playing these older games, with no updates or DLC. I just turn it on, and play.
The online games are fun too, mainly because the people playing are other nutters like me.
You will own nothing n be happy qoy!
Yes, its one of the Future style things WEF wants to tie into a Social Credit Score
Your "covers" are trash too
Economic Social and Corporate Governance score.
I don't mind renting my games for a fraction of the price of buying them. Most modern games I never return to anyway after completing them
Valid point about how it does promote microtransaction inclusion tho, then again, isn't that what the entire industry is heading towards anyway?
I bought some 70+ ps3 games this year and another slim console as a backup. It was a jet engine but some cleaning and thermal paste later it ran quietly.
It has been a big source of funding for some of the indie publishers in recent years, allowing them to publish more titles. However, I believe Microsoft is currently cutting back the funding for smaller titles due to financial constraints (nothing to do with their ATVI acquisition I'm sure 😉).
Gamepass only makes sense if you have the time to play lots of different games offered on the platform, it's also good for trying games that you're unsure you're gonna like.
But if you only get the gamepass so you can play forza, then it's better just to buy the damn game instead
And you better be quick about buying it (Within three years generally), otherwise, each Forza game becomes de-listed afterwards. So... if you missed out on buying the game, plus all of its DLC within that time-frame? Then you're SOL for the most part.
You can allways settle for a game you really love because the saves transfer from subscription to ownership. Or just keep the subscription and keep playing that game you really love plus lots more.
@@MetallicBlade FH4 is almost 5yo and you can still buy it.
I absolutely loved Driver SF! I remember playing it for hours on my ps3 back in middle school. Sad that Ubisoft let it go. Luckily I was able to grab a used disc on Mercari so that I can play it on the new xbox but this just made me realize all my games I have purchased digitally (which is like all of them) are at risk of being lost forever :(
Indeed, that might very well happen. But let's hope that at that moment, we as gamers can stand together to say NO! I loved my PS3. Bought 2 "phat" ones last year and i couldn't be happier. Bought a lot of the physical games i owned back then and i'm able to play them without the need to worry about online or anything like that. 🙂
They removed it from my account. I'm still bitter about that and will likely never buy a game from them again because of it.
audio desync in the first minute of the intro bro
I have been stocking up on bluray movies lately. I don't understand the appeal of digital content. If I want to lend or sell my movie or game to sombody I can.
There is only one thing in the world worse than being downvoted, and that is not being voted about.
right now gamepass is pretty good but I can totally see a future where games are just demos and all the effort will go towards DLC or microtransactions
Developers have a host of options to choose from when working with GamePass:
1. Developer receives a lump sum of X dollars. The larger the advance, the smaller the royalties on the back end.
2. Developer has Microsoft foot the bill for all development costs. The game will be exclusive to GamePass for a certain period of time, or forever. However, the developer still gets to sell copies outside of GamePass. Just being on GamePass doesn't mean you cant sell physical or digital copies.
3. Developer completes and funds game on their own, but agrees to terms with Microsoft. They get a larger percentage of royalties.
In all of these scenarios developers still get residual royalties based on overall GamePass activity. In addition, games that are popular on GamePass will get additional royalties.
GamePass allows indie developers to finish games they may not have the funds for. Developers could try and put shovelware up there, but they'll receive minimal back end money.
It was five years ago that I last bought any AAA title. It's been all about small developers since then. Sprinkled with a fee-to-play while avoiding the microtransactions, I've had the most fun with games since like I was a kid in the 80s. The games I look forward to the most this winter are coming from single person developers. Steam's Early Access has really enabled loads of small developers. Sure it's "buyer beware" but it's the really same with AAA games.
Exactly. In the last few years I've lost all hope in any new game. Never excited for anything, no matter how cool it looks. I just assume it will flop or just not be as good as what was expected. As someone who followed No Man's Sky through it's development, it's hilarious to see the exact same thing happening again with Starfield. I will be absolutely floored if Starfield isn't a complete disaster at launch. After NMS I was a lot more skeptical, but one game I got excited for was Cyberpunk, mostly because of CDProjekt Red. When Cyberpunk came out, that was the nail in the coffin. I don't care about any game now unless it is released. Last month I broke and bought my first AAA game in years, Diablo 4.... I did want to play the campaign, I had time off and my friends were playing it, I just absolutely didn't want to spend $100(CDN) on it. But I did, beat the campagin in a few days and after hitting lvl 50+, the game got incredibley boring. I was going to start a new character in a few days when Season 1 started, and yep, Blizzard of course dropped the ball so hard. This was why I didn't want to give any money to Blizzard. And somehow a multi-billion dollar company can't make gems not take up inventory space until 6+ months from now? On an game that has basically been using the same UI for 20 years? Insane. While two of the best games I've played in a long time are Subnautica and Stardew Valley.
great stuff man, glad someone is at least putting this out there
Another victim of this is Freelancer from back in 2001. It hasn't been available anywhere for years.
The thing I hate the most from Game Pass/ PS+/ Nintendo Online etc is that online multiplayer is not available to 98% of multiplayer games unless you have a subscription. Downright stupid.
YES it is not because of the products(although a lot of gp games are horsehit) it's the companies behind the all digital trend they WILL make you pay for the cheapness later without a doubt
heh, the 10yr outlook reminds me of the "shareware" days. "You can have this for (near) free (sometimes diskettes were like $5), send us money and we'll send you the full game!"
Dat starfield bait
Hark, though I tender my gratitude for the brevity of thy spectacle, I find myself compelled to express a chagrin born of fleeting moments squandered. Alas, in but half a minute, I hath witnessed naught but a cascade of preposterous proclamations that doth vex the very fabric of reason.
As the sands of time slip through the hourglass, so too did those moments slip from my grasp, leaving behind a sense of having ventured into a whimsical void. A fragment of my time, thirty seconds it may be, hath been consumed by this tapestry of incredulity.
With due respect to thy creative endeavors, let it be known that my interaction hath earned a disapproval as heartfelt as it is concise. Mayhaps in the mists of future endeavors, a harmony between substance and brevity shall grace thy creations.
I dunno if its evil but let me tell you it saved me a lot of money, because my 13 year old and I share 1 subscription between his Series X and my PC. Plus we get to play online at the same time with only 1 Ultimate subscription. I let him borrow my PS5 with all the exclusives for a couple months but returned it back to me because he said it was boring 😂 kids nowadays are different I guess. BTW I have amassed thousands of games from the high seas and GOG too, I don't trust steam, GOG yes because you can back up the executables.
For me i like Gamepass...but its the DLC that is the pain as some games are not complete without it ....but having the DLC as a separate purchase not connected to game pass creates that issue, If i buy the DLC i really need to buy the game as when it leaves i have the dlc but not the game
It's going to be funny when Game Pass goes away and people will still complain about games being too expensive.
I don't think Game Pass or video game subscription services are sustainable at all and I already know one day it's going to be gone, but I am soaking in this period of time so hard.
I asked my family to bury all my games with me in my coffin, can't do that with subscription games
great points you made on game ownership and the connection made with said game. thanks for the video.
Remember Devotion? One of the most gorgeous horror games made. No? That's because Communist China had a problem with a painting reference in the game. It's one of the best if not the best horror games made.
Game pass will kill gaming if it becomes mainstream/meta. Subscriptions kill media. DRMs are bad enough, because you don't own your games, but game pass is infinitely worse, because you need to repeatedly pay to have access for your games and since games cost hunreds of millions to develop, they can't give them enough money from a 12$ subscription.
You know what used to be a really good way for people to avoid the money barrier for games? DEMOS!!! What ever happened to them?
Steelbook releases of 4KUHD movies are still very popular. Limited Run Games still does special physical edition releases, even of PC big box games. This last year, vinyl records outsold CD sales for the first time since 1987. *Quality* physical media ownership is still valued by many. Is that "many" a minority now? Probably... but it's a minority that is willing to put their money where there desires are. So I think there will always be someone fulfilling that, at least I hope so.
where they said if its on gamepass you dont get sales from store?
You can still sell it on competing platforms but you get no royalties from game pass. So many devs are building games with dlc or microtransactions so they can get paid after the initial deal.
It's insidious.
Those of us that have grown up playing games in the early 80’s till now, have witnessed the decline in many games being enjoyable (some are, but not all or the majority) and the massive rise of the mobile phone games and micro transactions 🤑💰💵 and DLC’s with content that should’ve been included in the original game and outlandish prices 😡🤬. I think games like BG3 which is an awesome game, vg graphics, no bugs (that I’ve come across) and features no micro transactions is a blessing and for me a pleasure to play.
What I hate the most. I purchase a game which is usually between 40-100 bucks based on what game it is and literally 2 months later its on gamepass.
NOLF is still one of those games from my schooldays that I actually miss!
I get Discs cost company a lot of money. However i prefer to own my movies, Music etc. Streaming and digital means a company can remove the product anytime. And if you lose your account then you lose everything and if you make a new account then that product you had on previous account may not be available to purchase again.
i'm an xbox fan, but digital ...no thanks. i avoid digital and don't bother with game pass
Is the audio visual sync off in the part right after the cold open or..?
It really depends on the person. We once went to tower of records for our music but now listen to Spotify. I don’t believe it’s people that are shallow minded. I used to like physical media. A lot of my media would collect dust because I wouldn’t use it. I like the convenience of “renting” video games via PC Game Pass. The convince is the only reason why I am building a Plex server. I buy physical movies to add to my Plex server. If I really like a game that I play on PC Games Pass, I will buy it. I only subscribe to a service only if I enjoy it. Just like I subscribed to your chancel today. I will unsubscribe if I no longer find entertainment via PC Game pass. All RUclipsrs are jesters. We are the simpletons that “rent” the entertainment.
Make a video about corporate consolidation and how it will affect game quality and development. @ 8:38 we are already there. Corporations are buying all the developers. Its going to be Sony and Microsoft at the end of the day.
video game communism is coming. They will tell you what to play, what you can and can’t do in their game. You will own nothing. You will eat the bugs and be happy.
Your game play style and social interactions will feed into your social credit score. Just like in China they will regulate the amount of hours you can play. The old games will be forcibly buried so the next generation won’t experience the freedom that ownership brings.
As for pirating rented games. How exactly will that happen when all games are stored and rendered on the server so you don’t actually get any of the files on your PC? Unless the servers are compromised no one will ever get a copy.
The future of gaming is looking very bleak as well as the future in general.
Bleak only if you allow it to be and willingly go along with it. You aren't forced to play games created and owned by big corporations. There will always be some indie developers who provide offline ownership.
Also if I stop buying games now I still have enough old games in my backlog to play for the rest of my life.
tek likes communism bro
I have a series x and i dont even subscribe to gamepass i wont pay a monthly fee to rent games lol🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
a great example for why its always better to own physical copies will always be the original cut of star wars. fans have been wanting the original cut back for two decades now but except for the few dvds that exist of it its completely lost
Games with replay value can work on Gamepass which is time limited.
I bought Demons tilt after playing it on gamepass.
I think a huge benefit is if the developer makes a sequel it will have more eyes on it. People who played the first game on Gamepass might be more inclined to buy the next product
Not really they just feel entitled to have everything in gamepass
I almost don't even buy games anymore. In my online accounts I have like 700+ games and maybe I had bought like 50 of them. They are always giving away the games. I have played so many games without buying them, but by getting them when they are doing giveaways. Some examples of games (some are super amazing top quality like Alien Isolation and some are just OK) that I have in my "online libraries" and I have played, but I didn't buy:
- Alien Isolation, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Civ VI, Fallout 3, Titan Quest, Alan Wake, Borderlands 2, Borderlands The PreSequel, Control, Dead Space, Dead Space 2, Frostpunk, GTAV, Mutant Year Zero, Pine, A plage Tale Innocence, Prey, Rage 2, Tomb Raider 2013, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Stranded Deep, Subnautica, Surviving Mars, Talos Principle, Total War Shogun 2, Transistor, Watch dogs, Watch Dogs 2, Tropico 4, Tropico 5, Windbound, Wolfenstein The new order, Abzu, Alba a wildlife adventure, Bad North, Brothers a tale of two sons, Brutal Legend, Deadlight, The flame in the flood, Faster than light, Inside, Into the breach, Limbo, The long dark, Medal of honor pacific assault, Metro 2033, Naissancee, Obduction, Rime, Soma, A Short hike, Spec ops the line, Symmetry, The Vanishing of ethan carter, warpips, What remains of edith finch
The game that I have bought, and I have played the most (600h) is Kerbal Space Program. It cost me like 15 bucks.
Anyone with a life and a job simply doesn't have the time to make use out of a subscription.
It's from EA and Microsoft...what do you think? 😂
"You can't stream 40GB - 50GB movies" ... Hold my beer! haha no for real though, agreed - which is why I absolutely love my Plex library. 50TB of a mix between 720P, 1080P and massive 50-100GB 4k rips of movies/tv that I wouldn't watch in any other way. I have two entire walls in my basement that is just filled with DVDs - Blurays and 4k Blurays, and while I love a good physical copy - the convenience factor of streaming is just too sweet to pass up.
You can get the operative online btw, games like that are called abandonware, and there's ways to get them easily, I've never had any https issues with the site I use
Silent hill 2 and 3 are on there as well as McGee's Alice, all digital with patches and widescreen fixes listed on the same page
Tbh there's very few classic games ( 90's-00's) that they don't have the PC versions of, and to my knowledge its entirely legal due to there being no one to hold those licenses
I kind of like the idea that after a game is abandoned and not sold online anymore it enters a state of being public, like what's supposed to happen with copyrights
I'm not sure if its a coincidence or not but I have noticed a lot more old games being rereleased to steam recently
It's everything that's wrong with the gaming industry
What is the game at 9:50 it looks really fun
ANNO: Mutationem
@@Caruniom Thank you. Game looked so awesome with the sword.
$15/mth to play one game (*I know there are more titles*) for a year, or spend $75.00 to play for a year and many more years after that. I know which one I would prefer to spend my money on. Look at it from a different perspective, 1000 people buy a game for $75 ($75,000 from the maker) and play for 12 month, or 1000 people pay $15.00/mth ($180,000 from game pass) for 12 months,,, who benefits, you do the math.
@teksyndicate would you mind trying to put the names of the games on screen or in the description. I was intrigued by the game at 14:20!
Clone Drone in the Danger Zone. 9/10 from me. Played it to death.
Hmm, what game??? @11:25 -11:45 minutes
I hear cable tv has gone up in subs recently
As a very small indie developer, getting that initial payment from Game Pass is like insurance in case the game doesn't sell well on Steam. However, there have also been reports now as you know showing this actually hurts long-tail sales of the game. It is a hard decision as a small dev what to do but the allure of that instant payment is tempting. As a gamer, it's a great value and allows me to try games that may not have demos on console or PC. I'm a little worried that if everything goes the way of the netflix model for games, then it'll hurt small devs even more in the long term, and end up locking people into endless services and price increases like we're seeing on all the video streaming services.
Bro i have been watching your channel since 2012. Please play the enhanced edition of Silent Hill 2. It will blow you away as it is the definitive way to play it thanks to all hard work from the team of modders
Sadly, this is the future and it sucks. This is why game preservation and sites like the Internet Archive are so important.
I still have all the games I purchased from retail, including all the manuals, and most of the boxes... C&C, System Shock, Baldur's Gate, Diablo, Myst, Quake, basically all version 1.0 of the Blizzard games, Dark Forces, Ultima, and so many more. I have made .ISO copies of all my games to preserve them and to protect against disc rot.
Do you think your backups will be used in the future to some great historical success? Or do you think someone in your family will toss them when you eventually pass? Its not like those games are being deleted from the internet. Seems just like mental illness.
The way i see it, in our current time where there is no more demo's (like the 90 hoo the god old times) GP is a way to tray diferent games and buy the one you realy enjoy and not spend 70 bucks in something that its not of your ike.
GTA 4 with the Russian music change, WTF, entire station gone
"don't have a playstation", never owned one myself either, not even a xbox, always been on PC.
It's pretty brave of you to come out and share this. You can always find help
Video game ownership on PC has being pretty bad for a while. You don't really own any of your games on steam, unless you buy from gog.
Personally though a lot more annoyed with movies and tv show. Enjoyed The Bear, but it's no where to be found on Blu ray 😔
Almost have to pirate to get a "physical edition".
The thing is we don't have game demos and trials anymore. Steam has a good refund policy, but most platforms do not. Gamepass solves this very neatly where I will try out a lot of games on the service that I would not risk money on otherwise. And guess what, I end up not liking a lot of those games or sometimes I find hidden gems. I think as long as we can still buy games that we like gamepass is a net positive. You can reduce the price of the subscription with some tricks to the price of a single AAA game per year and I play about 10 or more games from start to finish on the service every year.
In the last few years we've seen a resurgence of demos on steam and there's lots of itch.io. It's growing.
So you like paying to demo games , just tell them you want free demos , but why would they provide that if your willing to pay for it
"luckily" i'm the type to play like 1 game for years over and over, lol. so i buy game on discs if possible, but i also buy dvds and blurays and cds so, lol.
Good thing about gamepass for me is that I can try many games that look interesting without full out buying them and getting disappointed afterwards.. Many games don't have demos these days to try and differences in reviews ain't trustworthy for me. Another point for me is that there's so many games launching these days, big or small, that I don't have time to play them.. Very few games are worth it for me to play through twice.
Just started Assassin Creed Valhalla again after starting and stopping it 3 times already. I always drop in the timesink territory of trying to get everything in the game instead of going through the story... Just wanna finish it because I did so with Origins and Destiny. And I have 6 other games in the pipeline and then there's Starfield coming next week...
Need more time.
So your paying to demo games , wouldn't it be better if they just offered free demos , but why would they if your willing to keep paying for it
@@weplayvrgames Just now I have 3 games from gamepass installed that I will finish. All of em 60-70€ normally. So in a situation like this, gamepass is saving me money. Not always the case each year. Wanted to get forza but didn't like it. Normally would've bought it and lost money. In my region there's zero used disc game market so it's new games physically or digitally.
And played through starfield twice.
Hi. Xbox fanboy here. Please forgive my fellow man-children, the Xbox One left us all scarred.
So, a few things. You wanted some more positives to Xbox Game Pass, and I'd like to provide a few. Discoverability is one I'd like to go into a bit. I've gotten to enjoy and follow many indie-developers that I hadn't before thanks to Game Pass, buying older and newer releases from them. Letting me get a foot in the door with unrestricted access to some games have been a tremendous help to me discovering indies since I don't follow that scene closely.
Another thing that I think is hugely important is just making games more accessible. Not in the easy-mode sense but just being able to play stuff. I fully support Microsofts mission-statement of lowering the cost of entry. I understand that gaming is a luxury, but I also think it's just important art of the 21st century. Lowering the cost of entry is something I'm hugely interested in, which is why I deeply respect Xbox fighting as hard as it does to keep the Series S relevant, and having started adding numerous child-friendly games to Game Pass. Games are for everyone, but you wouldn't know that with ballooning prices, mounting piles of paid DLC and deleted content, and expensive hardware just to get started.
Lastly, Game Pass have allowed Microsoft to put some money behind projects nobody else would touch. Where as most of the other AAA space is occupied with making the next Fortnite (or Overwatch, or LoL, or CoD, or WoW, the list is long), Microsoft have been releasing some stellar smaller releases recently. Grounded, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, with even more smaller releases coming out of otherwise rather large studios. Obviously, nothing is stopping other companies from just releasing games like these aside from shortsighted greed, but Game Pass gives Microsoft an incentive, by diversifying their releases and project-sizes to fill up a release-schedule and keeping fans invested in Game Pass.
Now, all of this is well and good. But I'm not blind to the problems. Game preservation is a tremendous issue, not helped by Microsoft announcing the death of the Xbox 360 next year. Over a hundred games are expected to perish with it. The death of ownership is likewise tragic, as consumers and companies alike have been happy to sell preservation and consumer-rights away for convenience. All of this is bad and is going to get worse. But I don't think we can boycott our way out of this. I think, more than anything, the governments of the world needs to have their dinosaurs replaced with young, engaged politicians that actually understands the world and the internets role in it. These companies needs to be held to a higher standard not by consumers because we're stupid and contradictive, but by laws, with real, tangible consequences for not fulfilling their, frankly, responsibility to culture when they're in the business of producing art and toys.
Thanks for the level-headed video. Let's hope that these things doesn't go out of hand before we get a chance to stop them.
No one lives forever is the best
I’m a physical copy advocate I tend to buy all the games I buy on steam as a physical copy on Xbox so if steam shuts down I have a copy to play
Good intro :D
Don't you also need a nocd exe for Alice? I'm pretty sure it got borked by SECUROM's driver being blacklisted on Windows.
As much as I'm concerned about it I kinda love gamepass, I don't have a lot of spare cash so being able to play a bunch of games I want to play for $15/month and on day one is a gamechanger for me. Not to mention I've rarely actually payed that, between all the $1 for 3 month deals and using microsoft reward points to get free months I've barely payed anything. I grab a couple of months here or there play the big releases on day 1 and play a bunch of other games I've been wanting to try and after that I go back to my backlog or whatever, and if I really like the game in a few years it'll be $5-10 anyway and I can grab it then without worrying about spoilers or missing the conversation on release day. Plus I've also gotten several months of different streaming services too, which when I have no money is really nice to not have to worry about paying for one more thing or sailing the seas.
Game Pass really spooks me out.
Another thing about this that I don't think you mentioned. If you stream music or video, you can record it locally and have a copy that's identical. It had to be copied to your system to be played, even if it's being played in parts. A video game hosted on a cloud server, you can't even pirate it. Someone would have to leak the code or break into the servers.
Personally I'm very against intellectual property and copyright. They're played as these great boons to small creators and used almost exclusively to abuse and take advantage of them. I don't think it even makes sense, though. Right now, we have this system where you're expected to make a salable product, then sell it. Creators should get paid for creating, not for selling! Most creators suck at selling, so they depend on a relationship with a salesperson, and that salesperson is also going to have the skill advantage in dealing with the creator, leading to an asymetric power dynamic.
What you describe is pervasive in other industries too, such as corrupt oligarchy of the American meat packer corporations (and the rancher associations) against the ranchers.
I don't see how game pass is worth it. Not every game is worth playing, plus you have to factor in time to complete each game or the amount spent playing it, to have time for the others.
In the 80's and 90's I paid almost as much as Gamepass to rent 3 games for 3 days on a weekend.
Watching the video made me think of a few things. Music licenses really screwed things around. Grand Theft Auto games lost music. I don't recall the exact details, but I am sure re releases of IV and San Andreas lost songs. I am sure there is a list somewhere. And there was also Mortal Kombat IX with its licensees characters.
It's tough for the indie though. Do you take the easy money or do you take the risk in order to get more. Minecraft would not have been as profitable. Among Us as well, and that didn't get their big burst of popularity until years later. If things get locked down more it'll be harder and harder to take the risk.
And there are mods too. I still wonder how Bethesda will fare. Graphical Mods will still live on to be sure, but there are plenty of MODs that will suffer because they require more than what was designed in the game, script extenders. And that has been a staple since the third game.
Another problem I see happening is that if this is the way the industry shifts it can reduce competition and drive up prices. If this becomes the de facto way that people experience games, it gives all the power to the service provider to decide prices. If only 1 or a few service providers exist in this space with dwindling alternatives like physical media, suddenly services like gamepass might not be the “greatest deal in gaming” as Microsoft would have you believe
when can we wishlist Satanic Panic?
As soon as I stop playing bg3 lol. I did get a steam page for it. Not sure how to get it on gog
You don't know if the same 40% who down voted are the same 40% that clicked off your previous video.
if it's 80% accurate, then cool. The fact is that most videos have 97% upvotes and 2-5 minute watch times average... this was was subject to a hate brigade because some RUclipsr made a video about it... complete with antisemitic memes and such. So, they showed up.
For better or worse we haven't had wide release physical copies of games in the PC space for over a decade now because bluray was never widely adopted. Your example of a boxed copy of Alice is 23 years old.
We do have digital ownership with gog... and some steam games do not come with DRM, so you can just save the folder and play it later.
No, it's pretty great. Twice or thrice year is a great way to go.
PC gamepass is worth it. It's just around $2.00 USD here in my country.
I agree with all the points about ownership and how gamepass might affect the way games are made. Another point that should be considered is what the consumer landscape will look like in 5-10 years. I don't see any reason to assume the trajectory of subscription game rental will be different from film. Gamepass is a good deal for the consumer (setting aside ownership), CURRENTLY, but what happens when all the big players decide they want a piece of the action and we are wading through a pool of 10+ rental services, all charging between 10 and 20 bucks, all with smaller libraries because exclusive content is how you compete in that space, and most of it is unavailable as a physical product. It's a short trip from $15 a month to rent games you can decide to buy to $90 - $120 a month to rent games that aren't available to buy at all.
Been emulating and cracking my pc games since 1996
You will own nothing and be happy 😂
I like what you said about pirating. I'm one of those people that does not know how to do it and if I ever wanted to, I need to call somebody like you. You can probably do a whole video just on the ethics of it. As far as I'm concerned, if it's available for purchase, then I would rather purchase it. I have no interest in pirating anything just to save money. But, pirating software to own it. Don't even get me started on Adobe products!
It seems that online, digital gaming is the future. But like you, i'm not really here for it. I never liked services like GamePass. Now i know that pc games have been gone digital for a long time (thanks to the removal of the cd/dvd-rom.) But in consoles, we starting to see this trend taking fast pace. It is absolutely scary, the thought of not "owning" a disc based version of a game anymore. Now i'm mentioning GamePass because Microsoft is pushing really hard with that service, (i can't blame them $$$.) I understand that very well. But look at what Sony is doing right this moment, the increase of the PS+ subscriptions. And not by a little mind you. How do you think companies will act once you don't own anything. (Once they own you...?) Because you will lose everything when you stop subscribing at that point. Right now, we still have a choice. Like i'm unsubscribing from my PS+ essential. But after we only have the option of digital games? Yeah try that again. And it's not like Sony is alone in this. (Microsoft tried it with GP a couple years ago and if i remember correctly that was a 50% increase. But don't quote me on that one, i might be wrong.) But there was a huge backlash on that as well back then. And they reversed it because we as gamers had the power to say NO! We could get our games elsewhere and Microsoft knew that so they reversed it. These things happen also with the PS3/VITA store, the Nintendo Wii/U storefronts and even a library of digital movies that were completely removed (i don't know where it was but it was a library by Sony.)
Anyway, i don't like these practices and i hope we will keep getting physical media for as long as possible. But seeing these new trends, the uprise of digital vs physical, the actions some companies take (PS5 without the disc drive etc...) Collector's editions without the physical disc's... I could go on. But that's all a push towards digital. And once they've hooked you, you either can choose to keep paying or stop and lose all of your games.
never thought I'd see another copy of Alice today, which by the way, PC hasn't released a physical in years. when Steam happened and got popular, that killed any chance of actually finding a disk in a PC case. although you can still buy PC games, but it's not like it was back in 05. it's one of the reasons i still hold onto one console or two, because i like to own things. the day all gaming goes to a service, is the day i retire from gaming.
you know that's what Microsoft wanted to do originally with the Xbox One, but they wanted to go a step further at the time by adding a bunch of always online BS. but they sort of got what they wanted with gamepass, they couldn't get all the BS they wanted, so they came up with gamepass.
now the only reason im not too concern with gamepass, it's because these developers want money to. so if your one of them, would you want one of your big games in there, i know i wouldn't. it's typical greed, but as long as games remain available for sale, most people will go that route, but i don't know what would happened if everything went to a service. Sony has there own, but there not nearly as dedicated.