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[-] IcePee@lemmy.beru.co 138 points 1 month ago

This is yet another nail in the coffin of physical media. Or, in other words games you actually own instead of long term lease.

[-] sanpo@sopuli.xyz 136 points 1 month ago

It's not like physical media makes any difference anyway these days.

Actual disk often gets just a glorified installer, and even if it includes the entire game you're likely to have to activate it online anyway.

The "own your games" ship has sailed long ago, unless you only buy no-DRM and your own backups.

[-] PunchingWood@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago

The difference is the price of buying discs vs. buying from a digital store that has no competitors.

I've bought almost exclusively second-hand discs for my PS5, because they're like half the price for the exact same content.

Sadly it'll probably be just a matter of time before those will be phased out as well, one way or another.

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[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

I remember thinking it was bs when half life 2 required a steam account and now everyone loves it.

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago

For better or worse, the landscape has shifted since then. I can't imagine people love Steam for being Steam, but rather for being the most consumer-friendly platform on PC.

Refunds? No questions asked if it's within 2 weeks and 2 hours of playtime.

User reviews and ratings? Yes, and even comments on those reviews.

Community content? Steam discussions, guides, art, etc. Even mods with the workshop.

Bribes development studios for exclusivity deals? Nope! Devs can release games wherever the fuck they want.

Platform support? PC. Not just Windows, but going out of their way to make Linux a first class citizen. They even support Crapple despite its miniscule market share among PC gamers.

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[-] dan@upvote.au 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Or, in other words games you actually own

Newer games rarely have the entire game on the disc. Usually there's mandatory patches that must be downloaded to play it. I've seen games where there's only a few hundred MB on the disc while the whole game is maybe 15 or 20 GB.

This means you don't really own the game, since if Sony (or Microsoft or whoever) take down the downloads for the game, you won't actually be able to play it any more.

Essentially your choice is between a physical license key (the disc) plus a download of the game, or a digital license key plus a download of the game.

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[-] AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 114 points 1 month ago

I think the steam deck is genuinely the only console worth buying these days.

[-] realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.club 21 points 1 month ago

I REALLY want Sony to release a handheld that can run PS1, PS2 and PS3 games 🥺

[-] JDPoZ@lemmy.world 99 points 1 month ago
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[-] Vilian@lemmy.ca 32 points 1 month ago

So...steamdeck lol

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[-] Don_alForno@feddit.org 69 points 1 month ago

It would be so funny if the EU decided Sony was a gatekeeper on the consoles without disc drives and forced them to allow 3rd party app store on them.

Hey, a guy can dream.

[-] CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago

What the EU actually needs to do is to spearhead and help find everyone a way to actually “own” digital things. I think I’d be fine with not having a disk drive if I could buy my game, not be reliant on servers to download it in the future, trade my games with friends, and choose to sell it when I felt like it.

We need to find a way to get back (most of) the benefits of physical media without actually having to go back to it.

[-] bufalo1973@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 month ago

"If a game needs a server and the official servers shut down, the protocols have to be released to the public". I think it would be a good starting point.

[-] RecallMadness@lemmy.nz 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Imo, the term “buy” for all goods should pass some sort of litmus test. Eg:

does the product being sold have the same properties as a brick?

  • can the product be resold privately?
  • can the product be lent to another user temporarily?
  • would the product still perform its function when the manufacturer stops supporting it?
  • would the product still perform its function if the manufacturer ceased to exist.

if the product does not pass all these tests, the customer is not buying. Consider using terms such as ‘rent’ or ‘lease’ or ‘subscription’

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[-] Mwa@lemm.ee 61 points 1 month ago

for that value just get a pc honestly not a locked down freebsd based console

[-] curry@programming.dev 31 points 1 month ago

No joke. A decent gaming pc can be built around that price and be used for so much more. Even cheaper if you hunt for used parts.

[-] filcuk@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 month ago

People who buy consoles do it for the "press a button to game".
Not necessarily because they don't understand pc's, but because they don't want the faff.

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[-] 4vgj0e@lemmy.world 61 points 1 month ago

One big reason people still play on consoles to this day is because they own a physical copy of their games and can play on their consoles even offline.

Sometimes

[-] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 month ago

I couldn’t play Baldur’s Gate 3, a single-player game, when my internet went out. That pissed me right off.

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[-] 30p87@feddit.org 40 points 1 month ago

Reminder that you can put in whatever you want in a PC. And that you can get a decent gaming machine for 1k (700+PS plus).
CD Drive? No problem. DVD? Of course. Another SSD? Get some random 50$ thing and throw it in there. Floppy? Harvest some old PC and voila.

[-] InvertedParallax@lemm.ee 27 points 1 month ago

The real point is that you can upgrade it incrementally, you don't have to throw it away, and upgrading will allow you to play all your old games from generation to generation without having to rebuy them for the latest Gen.

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[-] polle@feddit.org 19 points 1 month ago

While this is true, consoles still manage to have a way more convenient experience. Its the only reason why they exist (today)

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[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 40 points 1 month ago

Sony's problems are twofold:

  • They are charging an absurd amount of money for a game console
  • They are selling a game console that has practically no first party games for it.

If they had plenty of the latter, they could weather this. But there are still games releasing for the PS4, and they have had 1, maybe 2 PS5 releases that would qualify as first party this year (that don't bubble down to PC).

Jesus christ, Nintendo is gonna win it all aren't they?

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[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago

Physical media or full rejection. Fuck you business school zombies squeezing blood from rocks

[-] mayo@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Pointless if the discs still need to talk to the server before you can use them.

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[-] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 38 points 1 month ago

Unfortunately, physical media for gaming died when always-online DRM was normalized. It doesn't matter if you have a game on a disc when you have to phone home every time to use it. The corporation may still block your access.

One more step in ensuring no one owns anything. Lease or rent are your options.

[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 month ago

That’s fine, I’ll just get better at sailing.

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[-] yessikg 37 points 1 month ago

Nintendo is going to continue to eat everybody's lunch with decisions like this one

[-] Jayve@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago
[-] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

They don't want you to own* physical media anymore.

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[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 month ago

Ahhhh, so my ps5 is the most superior PlayStation still, good to know.

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[-] riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 1 month ago

All good points in the comments, but something I haven't seen a anyone talk about yet:

WHY is a DISK DRIVE $80??? All it does is read a disk. Any encryption on the disk would be decrypted on the console. External disk drives are like $20. If you specially brand them maybe you could go up to $40.

But $80? That's like a Gameboy Advance. That's a miyoo mini plus. That's an entire console in itself.

[-] realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.club 28 points 1 month ago

That's actually below market value for an external 4K UHD drive.

[-] riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 1 month ago

You're right! My point no longer stands. Removing the disk drive would then save about $100 from the console, which makes sense to remove if you're cutting costs and most players play digital anyways.

~also if you're pushing digital games.

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[-] Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago

It's too expensive. $500 is already too much for these things.

But capitalism's gotta capitalism.

[-] realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.club 14 points 1 month ago

$700 is actually probably a fair price for a PS5. You can't really build an equivalent PC for less than that. $900 to $1,200 would probably be close to how much manufacturing the PS5 Pro costs.

But PSN subsidizes these costs, which is why these systems can be this "affordable".

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[-] deFrisselle@lemmy.sdf.org 24 points 1 month ago

Wow, just buy or build a comparable PC at that price point

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[-] lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com 24 points 1 month ago

You can't share or sell the games... Looks like a bad investment...

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[-] RatzChatsubo@lemm.ee 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Nah I'm good with my 2017 jailbroken switch with free games lol

What games are even worth it? Sony has like 5 'must play" exclusive games on their console

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[-] IcePee@lemmy.beru.co 23 points 1 month ago

I think Sony never wanted a physical media PS5 console. The design made it seem like an after thought. Like a growth on the side of sleek lines.

[-] Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 month ago

they weren't completely wrong now. on thier own financials, its mentioned that only 30% of game sales are physical. physical buyers are now the minority.

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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 18 points 1 month ago

Why can't you just plug in a random-ass USB 4KBR-disc drive?

Or sell one that we can use to bring in games from PS1, 2, 3, 4 and 5? And state that the drive will be able to be used going forward, into the next gen and beyond.

They've got a rich gaming history at this point and they don't care because they'd rather sell you an $80 digital copy that they can take away at any time and you can't trade it in or really own it. And it's the same with PC games as well, courtesy of Valve and then everyone else.

If the future is digital, we need laws that allow us to transfer ownership of digital content. It would have to be secure, obviously. Not just "steal somebody's console and trade all their games in".

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[-] SomeGuy69@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago
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[-] MacStache@programming.dev 17 points 1 month ago

Like it or not the majority of game purchases are digital these days. It's a sad development for sure. I buy all my console games as physical discs myself.

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago

How much space does it come out of the box? I bought my PS5 a year ago.

It came with 667GB of space. Some games take up 100gb.

And now you want to make it digital only??? Uhhhh, fuck that. You better be giving me like 1000 terabytes.

[-] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

The pro upped the storage to 2TB, but I really feel like when the PS5 launched we were at the point where they should have shipped with 4TB drives.

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[-] sma3in@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

no disk drive and the fucking stand is sold separately! too expensive!

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this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
622 points (100.0% liked)

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