The shit heads' obsession with online DRM is going to be their downfall.
I do hope pushing DRM boils the frog too quickly. We're already well along the way to physical media being less and less useful.
Paywalling and day one DLC have already hamstrung game preservation. Case in point: the next Yakuza game has New Game+ paywalled behind a purchase. Mutahar is 100% right. What happens in 20 years when you install that game and there's no server to validate a DLC purchase? There will effectively be no New Game+ mode playable from the OG disk.
And that's where we stand. Everything enshittifies though subscriptions; live-services require always-on DRM-- which means when servers sunset due to the profit margin shrinking, everything breaks.
Another thing a lot of people don't realise is that it also negates emulation.
Games that require authentication through third-party servers as DRM either for the main game or for DLC will be rendered effectively useless, even if emulated.
While there isn't a mass market for it I bet there is a niche market of greybeards with income who are wiling to pay for carefully crafted game packages like those who were previously standard:
High bandwidth has been a disaster for the human race
Yes.
As Uncle Ted would say: "Industrial Society and its Future will be a disaster for the human race."
Uncle Ted was ahead of his time.
I do hope pushing DRM boils the frog too quickly. We're already well along the way to physical media being less and less useful.
Paywalling and day one DLC have already hamstrung game preservation. Case in point: the next Yakuza game has New Game+ paywalled behind a purchase. Mutahar is 100% right. What happens in 20 years when you install that game and there's no server to validate a DLC purchase? There will effectively be no New Game+ mode playable from the OG disk.
And that's where we stand. Everything enshittifies though subscriptions; live-services require always-on DRM-- which means when servers sunset due to the profit margin shrinking, everything breaks.
Another thing a lot of people don't realise is that it also negates emulation.
Games that require authentication through third-party servers as DRM either for the main game or for DLC will be rendered effectively useless, even if emulated.
I've also read the same rumours about Starfield. It looks like Xbox as a console is leaving the business.
While there isn't a mass market for it I bet there is a niche market of greybeards with income who are wiling to pay for carefully crafted game packages like those who were previously standard:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/mp0AAOSw3HFlnJbe/s-l1600.jpg
So there's a silver lining.