Soyny really think their nigger and poor country fanbase gonna pay $80 for troonslop digital games? Bold choice, let's see how it plays out. Gaystation indeed.
I think if the industry does go digital only, only two entities will exist as main storefronts as that's all they'll be in this new landscape:
Steam and Nintendo.
Steam has the great reputation, Nintendo has the loyal fanbase. As wtf has Sony got to justify being digital only? They ruined past loved franchises either going woke, sitting on them like with Killzone, they euthanasied any future franchises with their push for live service or their management pissing off the studio to go solo as with Stellar Blade.
More importantly, Sony don't have the TRUST to be digital only especially with their lack of digital security, whereas people make jokes of Steam Support having access to drone strikes with how good they are.
I'm fully willing to have some giant data centre built if we can make it into a digital 'Golden Throne' for Lord Gabe.
Though with how the competition is CONSTANTLY fucking up, he might just decide to not buy another ship and buyout one of these companies instead since it'd be cheaper.
Nintendo is entering the Jew phase of remaking remasters
I bought a lot of first-party physical titles for the Switch 1. I think the only game I bought for the Switch 2 is Terminator 2D. And I don't think I've bought any Switch 2 games digitally. Almost everything on the Switch 2 seems to be a remaster or remake, but then again, I haven't been keeping up to date with their announcements, so maybe there's something special I missed?
With Steam, however.... the only reason it's any good is because Gabe doesn't do anything. Just makes games available and stays out of the way.
But we all know that when he passes whoever takes over is not going to do that... they will fold. Gaben is an old-head like many of us here, and he grew up in a time where innovative was rife throughout the industry in the 80s and 90s, and saw all the burgeoning tech, the downfall of the dot com era, and the rise and fall of ownership amongst consumers as the gaming market went digital.
Some new-head is not going to understand the of being pro-consumer, about retaining software history, or preserving content. Heck, talk to most millennials and Gen Z'ers and they will argue to their dying breah that "you never owned anything anyways". All they have to spout is pro-corpo-slop bollocks they picked up from astroturfed reddit threads.
But you're absolutely right that Xbox and Sony are FUBAR. There is nothing else left. Hopefully everyone does the right proper thing and buy up all their physical PS3 and PS4 games before it's too late and dump the ISOs for emulation purposes, because the PlayStation brand is going to go extinct sooner rather than later.
I've noticed that for the Switch 2. I was just recently almost trying to justify buying one, i.e. talking myself into it. I still can't. They are just offering nothing I want, and the best shot they had is just a remake of an old Zelda game. It's one of those things I'd buy for $10 but Nintendo games will never be that.
It's also turning into why I quit the Xbox/PS already. I don't want game license on disc. I want to have the games so I can play them later, and I will play them later, and that could be 20 years from now when they've shut everything down for cloud slop only. So, I'll just keep my modded Switch. Nintendo has likely lost me too, and they had the best shot. Microsoft really screwed it up, I was all in on Xbox platforms going back a long, long time and I doubt I ever even buy another game for Xbox, and certainly not from the digital store.
The Switch 2 is sorely lacking any kind of killer apps. DK Bananza was neat, but it's no 3D Mario title. Mario Kart World is dragged down by its Open World design. Kirby Air Riders is niche and lacks replay value outside of couch co-op. There's just no big "Wow!" Title to pull people in. Everything is niche, a rehash, or otherwise too unimpressive to be a major system seller.
Time flies : Nintendo / Tencent shut down all Nintendo Switch online services mid May 2026. So I expect Nintendo to start phasing out Switch 1 support worldwide starting 2028.
But it's already a fact in China : no more online multiplayer, no more buying any game online, no more retriving your digital games or making an update. They just pulled the plug. You have to wonder if Nintendo will eventually release the Switch 2 in China ( they have no plan to at the moment ).
Outside China you can still re-download your already owned 3DS and WiiU games and updates tied to your console, but no more purchases or online play.
However you don't need to rely on Nintendo for WiiU or 3DS, since you can just jailbreak those consoles and install anything for free, and also install Pretendo Network and play online again. ( This is largely why 3DS consoles prices keep increasing ).
Nintendo cannot stop supporting the Switch 1 fast enough. No more system update = the inevitable softmod developped to jailbreak it won't be patched.
Sony has a problem where they look at the most successful games in the industry and think everything is like that. So they look at Fortnite and GTA online and Genshin impact and think "Oh, live service games always make billions of dollars". Then they spent 10 billion dollars making 10 live service flops in a row.
With this, they're looking at GTA VI clearing 50M copies sold on digital pre-orders alone and they think that people will tolerate that from any game now. They're going to learn the hard way that sony studios do not make GTA-tier games.
Even if 90% of sales are digital, do the shareholders not want 10% more money? They had this same brain problem with Hell Divers 2, their one live service success. They tried to force PSN accounts to goose their internal metrics and for legal reasons that would cut off everyone who isn't in the the Anglosphere or EU, which again is 'only' 10-15% of players - but in the case of HD2 that means you're throwing away > $100M.
HOWWWW do you deliver those announcements at the same time!?
physical disc production for new games on its consoles will end in January 2028, with future titles releasing digitally only via the PlayStation Store and retailers.
The PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita will close in phases
No kore physical discs and media, oh and by the way were closing the digital store Dor PS3 and PSP—SL if you don’t have physical disc and copies, GET FUCKED.
So when ps4 and ps5 get older, if you don’t have any game you ever wanted to play on physical or on a hard drive(but who knows what happens with licenses and studios and Sony later on) also Get Fucked !
Current_Year AAA gaming is in an absolute garbage state with hardware prices for storage and RAM going 500% up and studios enshittifying their games on purpose with Wokeness and agressive "monetization".
Meanwhile, it has never been a better time to get into emulation. A crappy PC or laptop with integrated graphics will emulate anything up to DS and PS1 games and the ROMs and easy to find. Chinese handhelds ( either Linux or Android based ) at every price ranges with some offering price / performance absolutely unthinkable in the West.
Android PC emulation just took off to run quite a few games, but consider that a "bonus" if your favorite light PC games run rather than a feature you can count on.
The main barriers of entry are being able to follow a youtube setup guide and for more recent systems, storage space for the ROMs. ( And some manufacturers might not ship to your country or currency conversion rates might be horrible... ).
Just strike the Steam Deck from the list ( probalby the other handheld PCs too ), the article was written before the massive price hikes.
The AYN Thor also got substancial price increases, especially the high end 16GB / 1TB model, but it still by far the best dual screen emulation handheld you can find.
The Base 8GB / Snapdragon 8 gen 2 model will be fine for up to Switch games ( the Switch itself only has 4GM RAM ), but if you want to tinker trying to run PC games on it, I suggest at least the 12GB Pro model as some games that can run will push the device oveer 8GB RAM.
The Lite Snapdragon 865 model will struggle with some Switch games, but if you don't care to emulate above 3DS, then there is nothing better for dual-screen games.
You'll get better ergonomics with a Retroid Pocket 6 or an Odin 2 or 3.
Soyny really think their nigger and poor country fanbase gonna pay $80 for troonslop digital games? Bold choice, let's see how it plays out. Gaystation indeed.
Introducing... "regional pricing".
( Sort of like Nintendo selling the Switch 2 for $320 in Japan, but an even bigger price difference for digital games. )
I think if the industry does go digital only, only two entities will exist as main storefronts as that's all they'll be in this new landscape:
Steam and Nintendo.
Steam has the great reputation, Nintendo has the loyal fanbase. As wtf has Sony got to justify being digital only? They ruined past loved franchises either going woke, sitting on them like with Killzone, they euthanasied any future franchises with their push for live service or their management pissing off the studio to go solo as with Stellar Blade.
More importantly, Sony don't have the TRUST to be digital only especially with their lack of digital security, whereas people make jokes of Steam Support having access to drone strikes with how good they are.
Announcing a shift to digital only while also deleting paid digital content from customer accounts is an interesting choice.
https://scored.co/c/Gaming/p/1ATBhKALT9/if-buying-isnt-owningthen-pirac/c
They REALLY need to level their Californian headquarters with every executive inside, their retardedness is sinking the company..
PC gaming hinges on the life of one man, like Atlas bearing the weight of the entire world.
I'm fully willing to have some giant data centre built if we can make it into a digital 'Golden Throne' for Lord Gabe.
Though with how the competition is CONSTANTLY fucking up, he might just decide to not buy another ship and buyout one of these companies instead since it'd be cheaper.
when he dies, kikerosoft will take over and enshittify steam like never before
daily reminder to digitally archive (i.e pirate) repacks of all your legally purchased games when the inevitable happens
GOG is still lurking in the shadows providing me with equivalent deals and offline installers that will live on after its servers go dark.
The problem, however, is twofold:
I bought a lot of first-party physical titles for the Switch 1. I think the only game I bought for the Switch 2 is Terminator 2D. And I don't think I've bought any Switch 2 games digitally. Almost everything on the Switch 2 seems to be a remaster or remake, but then again, I haven't been keeping up to date with their announcements, so maybe there's something special I missed?
With Steam, however.... the only reason it's any good is because Gabe doesn't do anything. Just makes games available and stays out of the way.
But we all know that when he passes whoever takes over is not going to do that... they will fold. Gaben is an old-head like many of us here, and he grew up in a time where innovative was rife throughout the industry in the 80s and 90s, and saw all the burgeoning tech, the downfall of the dot com era, and the rise and fall of ownership amongst consumers as the gaming market went digital.
Some new-head is not going to understand the of being pro-consumer, about retaining software history, or preserving content. Heck, talk to most millennials and Gen Z'ers and they will argue to their dying breah that "you never owned anything anyways". All they have to spout is pro-corpo-slop bollocks they picked up from astroturfed reddit threads.
But you're absolutely right that Xbox and Sony are FUBAR. There is nothing else left. Hopefully everyone does the right proper thing and buy up all their physical PS3 and PS4 games before it's too late and dump the ISOs for emulation purposes, because the PlayStation brand is going to go extinct sooner rather than later.
I've noticed that for the Switch 2. I was just recently almost trying to justify buying one, i.e. talking myself into it. I still can't. They are just offering nothing I want, and the best shot they had is just a remake of an old Zelda game. It's one of those things I'd buy for $10 but Nintendo games will never be that.
It's also turning into why I quit the Xbox/PS already. I don't want game license on disc. I want to have the games so I can play them later, and I will play them later, and that could be 20 years from now when they've shut everything down for cloud slop only. So, I'll just keep my modded Switch. Nintendo has likely lost me too, and they had the best shot. Microsoft really screwed it up, I was all in on Xbox platforms going back a long, long time and I doubt I ever even buy another game for Xbox, and certainly not from the digital store.
The Switch 2 is sorely lacking any kind of killer apps. DK Bananza was neat, but it's no 3D Mario title. Mario Kart World is dragged down by its Open World design. Kirby Air Riders is niche and lacks replay value outside of couch co-op. There's just no big "Wow!" Title to pull people in. Everything is niche, a rehash, or otherwise too unimpressive to be a major system seller.
The Switch 2 supposedly is lacking in game titles thanks to Nintendo treating the dev kit like the nuclear codes prior to it's release.
The ps3 store is still open? Nintendo long ago canned the 3ds and wiiu stores.
Time flies : Nintendo / Tencent shut down all Nintendo Switch online services mid May 2026. So I expect Nintendo to start phasing out Switch 1 support worldwide starting 2028.
But it's already a fact in China : no more online multiplayer, no more buying any game online, no more retriving your digital games or making an update. They just pulled the plug. You have to wonder if Nintendo will eventually release the Switch 2 in China ( they have no plan to at the moment ).
Outside China you can still re-download your already owned 3DS and WiiU games and updates tied to your console, but no more purchases or online play.
However you don't need to rely on Nintendo for WiiU or 3DS, since you can just jailbreak those consoles and install anything for free, and also install Pretendo Network and play online again. ( This is largely why 3DS consoles prices keep increasing ).
Nintendo cannot stop supporting the Switch 1 fast enough. No more system update = the inevitable softmod developped to jailbreak it won't be patched.
Owning nothing, but certainly won’t be happy.
Sony has a problem where they look at the most successful games in the industry and think everything is like that. So they look at Fortnite and GTA online and Genshin impact and think "Oh, live service games always make billions of dollars". Then they spent 10 billion dollars making 10 live service flops in a row.
With this, they're looking at GTA VI clearing 50M copies sold on digital pre-orders alone and they think that people will tolerate that from any game now. They're going to learn the hard way that sony studios do not make GTA-tier games.
Even if 90% of sales are digital, do the shareholders not want 10% more money? They had this same brain problem with Hell Divers 2, their one live service success. They tried to force PSN accounts to goose their internal metrics and for legal reasons that would cut off everyone who isn't in the the Anglosphere or EU, which again is 'only' 10-15% of players - but in the case of HD2 that means you're throwing away > $100M.
HOWWWW do you deliver those announcements at the same time!?
No kore physical discs and media, oh and by the way were closing the digital store Dor PS3 and PSP—SL if you don’t have physical disc and copies, GET FUCKED.
So when ps4 and ps5 get older, if you don’t have any game you ever wanted to play on physical or on a hard drive(but who knows what happens with licenses and studios and Sony later on) also Get Fucked !
Current_Year AAA gaming is in an absolute garbage state with hardware prices for storage and RAM going 500% up and studios enshittifying their games on purpose with Wokeness and agressive "monetization".
Meanwhile, it has never been a better time to get into emulation. A crappy PC or laptop with integrated graphics will emulate anything up to DS and PS1 games and the ROMs and easy to find. Chinese handhelds ( either Linux or Android based ) at every price ranges with some offering price / performance absolutely unthinkable in the West.
Android PC emulation just took off to run quite a few games, but consider that a "bonus" if your favorite light PC games run rather than a feature you can count on.
The main barriers of entry are being able to follow a youtube setup guide and for more recent systems, storage space for the ROMs. ( And some manufacturers might not ship to your country or currency conversion rates might be horrible... ).
A few suggestions to start looking, I'll shill for a Retro Games Corp article.
Just strike the Steam Deck from the list ( probalby the other handheld PCs too ), the article was written before the massive price hikes.
The AYN Thor also got substancial price increases, especially the high end 16GB / 1TB model, but it still by far the best dual screen emulation handheld you can find.
The Base 8GB / Snapdragon 8 gen 2 model will be fine for up to Switch games ( the Switch itself only has 4GM RAM ), but if you want to tinker trying to run PC games on it, I suggest at least the 12GB Pro model as some games that can run will push the device oveer 8GB RAM.
The Lite Snapdragon 865 model will struggle with some Switch games, but if you don't care to emulate above 3DS, then there is nothing better for dual-screen games.
You'll get better ergonomics with a Retroid Pocket 6 or an Odin 2 or 3.
No great loss. The only thing I use my legacy PS4 for is watching blu-ray discs. Gaming has all gone to Steam Deck and my Bazzite gamebox.
Fuck Sony. Sideways.
Gay. Seeing as how you can't own the games no one will buy shit if they can be deleted or played online only. Nope.