I know this might get me a lot of hate on here, but I don’t really care and I don’t understand why people are this upset about it. I can’t remember the last time I bought physical media, nor do I know anyone that has. And most games that are released on physical media are unplayable anyways without the obligatory 40GB day one patch - making the entire concept of physical media pointless.
So yeah, idk if people are actually upset about this or if this is just a big outrage over nothing if I’m honest. But maybe I’m just too PC-pilled in my free and open source ecosystem to realize the struggles of living under the boot of a corporation that removes stuff you paid for at will lmaooo.
I get where you’re coming from, but I disagree both personally and objectively. I said this in another post, but if you zoom out from the specifics here, what’s being eliminated here is choice. Sure, it’s not much of a choice, but as a consumer you could buy physical or digital, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve, etc. By removing the only other choice we have you have to buy the games digitally. At that point it can be altered, up-charged, revoked, or any number of other shitty decisions and we have little recourse - other than to opt out entirely.
Yes, all of this has been a slippery slope: digital downloads, DLC, games ballooning in size/requiring internet connectivity for day 1 patches, removing games from stores due to expired music licenses, etc. But the death of physical games is a big final step forward. I totally understand that this decision doesn’t directly affect you - but it likely will, in one way or another. Killing off DVD/BR because we have streaming now means that streaming services can jack up prices because there’s no alternatives: no competition. They can remove shows that don’t make money and then they’re lost forever (Disney removed the Willow TV show a month after it aired. Beyond piracy, it’s now a lost property). They can remove, edit, or censor TV shows that are now thought of as offensive as taste change. Physical media is the backbone of preservation (which is particularly difficult with games) and it will be made much harder as physical is killed off.
Or maybe these are the desperate dying gasps of the dinosaurs of old media? Console prices are rising (5yrs into the lifecycle), sales are decreasing, game dev cycles take longer and longer, graphics/tech advancements are plateauing, the youths only play Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox, and AI is being shoved into everything. There is a wonderful renaissance of indies and smaller scale games! So maybe Playstation’s downfall and XBOX’s dismemberment will free up capital and interest into the vast variety of games that exist beyond COD & Assassin’s Creed?
I’ll get off my soapbox now, and I’m not trying to beat you up for your opinion. Personally, I am in a similar boat as you where I feel compelled to opt out of big tech, focus on FOSS, play indie games, go touch grass, etc, etc. It’s clear to me that all of these awful threads are connected: we are being forced back into serfdom in ways big and small. Everything is a subscription. No right to repair what you own. Corporations have more ‘free-speech’ than a citizen. It just sucks to see more and more evidence of the boot stepping down on our necks.
But you never had a choice from the beginning when it comes to consoles. Even if you obtained a physical copy, you only could play these games on their systems and they can in theory revoke the license at any given point for any reason, making the disc a useless brick. The console ecosystem has always been under the boot of the company that “controls” the hardware.
The only time where these devices were fundamentally free was when there was a way to root them and extract data from them, like the switch jailbreak for older versions of the switch.
Killing off DVD/BR because we have streaming now means that streaming services can jack up prices because there’s no alternatives
Or you just don’t watch these shows. It’s honestly that simple. Streaming isn’t a universal human right that you need to survive. Quit streaming services. Obtain older shows on DVD that you haven’t seen.
It just sucks to see more and more evidence of the boot stepping down on our necks.
The digital world has never been more free than today tho. You have an incredibly competitive free operating system, you have a ton of great open source software for almost anything you can imagine, you can literally free yourself from the boot TODAY.
It’s just the willingness that is lacking for many as it seems. Many people want the luxury of a free world, but are unwilling to sacrifice something for it. Which I think is very sad.
I know this might get me a lot of hate on here, but I don’t really care and I don’t understand why people are this upset about it. I can’t remember the last time I bought physical media, nor do I know anyone that has. And most games that are released on physical media are unplayable anyways without the obligatory 40GB day one patch - making the entire concept of physical media pointless.
So yeah, idk if people are actually upset about this or if this is just a big outrage over nothing if I’m honest. But maybe I’m just too PC-pilled in my free and open source ecosystem to realize the struggles of living under the boot of a corporation that removes stuff you paid for at will lmaooo.
Today it’s games and movies. Tomorrow it’s something actually important and they’ll rent us an apology for a terminal illness and nothing else.
I get where you’re coming from, but I disagree both personally and objectively. I said this in another post, but if you zoom out from the specifics here, what’s being eliminated here is choice. Sure, it’s not much of a choice, but as a consumer you could buy physical or digital, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve, etc. By removing the only other choice we have you have to buy the games digitally. At that point it can be altered, up-charged, revoked, or any number of other shitty decisions and we have little recourse - other than to opt out entirely.
Yes, all of this has been a slippery slope: digital downloads, DLC, games ballooning in size/requiring internet connectivity for day 1 patches, removing games from stores due to expired music licenses, etc. But the death of physical games is a big final step forward. I totally understand that this decision doesn’t directly affect you - but it likely will, in one way or another. Killing off DVD/BR because we have streaming now means that streaming services can jack up prices because there’s no alternatives: no competition. They can remove shows that don’t make money and then they’re lost forever (Disney removed the Willow TV show a month after it aired. Beyond piracy, it’s now a lost property). They can remove, edit, or censor TV shows that are now thought of as offensive as taste change. Physical media is the backbone of preservation (which is particularly difficult with games) and it will be made much harder as physical is killed off.
Or maybe these are the desperate dying gasps of the dinosaurs of old media? Console prices are rising (5yrs into the lifecycle), sales are decreasing, game dev cycles take longer and longer, graphics/tech advancements are plateauing, the youths only play Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox, and AI is being shoved into everything. There is a wonderful renaissance of indies and smaller scale games! So maybe Playstation’s downfall and XBOX’s dismemberment will free up capital and interest into the vast variety of games that exist beyond COD & Assassin’s Creed?
I’ll get off my soapbox now, and I’m not trying to beat you up for your opinion. Personally, I am in a similar boat as you where I feel compelled to opt out of big tech, focus on FOSS, play indie games, go touch grass, etc, etc. It’s clear to me that all of these awful threads are connected: we are being forced back into serfdom in ways big and small. Everything is a subscription. No right to repair what you own. Corporations have more ‘free-speech’ than a citizen. It just sucks to see more and more evidence of the boot stepping down on our necks.
But you never had a choice from the beginning when it comes to consoles. Even if you obtained a physical copy, you only could play these games on their systems and they can in theory revoke the license at any given point for any reason, making the disc a useless brick. The console ecosystem has always been under the boot of the company that “controls” the hardware.
The only time where these devices were fundamentally free was when there was a way to root them and extract data from them, like the switch jailbreak for older versions of the switch.
Or you just don’t watch these shows. It’s honestly that simple. Streaming isn’t a universal human right that you need to survive. Quit streaming services. Obtain older shows on DVD that you haven’t seen.
The digital world has never been more free than today tho. You have an incredibly competitive free operating system, you have a ton of great open source software for almost anything you can imagine, you can literally free yourself from the boot TODAY.
It’s just the willingness that is lacking for many as it seems. Many people want the luxury of a free world, but are unwilling to sacrifice something for it. Which I think is very sad.