Electronic Arts says the old way of releasing games doesn't work anymore

[viper37]

I hate that increasingly companies aren't even releasing physical versions.
I want to own the  actual game damnit.

Not me; in the battle against clutter it is really handy that my gaming doesn't involve physical copies.

Amen.

[Solmyr]

I bet you'll feel differently when one day you suddenly don't have half your games anymore.

[Razgovory]

I bet you'll feel differently when one day you suddenly don't have half your games anymore.

I have that situation with the games I owned pre-Steam.  I have no fucking clue where they are now.  I'm not a organized person, I'd lose or damage the CDs on a regular basis.

[Habbaku]

I bet you'll feel differently when one day you suddenly don't have half your games anymore.

By the time I lose half my games, I won't give a damn about the half that I've lost. And if I do, they'll be available for pennies on the dollar or pirateable on reputable sites.

[Grey Fox]

Collecting video entertainment media is fallacy that doesn't actually get used, worse when it's physical. I think it's because we want to treat it like it's music.

It's not. Most of those things have aged very poorly.

[Valmy]

Collecting video entertainment media is fallacy that doesn't actually get used, worse when it's physical. I think it's because we want to treat it like it's music.

It's not. Most of those things have aged very poorly.

It used to age poorly. Now 20 year old games don't seem as archaic. That and if it is popular enough it often has a thriving mod community that has added lots of cool features. I now have lots of reasons to play older games than I used to. Without some big breakthrough in gaming technology I don't see that changing much either....at least for single player games. Those online games just kind of die and become unusable.

[viper37]

I bet you'll feel differently when one day you suddenly don't have half your games anymore.

I already lost half my games.  The CDs and DVDs got broken or lost, or worst, I threw them away thinking I would not need them anymore since they were too old (like, say, Age of Empires 1&2), only to realize later I could have got a discount on Steam for the updated version had I added them to my library.

I also realized to late than I could get free upgrades&DLC to some old games I had bought on another platform than was sold&sold&sold&sold...  Just by re-adding them to Steam.

All in all, I love the electronic way of doing business.

Will I truly care in 20 years that I have to rebuy the Witcher 3 at 6,99$ to get the enhanced edition for 14.99$?  Not really.

Besides, even if Blizzard goes under and I lost access to Starcraft... will it truly matter?  I mean, I've already beaten the game on all difficulty level once, 3 times on hard and the real value for me is in custom games against the AI.  If Blizzard goes under, their servers won't be up, I won't be able to play online, alone or with others.  So I'm fucked there.

Yes there's a risk, but it's no worst of losing your games or throwing them away because they're too old and you need the space.

[viper37]

Collecting video entertainment media is fallacy that doesn't actually get used, worse when it's physical. I think it's because we want to treat it like it's music.

It's not. Most of those things have aged very poorly.

It used to age poorly. Now 20 year old games don't seem as archaic. That and if it is popular enough it often has a thriving mod community that has added lots of cool features. I now have lots of reasons to play older games than I used to. Without some big breakthrough in gaming technology I don't see that changing much either....at least for single player games. Those online games just kind of die and become unusable.

uhh, if the DVD game is still working, than the online version is still working!  Most platforms outside of EA Store - sorry - Origin  , keep the games up-to-date for modern Windows (GOG is also recycling DOS games to make them work on Windows).

[Valmy]

I like the GoG way of just getting the whole game and just storing it however you want.

[viper37]

I like the GoG way of just getting the whole game and just storing it however you want.

Not the same, but Steam does allow you to backup your Steam folder.  For most games, they can be played while in offline mode.

[Syt]

French court rules Steam should let customers resell their games:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/09/19/steam-should-let-users-resell-games-french-court-rules/

Obviously this will probably go further up through the courts, but interesting nonetheless.

And more incentive for big publishers to turn their games into services that you subscribe to.

[frunk]

French court rules Steam should let customers resell their games:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/09/19/steam-should-let-users-resell-games-french-court-rules/

Obviously this will probably go further up through the courts, but interesting nonetheless.

And more incentive for big publishers to turn their games into services that you subscribe to.

The major effect would either to push more games as service or raise the base price on games (and cut way back on Steam sales).  Probably both.

[Valmy]

About a decade ago EA released Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. It had a nice initial burst but quickly faded but me and a hard core of about 250,000 subscribers soldiered on, figuring that EA would correct the problem eventually. Well of course as soon as the game was not bigger than WoW, EA just left it to die. Yeah never again am I going to fall for the "games as a service" crap again. If the game is not popular you will get no service. But at least that game released with a significant amount of content, now you usually get very little.

Anyway unless the game is the next Fortnite don't waste your time buying those scams. It is almost like backing a kickstarter now, you are buying promises of a company doing something in the future.

[viper37]

French court rules Steam should let customers resell their games:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/09/19/steam-should-let-users-resell-games-french-court-rules/

Obviously this will probably go further up through the courts, but interesting nonetheless.

And more incentive for big publishers to turn their games into services that you subscribe to.

The major effect would either to push more games as service or raise the base price on games (and cut way back on Steam sales).  Probably both.

Steam will adjust its platform, let users sell their games and pocket 20% of the sale like it does for the stupid cards.

[Iormlund]

About a decade ago EA released Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. It had a nice initial burst but quickly faded but me and a hard core of about 250,000 subscribers soldiered on, figuring that EA would correct the problem eventually. Well of course as soon as the game was not bigger than WoW, EA just left it to die. Yeah never again am I going to fall for the "games as a service" crap again. If the game is not popular you will get no service. But at least that game released with a significant amount of content, now you usually get very little.

Anyway unless the game is the next Fortnite don't waste your time buying those scams. It is almost like backing a kickstarter now, you are buying promises of a company doing something in the future.

That still happens today. Take Anthem, for example. An incredibly awful launch and the game is pretty much dead.

The problem with the games as a service concept is it is a winner-takes-all bet. And most games will fail to make the absurd amounts of money AAA publishers expect. There can't be 5 Fortnites or LoLs in each segment.