Technically... (Gaming)

by Harmanimus , Wednesday, March 07, 2018, 12:04 (2250 days ago) @ ManKitten

That model never really existed. You can have the one-time physical media purchase, but the actual game content is still only available to you as a license. Until the advent of networked games it didn’t really matter because no one was enforcing a TOS on you or anything that would violate your access to that content via your license.

In the context of a one-time-purchase is “best for consumers” I find all of those assessments pretty much unprovable. Valuation between individuals and benefits of different models have always been a thing, they are just broader now. Has everyone forgot about renting games as part of these equations? Sure, in some distant crystal towered utopia everyone could get the whole product in one go, but that itsef would have to be economically reasonable to the major consumer base. But the reluctance to charge 70-100 for the base version of a game is met with violent push back.

I think the market has moved past individual purchases, and in many cases more consumers experience real benefit from additional monetization even if they aren’t personally spending that money.