Re: It looks like gambling, feels like gambling, pays out (almost) like gambling... but it's not gambling

On 23/07/2024 18:44, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 23 Jul 2024 09:58:23 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

On 23/07/2024 01:50, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

 

>
Like you I'd prefer that we returned to the old model of how games make
money and I don't even have a problem with subscription models if they
act reasonable in changes to what you get and prices *coughs* Microsoft
Gamepass *coughs*.

 Apparently the US goverment is having a bit of an issue with Gamepass.
Who could possibly have guessed that allowing two giant corporations
to merge /wouldn't/ result in lower prices and better products, but
just the opposite?
 I wouldn't object to subscription models if it wasn't so obviously
what publishers wants the ENTIRE industry to become. If it were just,
"hey, you can sometimes rent a game, and other times buy it", I'd be
fine. I can actually see the appeal in a subscription as a way to
'demo' games I'm interested in, or play entire games I've some
interest in but not enough to pay full price. It's not a bad idea on
the whole.
 But I've no trust in the publishers not to abuse the idea solely for
their own benefit. They've been frog-boiling gamers towards the idea
that the former is the One True Way of modern gaming, and it is so
obvious that once they amass a plurality of gamers they'll stop
selling games entirely.
 

Very much the same, I rather like the idea of a subscription based model as it gives another option for how someone play games even though it's certainly not for me. I just don't spend that much on games and I'm not convinced that many of the games I do buy are on it. As you say though, the problem is the end game is to try and force almost everybody to a subscription based model whether it's suited to them or not. Once they get that then the real abuse will begin. Oh you want to play the game on the day it's released, that's fine as it's included in the base package but if you buy the gold package you get to play them two weeks early. Erm ... doesn't that mean two weeks earlier is when the game is released then. I can also see them 'removing' parts of the game and repackaging them as extras for the expensive subscriptions.
Saying that, if the triple AAA publishers took all their games to a subscription model then I can't really say I'd care as there's very few of them I play anyway. Where the problem does come is if the starting getting into the medium and small studios.