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Let's just hope this "gaming as a service" stays on mobile devices where it belongs. Microsoft has Game Pass. EA has Origin. Subscribe to both and they're both

Let's just hope this "gaming as a service" stays on mobile devices where it belongs. Microsoft has Game Pass. EA has Origin. Subscribe to both and they're both fantastic.

geddy 8y ago
I typed my response hastily - I'm not against them existing, what I meant was I hope they never replace consoles. I have no desire to pay a monthly fee to play hundreds of games. The game list could be virtually unlimited, but there's always a real, tough limit - my free time. I can still only play 1-2 games per month and I'd rather own a copy of it. Having access to hundreds, to me, means I'll essentially play a game for 5 minutes, then the next one, then the next one... until I've had an hour of no real experiences. In this backlog culture, it'll be a miracle if anyone ever finishes a game again.
- Jyaif 8y ago
  Regarding your last paragraph, I wonder how you feel about Netflix.
- coldtea 8y ago
  >The game list could be virtually unlimited, but there's always a real, tough limit - my free time. I can still only play 1-2 games per month and I'd rather own a copy of it. Didn't say the same thing for music? And yet how many buy CDs or download music anymore, compared to Spotify/Apple Music/YouTube/etc? An irrelevant (and aging) minority. And at least for music it makes sense. One can and do listen to the same album 10 and 20 years on. And of course multiple times in the same year. Whereas, after someone has finished a game, how often will they come back? And for what percentage of games? And how would a game subscription would hurt their occasional "lemme play this again for a couple of hours" trip down the memory lane?
  - kgwxd 8y ago
    It's that last part that keeps me buying exclusively DRM-free, Linux-friendly PC games. You can't even rely on a console working in the future anymore, or Windows not updating automatically into incompatibility. If it doesn't work, best you get is a not-quite-right recreation on a new platform. Worst case, old YouTube play-throughs are all you have.
- endorphone 8y ago
  The value proposition is that while there are many options, the average subscriber only partakes of a small number that best fits them, the options evolving and changing over time. Netflix has thousands of programs but I feel no obligation to watch them all, and just the tiny subset that I enjoy monthly makes it well worthwhile.
__david__ 8y ago
Don't forget Playstation Now.
- steve_adams_86 8y ago
  Should google stadia be a part of this list too?
  - unsigner 8y ago
    Theoretically no - we don't know yet the business model of Stadia, only the technical delivery (video streaming). Probably yes, though - paying to "own" something which can't be separated from the service it arrived on would sound ridiculous in this day and age.
    - HenryBemis 8y ago
      From what I understood/imagined, is that they do all the heavy work in the back end and will just deliver the navigation and graphics to us. This is a cool idea if you got an average graphics card and a fast/unlimited internet connection (which most of us have) I am imagining this as a '€10 entry to a all-free-to-play-arcade. I hope that joysticks with 4-6-8 buttons will come out so I can binge-play Street Fighter again after 20+ years!!

Let's just hope this "gaming as a service" stays on mobile devices where it belongs. Microsoft has Game Pass. EA has Origin. Subscribe to both and they're both fantastic.

geddy 8y ago

I typed my response hastily - I'm not against them existing, what I meant was I hope they never replace consoles. I have no desire to pay a monthly fee to play hundreds of games. The game list could be virtually unlimited, but there's always a real, tough limit - my free time. I can still only play 1-2 games per month and I'd rather own a copy of it. Having access to hundreds, to me, means I'll essentially play a game for 5 minutes, then the next one, then the next one... until I've had an hour of no real experiences. In this backlog culture, it'll be a miracle if anyone ever finishes a game again.

Jyaif 8y ago
Regarding your last paragraph, I wonder how you feel about Netflix.
coldtea 8y ago
>The game list could be virtually unlimited, but there's always a real, tough limit - my free time. I can still only play 1-2 games per month and I'd rather own a copy of it. Didn't say the same thing for music? And yet how many buy CDs or download music anymore, compared to Spotify/Apple Music/YouTube/etc? An irrelevant (and aging) minority. And at least for music it makes sense. One can and do listen to the same album 10 and 20 years on. And of course multiple times in the same year. Whereas, after someone has finished a game, how often will they come back? And for what percentage of games? And how would a game subscription would hurt their occasional "lemme play this again for a couple of hours" trip down the memory lane?
- kgwxd 8y ago
  It's that last part that keeps me buying exclusively DRM-free, Linux-friendly PC games. You can't even rely on a console working in the future anymore, or Windows not updating automatically into incompatibility. If it doesn't work, best you get is a not-quite-right recreation on a new platform. Worst case, old YouTube play-throughs are all you have.
endorphone 8y ago
The value proposition is that while there are many options, the average subscriber only partakes of a small number that best fits them, the options evolving and changing over time. Netflix has thousands of programs but I feel no obligation to watch them all, and just the tiny subset that I enjoy monthly makes it well worthwhile.

__david__ 8y ago

Don't forget Playstation Now.

steve_adams_86 8y ago
Should google stadia be a part of this list too?
- unsigner 8y ago
  Theoretically no - we don't know yet the business model of Stadia, only the technical delivery (video streaming). Probably yes, though - paying to "own" something which can't be separated from the service it arrived on would sound ridiculous in this day and age.
  - HenryBemis 8y ago
    From what I understood/imagined, is that they do all the heavy work in the back end and will just deliver the navigation and graphics to us. This is a cool idea if you got an average graphics card and a fast/unlimited internet connection (which most of us have) I am imagining this as a '€10 entry to a all-free-to-play-arcade. I hope that joysticks with 4-6-8 buttons will come out so I can binge-play Street Fighter again after 20+ years!!