5 ms·

To illustrate why this is stupid, I will furnish two links to purchase Dark Souls 3 (PS4, 2016) Ebay, to buy: $11 + shipping[0] PS Store, to rent: $60[1] [0]

To illustrate why this is stupid, I will furnish two links to purchase Dark Souls 3 (PS4, 2016) Ebay, to buy: $11 + shipping[0] PS Store, to rent: $60[1] [0] https://www.ebay.com/itm/298370753624 https://www.ebay.com/itm/298370753624 [1] https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/dark-souls-iii/ https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/dark-souls-iii/

exitnode 3mo ago
It's sadly not stupid from their perspective
- somenameforme 3mo ago
  Except it really is. I don't see how businesses don't understand how this sort of anti-customer predatory behavior, MBA stuff, is directly driving reduced sales. The PS5, for instance, has only managed 96 million sales. For contrast the PS2 managed 160 million sales to a smaller market with much fiercer competition. And I'm one of those tens of millions opting out. The PS2 felt like a great consumer-focused value. Modern consoles feel like opting in to get kicked in the balls and squeezed for every single penny they can get out of you. The reason modern consoles aren't selling 300million+ units is because of myopia. And the worst part is that it's a vicious cycle. They see their sales shrinking so the penny pinchers and MBAs get even nastier squeezing the ever-shrinking userbase even more resulting in less sales meaning they need to squeeze those that remain even harder and so on. At seemingly no point is anybody asking 'Hey why do our sales keep falling even though the potential market's way larger and the competition is pretty meh?' I guess that doesn't look as good on a powerpoint slide as trying to kill the used game market and pretending it will have no knock-on effects.
  - angoragoats 3mo ago
    I feel this in my bones and it's a great way to frame it. My last Playstation console was a PS2 and I've also opted out of recent generations. Historically, for me, one of the benefits of a console was that you could just pop the game in, and it would always work, simply and easily. DRM, online checks, DLC that should have been part of the base game, digital-only games, etc have ruined all that, and if that's going to be the trend everywhere I'll just stick to a PC and Steam where I have a library of games built up over the decades. I have a Switch and feel that Nintendo provided a decent experience on their recent systems, but with the advent of "game keys" or whatever they call it on the Switch 2, they've flipped to being even worse than the digital-only systems. At least Sony isn't (yet?) trying to sell you a license on a disc to try to fool you into thinking you own a physical copy.
    - nemomarx 3mo ago
      You can resell game key cards, at least? They seem better than digital copies to me. And first party games are still on cartridge for the most part.
      - philistine 3mo ago
        People have convinced themselves that game key cards are terrible, when they're the exact same thing as the old style of cartridges, with the only difference that you don't have the 1.0 on it. People are convinced that game key cards will stop working at some point, when it's the reverse that will happen; your card will be fine, but won't work on a Switch 2, only a future console. Nintendo will close access to their stores to old consoles way before they break access with their cards.
        angoragoats 3mo ago
        > People have convinced themselves that game key cards are terrible, when they're the exact same thing as the old style of cartridges, with the only difference that you don't have the 1.0 on it. I guess this statement is correct, but my point is that the most important thing to me is that I have the game on the cartridge.
        extraduder_ire 3mo ago
        Does the switch's "Match Version with Local Users" feature on the software update menu work for this, or is an internet connection strictly required the first time you insert a key card?
        philistine 3mo ago
        That's only for updates. The initial install must come from the eShop. That's not different for game key cards. When you first put a card in, you need to download the game from eShop. No exceptions.
      - angoragoats 3mo ago
  - ryandrake 3mo ago
    Gamers are notorious for accepting whatever abuse game companies and studios want to inflict, and then keep buying and buying. All the horrible anti-consumer technologies and business practices from DRM to games that are released unfinished, to kernel-level anti-cheats and rootkits, all are routinely done with video games because the industry knows gamers are fanatics and will put up with anything. If gamers want to stop this, they need to stop rewarding these companies with their money. 99% of gamers who are mad about physical disk distribution going away will still buy the digitally distributed games.
    - somenameforme 3mo ago
      The whole point is that they aren't accepting it. In terms of sales PS2 > PS4 > PS5. That alone is already a big issue but it becomes just comically bad when you consider that the world population is about 33% larger than during the PS2 era, gaming has become completely normalized, and that the competition in modern times is mediocre.
      - vrsgjye 3mo ago
        [dead]
      - IanCal 3mo ago
        Have profits gone down?
        chocochunks 3mo ago
        No, but they're also monetizing a bunch of extra ways that they weren't in the past. In the PS2 era, Sony made money from the cut of physical games and accessories and maybe the console itself if it was purchased far enough into the console lifespan. These days they have online subs, cuts of DLC and microtransactions plus all the other stuff they had previously. And they get bigger cuts for DLC, microtransactions and digital games since they are the (only) retailer.
        3mo ago
  - nemomarx 3mo ago
    The next console is going to cost at least 1000 dollars, right? There's simply no way to sell hardware at 300 million units now. So I think their strategy is to abandon the mass market and sell to price unconscious consumers who will also pay more for games.
    - wtetzner 3mo ago
      But what's the point of even releasing the next console? The current console generation has barely gotten started, and developers have barely taken advantage of the new hardware. Maybe they need to look at releasing a cheaper console and making more quality games instead of constantly pushing so hard on graphics. Graphics help sales to an extent, but it's clearly not the whole story, given the popularity of the Wii or Switch. I think the people in charge no longer understand gaming, and are really struggling to produce games that will draw in large crowds again. > So I think their strategy is to abandon the mass market and sell to price unconscious consumers who will also pay more for games. Kinda seems like it. I'm curious to see what happens with that, because even people who so far have been willing to pay more will stop being customers if they can't produce an experience that's worth paying for. Maybe I'm in the minority, but the first-party PlayStation games all feel very samey to me.
      - nemomarx 3mo ago
        For the ps6, they were already done with design and they'd need to let that go to waste to not put it out. I doubt it'll have many exclusives though - it's probably a ps5 pro pro thing. But I'm also not sure they can sell a cheaper console. PS5 prices just rose and they'll rise again next year - so that level is already going to cost 800 dollars to consumers. You can't really sell hardware to anyone until ram prices come down it seems. They could release a ps4 level console but I'm not sure it would be that cheap to source parts for... There are rumors of a handheld so that might be cheaper. Basically console gaming is about to get impractical and they'll try and find a path to stay alive. That's my read.
        wtetzner 3mo ago
  - ChrisRR 3mo ago
    Because they have almost definitely already factored in the loss from people boycotting vs the gain due to killing the resale market into their analysis. They are fully aware that some people are going to refuse to buy digital only The unfortunate truth is that physical sales have been ever declining so the writing was on the wall Edit: And you can't really compare the PS2 and PS5 in terms of competition. PS5 isn't just competing against other consoles, it's also competing against netflix, youtube, tiktok, any endless scrolling platform. There were much fewer options for entertainment in 2001 than there are now
  - someonebaggy 3mo ago
    So they sold half as many. The next question should be: did they make more than twice as much profit per sale? I suspect the answer is yes.
    - somenameforme 3mo ago
      There's several points on this. - The published profit margins from Sony are misleading. They take maximal advantage of inflation, currency shifts, and generational overlap to create a picture of profitability that is well above whatever the 'real' figure might be. - You're comparing the present to the past, instead of an alternative present. Given the very large increases in market size and reduction in competition I think there's little doubt a consumer friendly Sony could have easily doubled their sales, if not substantially more. - The downward slope of anti-consumerism is not sustainable. You end up in a situation where you have to keep charging more and more for a product where demand keeps going lower and lower. Especially as we reach an era of declining fertility, there's only so many fools. - Why would you even want to do this? Even if, and I think that's a huge if, Sony ended up more profitable than good behavior would have yielded, it's going to be by the thinnest of margins. And they've put themselves in a situation where they're now in an increasingly adversarial relationship with their own users. See companies like EA or Activision on the software side doing the same thing. I think there's some je ne sais pas to be had for leaders of a beloved companies, as opposed to leaders of yet another corporate bottom feeder.
giwook 3mo ago
You've illustrated exactly why Sony is getting rid of physical media. Money.
- xp84 3mo ago
  Also, remember the marketing idea of the "Disney Vault"? In the 90s, Disney would take all their movies in and out of print basically, only selling tapes some of the time, and they'd charge top dollar for them, because you couldn't just walk into Walmart and grab a copy of "Cinderella" anytime. They created scarcity easily this way, since before ebay, finding specific things like a certain videotape at a thrift store or something was a lot more work. So they would charge like $25 for a decades-old movie and say "Get it now, before it goes back in the vault!" I can see this happening with games more after the death of physical media. Create artificial scarcity with limited time windows and charge top dollar for old games because there will be literally no way to get them besides on their digital store terms.
  - mikepurvis 3mo ago
    Hopefully emulation and piracy will continue to provide a reasonable check valve on this getting too far out of control. I don't personally engage in either at present outside of an old homebrewed Wii U, but I feel like the existence of those is important to remind the digital storefront/platform owners that at the end of the day they aren't actually the only game in town. Either that or eventually we'll have to get some antitrust stuff happening to open these things up, though Epic's App Store lawsuit does not give me much hope in that direction.
    - bredren 3mo ago
      I would attribute Disney's use of scarcity as a primary means to drive film and TV box office and streaming dollars in the Star Wars franchise. This is already under threat due to the Star Wars AI videos being released on Youtube, seemingly without constraint as of yet. The videos are not Hollywood quality [0], however they circumvent rules Disney can't easily break like using the likeness of any actor at any age in any circumstance. These fan made videos get lots of views. Even if they were all removed from YouTube, this will be a difficult thing to stop. I believe a generally accepted "good" or even "great" unofficial, Star Wars film built without sets or actors using AI is inevitable. And that this will be true for any popular franchise. The natural corollary to this arc is into games, where using AI to code most or all of a AAA-competitive title would be considered inevitable. I suspect Disney and Sony have at least someone pointing at this outcome. [0] I suppose idealized Hollywood quality. They are better than some films.
nottorp 3mo ago
You don't even need to go used. Discs constantly drop in price even new.
- asimovDev 3mo ago
  in europe it's often cheaper to buy a game new in box from the retailer than from the PS Store. Not for long maybe. I will mourn the loss of physical games as they are such a big part of console experience
  - nottorp 3mo ago
    I am in Europe but I just don't do launch prices on any platform or delivery form so I didn't notice that. Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/606/ https://xkcd.com/606/
    - asveikau 3mo ago
      Off topic, XKCD should put the original publication date on the page. This one references specific years, and I could tell it's from 2009 after thinking about it, but doesn't hit the same way.
      - catlikesshrimp 3mo ago
        I tend to read this shortly after the strip, because I am that stupid. Also because there is no easy mouseover on android. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/606:_Cutting_Edge https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/606:_Cutting_Edge
        renata 3mo ago
        m.xkcd.com lets you click for the alt-text.
      - nottorp 3mo ago
        I've never played enough Portal to get to the point referred to by the comic, but I get the idea. And yes, I probably played Portal 1 a few years after Portal 2 was out.
cortesoft 3mo ago
Yeah, and Sony agrees it is stupid... they don't want a used games market.
CommanderData 3mo ago
Yes stupid for shareholders and until the EU comes in and saves the day again this will continue. There's something to be said for creating a near monopoly and also having the ability to digitally revoke someones right to use something they purchased legally, which we'll see more of. Regulations are needed to protect us.
sipos 3mo ago
This is what happens when you have a market controlled heavily by one player - they use that to their own advantage.
mrandish 3mo ago
It's not just games. For several years the cheapest way to buy a legit U.S. Office 365 sub is to order a physical box from Amazon on Black Friday. Inside the box is nothing but a scratch-off card with the online license key. It's literally cheaper to get printed color packaging overnight delivered to my door than to sign up on the webpage.
- someonebaggy 3mo ago
  This is a form of market segmentation.
palmotea 3mo ago
> To illustrate why this is stupid, I will furnish two links to purchase Dark Souls 3 (PS4, 2016) > Ebay, to buy: $11 + shipping[0] > PS Store, to rent: $60[1] Yeah, Sony is stupid to be leaving money on the table like that. Lucky for us, we live in a market system that we can trust to optimize for maximum consumer benefit (like Sony is doing here). It's our revealed choice that we want to pay more for old games.
- lelandfe 3mo ago
  Although it's just anecdata, after spending $600 on the console, I certainly was dismayed to find 10-year old games only being sold at their original prices. Surely they should at least track inflation? Perhaps Sony could add an optional tipping screen before digital checkout for the good customers.
  - nemomarx 3mo ago
    What else tracks inflation like that? Do movies?
    - Den_VR 3mo ago
      Movie tickets are now easily $25 a seat.
  - palmotea 3mo ago
    > Although it's just anecdata, after spending $600 on the console, I certainly was dismayed to find 10-year old games only being sold at their original prices. Surely they should at least track inflation? Honestly, Sony should just retroactively bill consumers for inflation. Since $60 in 2016 is worth almost $89 today, they should charge all the people who bought the game back then a $29 price adjustment. It's the the only fair thing to do for. If consumers don't like that option, an alternative can be a perpetual $5/year subscription that additional provides in-game stickers.
    - wtetzner 3mo ago
bsammon 3mo ago
I own a Nintendo Switch, and I've noticed that in the Nintendo store, old games regularly go on sale for in the ballpark of 80% off. Does that happen in the PS store?
- mghackerlady 3mo ago
  third parties do. Good luck buying a nintendo game for less than it was at launch
  - minimaxir 3mo ago
    Nintendo occasionally does 30% off sales on their published games through the eShop. There are a few active now: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/sales-and-deals/ https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/sales-and-deals/ A funny quirk of that is that the Mario and Rabbids games are always 90% off because they are not published by Nintendo.
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
ectospheno 3mo ago
I already own Dark Souls 3 but were I to purchase it again I’d still pick PlayStation over eBay. Even at this price point. I get I’m not the average consumer but I have money and discs are annoying.
- zenlot 3mo ago
  [dead]
throwaway219450 3mo ago
We do this with movie night now. It can be 15 bucks to rent an HD movie - not even a new release! Frequently it’s cheaper to buy a copy and give it to a thrift store afterwards. I’m considering trying one of the mail order rental companies again.
throwaway613746 3mo ago
[dead]

exitnode 3mo ago

It's sadly not stupid from their perspective

somenameforme 3mo ago
Except it really is. I don't see how businesses don't understand how this sort of anti-customer predatory behavior, MBA stuff, is directly driving reduced sales. The PS5, for instance, has only managed 96 million sales. For contrast the PS2 managed 160 million sales to a smaller market with much fiercer competition. And I'm one of those tens of millions opting out. The PS2 felt like a great consumer-focused value. Modern consoles feel like opting in to get kicked in the balls and squeezed for every single penny they can get out of you. The reason modern consoles aren't selling 300million+ units is because of myopia. And the worst part is that it's a vicious cycle. They see their sales shrinking so the penny pinchers and MBAs get even nastier squeezing the ever-shrinking userbase even more resulting in less sales meaning they need to squeeze those that remain even harder and so on. At seemingly no point is anybody asking 'Hey why do our sales keep falling even though the potential market's way larger and the competition is pretty meh?' I guess that doesn't look as good on a powerpoint slide as trying to kill the used game market and pretending it will have no knock-on effects.
- angoragoats 3mo ago
  I feel this in my bones and it's a great way to frame it. My last Playstation console was a PS2 and I've also opted out of recent generations. Historically, for me, one of the benefits of a console was that you could just pop the game in, and it would always work, simply and easily. DRM, online checks, DLC that should have been part of the base game, digital-only games, etc have ruined all that, and if that's going to be the trend everywhere I'll just stick to a PC and Steam where I have a library of games built up over the decades. I have a Switch and feel that Nintendo provided a decent experience on their recent systems, but with the advent of "game keys" or whatever they call it on the Switch 2, they've flipped to being even worse than the digital-only systems. At least Sony isn't (yet?) trying to sell you a license on a disc to try to fool you into thinking you own a physical copy.
  - nemomarx 3mo ago
    You can resell game key cards, at least? They seem better than digital copies to me. And first party games are still on cartridge for the most part.
    - philistine 3mo ago
      People have convinced themselves that game key cards are terrible, when they're the exact same thing as the old style of cartridges, with the only difference that you don't have the 1.0 on it. People are convinced that game key cards will stop working at some point, when it's the reverse that will happen; your card will be fine, but won't work on a Switch 2, only a future console. Nintendo will close access to their stores to old consoles way before they break access with their cards.
      - angoragoats 3mo ago
        > People have convinced themselves that game key cards are terrible, when they're the exact same thing as the old style of cartridges, with the only difference that you don't have the 1.0 on it. I guess this statement is correct, but my point is that the most important thing to me is that I have the game on the cartridge.
      - extraduder_ire 3mo ago
        Does the switch's "Match Version with Local Users" feature on the software update menu work for this, or is an internet connection strictly required the first time you insert a key card?
        philistine 3mo ago
        That's only for updates. The initial install must come from the eShop. That's not different for game key cards. When you first put a card in, you need to download the game from eShop. No exceptions.
    - angoragoats 3mo ago
- ryandrake 3mo ago
  Gamers are notorious for accepting whatever abuse game companies and studios want to inflict, and then keep buying and buying. All the horrible anti-consumer technologies and business practices from DRM to games that are released unfinished, to kernel-level anti-cheats and rootkits, all are routinely done with video games because the industry knows gamers are fanatics and will put up with anything. If gamers want to stop this, they need to stop rewarding these companies with their money. 99% of gamers who are mad about physical disk distribution going away will still buy the digitally distributed games.
  - somenameforme 3mo ago
    The whole point is that they aren't accepting it. In terms of sales PS2 > PS4 > PS5. That alone is already a big issue but it becomes just comically bad when you consider that the world population is about 33% larger than during the PS2 era, gaming has become completely normalized, and that the competition in modern times is mediocre.
    - vrsgjye 3mo ago
      [dead]
    - IanCal 3mo ago
      Have profits gone down?
      - chocochunks 3mo ago
        No, but they're also monetizing a bunch of extra ways that they weren't in the past. In the PS2 era, Sony made money from the cut of physical games and accessories and maybe the console itself if it was purchased far enough into the console lifespan. These days they have online subs, cuts of DLC and microtransactions plus all the other stuff they had previously. And they get bigger cuts for DLC, microtransactions and digital games since they are the (only) retailer.
        3mo ago
- nemomarx 3mo ago
  The next console is going to cost at least 1000 dollars, right? There's simply no way to sell hardware at 300 million units now. So I think their strategy is to abandon the mass market and sell to price unconscious consumers who will also pay more for games.
  - wtetzner 3mo ago
    But what's the point of even releasing the next console? The current console generation has barely gotten started, and developers have barely taken advantage of the new hardware. Maybe they need to look at releasing a cheaper console and making more quality games instead of constantly pushing so hard on graphics. Graphics help sales to an extent, but it's clearly not the whole story, given the popularity of the Wii or Switch. I think the people in charge no longer understand gaming, and are really struggling to produce games that will draw in large crowds again. > So I think their strategy is to abandon the mass market and sell to price unconscious consumers who will also pay more for games. Kinda seems like it. I'm curious to see what happens with that, because even people who so far have been willing to pay more will stop being customers if they can't produce an experience that's worth paying for. Maybe I'm in the minority, but the first-party PlayStation games all feel very samey to me.
    - nemomarx 3mo ago
      For the ps6, they were already done with design and they'd need to let that go to waste to not put it out. I doubt it'll have many exclusives though - it's probably a ps5 pro pro thing. But I'm also not sure they can sell a cheaper console. PS5 prices just rose and they'll rise again next year - so that level is already going to cost 800 dollars to consumers. You can't really sell hardware to anyone until ram prices come down it seems. They could release a ps4 level console but I'm not sure it would be that cheap to source parts for... There are rumors of a handheld so that might be cheaper. Basically console gaming is about to get impractical and they'll try and find a path to stay alive. That's my read.
      - wtetzner 3mo ago
- ChrisRR 3mo ago
  Because they have almost definitely already factored in the loss from people boycotting vs the gain due to killing the resale market into their analysis. They are fully aware that some people are going to refuse to buy digital only The unfortunate truth is that physical sales have been ever declining so the writing was on the wall Edit: And you can't really compare the PS2 and PS5 in terms of competition. PS5 isn't just competing against other consoles, it's also competing against netflix, youtube, tiktok, any endless scrolling platform. There were much fewer options for entertainment in 2001 than there are now
- someonebaggy 3mo ago
  So they sold half as many. The next question should be: did they make more than twice as much profit per sale? I suspect the answer is yes.
  - somenameforme 3mo ago
    There's several points on this. - The published profit margins from Sony are misleading. They take maximal advantage of inflation, currency shifts, and generational overlap to create a picture of profitability that is well above whatever the 'real' figure might be. - You're comparing the present to the past, instead of an alternative present. Given the very large increases in market size and reduction in competition I think there's little doubt a consumer friendly Sony could have easily doubled their sales, if not substantially more. - The downward slope of anti-consumerism is not sustainable. You end up in a situation where you have to keep charging more and more for a product where demand keeps going lower and lower. Especially as we reach an era of declining fertility, there's only so many fools. - Why would you even want to do this? Even if, and I think that's a huge if, Sony ended up more profitable than good behavior would have yielded, it's going to be by the thinnest of margins. And they've put themselves in a situation where they're now in an increasingly adversarial relationship with their own users. See companies like EA or Activision on the software side doing the same thing. I think there's some je ne sais pas to be had for leaders of a beloved companies, as opposed to leaders of yet another corporate bottom feeder.

giwook 3mo ago

You've illustrated exactly why Sony is getting rid of physical media. Money.

xp84 3mo ago
Also, remember the marketing idea of the "Disney Vault"? In the 90s, Disney would take all their movies in and out of print basically, only selling tapes some of the time, and they'd charge top dollar for them, because you couldn't just walk into Walmart and grab a copy of "Cinderella" anytime. They created scarcity easily this way, since before ebay, finding specific things like a certain videotape at a thrift store or something was a lot more work. So they would charge like $25 for a decades-old movie and say "Get it now, before it goes back in the vault!" I can see this happening with games more after the death of physical media. Create artificial scarcity with limited time windows and charge top dollar for old games because there will be literally no way to get them besides on their digital store terms.
- mikepurvis 3mo ago
  Hopefully emulation and piracy will continue to provide a reasonable check valve on this getting too far out of control. I don't personally engage in either at present outside of an old homebrewed Wii U, but I feel like the existence of those is important to remind the digital storefront/platform owners that at the end of the day they aren't actually the only game in town. Either that or eventually we'll have to get some antitrust stuff happening to open these things up, though Epic's App Store lawsuit does not give me much hope in that direction.
  - bredren 3mo ago
    I would attribute Disney's use of scarcity as a primary means to drive film and TV box office and streaming dollars in the Star Wars franchise. This is already under threat due to the Star Wars AI videos being released on Youtube, seemingly without constraint as of yet. The videos are not Hollywood quality [0], however they circumvent rules Disney can't easily break like using the likeness of any actor at any age in any circumstance. These fan made videos get lots of views. Even if they were all removed from YouTube, this will be a difficult thing to stop. I believe a generally accepted "good" or even "great" unofficial, Star Wars film built without sets or actors using AI is inevitable. And that this will be true for any popular franchise. The natural corollary to this arc is into games, where using AI to code most or all of a AAA-competitive title would be considered inevitable. I suspect Disney and Sony have at least someone pointing at this outcome. [0] I suppose idealized Hollywood quality. They are better than some films.

nottorp 3mo ago

You don't even need to go used. Discs constantly drop in price even new.

asimovDev 3mo ago
in europe it's often cheaper to buy a game new in box from the retailer than from the PS Store. Not for long maybe. I will mourn the loss of physical games as they are such a big part of console experience
- nottorp 3mo ago
  I am in Europe but I just don't do launch prices on any platform or delivery form so I didn't notice that. Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/606/ https://xkcd.com/606/
  - asveikau 3mo ago
    Off topic, XKCD should put the original publication date on the page. This one references specific years, and I could tell it's from 2009 after thinking about it, but doesn't hit the same way.
    - catlikesshrimp 3mo ago
      I tend to read this shortly after the strip, because I am that stupid. Also because there is no easy mouseover on android. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/606:_Cutting_Edge https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/606:_Cutting_Edge
      - renata 3mo ago
        m.xkcd.com lets you click for the alt-text.
    - nottorp 3mo ago
      I've never played enough Portal to get to the point referred to by the comic, but I get the idea. And yes, I probably played Portal 1 a few years after Portal 2 was out.

cortesoft 3mo ago

Yeah, and Sony agrees it is stupid... they don't want a used games market.

CommanderData 3mo ago

Yes stupid for shareholders and until the EU comes in and saves the day again this will continue. There's something to be said for creating a near monopoly and also having the ability to digitally revoke someones right to use something they purchased legally, which we'll see more of. Regulations are needed to protect us.

sipos 3mo ago

This is what happens when you have a market controlled heavily by one player - they use that to their own advantage.

mrandish 3mo ago

It's not just games. For several years the cheapest way to buy a legit U.S. Office 365 sub is to order a physical box from Amazon on Black Friday. Inside the box is nothing but a scratch-off card with the online license key. It's literally cheaper to get printed color packaging overnight delivered to my door than to sign up on the webpage.

someonebaggy 3mo ago
This is a form of market segmentation.

palmotea 3mo ago

> To illustrate why this is stupid, I will furnish two links to purchase Dark Souls 3 (PS4, 2016) > Ebay, to buy: $11 + shipping[0] > PS Store, to rent: $60[1] Yeah, Sony is stupid to be leaving money on the table like that. Lucky for us, we live in a market system that we can trust to optimize for maximum consumer benefit (like Sony is doing here). It's our revealed choice that we want to pay more for old games.

lelandfe 3mo ago
Although it's just anecdata, after spending $600 on the console, I certainly was dismayed to find 10-year old games only being sold at their original prices. Surely they should at least track inflation? Perhaps Sony could add an optional tipping screen before digital checkout for the good customers.
- nemomarx 3mo ago
  What else tracks inflation like that? Do movies?
  - Den_VR 3mo ago
    Movie tickets are now easily $25 a seat.
- palmotea 3mo ago
  > Although it's just anecdata, after spending $600 on the console, I certainly was dismayed to find 10-year old games only being sold at their original prices. Surely they should at least track inflation? Honestly, Sony should just retroactively bill consumers for inflation. Since $60 in 2016 is worth almost $89 today, they should charge all the people who bought the game back then a $29 price adjustment. It's the the only fair thing to do for. If consumers don't like that option, an alternative can be a perpetual $5/year subscription that additional provides in-game stickers.
  - wtetzner 3mo ago

bsammon 3mo ago

I own a Nintendo Switch, and I've noticed that in the Nintendo store, old games regularly go on sale for in the ballpark of 80% off. Does that happen in the PS store?

mghackerlady 3mo ago
third parties do. Good luck buying a nintendo game for less than it was at launch
- minimaxir 3mo ago
  Nintendo occasionally does 30% off sales on their published games through the eShop. There are a few active now: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/sales-and-deals/ https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/sales-and-deals/ A funny quirk of that is that the Mario and Rabbids games are always 90% off because they are not published by Nintendo.
deleted 3mo ago
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ectospheno 3mo ago

I already own Dark Souls 3 but were I to purchase it again I’d still pick PlayStation over eBay. Even at this price point. I get I’m not the average consumer but I have money and discs are annoying.

zenlot 3mo ago
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throwaway219450 3mo ago

We do this with movie night now. It can be 15 bucks to rent an HD movie - not even a new release! Frequently it’s cheaper to buy a copy and give it to a thrift store afterwards. I’m considering trying one of the mail order rental companies again.

throwaway613746 3mo ago

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