5 ms·

Walking away from the closed platform you invested hundreds/thousands of dollars into over the years is a luxury (especially if you were mislead into buying a P

by bogwog 3mo ago

Walking away from the closed platform you invested hundreds/thousands of dollars into over the years is a luxury (especially if you were mislead into buying a PS5 with a disc drive thinking it'd be supported at least until the end of the product's lifespan) Monopolies, anti-competitive behavior, and anti-consumer behavior in general are all bad bad bad. You have to be a very interesting individual to disagree with that.

hnlmorg 3mo ago
> especially if you were mislead into buying a PS5 with a disc drive thinking it'd be supported at least until the end of the product's lifespan 8 years is roughly the lifespan for a games console though. And I say this as someone who hates Sony perhaps more than most, having lived through their the CD rootkit and PS3 OtherOS debacles. And been burned by their substandard yet overpriced audio equipment.
- xandrius 3mo ago
  Game consoles are not biological beasts which decay as a matter of nature or fact. They are tools, toys, they are devices. I can still play my PS1 as before, I just need to pop in a CD and I'm good to go.
  - hnlmorg 3mo ago
    You’re conflating two completely different things. I’m a retro gamer. I have around 20 systems all hooked up and ready to play from the Atari 2600 through to modern systems like the PS4. In fact I bet I have systems you hadn’t even heard of, and machines that are older than you are. So I know better than most that consoles can live for decades. But that’s not what people mean when they talk about a consoles life. What that term means is the period of time that a console is the current generation (and yes, “generation” is the technical term here and not something I made up). Also decay isn’t a phenomenon exclusive to biology. Plenty of things which aren’t organic can have a life and decay, even though we know they’re not technically a life form. For example stars. But even technology can decay. Capacitors and batteries are the biggest two killers of old technology, and common problems I’ve had to repair in my old hardware. The laser in your PS1 is also a consumable. I’ve had to replace the laser in my PS1 for that very reason. Solder can crack. Any moving parts like motors, fans, and CD/DVD trays can seize up over time too. There’s also sun-bleaching that happens to white and grey casing too, which is thankfully a very easy fix.
chrisco255 3mo ago
Sony doesnt have a monopoly on gaming. There is PC, mobile, Steam, Nintendo, Apple desktop, etc. There are also retro games consoles like Mod64. You don't invest in a game console it is an entertainment expense. You can sell your used PS5 if you disagree with the direction.
- L-four 3mo ago
  They have a monopoly on disks for the PlayStation.
  - tomnipotent 3mo ago
    It's amazing how many people throw around the word monopoly without remotely understanding what it means.
    - scheeseman486 3mo ago
      They were using the word correctly, "monopoly" doesn't only mean greatly dominant player in an open market. Current consoles are by definition vertical monopolies.
      - miki123211 3mo ago
        I think we should encourage this framing of "monopoly" more. You can be a tiny company and still be a monopoly. If you're the only grocery store in a (walkable) town where many elderly people don't own a car, you're a monopoly. If you're the only company allowed to sell beer at a football game (that doesn't allow fans to bring liquids into the stadium), you're a monopoly. If you're a school cantine, and school rules forbid students from walking out during the school day, you're also a monopoly.
        deleted 3mo ago
        [deleted]
        tomnipotent 3mo ago
kelvinjps10 3mo ago
Console is the kind of thing where you upgrade every few years like for obviously games you bought for ps3 or PS4 don't work in the PS5 or Xbox 360 for Xbox one you have to buy one for each console. So people will switch to the competition, you can see on the sales of each consoles where their peak was. People might even get tired of Nintendo,Sony and Microsoft and just go with steam and valve
- TylerE 3mo ago
  Every ps4 game works on ps5.
dogwalker5000 3mo ago
I’m just saying, you can stop buying new games. If enough people do it, Sony will fold.
newaccountman2 3mo ago
I agree with your second sentence, and agree that Sony seems like a pretty bad actor as a result of all this, but the first sentence is false and hyperbolic. It's not a luxury to walk away from a sunk-cost, no matter what % of your past expendable income it represents (I think that was kind of what you were hinting at). Anyone can do it.
p1necone 3mo ago
Eh I think you're overstating the level of lock-in here. There's nothing about the platform itself that forces you to stay, it's just the games you've already bought. You can keep the system and just stop buying new games on it. And most people probably don't replay most games after beating them once, for the handful you do want to replay, you just bust out that console occasionally, or you grab them again in a steam sale to play them on PC instead or something.

by bogwog 3mo ago

hnlmorg 3mo ago

> especially if you were mislead into buying a PS5 with a disc drive thinking it'd be supported at least until the end of the product's lifespan 8 years is roughly the lifespan for a games console though. And I say this as someone who hates Sony perhaps more than most, having lived through their the CD rootkit and PS3 OtherOS debacles. And been burned by their substandard yet overpriced audio equipment.

xandrius 3mo ago
Game consoles are not biological beasts which decay as a matter of nature or fact. They are tools, toys, they are devices. I can still play my PS1 as before, I just need to pop in a CD and I'm good to go.
- hnlmorg 3mo ago
  You’re conflating two completely different things. I’m a retro gamer. I have around 20 systems all hooked up and ready to play from the Atari 2600 through to modern systems like the PS4. In fact I bet I have systems you hadn’t even heard of, and machines that are older than you are. So I know better than most that consoles can live for decades. But that’s not what people mean when they talk about a consoles life. What that term means is the period of time that a console is the current generation (and yes, “generation” is the technical term here and not something I made up). Also decay isn’t a phenomenon exclusive to biology. Plenty of things which aren’t organic can have a life and decay, even though we know they’re not technically a life form. For example stars. But even technology can decay. Capacitors and batteries are the biggest two killers of old technology, and common problems I’ve had to repair in my old hardware. The laser in your PS1 is also a consumable. I’ve had to replace the laser in my PS1 for that very reason. Solder can crack. Any moving parts like motors, fans, and CD/DVD trays can seize up over time too. There’s also sun-bleaching that happens to white and grey casing too, which is thankfully a very easy fix.

chrisco255 3mo ago

Sony doesnt have a monopoly on gaming. There is PC, mobile, Steam, Nintendo, Apple desktop, etc. There are also retro games consoles like Mod64. You don't invest in a game console it is an entertainment expense. You can sell your used PS5 if you disagree with the direction.

L-four 3mo ago
They have a monopoly on disks for the PlayStation.
- tomnipotent 3mo ago
  It's amazing how many people throw around the word monopoly without remotely understanding what it means.
  - scheeseman486 3mo ago
    They were using the word correctly, "monopoly" doesn't only mean greatly dominant player in an open market. Current consoles are by definition vertical monopolies.
    - miki123211 3mo ago
      I think we should encourage this framing of "monopoly" more. You can be a tiny company and still be a monopoly. If you're the only grocery store in a (walkable) town where many elderly people don't own a car, you're a monopoly. If you're the only company allowed to sell beer at a football game (that doesn't allow fans to bring liquids into the stadium), you're a monopoly. If you're a school cantine, and school rules forbid students from walking out during the school day, you're also a monopoly.
      - deleted 3mo ago
        [deleted]
      - tomnipotent 3mo ago

kelvinjps10 3mo ago

Console is the kind of thing where you upgrade every few years like for obviously games you bought for ps3 or PS4 don't work in the PS5 or Xbox 360 for Xbox one you have to buy one for each console. So people will switch to the competition, you can see on the sales of each consoles where their peak was. People might even get tired of Nintendo,Sony and Microsoft and just go with steam and valve

TylerE 3mo ago
Every ps4 game works on ps5.

dogwalker5000 3mo ago

I’m just saying, you can stop buying new games. If enough people do it, Sony will fold.

newaccountman2 3mo ago

I agree with your second sentence, and agree that Sony seems like a pretty bad actor as a result of all this, but the first sentence is false and hyperbolic. It's not a luxury to walk away from a sunk-cost, no matter what % of your past expendable income it represents (I think that was kind of what you were hinting at). Anyone can do it.

p1necone 3mo ago

Eh I think you're overstating the level of lock-in here. There's nothing about the platform itself that forces you to stay, it's just the games you've already bought. You can keep the system and just stop buying new games on it. And most people probably don't replay most games after beating them once, for the handful you do want to replay, you just bust out that console occasionally, or you grab them again in a steam sale to play them on PC instead or something.