Fuck Subscriptions

All of the games on gamepass are available for purchase at reasonable prices. Gamepass is a choice for people that want a wide variety of games to play right now for a reasonable price. Maybe one day sony or Microsoft first party games could become sub only but that seems very unlikely given the relatively high selling price of games compared to Blu rays, cds, books, etc... . It's too profitable not to offer them for sale.

This is a very silly argument.

For now at least, I see it as what I used to do back in the good ol’days and rent games from blockbuster. What I don’t like is having to be connected online to play a game. Even though you buy a game online once that service disappears your screwed.

I see it as a library. I pay a fee, I read as many books as I want, I give them back when I am done, I can get them again if I want to.

What I see as a problem is preservation of games. One day they stop providing a download and then these games are gone for good. Books get preserved by the government(s), games rarely.

I also get free (not F2P) games a week on PC, more than I will ever be able to play in my life and good games too. There is no chance my PC will ever be an empty paperweight, especially not because of backwards compatibility and because legally DRM free games (GOG for example, itch.io etc.) exist that you can even download and store yourself so if your internet is down you can still install them.

Subscription services will start to become a problem once one business has a monopoly and Microsoft is on their way there maybe. But I guess it will work how it is with Netflix. First Netflix was good, then everyone wanted to make their own version of Netflix and now people decide more and more to set sail again, because one subscription might be ok, three or more are not anymore. Game Pass, Nintendo, Ubisoft+, EA, ...

I blame Call of Duty & Gears of War & Halo. As soon as people accepted a fee for multiplayer, it was over. I remember thinking “PS3 is gonna win this; who’s gonna pay for Xbox live, no way,” and then people did it.

Admittedly, I like Game Pass lol. It’s awesome for trying out games: I got it to try Psychonauts 2, then bought it, also tried High on Life & decided to skip it.

Considering how few actual gamers seem to have become game devs, it’s only a matter of time before you’re right about not being able to buy games. Just like car seats not heating if you don’t subscribe.

I mean, something like Spotify is the same. I don't really buy music anymore and if I stopped subscribing then I'd not have access to music... But the quality of the service is good enough and value good enough that I don't really mind.

Its just a balance of are you getting more value out of it than you'd get just buying games when you want to play them

This year alone, I’m looking forward to playing Starfield, Lies Of P, Payday 3, Forza Motorsport, and STALKER 2. At $60 each, that would be $300 of games.

At the end of the year, I will have paid $119.88 for Game Pass.

Along the way, I’ve discovered other games I wouldn’t have otherwise known about and dipped my toes risk-free into games I would not have otherwise purchased. When looking for something to play with a group of friends, the fact that we all have Game Pass makes it easy to explore something new without asking anyone to spend $60.

If we look at Starfield alone, I’m probably going to let it ruin my life for 3 months ($29.97 in subscription). By the time I’m looking to jump in again, it will probably have gone on sale on Steam for less than $30.

At the end of the day, you don’t even own the games you are buying anyways. You get a license to play them while they are available and that availability can be revoked at any time.

I mean I only ever use it when I get a new card and get the one month for one dollar and cancel it after.

There is also the matter of value psychology that's in play. Of you pay for a title, it automatically gains value. Of it's given to you for free (or as a all you can eat buffet) - the same title suddenly does not feel so premium.

Going to the movies vs watching a film on Netflix. Buying a vinyl of an album vs playing few songs on Spotify.

I understand that to some the value proposition is just too hard to pass. To me however it cheapens the games and makes them less interesting.

(I got a year of ultimate in some promotion. Installed a bunch of games, then never played them, instead enjoying other titles I actually personally picked and paid for)

I get your fear, but how is this any different (it's actually much cheaper) than the rentals of old?

I've heard that gamespass is supposed to be excellent value considering what you get. I don't have an Xbox so I can't say personally.

Gamepass also gives you a 20% discount if you decide to purchase the games

It’s a much more convenient, modern day version of video game rentals like Blockbuster. If you’re thinking about it any other way, you’re the type of person that keeps this system profitable for Microsoft.

And that's why I play single player games.

Of all the subscription based services that exist and fucking suck, this is far from one of them. It's a great value for what you pay if you're actually interested in lots of games. I can end up playing everything that comes out in a month and end up paying less in a year than buying those games outright in that single month.

Similarly, PS+ Premium, which I spent $120 for a year and it paid for itself within a week as I installed and played through 4 different games that would have totalled twice the subscription I paid. (4x$60=$240).

A better example would be the subscription cost of a single MMO like World of Warcraft. You pay the same monthly/yearly fee as GamePass. For one game. One game that is old as fuck and not really too relevant any more, at that.

I mean I hate it too but there are plenty of other options, you can easily just not use these services

You can buy games too, of course. This ain't the Switch, which leaves many of its games locked behind a subscription.

I pay for ultimate while purchasing games. I have access to everything for purchase at a discount and have a unlimited selection on day 1 while getting the discounts when the games get old ... if you only ever use the subscription service to play while it's on there you are misusing the service. When games leave gamepass I've played them they go down in value and I buy them 80% off in a year

Then don't subscribe?

I wouldn't worry if all entertainment suddenly turn to subscription only. I don't give a fuck.

I got my fellow sailors to the rescue: !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

Game Pass is super cheap in my country (RM 15/month ≈ 3.2 USD) and it allows me to play Starfield and Persona 5 Royal without having to pay the full price.

The combined price of both games is RM 491 which is equivalent to 2.7 years of Game Pass. I haven't even counted other games I play like Atomic Heart and Forza Horizon 5 so it's a great deal.