Exactly, the issue here is that online services for games are becoming a lot more common these days. Back then, it was mostly a thing for MMOs, for good reason.
If people let it be, it’s really likely more and more games will require some sort of server, even if online play isn’t necessary for one to enjoy it or if it’s a mostly single player game with a few multiplayer functionalities. For now, most examples of this kind of thing are gatchas, but if people start accepting the idea that you don’t “own” the games you buy (and believe me, some already do), I can see companies pushing that kind of thing into normal games, too. It’s already starting, aint it?
Would make them more money, too, since they can pull the plug on a game and then 10 years later resell the same thing, and people will be forced to buy it again if they want to replay it. We do see this to lesser extend already.
Plus physical media on consoles is effectively worthless now, even on the Switch 2 with most of its library set to be downloads with literal license dongles ala the Game-Key Card which is targeted at third parties as a cheaper option than putting the whole game on a cart.
That Game-Key Card format will effectively render most of the Switch 2 library impossible to emulate assuming they need online access to run.
And even on PC, there’s nothing stopping publishers from getting smart and using kernel-level anticheat as a DRM substitute for single-player games, EA already set a precedent internally within their operations for doing that with EAAC on the latest WRC installment, for example.
As for the Switch 2, I wouldn’t put it above Nintendo to completely axe the cart slot for the Switch 3, if there even is a Switch 3 and the games industry doesn’t collapse again before that has a chance to happen, and make it a digital-exclusive console.
there are more single player games out there than you could ever play and you can own them forever.
the move to always online is an attempt to compete with their biggest competition, their entire back catalogue.
if I still gave a shit about new consoles an empty box with a game code or anything with always online would be deal breakers.
PSA: PS3 has a ton of great games you likely never played and shops literally can’t give them away right now. why pay over $100 for the remaster that you don’t own when you can own the original for $1
The PS3 is such a nice console. There is something special about using a device with such unorthodox CPU (Cell BE), especially when you see it running graphics intensive games in (relatively) high fidelity, like The Last Of Us. The console only has 512Mb RAM and 256Mb VRAM, and the GPU equivalent of the 8600GT!
But due to the architecture of the Cell BE, a lot of the graphics processing was performed on the SPEs, so basically on the CPU instead of the GPU.
Exactly, the issue here is that online services for games are becoming a lot more common these days. Back then, it was mostly a thing for MMOs, for good reason.
If people let it be, it’s really likely more and more games will require some sort of server, even if online play isn’t necessary for one to enjoy it or if it’s a mostly single player game with a few multiplayer functionalities. For now, most examples of this kind of thing are gatchas, but if people start accepting the idea that you don’t “own” the games you buy (and believe me, some already do), I can see companies pushing that kind of thing into normal games, too. It’s already starting, aint it?
Would make them more money, too, since they can pull the plug on a game and then 10 years later resell the same thing, and people will be forced to buy it again if they want to replay it. We do see this to lesser extend already.
Plus physical media on consoles is effectively worthless now, even on the Switch 2 with most of its library set to be downloads with literal license dongles ala the Game-Key Card which is targeted at third parties as a cheaper option than putting the whole game on a cart.
That Game-Key Card format will effectively render most of the Switch 2 library impossible to emulate assuming they need online access to run.
And even on PC, there’s nothing stopping publishers from getting smart and using kernel-level anticheat as a DRM substitute for single-player games, EA already set a precedent internally within their operations for doing that with EAAC on the latest WRC installment, for example.
As for the Switch 2, I wouldn’t put it above Nintendo to completely axe the cart slot for the Switch 3, if there even is a Switch 3 and the games industry doesn’t collapse again before that has a chance to happen, and make it a digital-exclusive console.
there are more single player games out there than you could ever play and you can own them forever.
the move to always online is an attempt to compete with their biggest competition, their entire back catalogue.
if I still gave a shit about new consoles an empty box with a game code or anything with always online would be deal breakers.
PSA: PS3 has a ton of great games you likely never played and shops literally can’t give them away right now. why pay over $100 for the remaster that you don’t own when you can own the original for $1
The PS3 is such a nice console. There is something special about using a device with such unorthodox CPU (Cell BE), especially when you see it running graphics intensive games in (relatively) high fidelity, like The Last Of Us. The console only has 512Mb RAM and 256Mb VRAM, and the GPU equivalent of the 8600GT! But due to the architecture of the Cell BE, a lot of the graphics processing was performed on the SPEs, so basically on the CPU instead of the GPU.