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Analyst says Sony going all-in on digital is like the death of PC disc drives: 'Not a single person is complaining about it today' (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 4 months ago by [B] to c/indiegamedev@lemmy.world
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[–] 4 points 4 months ago* (6 children)

I think there’s a nugget of truth here.

For all that we praise physical game media, in aggregate we sure didn’t support it with our wallets on PC.

Same for DRM-free gaming. GoG is doing basically everything right, and are gamers flocking there? Nope. It’s losing market share. GoG might die off, by the looks of things.

I think people, on average, do what’s most immediately convenient, not necessarily what’s principled. And for most that’s going to be digital media and DRM.

Of course I don’t like it. But that doesn’t mean there’s critical mass to stop it. That’s fanciful thinking, IMO.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (4 children)

    Sure, but we still have the choice on PC to buy software from different competing stores. And we can also still get physical drives for our machines.

    That's the fundamental difference.

    You can't choose a different store on the PS or get a drive to make use of a different physical store.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (3 children)

    Sure, but we still have the choice on PC to buy software from different competing stores. And we can also still get physical drives for our machines.

    At the rate things are going, that may not be much of a choice.

    What's the point of a physical drive if nothing is sold for it?

    What's the point of different stores if there's one massively dominant one, and it dictates the pricing and more for all the others?

    ...What's the point of the PC platform if they stop making components for it?

    I think people don't realize how precarious our situation on PC is. We've taken it for granted a long time, but we may not have that luxury soon. And its going to keep degrading if people taking the convenient route.

    I'm not proposing a solution, either. Users will do what they do. But I'm just saying these assumptions aren't gonna hold.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (2 children)

    What could possibly happen to PC to make it as closed as consoles? The closest thing might be what Microsoft tried with the Windows Store with Windows 8. And our benevolent PC store monopoly has since then invested heavily into ensuring that PCs remain open.

    And they did it in such a way that it cannot be taken away. Even if Valve went away tomorrow Epic and GOG are poised to take their place. And every single PC sold by Valve will keep on working.

    PCs aren't even restricted to the x86 platform anymore. Thanks to FEX even your smartphone has become a PC.

    And as to why I still keep my physical drives? I still have physical games. I can still get old ones used. And even new ones are released every now and then. On top of music and videos also frequently being released on optical discs.

    The solution is exactly what Valve and GOG are doing.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago*

    And they did it in such a way that it cannot be taken away. Even if Valve went away tomorrow Epic and GOG are poised to take their place. And every single PC sold by Valve will keep on working.

    I'm talking about Valve:

    Valve's parity requirement forces publishers to hold prices identical across storefronts, insulating Steam's 30% commission from competition.

    https://www.rainintelligence.com/blog/price-parity-mfn-clause-antitrust

    https://aftermath.site/gamers-sue-microsoft-valve-steam-antitrust-lawsuit/

    Valve is not our friend.

    Steam may be consumer-friendly now, but once their pseudo-monopoly consolidates, other storefronts will go out of business, or be stuck under Valve's pricing rules. And why would most people even look at other storefronts if every game is listed on Steam, and they aren't even allowed to be cheaper?

    And once that happens... well, again, I know everyone likes Valve now. But they are going to enshittify, sooner or later. If you think they won't, tell me this: can you name a single, benevolent strong monopoly as historical precedent?

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    Also, on the hardware side, theres a lobbying effort to label open source LLMs as "dangerous."

    That means PC hardware is dangerous.

    I guarantee you, OpenAI and Anthropic are coming after PC hardware, and other companies will be more than happy to offer remote, rented instances as a "safe" alternative.

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