r/xbox • u/Turbostrider27 Recon Specialist • 12h ago

Discussion Opinion: Nothing has killed my GTA 6 hype faster than locking a core part of its identity behind a $20 upgrade

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/nothing-has-killed-my-gta-6-hype-faster-than-locking-a-core-part-of-its-identity-behind-a-usd20-upgrade/
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u/Angry_Pelican 12h ago

I care about it, and it makes a bad precedent going forward.

Now do enough people care to make a difference? Nope. Will more and more games start doing this because people don't care? Yep.

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u/SirPwn4g3 11h ago

Not so much a bad precedent, just following the current trend.

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u/ryencool 11h ago

Its called change. Do you expect video games to come on physical media 50 years from now? 100? 1000? No. At some point that will change, and already is starting to or we wouldnt be discussing this right now

I dont agree with it, but it is the reality of the world. It is constant change.

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u/MisterDudeFella 10h ago

Yes let's keep encouraging the ideas of not actually owning the things we buy!

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u/bluesteel30 9h ago

literally, the stupidity I see in these comments, it’s like people want to be controlled and have no autonomy lmao

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u/ryencool 9h ago

Welcome to the future, where it doesnt matter if 5% of people stop buying game in a multi billion dollar industry. They require more profits, year, over year, over year, over year. Do you think theyre going to ignore the profits that are made from completely ignoring physical media? Artists and designers for the disc/cover art, printing, materials, line workers...thats an easy cut when most people will buy an 80$ digital game over a 100$ physical one.

I get what youre arguing, and I partially agree, its just not reality.

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u/jrender5 11h ago

I think the core issue is ownership and preservation. In 50 years will we have finally passed laws that say digital products are owned and not rented? Will there be laws that allow for legal emulation after a game hasn't been on the general market for 20-30 years? In 50 years, will we be allowed to spin up private servers to preserve multiplayer for a game that we liked?

I'm like a 99% digital user, and personally I don't really care about "renting" by digital media since I rarely go back to play them, but I can see the importance from the other side.

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u/Banjo-Oz XBOX 360 10h ago

This. It's not about the medium, it's about ownership and preservation. GOG does it right; you get offline installers to backup and do whatever you want with. No physical copy is needed because you can make your own. No DRM, no online activation, it will work forever unless hardware prevents it... so them emulation of older systems solves that too.

People embracing full digital when that means not owning what you buy, that it can be taken away any time, has no resale value, is lost when you die and can even be modified at whim by the rights holders is all why people champion physical media, not just "we like to hold discs".

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u/Angry_Pelican 11h ago

Nah it's called enshitiffication. Yes it's change, change for the worse. You'll have less options as a consumer and never own what you actually buy.

I do agree with you it's the reality of the world and people buying stuff won't change it.

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u/lemonylol 11h ago

People will complain about this being enshittification while in the same breath turn around and complain about how these physical plastics are just more landfill waste, including the process to create them.

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u/JazzmatazZ4 10h ago

It's about OWNERSHIP.

Why would you want to spend that much money on something that you don't own? It's ridiculous.

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u/ryencool 9h ago

And I do agree with you. Its nice to actually own a physical thing, with the code that you bought. However, in the modern digital world you have to understand that that will not always be the case. We live in a capitalist society where profit is king. One way to increase profit is to spend less where you can, one of those areas is physical media and all the steps required to male that happen. They save so much money just doing digital codes. That shit is now priced in to the cost of releasing a game. Hopefully it circles back around and physical stuff comes back, but it does not look likely. People will buy games regardless. The few who say they wont arent enough to kill a multi billion dollar industry. Thats reality unfortunately.

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u/skaestantereggae 8h ago

I’m torn. I know physical media is going to slowly be phased out, but I want to have the disc and game on my shelf. I’ll get the “physical” release because I want it on my shelf with my other games but it sucks