Comments 282

Re: Sony Knows How You Feel About No More Discs, But It's Not Going to Reverse Course

electrolite77

@Rich33

PCs have got easier to use, Consoles more complex. PCs will offer more consumer choice, Consoles less.

There is nothing in consumer law offering you the protection you seem to think you have. Even as a digital buyer you benefit from the competition from physical as retailers compete and the resale market applies pressure on prices. That will be gone and the only retailers permitted to sell codes will be Sony, who will be able to control the market in the same way Apple currently do theirs.

There’s never been a never will be an instance where less consumer choice has benefitted the consumer. This will be the same. Sony are gambling that the losses from those leaving the ecosystem (which will include some big spenders) will be offset by increased returns from, and control over, those that stay in the ecosystem paying them more for less. They’re hoping to create a community of casual gamers and Whales to be bled dry.

Any discounts will be entirely down to their largesse with very little impetus to give any, every aspect of what you purchase, where, how, and how long you have it for will be at the whim of one vendor with no competition. Any consumer that sees that as a positive is the equivalent of the frog sat in the pan of increasingly warm water.

Re: Sony Knows How You Feel About No More Discs, But It's Not Going to Reverse Course

electrolite77

@Rich33 @tangyzesty

This must have been explained thousands of times now and I can’t believe you don’t know. But for the avoidance of doubt, on PC you have a multitude of storefronts to buy from, better DRM in many cases and the capacity to burn many games to disc if you want. Games are generally substantially cheaper on there as no platform holder takes a cut.

It also has other advantages like decades of backwards compatibility, mod support, free Online play, emulators etc. Consoles used to have the advantage of cost, ease of use, convenience, physical games and exclusive games. Sony have almost stripped the first four away and don’t do much of the fifth thing anymore.

Re: Sony Knows How You Feel About No More Discs, But It's Not Going to Reverse Course

electrolite77

I don’t expect them to change their mind. I just expect them to not get any money out of me.

They’re taking a calculated gamble. They know they’re going to lose a portion of their user base over this. They know PS6 will sell less than PS5, especially at the prices rumoured. The gamble is that making more money off those that remain from higher prices and higher profit margins will offset that. I’ve got too much pride to allow them to bleed me dry like that and will be getting a PC, but it’ll be interesting to see if it works.

Re: Poll: Are You Considering Leaving PlayStation for PC?

electrolite77

@MinerWilly

PC gets most of the blockbusters though? How does selling old games in any way indicate that the platform doesn’t get new games? There’s no connection at all. In fact a platform having literally decades of persistent BC as well as modern games is a big plus.

Re: 'PS5 Has Put a Dampener on Gaming': 45% of Enthusiasts 'Seriously Considering' Leaving Sony for PC

electrolite77

It’s the straw that broke the camels back.

If the future is digital only it just makes lots more sense for consumers to be on a platform where they have more choice of where to purchase and much more flexible DRM overall. It also offers Mods, decades of backwards compatibility, emulators and free Online. Throw in Sonys less than stellar exclusives output and high Hardware prices and they’ve steadily removed most of Consoles advantages over PC anyway, so…..may as well go PC.

Re: 50+ Digital PS3, PS Vita Games to Buy Before It's Too Late

electrolite77

@Anthony_Daniels

Most of these aren’t 20 years old. But thanks for drawing attention to the disparity between the lifespan of digital games and the lifespan of physical games. If I want to buy a physical game from 20….30….40 years ago I can do. Yet soon nobody will be able to buy these games. They will literally disappear. Impossible to see how that’s a good thing.

Re: Poll: Are You Considering Leaving PlayStation for PC?

electrolite77

@get2sammyb

I think the straw that broke the camels back is more accurate than people just being angry. If cancelling physical was a shock announcement among a slew of positive news and good moves I’m not sure it would have had the same impact.

But the optics of that announcement at the same time as shutting the PS3 and Vita stores down is a clear indication of a company that doesn’t think it has to try to keep customers sweet anymore.

They’re arrogantly complacent that they’re the only game in town and customers will have to hand over the money for their product no matter what. I’ve been a PlayStation owner since January 1996 and for me it’s the sad acceptance that the company I knew from the PS1 days or the PS4 era is long gone. The only way to correct overpowering corporate arrogance is for them to see the results in their sales.

Re: Poll: Are You Considering Leaving PlayStation for PC?

electrolite77

“Generally it’s accepted that the PC ecosystem gives you more ownership over your games, and there’s obviously competition within the space, as it’s an open platform with a variety of competing storefronts. (Although ask Epic Games how that’s going for them.)

Broadly, I think this sentiment boils down to the fact that consoles just don’t have the advantage over PCs they used to have.”

This is it, it’s the accumulation of everything. I’ve bought every PS3 console so far and between their hugely disappointing output this generation, price rises, and determined move to give me less choice and less for my money as a consumer in the future, I see absolutely nothing pushing me to buy another one.

Re: Sony Announces Gigantic PS5 Price Increases, Effective from April 2026

electrolite77

As sensible as this seems to Sony in the short term, to maintain their margins in the face of rising component prices and Tariffs, long term the picture looks very uncertain. Younger generations are going to continue to move away from Consoles. Why pay minimum £520 for a PlayStation when the device they already have (Phone) plays Fortnite, Roblox, FC, Pokémon Go, COD, PUBG etc?

Re: 'Told You So': Ex-FTC Chair Lina Khan Is Having the Last Laugh Over Xbox's Activision Acquisition

electrolite77

Not quite sure why she’s so smug. She argued that the acquisitions would lessen competition, yet MS are now putting their games on everything. Nobody needs to buy anything MS-related to buy COD or any other ActiBlizz game. Yes MS have carried on living down to reputation by laying people off, but almost everyone in the industry has (apart from Nintendo). Everyone has increased prices. Xbox was already set on their current path of poking their fanbase in the eyes every few months. Think she’s trying to retrospectively cover how bad it all worked out for her and the FTC.

Re: Microsoft Is Investigating Why Devs Are Prioritising PS5 Over Xbox

electrolite77

Well that’s pretty simple.

1. Difference in Userbase size

2. Almost total lack of presence in some important territories.

Thats it. Not Series S, not GP, that’s the two issues. Very good to see them trying to find out what the issues are. It’s a mature approach and crucial for every video game consumer as the market needs competition, which means a strong Xbox.

Re: Reaction: Why There Are So Many Unnecessary PS5 Remasters for Games That Don't Need Them

electrolite77

I’m just going to echo what others have said but remastering games that can already played on the PS5 is just lazy, especially when there are so many Sony franchises from PS3 and earlier lying dormant.

The comparisons with Nintendo don’t really work. Hardly anybody played Wii U games and they don’t physically work on Switch so porting them made sense. But they’ve always been part of the wider schedule. Even this year which has been very remake heavy for them still has 4 or 5 new games.

Doubling back to neglected franchises, Sony could learn from Nintendo here too. Some say Resistance, Killzone, Sly Raccoon etc are being ignored because they didn’t sell enough. Look how Nintendo plugged away at Fire Emblem. Pikmin was never a big seller but got a sequel after 10+ years. Metroid Prime is back and even stuff like Another Code, Advance Wars and F-Zero got some acknowledgment this gen.

If Sony want to fill out their schedule there are better ways to do it than live service disasters and slightly shinier versions of games we can already play.

Re: PS5 Pro Announced, Costs $700 and Out in November

electrolite77

@x3King84

I agree. Worst Console generation by some distance. Complacency and arrogance is rife in two of the three main players. We normally only have it in one. It’s a disaster for consumers

@nedbvai

The PS3 was wildly overpriced though, so that’s not a great comparison. Sony spent the next three years stripping components out and trying to force the price down. Value is totally subjective, some people will see this as attractive, others won’t. But that isn’t the same as being able to afford it. I could preorder 10 if I wanted but I’m not going to because it isn’t worth it to me.

Re: Reaction: PlayStation Needs to Take a Long, Hard Look at Itself

electrolite77

“ Should it lessen the emphasis on live service – and how will it account for spiralling budgets and escalating development cycles if it does? ”

Yes they should. They could try generating revenue the way they used to, by putting out AA, lower budget games that don’t have to have cutting edge graphics and £100m+ budgets. They could maybe try doing what Nintendo do and padding out their schedule with a healthy diet of remakes and remasters which cost less to make. They’re certainly sitting on enough dormant franchises.