Is the End of gaming (and collecting) as we know it near?

[Sirgin]

I'm increasingly worried that gaming and collecting as we know it is coming to an end.

The growing DRM schemes PC gamers have had to endure from publishers such as Ubisoft and EA the last couple of years seem to me writings on the wall on what's in store for console gamers.

Both Ubisoft and EA are notorious for including extreme DRM in their games. "Always-on" DRM, requiring players to be connected to the Internet at all times, even for single-players games, are becoming mainstream. This always creates a massive backlash against the publisher in question, who usually defends itself by saying it's to "combat piracy". I wonder how many genuine sales they miss out on due to these DRM clusterfucks, compared with sales "lost" to pirates who weren't going to purchase the game anyway.

The latest episode in the DRM saga is EA's release of Sim City 5. Or "Sim City" as the game is actually called. I absolutely hate the recent trend of no longer numbering sequels. Imagine if the next Final Fantasy game would simply be called "Final Fantasy". The new Tomb Raider is also called "Tomb Raider". How absolutely retarded. But that's a topic for some other time.

Anyway...back to "Sim City".

In short, the game has always-online DRM, forcing gamers to play on servers, even for single-player games. Nobody at EA tested whether this system actually works, because players can't access the servers, effectively preventing customers from playing the game they just spent $60 on. The game also requires Origin, EA's Steam-clone, inferior to Steam in every possible way except in its ability to frustrate gamers by not working properly. Whatever you do, don't read Origin's Terms & Conditions. If you do, you'd find out EA can basically look at just about anything on your computer.

Have a look at Amazon user reviews of Sim City for more details about how the game fails in just about every way possible. The game is getting bombed with 1-star reviews. Great job, EA.


As this is a console site, I'll stop talking about Sim City and start talking about my real concern: the next generation of consoles.

While this generation has seen some forms of DRM, mostly from publishers, in the form of online passes and DLC, the next generation of consoles (PS4, Xbox 720) will undoubtedly feature draconian DRM, implemented at a hardware/OS-level, similar to what PC gamers have had to experience in recent year. It is very conceivable to think that "always-online" DRM will be implemented by Sony and Microsoft as well. Used games will be a thing of the past, with everything tied into your console/account. Want to borrow your friend's game? Forget it. Lose access to your account somehow? Tough luck!

Perhaps even scarier is this possibility: always-on DRM that requires you to play on servers opens the door to...limiting the time you can play a game. Want to play Madden NFL 15 in 2017? Sorry, we closed down the servers! You better buy Madden NFL 18!

While the majority of the world lives in the here-and-now, many of us at RFG enjoy playing yesteryear's games. How will we ever be able to play a 2016 game in 2030? Don't even think about it. Ignorance is bliss.

Fun times ahead. Discuss.

[blcklblskt]

I think collecting as it has been since the start of video gaming will certainly change with this new generation of consoles.  I don't think collecting will disappear completely, but it will certainly be the start.

Nintendo was once very against DLC, yet in Fire Emblem: Awakening, you can buy DLC maps for $3-4 that will provide at most 15 minutes of gameplay.  The industry is changing to allow for higher profit margins for game publishers, which comes at the expense of the physical aspect that we all enjoy about collecting.

[Duke.Togo]

I'd be surprised if the upcoming console generation moves to an always online style of DRM. There are still vast numbers of current gen consoles that don't ever get hooked up to the internet at all, and I can't see publishers wishing to limit their sales that heavily.

[techwizard]

i'm with duke i don't think this generation will be that bad, we already have the Wii U and it doesn't have that, so at least 1/3 of the big consoles will still be collectable. others have said it before and i'll say it again, if a generation becomes download only, or enforces extreme DRM as the norm, that's probably the point most of us will stop playing as collectors. for the occassional exclusive that looks really good i might still play, sure, but i wouldn't be worrying about collecting anymore. there's also the fact that there are just so many games out there for older systems to collect that even if the entire video game industry just stopped, and video games became extinct, there would still be decades worth of collecting for most people.

[Necrosaro]

The one thing that scares me the most about the next-gen consoles may be the blocking of used game sales. That irks me more than anything else. I could live with online-only IF Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft followed Steam's model and tied it to an account rather than the console. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will be the case. If download-only becomes reality next gen, that will essentially be the exit point for me as a collector. A lot of employees I talk to in the B&M retail sector are nervous, since this affects them too. I doubt B&M retail outlets would be willing to sell a line of code as opposed to a physical copy.

My burning question is this: If the console makers really do go this route, then why BOTHER with consoles at all at this point? Why don't Sony, M$, and Nintendo just tell everyone to get a smartphone/PC/tablet and go to their respective cloud sites and download the latest titles there, like Steam? I can't imagine any console maker making THAT much profit off hardware sales anymore.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

As a gamer I don't understand why anyone would want to go to the store and stand in line with a bunch of mouth breathers when they could just download the game while they're eating a bowl of cereal.

As a gamer I see Steam as the future. They fight piracy more with their great sales than with their DRM (which itself is fairly successful). You also have instant access to updates, can connect to friends, etc. Probably something more akin to a streaming Netflix of games is the future. In this respect I think PCs and consoles will continue to slowly and surely meld together and sail off together into that neon future. It honestly doesn't even make sense for companies to waste the raw materials making physical copies anymore.

Now, this is from my perspective as I stated, "as a gamer." I realize that it is a sad day for the collector who is more concerned with gathering all of the games than he is with playing them. In that regard, yes, it is the beginning of the end of the physical collection.

Everything will be online, or more accurately in the cloud, and sooner than later. Collectors of new games need to just accept it. The collections of the future will be on hard drives instead of bookshelves.

That's not to say you should not collect classic games, they're still going to be out there and sought after for a long while to come.

[Izret101]

This is the problem with Steam/digital as i see it:
Quoting James from the RFG Chat earlier:
"[21:21]   JamesFandroid   I have my gaming pc but i cant actually play any games on it
[21:21]   JamesFandroid   Theyre just about all on steam
[21:22]   JamesFandroid   And steam wont load until i connect to the internet
[21:22]   JamesFandroid   But my pc does t have wifi and i do t want to connect my mobile i case it ends up dow loading a lot of stuff
[21:22]   JamesFandroid   And i still keep missing the n key"

That and the first Steambox coming out is 1k$ apparently.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Well sure, we are still in the interim period. The changes aren't here, but they're becoming evident. It won't be long before the problems James is having are non existent. Internet speed and capacity is only going to grow until it is general across every device on the planet.

[monkees19]

The day they go online only is the day I stop buying new games. It irritates me to no end that one day I won't be able to find a hard copy of a game. To those who say "I don't understand why anyone would want to go to the store and stand in line with a bunch of mouth breathers when they could just download the game": that's what Amazon or anystore.com is for. Other that the day or two wait for the game it's the same thing. You pay shipping instead of gas. And you don't have to leave the house save for the walk to the mailbox.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

The day they go online only is the day I stop buying new games. It irritates me to no end that one day I won't be able to find a hard copy of a game. To those who say "I don't understand why anyone would want to go to the store and stand in line with a bunch of mouth breathers when they could just download the game": that's what Amazon or anystore.com is for. Other that the day or two wait for the game it's the same thing. You pay shipping instead of gas. And you don't have to leave the house save for the walk to the mailbox.

To me people who argue this sound just like any generation of consumers swearing off of the latest wave of technology. You'll complain and whine and slowly come to accept it until you can't remember what it was like to listen to music from a cassette player in the first place.

It's simply evolving technologies. In this case we are presented with an interesting situation due to the existence of what many of us are: the hybrid "collector/gamer." Arguably this is anyone who has ever bought a physical copy of a game as you are, in the act of buying a physical copy of a game to play, collecting. Therefore, the two have gone hand in hand since the very beginning of gaming.

For many of the people in this community the collecting became even more fun than the gaming did, and it is going to be hard to see that physical element, that thrill of a new box, go away. I understand, I feel twangs of nostalgia about it myself, but it struck me a few years ago when I went out of my way to buy a copy of Empire: Total War, wherein the disc inside contained an EXE that downloaded the game from the internet. At that point I was left with a crummy manual, some meh box art, and a CD I didn't need to play the game.

I consider that experience the point where I decided to stop collecting and just be a gamer. I still adore all my old games, have lots of awesome memories of them, and still plug them in now and again. But if I want to play a new game or a game I don't have I'll just get it however I can. I just want to play a game to escape for awhile, and I think that's what most mainstream gamers are becoming.

[ApolloBoy]

Why would collecting end when there's still loads of the old stuff out there?

[techwizard]

Why would collecting end when there's still loads of the old stuff out there?

exactly what i was saying, think about how many other non-gaming things people collect that are obviously not in production anymore. what's so special about video games that means a change in the industry changes the way you collect? in the end the only thing that will change is that collections will start to be more satisfying (imo). sometimes i think about how endless it is and about all the awesome collectables and games i'm missing out with each passing generation. but if the next generation were suddenly not collectable, we all can start focusing backwards and all our funds will be put towards completing more full sets. think about how much easier it would be to flush out your older collections when you're not spending retail on the newest games.

as much as it'll be kind of sad, i think it'll be great for us too.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Why would collecting end when there's still loads of the old stuff out there?

exactly what i was saying, think about how many other non-gaming things people collect that are obviously not in production anymore. what's so special about video games that means a change in the industry changes the way you collect? in the end the only thing that will change is that collections will start to be more satisfying (imo). sometimes i think about how endless it is and about all the awesome collectables and games i'm missing out with each passing generation. but if the next generation were suddenly not collectable, we all can start focusing backwards and all our funds will be put towards completing more full sets. think about how much easier it would be to flush out your older collections when you're not spending retail on the newest games.

as much as it'll be kind of sad, i think it'll be great for us too.

The difference between game collecting and most other types of collecting (as I alluded to somewhere up there^) is that gaming and game collecting have gone hand in hand since the very beginning of gaming. That dynamic, however, is vanishing as physical copies become a thing of the past.

Of course there will still be retro games, but the collecting of modern titles will become less and less fulfilling as they cease to exist in any form we are used to.

[Duke.Togo]

Here's why as a gamer, I have no desire for a digital future. You don't own anything. Enjoy that huge catalog of Steam games? That's great until some executive idiot at Steam does something spectacularly stupid and bankrupts the company. Then all those games you purchased are magically gone.

Companies do not last forever. Without physical medium you are long term leasing at best, and overpaying to rent at worst.

[Crazy_Opossum]

I refuse to do any gaming online, I never have it has NO interest in my what so ever... you have no connection with the game then ... where you can buy the disc and look at the awesome cover art and the thrill of putting a new game in the console. compared to now where you download, hit play... where is the connection where is the fun?

and the fact saying that we will grow to accept it...i beg to differ... I still haven't accepted CDs I prefer Vinyl and still only buy vinyl, CDs have a more high pitched sound compared to vinyl with WAYY higher fidelity (hence Hi-Fi)

anyways back to the subject I have almost dial-up speed internet mostof the time so if I want to get a game I'll have to wait a week to play it after I paid for it... compared to buying it at a store and playing it as soon as I get home ... it just seems impractical.