• Aug. 22, 2019, 8:38 a.m.

    I was listening to another 1A podcast on gaming (see relevant thread) and this one was about Google's Stadia and Microsoft's XCloud. Some interesting concerns were voiced:
    - You don't necessarily own the games, and can't control when they become unavailable due to stuff like copyright ownership a la Spiderman
    - Google is notoriously bad with supporting things that they develop (Inbox, the 13 messaging apps they have, Hangouts, Google TV, just to name a few), what happens when they decide to stop supporting the service?

    A few of my own thoughts:
    - If you're getting your games through a service, then your ability to play depends on the availability of that service. This goes for both service downtime, as well as just general service load. Everyone's going to want to be online at fairly common times, what does that mean for the availability of machines?
    - Sort of off the above, will there be different quality models? You can pay $5/month to play all games on "medium" but $10/month to play them on "high" and $15/month for the 4k ultra texture machines.
    - I like having a beefy computer in-house anyway. The machine is "general purpose", so my PC isn't exclusively a gaming machine.
    - Offline play seems impossible with this model
    - Of course there's the conversation about our internet infrastructure too. This model is all well and good if we had internet speeds that were comparable to any other developed country but we're not there, so streaming 4k gaming with low enough latency not to hinder the experience seems like a pipedream for the near future.

    What are your thoughts? Do you see yourself using GaaS in the future?

  • Aug. 22, 2019, 10:07 a.m.

    I think my big takeaway from the "as a service" model is that it has been proved to be infinitely more profitable to make things that people never own than it is to have something set int stone- it gives more options to people who have more money to spare. The cost of a console is cheaper, but the price over time is more. People who have more money have more money to waste over a long period of time, and people with less money can no longer save up to make a single purchase that grants them ownership.

    It sucks.

  • Aug. 22, 2019, 10:40 a.m.

    Yea I guess that's a fair point - the subscription model is where it feels like most industries are headed so what makes the gaming community any different?

    Oh, right, they're the most oppressed community. Forgot about that one 🤷‍♀️

  • Swampette
    Aug. 22, 2019, 10:48 a.m.

    This isn't something unique to the gaming industry in the slightest. We are transitioning into a "neo feudal" market where corporations distribute goods (but still own them) to only those willing to show absolute loyalty to them.

    @MisterPookie is absolutely right. Last year, farmers lost the "right to repair" battle against John Deere. That means that farmers cannot repair, modify, or retrofit any of their gear without it bricking it. Because emission regulations get stricter every couple of years, those farmers are forced to buy a new tractor every few years because they can't replace parts anymore.

    While that means tons of people are leaving John Deere, those that can afford to stay are giving them more money than John Deere made in the free market model.

  • Aug. 22, 2019, 12:09 p.m.

    Woof. The joke aside, is this late stage capitalism for real? The corporation owns the means of production and and product itself?!

  • Swampette
    Aug. 22, 2019, 2:24 p.m.

    The way I see it, this can go down one of two ways:

    1 - The new system becomes the status quo, and consumer lifestyle will be centered around choosing a banner (Disney, Google, what have you) and devoting most of your free financial resources to said banner.

    2 - The new system is socially rejected, forcing mass adoption of piracy to acquire software and multimedia locked behind paywalls. Eventually corporations will need to abandon this system because the volume of sales lost exceeds the value gained from small groups of devoted consumers.

  • Aug. 22, 2019, 3:11 p.m.

    The thing that generally got people to stop pirating is now going to force its resurrection. Anecdotal, but I feel like streaming services took a huge bite out of that market. Yo ho is back on the menu.

  • Members 46 posts
    Sept. 24, 2019, 11:16 a.m.

    I think you may be taking to narrow an outlook on this stuff, at least applying to video games. Steam is still the largest game distribution platform which means that it will be economically unfeasible for devs to not ever release there, which is why devs aren't taking permanent exclusivity contracts from Epic Games. Also, platforms like GOG still sell games without drm which is still a popular selling point. I think Stadia is going to be a good option for people that don't want to commit to a game or people that game a little bit, but not enough to get a really good gaming rig or console. I don't think game access as a service is going to replace buying games anytime soon.

  • Nov. 21, 2019, 7:14 p.m.

    So the Stadia has dropped...and flopped. Apparently Google has botched people's shipments and set equipment without any access code. They also rotated their initial launch title list so it looked like they had more titles on launch than they actually did, which ended up being a meager 9.

    I came across this twitter post the other day that seems unrelated initially but is a very interesting read for the big computer geeks out there (cc @DangerOrange and @DigitDaemon): twitter.com/mcclure111/status/1196557401710837762?s=19

    I feel like that encapsulates my feelings about Stadia as a whole.

  • Swampette
    Nov. 22, 2019, 4 p.m.

    Please, I'm like Krillin to you and Digit's Goku and Vegeta. I was relevant once, but I'm not on the same power level anymore. Sunray sounds fascinating though.

    The big $GOOG has been inventing for invention's sake for years. It doesn't surprise me that Stadia fell flat on its ass out the gate.

  • Nov. 22, 2019, 9:07 p.m.

    Yea if anything it's dozen or so attempts at messaging apps should be an indication that they're accustomed to that behavior