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[OPINION] Subscription-based game services, yea or nay?

While news of an increasing number of subscription-based services that grant gamers access to games on the cheap is good in a way, it also raises a lot of questions about game ownership in the future.

While it makes sense that publishers offer such programmes – they stand to make more money in the long-term and gamers get games for cheap – it means that should a company close at some point and their servers go offline, those games become unavailable to players if they’re not picked up and supported by other organisations.

It also means that should gamers sign up en masse, and more and more companies move towards providing games for a monthly fee and away from traditional disc-based delivery, traditional brick-and-mortar stores and physical discs may go the way of the dodo and people will no longer own the games they pay for. Instead, they will merely be renting them.

Gone will be the collecting of real-world discs/cartridges of yore, and gamers won’t have the chance to show off the huge number of games they’ve amassed or sell their stash for thousands of dollars on eBay.

But to me, what’s most important is that gone will be any sense of actually owning something in exchange for money, and that’s a crying shame.

The illusion of ownership

There’s an argument that that’s already happening with physical discs since their End User License Agreements essentially bind people to only doing what the publishers allow anyway. But there’s a counter argument that says gamers can still play the single-player portions of those games without internet connectivity and sell/swap them as they see fit. That means they’re not dependent on publishers maintaining servers, and still feel like they actually “own” something even if it’s not, strictly-speaking, true.

Moving to a subscription model definitely removes some of the end user’s options even if it doesn’t affect their rights per se, and moves more control over games into the hands of the publishers. While that could be a good thing by bringing more cash into publishers’ coffers so they can afford to make better future games, it’s a worrying step that shows how gamers are viewed as potential thieves. Which, to be fair, isn’t entirely unwarranted given the levels of game piracy the world over, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth as a legitimate, paying gamer.

The Long View

But, we’re living in a brave new world, and perhaps as gamers born today will grow up in a world where they don’t expect to “own” the games they buy, and it will one day become the norm that nobody thinks twice about. Right now, however, dinosaurs like me and others who’ve grown up with physical discs and the illusion of ownership are feeling a little cold at the thought.

Whatever you believe, it’s certainly an interesting time to be a gamer. Let us know your thoughts on the matter.

[Image – Inwallspeakers1.com]

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