Subj : Games-as-a-Service
To   : Nightfox
From : Kaelon
Date : Fri Jun 03 2022 14:07:35

  Re: Diablo Immortal
  By: Nightfox to Kaelon on Fri Jun 03 2022 10:34 am

 > Regarding games as a service, I remember hearing about Sega's Genesis game
 > service in the early 90s where you could subscribe to get Sega Genesis games
 > delivered over a cable channel.  I thought that was an interesting idea, as
 > an alternative to game rental (sometimes you might not want to buy a game
 > but still want to try playing it).

Sega was definitely ahead of their time!  They also tried to do something similar with the Sega Dreamcast, which along with the PlayStation 2 before it and the XBOX after it, was one of the few Internet-connected console devices of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

I definitely think that services like Xbox Live - where you have access to the entire library of games that Microsoft provides for a single monthly subscription - is totally destabilizing (and excitingly disruptive!) to the gaming marketplace.  I love services like this that deliver real value to gamers and drive meaningful choices.

But "games-as-a-service" also includes the current dominant model (which I am not really a fan of), where a game - usually still in development - is released early, and a series of recurring fees (subscriptions) and one-time purchases (micro-transactions) are used to fund the profitability of the game.  I much prefer paying full price for a fully developed game, and then being able to play it on my own terms, but this model has definitely mostly gone by the wayside.  Now it's all about playing games that are "always connected," and "constantly improving," and that requires additional monetization.  That's the wrong incentive, in my view.
_____
-=: Kaelon :=-

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