The State of PC Gaming in the 21st Century

I agree and share your attitude. I would also add DLCs to the list. Back in good days we only had full games and maybe some expansions that added quite a lot to the original game. But now... they give you a DLC that adds skins. Or even worse... it adds stuff that should have been in the game in the first place... wtf is that :(. Luckily there are still good devs like CD Projekt RED.

Hi dLo,

fwiw, I think games are much more affordable w/ far greater variation now than they used to be, especially when taking inflation into account.

Steam is far more convenient imho than owning physical copies of the games. I stopped playing Sim City 4 from disk maybe 10+yrs ago because it was such a pain to dig out the disk, and then my CD/DVD stopped working, so even worse. I'm probably in minority on this, but Steam/Gog and others make it much easier. Yeah, DRM is bad, but I understand why companies went to it, and I understand why the old styleDRM was a passing phase. Steam is pretty transparent in that regard in most cases. All imho.

As to cost: Games are far more detailed and costly to make now. I don't think the economics from earlier generations can be compared. Again, all imho. Many studios struggle to turn profits, and many have failed.

On licensing a game. Yeah, that bothered me at first because I did use to sell physical copies after I was done playing. But now I don't really mind because I typically get so many games so much cheaper now than I ever could in the past, and downloads are so much cheaper. I've honestly gone to much more of a library system similar to netflix. I have so many more games than I'll ever play, but just try to buy them when they're in bundles or on sale. I might only play 10% of them to any degree, but I have so many choices. Yeah, it seems kindof dumb to do it this way, but it's resulted in sending hundreds of publishers small amounts of money vs. sending a handful of publishers a big chunk. Not sure if that's good or bad, but for whatever reason I like picking up games on even a small chance that I might play them in the future.

I'm not trying to be contrary, and a matter of principle I can understand why some might be concerned with some of the issues above, but in practice imho it's never been better to be a gamer. It's incredible what gaming has become and is becoming.

I know you were just using it as an example, but the ridiculously high pricing in AUS isn't just an issue with video games, it's an issue with everything. I remember when I lived there it was actually cheaper to buy something online and get it shipped from the US to AUS, which is ridiculous. Australia is so overpriced (it's the worst with tech products especially) and a lot of it does have to do with the change in the dollar, but from what I remember it's always been expensive, and that's some bullshit

DRM: Console games have DRM. But Steam doesn't make Uplay, EA et al refrain from using their own DRM, or requiring you to use an account separate from Steam. I don't play console, but doesn't GTA V on console want you to log into RGSC?

COST: I'd rally more behind this complaint if it was like when I was a wee lad and record companies literally convenience taxed the consumer for the advantageous new features of CDs vs. audio cassettes. Further, back in the day console games were physical cartridges. These were--compared to pressing an optical disc--expensive to produce. As the industry transitioned to optical discs from cartridges, they didn't pass on the savings to consumers. The "savings" from not having to create boxed copies aren't passed on to the consumer because it doesn't need to be passed on. The cost of a new AAA game is $60. That's the way the PC market works. Except when the medium upon which it is delivered is so prohibitively expensive (such as some games back in the day that needed a lot of storage/memory) that required a break with the $60 for AAA game model, over the years vendors have taken less net revenue per unit after accounting for manufacturing, or more recently--more--depending upon the cost of manufacturing.

Also, uh, I remember when AAA games cost $50. The new normal became $60 for no reason, apparently. Personally I'd be more upset with that than with them not passing the cartridge->optical disc, or optical disc->digital download savings on to us.

EULA: I don't think this is a black-and-white issue. Obviously rights-holders sometimes have and will in the future overreach in restricting end-users, but what of the aspect of the EULA that exists to try to ensure that the community for that game are having the intended experience, such as one free from cheating, exploits, etc.? I would think you'd support that. I do.

Obviously when a rights-holder uses the EULA as a club to excessively and unnecessarily restrict gamers, that's shitty, but arguably that is not the primary (certainly not the sole) purpose of it.

FIRST-SALE DOCTRINE: Digital distribution and licenses instead of true ownership are problematic but you failed to acknowledge an important part of why no one is interested in letting you or me or anyone to resell their digital "copy": the copy is in perfect condition. The only risk is whether the user will try to scam or renege in a resale agreement, but other than that, why would any cost-conscious person buy any older games directly from the publisher or the digital distributor when a cash-hungry owner of the game is eyeing a soon-to-be-released AAA game and needs to swell their wallet?

I'm not saying I agree with the way this whole you-don't-really-own-the-game-you-just-have-a-license thing works. I'm just saying that it's hard to imagine how the major players in the industry would ever have embraced digital distribution if selling a few million copies of a game via pre-order and first week orders means that four weeks after launch you have perhaps millions of individuals who can and will undercut your current MSRP. We already see the various codes for online play and other goodies that major publishers for consoles use to make a used version of their game unattractive.

CONCLUSION: People applaud Steam because Steam has moved PC gaming forward by creating a centralized, popular location for the release of games from major vendors as well as indies. Digital distribution--as ushered in by Steam more than anything--has resulted in rock-bottom prices for sales and discounts. When I was younger, it was rare for someone to actually own hundreds of games. Most people owned a handful of games, maybe a couple dozen. And yes, they outright owned them--no license. Now I "own" thousands of games, and why do I not worry about the fact that I don't really "own" them? Because Steam is a cash cow, and it isn't going anywhere any time soon. Still, would I recommend that a person buy from GOG instead of Steam if a game is in both stores and comparably priced? Of course.

But I disagree with your post in general. You didn't actually say things were better back in the day but it seemed to be your tone. Personally, I prefer the way things are now, and I'm not expecting some utopia where the large corporations are my friends and will extend to me rights and benefits that erode or undermine their own. I don't think you are expecting that either, but you certainly seem to think that anyone who accepts DRM, EULAs, corporations whom reap the benefits of decreases in the cost of distribution instead of passing some of that on to the consumer, and the licensee vs. owner disadvantages of PC gaming in 2016 as some sort of ignorant sheeple. Well, I'm not, and I personally think that PC gaming in 2016 comes with distinct advantages over gaming of years past. Would it be nice if it had even more advantages and less disadvantages? Absolutely. But the reality is I am as much or more of a gamer in 2016 as I was when I was a little kid/tween, whereas for quite some after being a kid I was only a gamer off and on. There are a variety of factors that play into why I'm more into of a gamer, but invariably the state of PC gaming is a net benefit to that.

P.S. I appreciate your post and understand why you feel the way you do and am glad that you spurred discussion here.

Are... are we bumping? I ... bump?

When it comes to pricing, the AUS dollar is worth 0.75 to one US dollar so that's why the price is more expensive there. The same happens with makeup in NZ and AUS. It's ridiculously expensive there, but that has to do with importing and the currency exchange. It really sucks though.

EULA

I've always found it funny that you only get to see the licence agreement after you have paid. Sure you may get a refund, but it's a hassle, and all that for a video game?
And what is that, a cryptic wall of text worse than a life insurance's paperwork... just to play a computer game?
How many times have you sold your soul just to install a game, without even noticing?

And why give a video game in a limited use licence with such restrictive terms? As if I could reverse-engineer Barbie Dreamhouse and use the code to build a nuclear weapon.

And by the way the EULA also applies to physical copies, which you are supposed to return or destroy if the licence is revoked or by any means terminated, e.g.:

Upon any termination of this EULA, you must destroy or return the physical copy of Software to Licensor, as well as permanently destroy all copies of the Software, accompanying documentation, associated materials, and all of its component parts in your possession or control, including from any client server, computer, gaming unit, and mobile device on which it has been installed.

Source. Is it enough if I swallow the installation disk and the manual, or do I have to eat the box too?

You almost started a Riot for 5 gems!!

DRM

Platforms use DRMs because they need to verify your account in order for them to know what games you own and do not own.Steam has minimal DRM and also gives you free features like family sharing,trading,profile customization,friends,community market,community hubs,streaming and so on.

You can plug your game into the PS4 and play,but you can press play on steam and that's it.

Uplay/Rockstar Club are a bit annoying but only a bit and they only consume a few seconds of your time.No need to rage over it.You can also just buy it on their own platform if you don't want to have 2 clients open.

COST

Well,why not buy only physical if you do not like digital?

EULA

????

FIRST-SALE DOCTRINE

Steam won't go down in flames and if it does,it will be bought by another company and continue the service.The libraries are safe don't worry.

CONCLUSION

First of all,the devs actually give away keys on a regular basis.G2A and Kinguin have gone as far as sponsoring eSports teams/youtubers/streamers.No one will revoke anything.

Steam has a in-built trading system.You can literally buy a game and give it to someone else free of charge.They can't possibly police what gifts/keys are given away on a site or given away for free.

"But then the AUS Dollar became even in price with the USD and is worth more than the USD today"

I think you need to get your facts checked out.

This is such a pain. I'm agree with you. A few years ago the things were simpler and nobody have one million of excuses for what they are doing. It is easy, they only care about money.