Everyone (at least here, I assume) wants Devs to get paid, but it is not like there is a royalty structure built into the system where for each game sold, developer receive some payment. For the most part, besides whatever bonus structure individual companies have in place, by the time a game has come out, devs have already made the majority of the money they are going to on that project. It could be argued that large piracy rates would cause some studios to go under, but at that point it is not the individuals fault, but the failure of the companies to sell their games at a reasonable price point.
There will always be piracy, and its moral value will range from good to bad depending on who you are taking from etc, but never based on something like property law. Like, if you can afford something, just buy it, but if not, do what you need to do, whether that is just waiting and saving up money, or piracy, is no skin off anyone’s back in the end
Perhaps the ethical stance is to just not play the games that can’t be purchased then?
I’ve never understood this argument. Nothing is lost. This is intellectual property. Copy + paste. Not a car, or even a drink from the store.
Or wait until they come into an acceptable price range?
I don’t know where you live, but even if try looking out for used games, it usually takes years upon years for them to even drop 10 bucks. With the higher prices this time around, the waiting time will probably increase. If I’m lucky, a friend has the game, but from the perspective of a business, this is probably similar to stealing.
But it certainly was never something I felt comfortable mainstreaming in gaming discourse, precise because it makes it harder for devs to get paid.
I’m unfamiliar with the contracts in the gaming industry and how much they differ from studio to studio, from country to country. But what I do know, is that because of the lack of a labour movement history in the tech industry, gaming too, is incredibly exploitative (in the common sense of the term) towards its workers. If it is indeed the case that a large part of the developers wages are being paid according to individual copies sold, than this is imo reflective of a wider issue in the industry, which is not being resolved or even mitigated through individual consumer choices (not that there is a relevant choice in my case, as I explained), but through labour organizing.
While I do not share your uncomfortableness around the topic of piracy, I can understand where it comes from. If this forum is touchy about open discussion of piracy, then I will stop, even if I disagree with that policy.
I also don’t want to be unnecessarily confrontational.
Used games taking years and years to drop 10 dollars? What now? That describes Activision pretty accurately but, in most cases, it takes a couple of months for games to drop price. TLOU 2 came out in September, is one of this year’s biggest games and it’s already 20 dollars off.
I know it makes me uncool for saying so but… DeS looks stunning? I dig its mood, and I kinda like that its vibe’s distinct from actual From stuff? The way that footage was just hudless quiet cold tech demo shit with a weird camera was gorgeously manipulative and I fell for it hard.
Gave me the polar opposite feeling of new CoD looking like a time-displaced 2011 game, goddamn.
I thought FF16 was some FF14 spinoff action game. It looks so bad. I don’t want to just mash buttons. Bring back the combat from twelve, please. And I’m never gonna want to play as a character with a face tattoo, and especially not if it’s a tribal face tattoo.
There’s a reason Final Fantasy XVI has a XIV feel, it’s being produced and directed by people that made XIV.
My wife plays a good amount of games and a lot of the Final Fantasies, doesn’t follow games coverage and has told me what I have heard elsewhere. In her opinion, FFXIV’s expansions are some of the best video game stories she’s experienced in recent memory and I for one am excited for a chance to experience that storytelling as someone who does not play MMOs.
Honestly, I think FF16 is the first time since like 10 I’ve been legitimately excited for a new FF. I’m not entirely sold on the gameplay, I’d prefer turn-based if I could have my way, but everything else looks much more up my alley than all of Nomura’s psuedo-future tech nonsense. Hearing the Yoshi P and the FFXIV team is going to be largely responsible for it greatly increases my enthusiasm. If they can reach similar storytelling excellence as they pulled off in Shadowbringers in a single player RPG that game has the potential to shine in a way the series hasn’t in a very long time.
My plan is unchanged. Wait a year for Horizon Forbidden West to come out and pick up a PS5 then. My PS4 is base model so the PS4 version of HFW will probably run like shit on it.
Until next year there’s nothing I particularly need to play on a PS5. Demon’s Souls is cool but since I never had a PS3 i’ve gone 11 years without playing that game already. I can wait another.
I too was surprised by some of the new big games being relatively (!) cheap, as this isn’t my usual experience. The best way I can explain it, is next gen having an influence.
I was initially cool on XVI since it’s very clearly cribbing aesthetics and gameplay from XV (which I could rant for ages about), knowing it’s being headed by people who know how to properly plan out a project scope is very reassuring.
Having to buy the deluxe version of Spider-Man: MM to get an upgraded version of the original is tacky for the same reasons as Control.
As much as CoD has always been propaganda for US imperialism and the military-industrial complex, but for some reason that trailer seemed like just a masks off moment to me.
Also, totally understandable to be stunned by DeS, and when not comparing it to the original game, I can’t help but get excited for it, at least a little. Bluepoint has clearly put in a lot of work into that remake, but for me, part of the charm of the original DeS was how sparse everything was and how that naturally lent itself to the tone/aesthetic of the game. To some degree I want the game to be kind of broken and weird in the same way the original was. I did see some hope for that in the trailer, because as much as they tried to hide, there is clearly going to be at least some of that clunkiness and kind of weirdness to it, I mean look at this archer and tell me it doesn’t give you vibes of the original.
I gotta say, my favourite reveal this week might be finding out the Pulse Headset is going to be $100 USD.
Legit, this might become the new standard for gaming headsets across all platforms (provided Microsoft allows for USB audio on Xbox like it does on Windows). I’m not in the market currently, but if my Arctis cans ever fail I’ll probably grab one of these.
That’s…the same price as the PS4 Platinum Headset, which is kind of a pleasant surprise. I might have to pick these up at some point if my Platinum Headset doesn’t make it.
If there’s one thing that I’m giving Sony the benefit of the doubt on right now, it’s audio tech. I am legit excited to see them improve spatial audio in games, and to be able to get their flagship headset for their new tech at a reasonable price is a pleasant surprise.
From what I remember, that’s normal for the opening of the game. Everything is super easy until the boss, which you are expected to die to. Then the real game starts.
