- cross-posted to:
- games@sh.itjust.works
- gaming@lemmy.zip
- gaming@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- games@sh.itjust.works
- gaming@lemmy.zip
- gaming@beehaw.org
Finally some good news! I’ve been waiting for quite a while for such a ruling.
Finally some good news! I’ve been waiting for quite a while for such a ruling.
I see a massive downside to this ruling as a gamer. This is talking about resale of a digital game. In reality what would happen is someone would download a game, copy the file to a harddrive, sell the “digital license” or whatever it’s called for a lesser amount and still own a copy of the game. It’s basically simplifying piracy.
This might actually necessitate game companies to have a hardline DRM approach to their games. Ironically the only games that are protected from this kind of resale are the those that heavily dipped in microtransactions since you can’t resell those and would push the market more in that direction.
IMHO this ruling is shortsighted and pushes for a future with increased monitisation that isn’t in the box value of the game and targets to hurt the Devs that make consumer friendly games while giving games with loot boxes and microtransactions an advantage in the market when talking in terms of overall sales for the devs.
Why would anyone go to that effort when you can pirate them?
Seems like an absurd situation to worry about.
Maybe this is what those game companies can finally use NFTs for!
I’m kinda kidding but maybe blockchain can offer a solution.
Lmao now we’re block chain gaming.
Any protections to consumers are a win. I think overall this will be a positive for gamers.
Your last paragraph could hold some truth if publishers think this will affect profits. I don’t know if this would significantly impact profits since we’re talking about a new secondary market that did not exist in the digital space before. There’s probably some historical data for how physical used game sales affect new game sales but it might be hard to quantify since that market has existed pretty much from the beginning.
I would anticipate another across the board price increase for games as a result, but I see this more as an excuse for greed on the publishers’ parts rather than a cost to offset any actual lost revenue.
My problem is traditional consumer friendly sales model for digital games are already on the back foot. This ruling only works to dissuade any new or existing Devs from persuing that model over one with microtransaction.
If anything I want this method of purchasing digital content to be pushed further into any game with purchasable in game items to even the playing field.
I agree that microtransactions and loot boxes in gaming need regulation as well. Hopefully this is a step towards that.
Steam has a sub 2-hour game time no questions asked refund period - what prevents someone from doing exactly what you said using the refund process instead of resale?
Fair call, didn’t think of that.