Digital only--One purchase across all platforms

[fullspectrumwarrior]

I know there's licensing fees and all that sort of nonsense but something I've been questioning for a few years since switching back and forth between 360 and ps3 & now PS3 to PS4 is I hated that I would download an arcade game on one console and then when I switched consoles I had to repurchase it all over again like Strider for instance. Or map packs, DLC and the like such as DLC for Thief, didn't make much sense that if I switched platforms, even under the same brand (PS3 to PS4) that I would have to repurchase all of this content again since I paid for it under an email address that they already have and know that I purchased it under.

Like I said I understand licensing fees go to the console manufacturers & all but when a product is digital only they know you can't resell it anyway & they've already made their money off you and you can never get any of that money back. Aren't they already asking enough of you to spend money on games and content that is never truly yours that they could take away at any time?

Even if this worked only for something as simple as DLC for games it would make it easier repurchasing games for instance on Playstation 4 that you already payed for on Playstation 3.

I don't work for any of these companies so I don't care about any of that. I'm looking at it from a consumer standpoint that already paid for these very same things and would like to be able to use them on the other platform that is owned by the same company I already paid.

All I'm saying is it's already problematic now with all of the digital pricing on all of these platforms costing as much if not more than the products do in the stores but when these companies want you to purchase something digital from a 5 dollar piece of DLC all the way to repurchasing a 20 or 40 or 60 dollar game it seems as if you're getting ripped off even further because you've already paid for this and since most of us use the same email across all our platforms they know you've already purchased it.

Call me old and crazy but I just do not like or accept the current digital structure for gaming on any platform for any content. It all seems to be designed against the consumer. I don't think anyone will agree with me here because most people just bury their heads in the sand to these current modern gaming issues that the majority just turn & look the other way as their way of not having to put up a fight against these greedy corporaions. But I think once a few of the people that go out and spend money on something like Evolve and spend hundreds of dollars on DLC & one day decide to switch platforms and have to repurchase it all over again because they enjoyed the game then they will truly understand where I'm coming from.

[Deleted]

I've done the same thing, but we need to keep in mind that people like us are what are known as "super users". Systems are not designed with us in mind. The vast majority of people own only one console a generation, and have no concern about carrying over their purchases to a rival system. Backwards compatibility is certainly a concern for a larger group, but developing the Xbox 360 version of a game does not equate to the free production of the Xbox One version of the same game. The people making each version have to be paid. Licensing and marketing fees must be paid. Etc, etc.

Things aren't set up in an ideal fashion for super users, but being the tiniest of minorities, we have to suck it up.

[fullspectrumwarrior]

It definitely sucks for those of us especially now if you have a Playstation 4 or Xbox One there's a few games that were downloadable on PlayStation 3 & 360 that they moved over that if you want to keep playing you have to repurchase. I was thinking also along the lines of just the DLC for some of these ports that were released for old platforms that if you want to get back to on its successor platform you have to repurchase it all over again. Unlike people that switch back and forth between brands they knew millions of people would switch to their new platform and they didn't come up with a way to keep you from having to repurchase things that they decided to not find a way to make backwards compatible.

This really worries me when it comes to consoles since on PC you will always be able to play whatever forever. But on consoles if they're going to do this its going to make it really hard to want to dump money into downloads since you know they will not make the next ones backwards compatible and you have no way to get to these again unless you keep every single console you've ever had.

[moran]

Its not exctly unprecedented though. On top of what Jason said about the costs, its not like record companies gave people a free cassette if you had the vinyl of a bands album and then a cd when technology upgraded. And you really can't say that you'll always be able to play your PC games forever. You can't readily use your old floppy disc games on a standard PC. Although games may have a longer life on PC rather than consoles, tech will change and evolve to a point that some things may not work on future PCs.

[fullspectrumwarrior]

The thing about those old PC games is you can find every single one of them to download for free at this point as freeware. I guess I could say the same thing about console games or anything through PS2 you can just download an emulator but still if you want the real version of most of these games now that only comes as downloads there's no way you're ever going to be able to get to it any other way than paying for it again and again.

Maybe it's just me but it seems like everything is designed to shortchange the gamer now.

[moran]

I don't believe that its designed to shortchange anyone, but companies can't just give away product for free. A lot of time and resources go into this stuff and, now more than ever, designers and publishers need to recoup anything they can to stay in business.

[cambertian]

Still though, how does Adobe make money when cracks for their products are tossed around like tissue paper?

[thoothan]

Jan 26, 2015 13:27:40 GMT -5 fullspectrumwarrior said:

The thing about those old PC games is you can find every single one of them to download for free at this point as freeware.

is this true 

[caoslayer]

Jan 26, 2015 13:59:41 GMT -5 cambertian said:

Still though, how does Adobe make money when cracks for their products are tossed around like tissue paper?

Like microsoft, enterprise licenses.

[Garamoth]

I don't think there are very many freeware games out there at all. Anyway, you'd need some kind of drafted document from the copyright holders to prove it.

Not that it bothers most people...

[fullspectrumwarrior]

GOG is a good place to look for older games.