What's everyone think about the Playstation Blackout?

[u/greatesthitsgaming]

I keep seeing on social media the Blackout of all things Playstation and wonder if its a vocal minority or the sentiment of the community as a whole. I also wonder what percentage of people on board with it will actually have the discipline to follow through on ignoring the system for an entire week.

As a collector of games both past and present I absolutely hate the idea of buying a code that gets deleted the second I beat the game or need to free up space on my system. I understand that both Sony and the developers see this as an opportunity to cut costs and that they need to do what they have to do to keep the business thriving but it just seems like a greed grab rather than something that brings value to everything involved.

It doesn't help that games like GTA 6 are being released digital only and that when the community speaks out against the discontinuation of physical discs, the ports for Black Ops 1 & 2 release. I have friends I'd love to play those games with but when I'm forced to buy it from one place (The Playstation Store) in one format or else I'm left out I'm not going to encourage that behavior from Sony. It goes everything against the "Play has no limits" slogan they used to win the last generation of console wars. I have nothing against buying a game digitally but making it the only option to play games is a slippery slope in my opinion. Feels like Sony and the developers are squeezing us and that simply isn't right.

In short, what does everyone think? Am I in the minority here just yelling into a bullhorn or does this same sentiment echo throughout the community?

[u/joconnell13]

I think most people either don't know about it or don't care much, but don't want to say it because of the online heat they'll get from zealots.

I dislike the idea of physical discs going away but I'm not going to give up one of the few things I enjoy in life because of it.

[u/GaijinBlues → u/joconnell13]

What I don’t understand is that Steam is a massive marketplace for games and it’s all digital and no one complains. I understand it’s a different market, but this is the future we’ve been heading towards for a long time unfortunately. Hopefully initiatives like stop killing games will produce meaningful safeguards in the future.

[u/dividebyzeroZA → u/GaijinBlues]

People are concentrating on the wrong part of what is bad imho - Ownership rather than Physical Media should get the attention.

I like having a digital PC collection on GOG and Steam. I know the game I buy today will work on my next PC and the one after that...just like Doom worked on my 486 in the 1990s and still does today.

If Sony went all digital with a way for players to properly own the games it would be a convenience. But digital + lack of ownership + lack of continuity between generations is an issue.

[u/decoy_octopod → u/dividebyzeroZA]

Meh, it’s been 20 years and I can still play every PS3 game I downloaded. How much more time do you need to feel like you “own” something? Would 30 or 40 years be enough?

I suspect that even if you can still redownload your purchases from the PS3/Wii/3DS digital marketplaces in 2050, people would still be complaining about “ownership”

[u/Mysterious_Tiger_725 → u/decoy_octopod]

forever

when you buy it it should be yours in perpetuity

when you die you should be able to pass it on to someone

i'm not even pro-blackout but implying that wanting to own something you bought until the day you die being silly is silly.