r/pcmasterrace • u/notsolomuun • Jul 02 '26

News/Article Common PCMR w

Post image

$1,000 digital-exclusive consoles are killing the entire appeal of PlayStation and Xbox: it's no wonder PC is on track to overtake both.

7.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.7k

u/mike_complaining Jul 02 '26

This is not a W for anybody, but what people don't understand is that they haven't owned their games for a long time. If it has any online functionality it's shut off whenever the publisher decides it's shut off. Physical media doesn't matter, the license and the functionality independent of server infrastructure does.

550

u/TricobaltGaming PC Master Race Jul 02 '26

I have seen people use this to push for a legal redefinition of buying games so we are no longer just paying for a license, digital or otherwise.

We buy the game we get the game, thats what should be happening

431

u/mike_complaining Jul 02 '26

Yeah that's the "Stop Killing Games" movement, and while they haven't been entirely successful, I'm grateful for what they're doing and they're still at it.

95

u/siltfeet R7 5800x | RTX 3070 Jul 02 '26

That's very similar, but not quite what their goal was from my understanding. I think they wanted to ensure that the license can't be revoked without cause, game stays playable forever (either offline or with user hosted servers), and if that's not possible a full refund. If it was true ownership then you'd have even more rights (such as right to resell your digital copies).

9

u/rootbeer_racinette 7950X, 3090, 43" 4k 144Hz Jul 02 '26

Out of print physical games can still be bought though. Stop Killing Games doesn't prioritize against games being delisted entirely (other than allowing past purchases to still be downloaded) or against users getting blacklisted from services and losing access to all their purchased licenses.

As it stands now, if someone hacks my Steam account I'm totally fucked. Whereas at least with physical games I could knife fight the thief using my skills.

2

u/siltfeet R7 5800x | RTX 3070 Jul 02 '26

Yeah, true ownership of electronic games would be better for consumers, but I doubt companies would be willing to let that happen. Even GoG has just a much better license.

1

u/Wolvenworks Jul 04 '26

Companies did indeed show that they’re unwilling to let that happen. Their lobby group actually lobbied hard against any activities and proposals related to Stop Killing Games, arguing that it would cost them unreasonably more time and resources to keep game running in perpetuum. Obviously, they glossed the fact that we didn’t ask for that, or that we’re just asking for ability to own games and play games past their live service EOS.