Comment on Xbox: "Price Increases Are Never Fun For Anybody"
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 3 weeks agoYes, charging customers for a product that costs you money to maintain is an excuse, and a valid one. Sony and Nintendo were giving away an expensive service for free to the user. It was generous, and a way to reduce friction with onboarding new users.
They jumped on board because maintaining that infrastructure has become exponentially more expensive to maintain today than it was 20 years ago.
I don’t even know why you’d have a problem with Xbox charging more for their subscription when you already argue for paid online.
Because unlike paid user services, game ownership is not something that costs them any money. They aren’t recouping their costs for a service they provide, it’s just rentseeking.
Lfrith@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Yeah I don’t buy it. Nintendo does free across multiple hardware then when they saw they were the only one decided they’d start taking money too, since it is in a companies nature to maximize profits exponentially.
And then there’s Steam. Also in the hardware business and hosting games and mods and a bunch of other services even Epic with their Fortnite money hasn’t matched. Yet online is free.
You just sound like a consumer who iust accepts whatever methods companies try to exploit consumers and defend as necessary. More a stockholder than a consumer.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You don’t buy… the fact that infrastructure that has to scale to millions of users globally, and the salaries of the many employees who maintain it cost money…?
Zoot@reddthat.com 3 weeks ago
Youre failing to grasp the fact that Sony didn’t need that infrastructure in the first place. Things worked great before they charged simply for you to play online.
Steam is a perfect example, they don’t charge for anything except a #% fee or tax on the game when you buy it. As well as their market fees.
I understand your point, though I agree with OP, it was foolish to start paying PS in the first place when literally every other console had free multi-player. It’s why I left XBOX and never got a PS. PC is just free after you pay your internet bill
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
What you’re both missing here is that the infrastructure existed when it was free. They always needed the infrastructure, and it always cost money. There is no “before”. They were just eating the costs as a marketing strategy to attract Xbox players who at the time had to pay for Xbox Live.
As console adoption increased, as did the cost of the infrastructure and the salaries of the many people it takes to maintain it, it just wasn’t feasible to provide those services for free when it cost so much money to maintain.
Lfrith@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
It’s console brain basically of just never wanting to admit the cons. How many generations and decades went by before they finally admitted 60 fps and above is ideal after years of arguing 30 fps is enough.
Difference for me was I too move over to PC after the PS4, since why would i accept paying more for what is free on another platform.