Sony: Moving Towards Digital Distribution Is A "Natural Progression"

[Andrespetmonkey]

badgenome said:

Andrespetmonkey said:

Isn't that kindof stuff already happening now on phyisical copies with stuff like online passes?

Maybe if consumers wise-up and stop supporting anti-consumer business practices than things will get better, but that's being optimistic.

I can imagine a company like Steam having a great streaming service.

I'm not a huge fan of online passes, but the way they've been handled so far seems to be that if you buy it new, you get to play online as a part of the deal. If not, well, that'll be $10. Seems a relatively reasonable way of handling used games, if a bit of a pain in the ass. Has there been a case of an online pass locking people out of single player content yet?

No, but we seem to be heading in that direction, especially since games are becoming more and more "social," so more of the game is gonna be online. The upcoming Sim City is a good example of this, you have to be online to play it.

Of course, anti-consumer behavior has to be stood up to regardless, but I'm afraid that the power shifts far too much toward the content providers in a streaming-only future. Steam is great and all, but Valve isn't perfect - far from it.

I don't see how it gives them that much more control. What's to stop a publisher from making their games require a constant internet connection and an activation code?