SvennoJ said:
ZyroXZ2 said:
Damn it, the pages are piling up too fast y'all D: Yes, actually, a consumer WOULD find it harder because anecdotal evidence exists. I've literally had friends complain (and I agree) that there are too many different streaming services to keep track of for all their different shows, and I agreed with them. You want a case-in-point? I have Hulu/Disney+, but I want to watch the Cyberpunk Edgerunners anime. So now I'm asking my friends whose Netflix login I can use just to watch the anime... Believe me, reasonable people are out there saying exactly that: it's annoying having to have all these streaming services and which ones to watch what shows on. And then of course, you have people who are more frivolous and just sign up for all of them... which, of course, I discourage because while they're busy watching XYZ show, they're probably not even using A and/or B streaming services. Ya know, cuz the Asian in me gotta be all frugal and shit lmao ----- I think I can address the rest in just a few paragraphs, or atleast attempt to... I apologize to anyone who feels "ignored", well other than the people who obviously SHOULD be ignored... Again, inflation affects the common worker THE HARDEST. The belief that PlayStation is raising prices because of inflation isn't because it wants to ensure its devs (ya know, the people who actually make the games) can live in these "tough times", it's so that the company itself can maintain PROFITS. Believe me: companies LOVE the philanthropic publicity if they can get it, and if PlayStation literally announced the correlation that they are raising game prices so that they can ensure their game devs are paid better wages to weather these hard economic times against inflation, I'd be applauding them for using their market share to enact an act of good. But you know, that means the higher ups who are already rich would have to take a hit... ... LOL AMIRITE?! We know that's not the case, so saying, "it's just business, companies are only in it for profits DUH" is literally the most obvious and yet also oblivious thing to say. Unless higher prices are literally boosting your stock portfolio directly, saying that as a consumer is literally licking boots. Now I've already taken my jabs at Xbox, but if you must know my current one, it's unable to sustain an entire video without turning specifically into a rant: Halo Infinite. How they fucked up one of my favorite franchises and one of THE most iconic franchises in gaming is awe-inspiring, and I've even tweeted it enough times, and the fact that my review of it still stands almost a year later is the reason I uninstalled it. Fortunately, one has to remember: Xbox is in THIRD place in market share, the reason their Xbox division has to remain favorable towards their market as much as possible. And of course, from other threads that some of you have definitely not read, I clearly stated my beef with Microsoft's near-monopoly on everyday office software like Word and Excel. Heck, in order to even really "get along" with other vendors/distributors/businesses, we have to use Office in some form or another. However, it's been very clear my video focuses on gaming, or I'd have started to bring up Sony's insurance division. YEA, INSURANCE, another interesting stack of bullshit... don't get me started on insurance... But let's be clear once again for anyone who missed me saying it previously: good is good, bad is bad. I don't care who, I don't care what company or pile of plastic. If you're reading it beyond that like there's gotta be some narrative, that's just you spinning a web of meaning where there is none. The only narrative I've ever had is consumer awareness, it was the underlying concept of me doing reviews without any system preference. I literally have said MULTIPLE times over the years that I've always hoped my reviews were informational and could help someone make better buying decisions where they DON'T have to worry about an underlying skew, and that the humor was in the hopes that they also got a chuckle or two of entertainment while they were at it. Anyway, I really can't tell if I need to make MORE time for VGChartz, or take a step back. I can't keep up with this pace, I could have sworn the forum was far more dead than this hahaha... If I can't keep up, I promise it's not because I want to pump-and-dump my videos, here! |
This thread got very active due to, console wars are back lol.
I agree about the streaming services, I have the same problem. Currently borrowing a prime video login so we can watch LotR (I would rather buy it on blu-ray but Amazon wants you to use Prime Video, their loss)
Yet we got in this mess because people weren't happy with paying a lump sum for cable. Cut the cord, start streaming. And this is where it leads to. To be able to watch all the things I previously could watch on cable, I would now be spending a lot more money monthly... Hence my huge reservation about game rental/streaming services becoming the norm.
So, yes, in that regards I agree that it has become harder to enjoy TV and will become harder to enjoy gaming due to all the subscriptions to juggle. It was already harder with all the different digital stores on PC, I can't keep track of where I have what where anymore. Hence I still prefer physical, I know where it is, easy to browse, all in one place. Yet to simply enjoy a game, it's easier than ever.
The reason the prices were raised is mainly because of the yen depreciating a lot in the past year, as well as other currencies against the dollar. If you calculate it through the prices have basically been put back in line with the US price. Nothing new, same happened with the PS4 in Canada, $50 price hike a year after release. (While games went from $60 to $80 here during last gen) They are raising the prices to ensure their revenues stay the same. It's not that they want more, they want the same return for the same items, so they can keep going forward at the same pace.
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My friend still hasn't given me her parents Netflix login so I can watch Cyberpunk Edgerunners :( lol
But, you have to consider that streaming services STILL outweigh the value of cable for almost every average TV show watcher. The reason they've grown so well is BECAUSE of how much more cost effective they are versus cable. Case-in-point: I pay $10/mo for Hulu and Disney+, my sister pays $140/mo for cable. While she has OVERALL more access to shows, she STILL has to pay to rent movies that I watch on Disney+. She STILL misses out on TV shows I get on Hulu and Disney+. We literally argued where she lost and my other sister was laughing: she makes less money than me, but somehow is trying to tell me how she prefers cable because she can DVR, and of course I ended up winning because she simply cannot justify 14 times the cost lmfao
As for bringing this convo back into gaming, I already said it in the video: a large part of any argument in favor of increased prices is washed out by just how much bigger the game market is, now. Sure, the actual MONEY might not flow where every company wants it to (their own pockets), but there is MORE money to be made in gaming now than ever before. Whether this is through microtransactions on cosmetics in "fun" multiplayer games, or low cost mobile games, or any other combination you can imagine, things sell in units and in monetary volumes better now than before. I said it earlier in the thread: companies didn't diversify and expand into gaming merch, MTX, etc. because they were starving for money, they instead saw where it worked and wanted to cash in on the greed. I reiterate that my belief is that the average person is NOT good with money, and companies count on this.
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And to generalize the response:
This is all because of profit targets. Keep in mind I repeat myself, I said PROFITS: at no point is Sony LOSING money, they're just trying to keep their PROFITS up since it dipped as things return to "normal" after covid. In FACT, for the sake of argument, I probably wouldn't have even made this video if Sony announced that they are BARELY making a profit and breaking even or something. Example: both MS and Sony lost BILLIONS launching into the PS3/X360 era, and the funny thing is, we STILL didn't see a price hike. I'm telling this at a nearly-factual level: raising the prices is NOT actually to combat inflation and differences in dollar value, that's the optics they present to the consumer; it's ONLY because these companies want to keep profits increasing and will do whatever they can if they are in a position to get away with it. That is it, there is no real defense of this. Being happy to accept it is not a good thing, which is why I encourage waiting for sales as much as possible. The direct increase in profits simply does not equate to any increase in overall quality of games as it's a common complaint that newer AAA games simply do not have the polish/creativity older games do (and I mentioned this is likely due to the ballooning of marketing budgets), nor does it help the people that actually NEED the help against inflation: the developers.
We already mock and laugh at politicians, but the truth I've always believed is that ANYONE with enough riches and power has a high likelihood of being just as deceptive. The bigger the company, the more likely the things they tell you are planned out by MANY smart brains being paid to do it.
To close, I saw someone say how many things are the same price as they were from early in the 2000s. Ironically, that's a counterpoint on its own: the inflation has caused some of those things to be CHEAPER, now. Things aren't always due to "get more expensive" over time, and commodities like videogames NEEDED to get more cost effective (cheaper) to properly grasp and grow the market. Obviously, that worked. Swinging the other way could have worse effects, not better: you may DECREASE the number of people buying games, and instead cause more people to pull out of the market or redirect their funds elsewhere which would actually cause an even further drop in revenue or stagnation. Remember: economy is an ebb and flow and is often caused by the bubble bursting, a bubble inflated by *dun dun dun* greedy people running massive corporations that shift the market so far into "profits" that products/services/whatever become severely misaligned with the economic situation.
