cmdrdredd
Lifer
- Dec 12, 2001
- 27,052
- 357
- 126
We discovered our local library has a ton of Xbox One games that can be borrowed. Given how well BC works, it makes it easy to check out something old but new to my family.
I think the fact that PS4 Digital is not cut down as much as the Series S and the fact that *maybe* you'll be able to add a NVME expansion drive in a year or so for $80 and nearly triple the space (~600 GB to 1.6GB) makes it a lot different value prop. That and the fact that the PS4 seems to be a console of exclusives - if you are the type of older gamer that is really only going to be playing 1-3 annual exclusives and hoards the game discs anyway (me), well, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Myself I don't see how giving up so much flexibility is worth $100 that will be mostly recouped if you ever sell it, but that's not how some of my friends who were on digital only hunts felt.
Pc gaming has been digital only for a long time now and seems to do well. The problem with consoles going digital only is the monopoly on the marketplace. There is no steam, Microsoft store, GoG etc that can offer some level of competition. Granted new titles are always full price unless you go grey market. Still as games age and sales slow, the titles can drop in price and have store wide sales as well. With only PSN or Xbox stores on consoles, even Nintendo eShop for that matter, they have no reason to offer discounts on titles with no competition from stores. You also have a lot of retailers doing buy 2 get 1 free deals not even counting the used market. This is why I’m pretty against digital only consoles. Though a benefit on Xbox is the cross save feature that allows me to play on pc if I want and transfer the save to my Xbox if I choose to continue there at some point or Vice versa when I own the game digitally.
I do support a service like gamepass because I feel the value is there where I’m not paying $60 for a game I’m not sure about. I’ve played hundreds of dollars in titles I’d probably never have purchased. Every year I can play all the new first party releases and whatnot and I can definitely see myself playing enough games to more than make up for the cost of the membership. Still, you are at the mercy of them keeping the game alive and there are many titles that have been removed after a time and if it is a game with some type of online element, you would need to buy the game to continue. The discount to gamepass members is a good idea though for this reason.