BS. There is always a chioce if you hold you principles before your comfort. You could play tabletop games, read books or just not spending any time or money on games distributed in manners with which you disagree.
And I very stronlgy doubt you don't use any subscription service. Unless you've typed this on a public/library computer you already need to have some kind of internet service subscription.
Eh? So now you're throwing everything that is a service onto the pile here? Not very logical.
As a buyer of a consumer product such as a game, you're buying digital game
licenses. I
own these licenses, offered to me through a digital
distribution service. The goods are paid for, and
must be distributed to me. This includes aftersales support, too.
Basically, GOG, Steam, Uplay and Origin and everything else that offers you a full game license, offers you a product as the license is an indefinite access when you sign the contract. They do
NOT offer you a service to access this product, that service was already offered for free. You're buying games. They're yours. The distributor is just a middle man that must uphold a contract in two directions: to keep providing the access to your product (or:
deliver it to you, so you can use it as it was sold to you in the contract), and to distribute the money of that paid license minus commission to the publisher/dev of the game. As a customer it isn't my problem some services want me to keep logging in. That's their construct. I just want the game I paid for.
The interesting bit here about GoG: they are the only service, and to a minor degree, Steam as well, that are prepared for trouble. If they sink, they can distribute the last known version of their GoG products (installers) to each customer and close up shop. Contracts fulfilled. It will be an interesting court case (class action for sure) if Steam goes tits up and how those millions of licenses are going to be distributed at that point. Valve's TOS won't hold, for sure; even just by the sheer numbers involved and the backlash in society, some settlement will happen - imagine if it didn't: every other service provider of similar nature would instantly be in danger, as would all connected publishers/devs.
Imagine if it worked any other way... even your energy contract is a subscription service, much like your internet indeed. Where do you stop? You're a person with lost principles as much as anyone else here, we all use connected services. The problem isn't in the connected services, as long as you as a citizen or customer have fair rights in that system, and certain guarantees. That is why you have contracts and basic legalese.
Now, with cloud services, the games aren't the product. The cloud service is the product. So now you're buying
temporary access to whatever is behind the gate. You don't control anything other than your login and password, and even that is subject to change if necessary for whatever reason. Guarantees? Zero; they can refund you your last sub period and close the whole thing down tomorrow.
Gaming is going to the cloud. And like all shitty gaming stuff PC will lead the way to it! PC gaming will be first on the cloud and than drag consoles to it with it. Like all shitty gaming things, PC will lead us there!
Crypto was also going to change how we pay for our stuff, with smart contracts, with PoS, at last, after many years of not doing it.
VR is going to rise above the niche, this year, really!
Meanwhile, its going places at the cost of nothing. The 'gaming is going X' crowds are fed by marketing, not realism. Gaming never went anywhere since 1986. It just got bigger. Crowds move around between devices and popular game types, etc. Only very rarely does something die completely; we have a resurgence of single player oriented stuff now, after a decade of multiplayer focus, for example.
All of this supposed 'disruptive' stuff is tech-startup fantasy forever in beta. What's not? A full, released game. You install it, you run it, it lasts. Some games get sequels, people buy sequels. Some games are offered as a service like an MMO, people play the MMO. But if the deal looks bad, people are just as keen to move on... Cloud deals, look terribad unless they offer full games at heavily discounted subscriptions, and guess what, if you look at Netflix, you know that stuff can't last. That service has shown to 'require' yearly sub cost increases that exceed inflation YoY, for some reason,
despite market dominance. That on its own proves the point: its going nowhere. It will saturate part of its market, and it will cap out and exist alongside the myriad of other ways to access entertainment.
PC gaming is a stable factor for the simple fact everything originates from it. Creators work on PCs. It'll never die. The modding scene is a perfect example. 'Paid modding' was tried and is still being tried, some modders do get their donations and light payments, but the amount of free mods heavily outnumber the paid ones. People are just like that and the PC enables them to get their 15 minutes of fame. That's enough, alongside the joy of creating stuff in communities. Some, I dare say, many things, are just more important than money.
The internet is what it is, and will remain so, because of the low barrier to access. Cloud subbing is just a barrier with no benefits. Free stuff is what drives the internet. Paywalls kill its value, disintegrate communities, fragment playerbases, etc.
I'm speaking facts.
All true and correct
Some facts for you, so you can get through the mist here. Cloud is much bigger in Asia and lower-income countries, a completely different setting from ours in the West.
Cloud gaming today in revenue is literally nothing compared to non cloud, note we are in 2023; the projection is... optimistic, these are based on past years of rampant growth, but we're in recession now or soon.
But what about gaming itself?
30 Billion revenue in the US in 2021. Barely 150M was cloud
Its like a fly on the windshield.
And guess what region & device is leading in growth of cloud gaming? Asia, and Mobile. What gamers do we find on mobile? Casuals.
Its important to distinguish target markets. If you're emigrating to China, by all means. I'm not.
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Are you laughing at the possibility that you could reason out your argument or are you expecting to have a bad year? Either way
It’s crazy that you still think you’re arguing something with me — do you know what the “context” of your dismissing the “validity” of other people’s argument is? Because you seem to agree with all of those claims being made, doubling-down on their validity, even while you call them “incorrect.”
Can you share some links about this? Everything I’ve read has shown PC gaming sales going down steadily over the past decade, while consoles have increased and mobile gaming is booking. Sure, there was the 2020 bump, but every 2022 quarter and annual report coming from manufacturers predicts a downturn.
Meanwhile, cloud gaming is growing yoy, with Netflix and EA considering joining the market. Sure, stadia failed, but that was easy to predict (Google investing in new tech as proof of concept and then abandoning it like they are wont to do and expecting devs to port games to Linux).
Jon Peddie a few weeks ago:
https://displaydaily.com/how-far-will-legacy-take-the-pc-industry/
In 2022, 31.7 million paying users will spend a combined $2.4 billion on cloud gaming services and games streamed via the cloud. Read more.
newzoo.com
Streaming services promise to make every device into a console
www.ft.com
The global Cloud Gaming Market size was valued at $306 million in 2019 and to reach $3,107 million by 2024, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59.0%from 2019 to 2024.
www.marketsandmarkets.com
Global cloud gaming market size reach $21,954 million by 2030, Dominated by smartphones, cloud gaming offers a cost-effective solution.
www.alliedmarketresearch.com
The cloud gaming market is set to grow from $8,481.5 Mn in 2025 to $68,241.1 Mn by 2032 at a 34.7% CAGR driven by rising demand for seamless, on-the-go gaming
www.persistencemarketresearch.com
Kagan expects global cloud gaming revenue to grow 26.0% in 2022 to $2.73 billion as the library of compatible software and supported devices gradually grows and the average consumer becomes more aware of the tech's potential.
www.spglobal.com
More, GeForce Now appears to be doing fine?
Amid the pandemic and a GPU shortage, many gamers gave streaming services a try.
www.pcmag.com
The graphics specialist is pulling ahead in this fast-growing space.
www.fool.com
The global cloud gaming market size was estimated at USD 2.27 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 44.3% from 2025 to 2030
www.grandviewresearch.com
Estimates of growth (based on the 'free money' economy we've had, too!) versus reality checks: even if cloud grows to 45 billion annual globally in 2030, it still barely covers a
quarter of the actual gaming market
TODAY (~200 Billion).
Also, there is some strange math at work in the PC gamer space. It has been dying since the year 2000, but somehow, indie devving & E-sports & RT emerged from it and it still is at the forefront of gaming cutting edge, and there are still more players in games than ever historically... What magic is this!?
Probably the magic of the internet where you can find every reality you want to find
Just depends in what bubble you're searching. The combined realities state that people flock from one device to the next, as they get bored and need a change. People own multiple devices and have access to them, but don't necessarily spend money on them.
