My wife, who’s an accountant, never really played video games growing up. When we got married, she liked to hang out on the couch while I played various Zelda titles (I think WindWaker HD was the first one she got really into with me, and she’d become a second set of eyes). She was the one who helped me understand how a video game is maybe the most value for one’s money of all the entertainment options. For a long time, games were still around $50 (which was even the price when I was a kid) and she was kind of blown away at the notion that you could pay $50 for something and have like 80+ hours of enjoyment when going to a movie was like the same price for only two hours and going to a play was often even more expensive. An album is still pretty great deal-wise because you can get years of enjoyment out of that. But in terms of a story-telling medium, a video game is still an amazing value for what you get (even at $80).
My problem with what is going on with this game and Sony in general is the idea that they want me to pay $80 for something that, due to DRM, I’m not actually owning. If they want me to pay that kind of money for something that I feel like I have actual ownership of, with a reasonable expectation that I can play it for years to come (like I can with my SNES and Saturn and whatnot), then I’m still happy to pay $80 for it. But I am not given that assurance. I thought Tears of the Kingdom was worth the price (and still do). But I have the card on my shelf and so long as I have a Switch I can play it.
My wife, who’s an accountant, never really played video games growing up. When we got married, she liked to hang out on the couch while I played various Zelda titles (I think WindWaker HD was the first one she got really into with me, and she’d become a second set of eyes). She was the one who helped me understand how a video game is maybe the most value for one’s money of all the entertainment options. For a long time, games were still around $50 (which was even the price when I was a kid) and she was kind of blown away at the notion that you could pay $50 for something and have like 80+ hours of enjoyment when going to a movie was like the same price for only two hours and going to a play was often even more expensive. An album is still pretty great deal-wise because you can get years of enjoyment out of that. But in terms of a story-telling medium, a video game is still an amazing value for what you get (even at $80).
My problem with what is going on with this game and Sony in general is the idea that they want me to pay $80 for something that, due to DRM, I’m not actually owning. If they want me to pay that kind of money for something that I feel like I have actual ownership of, with a reasonable expectation that I can play it for years to come (like I can with my SNES and Saturn and whatnot), then I’m still happy to pay $80 for it. But I am not given that assurance. I thought Tears of the Kingdom was worth the price (and still do). But I have the card on my shelf and so long as I have a Switch I can play it.