Sit down my flock of filthy liberal scum and let ol’ Filthy here spin you a story. A story about greed and stupidity and how one company appears to have committed suicide.
Once upon a time there was a company named Game Stop (this is not the suicidal company in question) and they sold video games. They also sold used video games. Then, one day, some bright bulb at the home office realized just how much of a demand there was for those used games and they vastly expanded the market.
The video game companies like Sony and Microsoft did not like this. So they sued. Repeatedly.
They lost every time.
After several failed attempts to make Game Stop stop selling used games, it looked like Sony and Microsoft had given up. Especially in light of the fact that the used game market had expanded beyond Game Stop to other major video game retailers like Best Buy and Walmart.
But Microsoft had a plan!
When they released their next generation system, they would design it so games could ONLY be played on that system unless the customer paid Microsoft a fee to play it on another system. No more borrowing a friend’s game. No more playing your game over a friend’s house. Certainly no more of this buying a used game without Microsoft making a profit.
All seemed lost for the used game market.
But then Sony announced its next gen system and, having decided NOT to be greedy pricks, realized what a tremendous error Microsoft had made. If customers have a choice between freedom and greed, they’re going to go with freedom. Specifically, the freedom to buy and sell used games without Microsoft demanding a cut of the action. And so Sony has made quite a lot of noise about how you can still play used games or lend them to a friend on the Playstation 4.
If Microsoft does not rescind its scheme to profit from second hand games, it doesn’t take an economics degree to see that market will severely punish them for this. Why Microsoft did not sign a legal agreement with Sony beforehand so both would roll out this new “feature” at the same time is a mystery but it’s clear that they will suffer for it.
And as much as I love my Xbox, good. Fuck them and their greed. The very idea of a company telling me what to do with my game after I fork over $60 for it makes me want to puke. It’s mine. I can sell it, lend it or give it away and screw anybody that tries to tell me otherwise.
I hope Microsoft gets destroyed this round of the console wars. I hope they get their asses kicked so hard that Nintendo takes second place with its stupid Wii U. I hope they fail so badly that they finally remember that the players make the system; something they seem to have forgotten.
Maybe I’ll be able to play Halo 6 on my PS4…
