Gamers Call for Piracy Amidst Growing Subscription Concerns

From Xfire: With video game subscription services threatening to change the concept of ownership, gamers are calling for piracy to become normalized."

[gold_drake]

I wouldnt even be talking about it, id just make sure people have ... access haha.

[phoenixwing]

Entitled ppl think it's OK to steal in what is a hobby that's not a requirement for living. It's not like you're stealing to put food on the table. You're clearly in the wrong.

[UKParallax]

If you can't own it, you can't steal it.

[Nitrowolf2]

Damn, I can smell that burn from all the way here

[GamerRN]

Actually the only way to own it is to steal it... Making it even worse...

[CobraKai]

Companies are stealing our ability to own products, we can have and use for years, so we would have to pay them for permission to play.

I was anti piracy cuz i wanted to support these companies and the work the developers put in, but now, people should pirate their games, shows, whatever that’s locked behind subscription services.

[Reaper22_]

That doesn't make sense.

[Inverno]

So what you're saying is that people should just bend over and take every inch of what these companies dish out. Enjoy that all yourself homie, the rest of us won't be falling for this subscription bs cause we like owning what we PAY for. So you're damn right we're entitled.

[phoenixwing]

I pay for my own games with cash for physical copies on ps5 and switch. On pc I use steam. Xbox is really the only company pushing the sub model. If you bought into them thats your choice but you don't steal to make it right.

[EvertonFC]

Good luck with that 🤣😂

[UKParallax]

If you take the disc, it's theft. If you make a copy of the digital file, it's copyright infringement. Big difference.

[Inverno]

It's not just Xbox, there are many companies that have gotten into the subscription business. It's not just games, or visual media, it's basic stuff like light bulbs needing a subscription service and an app just to function. It's buying a lifetime key to a product just to have it taken from you, a subscription to access features already built into a treadmill. What these companies are doing is stealing from us in the guise of a "service", so we find a more legal alternative, and they send their lawyers to take down those alternatives. So we steal back, fair is fair.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

This is what really annoys me, everything needs a subscription, or the creator/manufacturer/developer /whatever is trying to incorporate such a service. I just want to buy the thing to own forever, if I buy a car with a set of features, I should be able to use it as I please, I buy a piece of software like Adobe Photoshop, then I want to use that version forever until I feel I need to purchase the new version.

I'm also annoyed at developers like the ones for Clip Studio that allowed us to buy a lifetime license, and then take it away by saying you can only get new updates if you pay for a subscription. I was promised a lifetime license and all the updates that go with it, why would you punish paying customers like this?

[Darkegg]

Stealing happens both ways. I don’t know how many times I repaid for same software bc it’s on a different platform or different edition. The industry thrives on superannuation of our purchase and making impermanence our “license”. Forcing us to rebuy. Subscription is yet another technique. It’s just more obvious and convenient for them. Technology of 20 years ago was more than adequate. Bc of the idea to expand jobs for both software and hardware, they implemented the system u c. Tricking us that we need more powerful system when we could haves focused more on ingenuity. But that would mean less jobs. For example, do we really need that many versions of Microsoft office? It just happened to be repackaged multiple ways. I find office 2013 adequate. Just tap on cloud and could have saved so much effort on so many iterations the last decade. Superfluous. Do we need 2k xx yearly? It’s like a subscription. Stopping evolution of a game for that year. If they could they would disallow offline mode bc that would coerce consumers to “subscribe”. They do that already in some sectors to strengthen the subscription.

The fact is, succinctly, abuse goes both ways.

[Angyobangyo]

If buying isn’t owning, piracy isn’t stealing.

[stupidusername]

It's not quite the same, but recording a movie in the cinemas is still a crime even if you paid for a ticket to see the movie.
But then again I'm not really against consumers getting back at giant corporations who ruin the industry, as long as said consumers don't pirate from smaller studios.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

If I can't own it, I can't pay to have ownership of my game it ain't stealing

[Rynxie]

@phoenixwing
While these corporations can decide at any time, that they can strip you of your legally bought content for whatever reason. Discovery+, Disney. Or, you get banned (for whatever reason) and they prevent you from accessing content you already bought.

It's crazy how there's people who will shill for big corporations. It makes no sense, I honestly believe these are actual employees, who are encouraged by their employer to defend unfavorable positions.

[blackblades]

Technically you are stealing to put food on the table. Its called saving money to put food on the table.

[Crows90]

If they can't afford it...I call that being resourceful.

But you can't steal something you can't own

[Gamingsince1981]

You can't steal something if you don't take something from someone else and they are left with nothing anyway. Piracy is cloning not stealing, if you steal someone's wallet they don't have the wallet anymore , if you pirate a game the original person still has the game so it can't be stealing.

[LordoftheCritics]

''Entitled companies think it's OK to steal''

/FIXED

[Gamingsince1981]

Steal ? It's not stealing, no one is having anything taken from them, its cloning technically, the origal one doesn't get taken it gets copied, both parties have the game

[ChasterMies]

I haven’t seen “entitled” in like 5 years. I that fad was replaced by “woke”.

[phoenixwing]

What can I tell you I'm older

[wiegraf]

Copying is not theft

[Rimeskeem]

So is overusing people for their labor and time considered stealing or is only financial?

[evil6eric99]

You work for one of the big game companies rolling out the 50 different subscription tiers huh?

[phoenixwing]

No I just don't break the law and neither do I keep some delusion to justify breaking the law.

[Profchaos]

Piracy isn't the answer but so many people are so fast to piracy as a recent example people claim to be pirating Zelda tears of the kingdom because they feel the switch is underpowered so Nintendo don't deserve their money it's just insane.

In this instance though companies want us to go to the subscription route it's not surprising it's monthly money in their pockets but again doesn't justify piracy just don't buy a subscription stick with buying the games while they are still available that carries more weight to the argument people want to have ownership over what companies consider a license.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Fair but what happens when you can't buy a physical no More and everything is subscriptions and digital and still passionate about games? Just let it happen? I don't think so, piracy usually happens when a service or industry is facing problems

[tbagmonster]

and they control the price and the game, all digital is bad.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

That's true

[Profchaos]

Unfortunately if or I guess when it gets to that I can see a very real future where a flagship game like es6 is locked to gamepass I'll be boycotting but everyone's free to their own view on it.

I feel corps care about money and bottom lines so if enough people boycott it then the message is clear we are not ok with this.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

I hope it's that simple if companies are stubborn we can be for a point. Big changes happen because of revolution if recent history taught us that.

[Profchaos]

I'd hope it can be that simple the video game crash happened in the 80s because of poor business practices rushed out buggy games and a lack of overall quality control.
Things didn't improve until Nintendo introduced the NES and a quality control process that was absent on Atari.

I can draw some parallels to today's market if I'm being honest on day 1 so many games are buggy with a fix it later mentality with some being so broken they are pulled from their respective stores like bullet storm VR.
Yes the complexity is 100 times higher however the end result is still a company asking the average Joe to drop a large stack of cash for what they believe is a finished game

If anything I'd like to see games be treated as a creative outlet again over money driven trends for every Alan wake 2 there seems to be 5 suicide squad kill the justice league style games.

[shinoff2183]

ProfChaos,

I think that's pretty much what happened with the original xbox one, but ms really just kicked the can down the road and brought back alot of what was being ridiculed in new forms. The fans have ate it up this time.

[CobraKai]

I honestly feel like this is my last generation as a gamer. I killed every subscription service i have for tv and ended Game Pass. Gaming used to be about fun. The culture was fun. Now it’s all companies wanting more ways to bleed is dry. DLC and micro transactions aren’t enough.
I ain’t buying a new console for games i can’t own

[XiNatsuDragnel]

@profchaos
I actually want a gaming crash low-key

[Gamingsince1981]

Nah

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I think pirating Zelda because you don't want to play on the Switch is a silly reason, sure, go ahead and buy it, then download/play an emulated version, but at least pay the developers if you enjoy the game. I also get annoyed with Disney+ for not fixing their audio, so I don't have an issue if people pirate it while they have a subscription (personally I'm thinking of getting rid of it because they can't get audio right while everyone else can).

[PRIMORDUS]

Been torrenting for about 20yrs before that it was Usenet. I do buy a few games a year for Switch and PC but that's it. "piracy remains taboo in the entertainment industry, which is why it's surprising to see people openly talk about it." I always openly talk about it and make it a point posting links on companies twitter accounts.👿 Guys the future of games doesn't look good. Maybe the next Switch ,PS6, and next Xbox might be the last for physical games, after that who knows. If that's the case I will not be buying anything.

[UKParallax]

Usenet is still going strong. Some argue about which is better - I say, use both!

[PRIMORDUS]

Yeah it is, it came out in 1980 and still great. I just pay for a VPN hide my IP and all good. With Usenet a VPN is included with it so that's great to. I want my physical games🙁

[phoenixwing]

You barely buy anything to begin with. Your pirating habits are what has made these companies hamper games with anti pirating tech and added to the positives for them of a sub model

[PRIMORDUS]

I would buy more if they didn't do all these anti-consumer tactics. But that looks like it will not happen at all. For me personally once you fuck over your customers, that's it I do not care if you reverse your stance I'll get it my way.

[UKParallax]

I buy games, subscribe to some services, get sent some stuff for free to review and pirate everything else. So, your assumption is wrong again.

[Darkegg]

Yes but they punish the wrong ppl. Hackers will still get their way, but the consumers who support them get penalized. It’s the wrong action, wrong view, wrong targets. The philosophy is wrong.

The cost to integrate it raises the price, passed down to consumers. Wrong again.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

@Darkegg

And those two wrongs don't make a right but I can't blame ppl for pirating my friend.

[RedDevils]

Many cracked games played better than the official, I just leave as that.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Yeah once digital and subs I ain't buying games without my physical editions.

[tbagmonster]

i wouldn't be surprised if the next xbox is all digital, wallmart and best buy have stopped selling physical games so amazon is really the only place left for physical, gamestop is dead.

[Profchaos]

Honestly I believe piracy is how we got to this place where companies are making games always online and server based I'm also sure it'll be a key driver to games becoming locked behind a subscription

And the thing is most pirated believe it's a right or they were forced to pirate like I would buy x if company y did t forced this z reason but the reality is they were using that argument on the PS2 a notoriously offline system that was easily exploitable with a modchip and piracy ran rampant.

Piracy played into the death of the Dreamcast in the end so to say it does zero damage is not true

[raWfodog]

I’ll never get onboard with piracy, but this goes to show how otherwise law-abiding gamers will consider such actions when pushed by such drastic changes in the industry.

I know the only thing that stays constant is ‘change’ but it seems like ‘too much, too fast’ for many people. Now, I personally don’t mind buying digital as I have a very diverse collection of digital and physical games. But it’s never a good thing to take buying options away from consumers. We like having choices instead of them being taken away from us.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Exactly

[UKParallax]

"We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable." - Gabe Newell.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Fr

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

As much as I love Steam, I still get annoyed with their inconsistent game banning system, they were suppose to change after the Chaos;Head Noah fiasco (they haven't). Both the Dungeon Travelers games were victim to this and now ended up only on Johren, and I'm never buying from there again because of how bad the DRM is.

Piracy is 99% of the time, a service issue.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Good piracy Is a service problem, so these subscriptions is a huge problem.

[Stanjara]

OF COURSE...

[tbagmonster]

with amazon the last place for physical as walmart and bestbuy stopped selling physical games and gamestop is dead, expect both ps6 and xbox 2 to go all digital

[Blad3runner00]

This is why Companies get away with greedy tactics like this, because people bend over and take it.

Companies will always look towards ways the consumer pays more and gets less. Overpricing, less content, nickle & diming, subscriptions models. In other words greed.

And saying that, theres people who say “But piracy is wrong. Stealing from Companies”. Yet they don’t look at the other side, how these Companies are robbing consumers through greedy tactics, but thats ok, right?

Need I remind everyone, these are Companies make millions & millions of profit with their greed.

Btw, I purchase 99% of my games, except for those where I feel the quality and/or content doesn’t justify the price and I will pirate more if these greedy behaviours continue from Companies. Why? Because I have the power to do so. I don’t support greed.

Until people stand up to greedy Companies, this will continue. If that means pirating games, I am all for it

[Iltapalanyymi]

if buying isn't owning then piracy isn't stealing.

[wiegraf]

The later never was

[YourMommySpoils]

Just keep physical discs and everyone is happy.

[Barlos]

Apart from the corporations that want to control the industry. I can't see them being happy.

[Schriefer9]

Subscriptions are the company’s answer to the used market. The used market was huge and they wanted that money. So lower the fee let you use the game and trade to another. People wanted to play as much games as possible for lowest cost for years. Now the company gives it to you just in their way, so they make all the money.

[RiseNShine]

So you'll own nothing and be happy, i think i heard that before.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Personally, I try to always purchase every game I want/play, between all the different PC stores, they've done a pretty good job of that (apart from some stores, e.g. I'll never use Johren because of it's DRM), I don't have a reason to pirate. However I won't buy into a subscription gaming, and I won't chastise anyone who pirates if the game isn't available for purchase or has intrusive DRM (I'd rather they crack a purchased version though if possible).

[z2g]

Whelp. That’s only gonna make things worse.

[ocelot07]

If it ever gets to the point. Where I have to rent games (gamepass, Ubi+) in order to play the latest games. They can kiss my hairy backside.

For 2024 the only subscription I I'm subbing to is PS+ Essential and 1 or 2 months of Gamepass. I rather buy my games screw subscriptions.

[S2Killinit]

Thanks to MS’s efforts, we will soon lose ownership of games, and then our consoles when they pump everyone with advertising everytime you turn on your console.

[Petebloodyonion]

Of course, Piracy is the answer for ppl who don't like MS and want to feel justified by their actions by claiming it's because they are fighting the "evil" subscription model.

They are the same ones saying that to support dev, you Should BUY their game instead of renting them, the same one that says they won't buy Hellblade2 because it's only digital, the same ones that will buy single-player game at 50% the price because it's not on the same level of a AAA studio and the game has to prove it's a good game before committing.
And the same one that will trade the said game to Gamepstop because it's done and they should be allowed to do what they want with their game.

But Hey remember these PPL CARE about the industry.

At least I would have a shred of respect if the said ppl were fighting the idea of ownership on a real digital purchase.

[EvertonFC]

Gamers also forget we didn't have problems renting games for years from blockbusters.but that was ok I suppose.
I'm fine with subscriptions as long as the Devs/pubs don't lock the game behind the sub.
We should still have the option of buying digital, physical, rent or subscription for the next 10 years at least.
Anyone who doesn't think it's gonna be all digital and subscription in 10 years is in for a big shock.
We didn't care about losing our vinyl collections, or music CDs when it went streaming or losing our DVD collections etc.
Gamers will move with the times just as we did coming from the 80s.

[purple101]

just had to go shops real quick,

to pick up 3 bags of microwave popcorn

for this comment section.

[Demetrius]

One of the reasons I refused to sale most of my games, u can still get gems off of mercari too, cause down the line u gonna want a 2nd or 3red playthrough cause that urge to explore that games world again

[jznrpg]

I sell some of my games but I buy hundreds every year. I don’t sell most RPGs, the games I want to play again and some of the obscure stuff but I do sell some from time to time if I know I thoroughly went through the game and don’t want to go back again or I just didn’t like the game at all. I also sell duplicates of rare games from time to time and keep the better of the copies.

[jznrpg]

I’m not one for pirating games but if companies do go all digital I may be more sympathetic to its use. Maybe a whole lot more.

[ManMarmalade]

Companies took the concept of cable t.v. and made everything into a subscription based service. A huge problem with that is that we will get one thing we want on one platform, and then have to pay another service fee if something I want isn't on the other platform. Everything should be easily accessible from one service to another, but as long as we have corporate greed, it will never be that way.

[thesoftware730]

Lol, as of right now, not one game I can think of is locked behind a subscription services, some digital only, sure, but you can buy any game without a subscription. If you pirate a digital only game, you are still getting it digitally, what you gonna do, put it on a blank DVD and play it on PC? Jailbreak your Console? Play them on a 1/2 baked emulator?

And for those saying buying a game digitally isn't supporting a Dev is delusional, buying it digitally would be them getting more profit, as they won't have to press disk.

As for the consumer, why would pirating be better, because you get it for free? Then by that logic game devs won't produce sequel and such of good games because they ain't make any money. Additionally you would be stuck using doggy workaround for patches and DLC.

Look I get it, the minority of gamers like owning physical disc, but let's be honest, the market is shifting to Gaas, DLC content, MTX, and games that are so big they get constant updates, and it's well known that physically putting games in your console for updates is old school, many of the younger generation don't think like some of the older gamers, they grew up in an all digital age and that is dictating the market.

Anyway, pirating is not a solution lol.

[EvertonFC]

Agreed, and tbh all this moaning will mean nothing just like we didn't moan when we lost our vinyl music collections, music CDs, DVD collections etc from the 80s and 90s.
How many of us here still has ownership of there Amiga 500 or spectrum games ? I had 1000s of C64 and Amiga games yet realistically we don't have them now to play or now many of us still have our PS1 games etc.
Gamers Claim it's all about ownership of physical yet I bet nobody ever keeps there games for 99% of gamers.
I've been digital since launch PS4 and never looked back as I've always said we never truly own anything anyway when you really look at the bigger picture.

[TriniOutsider]

We allowed companies like Microsoft, Sony, EA, and Ubisoft to do this to us with their subscription services. Now we are getting some single-player games that require an internet connection to play

But hey there are people out there who like to brag about how Game Pass for example is good for the industry and will defend it until they find out they don't own the games and are merely renting. But will continue to say they play games for free.

I'll throw some responsibility on those who pirate games as well. It's one of the main reasons game companies get away with online-only these days.

[EvertonFC]

Gamers know they are renting the games through subscription, the problem is they don't care.
£120 approx for unlimited games all year is the ONLY thing they care about. They don't care or give to shits about playing the games again in 5 years or 10 years.
Let's be honest how many gamers actually play there Amiga 500, ps1 games or sega mega drive games today? That's right about 000.1%.
We claim it's all about ownership of physical but in reality it's all a load of BS.
How many gamers will wang to play there PS4/5 games in 20 years ? Again about 000.1%
I'm not saying it's right but going off articles like this across the internet you'd think gamers were playing there old games all the time which they ain't or dont even own anymore.
All this physical ownership BS is all down to gamers still want the trade in option to sell the game after a week once they've completed it and nothing more.

[thesoftware730]

Exactly this!, I don't see Netflix, Hulu, and other video services subscribers complaining as much as gamers.

The large majority of video is content is not even close to being available physically. Additionally, with the surge of indie gaming, and AA games played a part in the shift, can you imagine how many disc games would be on shelves if they made all of them available physically...it's a ridiculous thought.

Remember Block Buster? That was a rental service, people loved it, Redbox, people liked it, Netflix had rentals, and people gravitated towards it, music went the same direction, how many record stores is out there? I knew it was done once Virgin Mega store closed down.

Now that gaming is going this route, people wanna make it seem like it's the end of the world, but another point to look at...the the Vocal minority is on these hardcore sites, and most are console fanboys blaming Microsoft lol. So dumb, when Sony had PS Now before GP was out.

[brianunfried]

All the subscriptions and exclusivity in the console world has driven me to PC gaming and piracy. Rather spend my money upgrading my hardware. Piracy is easier than ever, get the whole game with all DLC for free. Don't see myself ever going back.

[EvertonFC]

You don't need the subscriptions and also 3 consoles are cheaper than a PC to get all the exclusive games.
Seems to me you just like free shit and don't support anyone.

[Juancho51]

In the 90s this was the way. I’m sure those days will return if this fuckery continues

[Chocoburger]

I mostly play older games using Everdrives and ODEs these days. Honestly, most modern games aren't worth your time in the first place, and thus aren't even worth pirating.

With the Switch, Nintendo disallowed us to back up our save files locally, that was the breaking point for me. They had no right to do that with us, and I decided right then and there to be a Switch pirate. I will not support these anti-consumer practices from anyone. With my hacked Switch I can easily back up my save files to my computer, the way it should always been.

Companies that try to fight piracy and lock down their ecosystems with bullshit practices that only harm their legitimate customers, do not deserve our money.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

Pirates assemble, and advocate for the right to be pirates, instead of just getting a compatible device and downloading the ROMs they want? Bruh, people who have a proclivity towards that side of things aren’t likely to start support groups to talk about their feelings on the matter.