A lot of companies are at least removing the more aggressive DRMs (eg. Denuvo) some time after the prime sales window has passed, at which point they would either have minimal DRM like Steam, or be fully cracked.
Yes. That goes for all media and all software. This whole process gets much easier once you accept that this is actually what you pay for, and anything beyond a short rent, is just a bonus.
Being able to play a game in 10 years, play it offline, or sell it would always be surprising to me. So I wouldn't assume those things to be possible when I buy it.
That obviously makes fewer products worth buying, which saves me money. But quite often both for games and othewr media I come to the conclusion "Yes, I'm happy to pay $60 to play this for 2 weeks even if I never play it again". So long as that's the calculation, there is rarely any disappointment.
I cannot get over this mindset. Are you saying that you are OK with the risk of never getting to re-experience the media that had a formative contribution to your personality during your childhood or early adulthood/teenage years? Your favourite music that brings back memories? There is no guarantee that a particular album or movie will be re-released on a new format. The franchise may never receive a remake, a reboot or a sequel, and there is certainly no guarantee that you will like the creative direction after so many of the original artists/writers have moved on.
10 years passing in the real world shouldn't mean anything to a medium that's frozen in time (like all fiction is). It's still possible to play N64 cartridges, watch VHS tapes, read books. Until they fall apart, that's how long you've got to enjoy them, but they won't do so quickly if you take great care of them. You will be able to pass them on as heirlooms or co-experience them with your descendants. It's a treasured, very human activity. If we don't have memories AND something to care for in the present, what do we even live for? It's not enough to live in the present, we must remain in touch with our heritage.
> Are you saying that you are OK with the risk of never getting to re-experience the media that had a formative contribution to your personality during your childhood or early adulthood/teenage years?
No, I mean I think that's a shame - but I just factor it into the equation.
I'm not describing what's acceptable, I'm describing what I think I'm getting for my money, which can be a factor in whether I decide to purchase something at all, or whether I'm happy/disappointed with it.
So if I buy a AAA game now for $80 I'll be happy if I can run it at all for 5 years. If that isn't enough for me to buy it, I won't.
There of course is a secondary question here too: should I buy these games even though I'm then contributing to this poor state of affairs when I buy DRM games rather than voting with my wallet? I don't consider that (Although I'd avoid e.g. buying the Oculus heeadset because of the Facebook thing, but that's a whole different level of evil and also affects me personally more).
> It's still possible to play N64 cartridges, watch VHS tapes, read book
And there are probably tons of things from the period after those (2000-2020) that are forever lost because their DRM servers are dead etc. And tbh. it doesn't make me even a little bit sad.
In 10 years you're better off just playing the 8K remaster on PS6 or maybe just playing red dead redemption 3 which is pretty much the same game but with better graphics and combat.
Yes, the remaster, on a locked-down hardware platform, both of which I will have to pay for again. Hopefully by then I will also be too old to remember what 'anti-consumer' means.
When you buy DRM'ed media, you are merely renting it for an unspecified duration.