A couple of years ago something horrible happened to me as a gamer. My living situation was drastically changed by the loss of my life partner and I was forced into a situation where I could no longer afford to pay for the internet on my own.
No more xbox live, or ps plus I was and frankly still am stuck in a place where I ca only enjoy my hobby offline and let me tell you that making a trip to mcdonalds just so I can download the pokemon x free gift torchic is not only sad its also a little embarrassing. I have had to learn how to enjoy all of my media (not just gaming) in the physical medium and not just stream everything offline like I used to, me and my wife must have easily racked up 30+ gigs of data a month which brings me to the point of this blog.
I have noticed over the past year or so that there has been a huge push for media to exist on the internet, movies, gaming, music all of it. As a society people living in america have gotten used to all you can eat buffet of creamy internet goodness for just one monthly fee and its a bubble that is going to burst. If you enjoy playing online then my friend the sky is falling, its going to get very expensive. The change is going to be gradual at first, but its coming.
I know this because i have been keeping my eye out for internet I can afford (I still cant sadly) but I have noticed an increase in metered internet plans, pricing variants with gb limits and they are everywhere and seem to be becoming what cable and internet companies want to be the norm. In fact I found a story that im going link here that backs this up but doesn't mention gaming http://www.techhive.com/art...
imagine if microsoft had stuck with their vision of always online gaming?
Imagine the cost of services like gaikai?
For a long time the internet has been like the wild west. Home of the free spirited and owned by the nerds but its going to be tamed and free reign we will have no longer.
I really hope gaming as a medium is ready to take this semi step backward. Offline may very well be the future.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
The very fact that you want online, and that you would have online if your circumstances allowed for it, show that online is the future.
'As a society people living in america have gotten used to all you can eat buffet of creamy internet goodness for just one monthly fee and its a bubble that is going to burst.'
It's been this way in the UK for years, there is no bubble that will burst on this side of the pond at least. Most providers will offer unlimited access at slightly more than say a monthly limit for slightly more money. Even then there is a caveat of 'don't attempt to download the internet' if you get what I mean.
Virgin cable for example simply throttle bandwidth if you download an excess amount per hour. The throttle doesn't impact HD streaming through Netflix/Lovefilm or online gaming.
It comes down to people abusing something they feel they are entitled to. I know of people who will download hundreds of TV shows or films, most of which they don't even end up watching. Just because they can. When the access you NEED is put into context against what you WANT the limits honestly won't affect a majority of people.
You're a perfect example of something I have been feeling for quite some time. There are still viable reasons against an online-only future. Whether they decide to just pretend that people like us don't exist remains to be seen.