A funny anecdote from outside gaming land:
Sony mirrorless cameras, even MEGA expensive ones, have this quirk where they can’t film 30P HEVC video.
The A6700 for instance, can record 24, 30, 60 h.264, but only 24 or 60 h.265. The A7C II is particularly handicapped, with only 24 h.265.
The $7000 A1 flagship is the same. It doesn’t make any sense; all their hardware supports it.
Why?
Well, people kept asking Sony, and someone finally got a response:
Hello, Sony’s commitment to customer satisfaction is our top priority. The reason for that is that we determined the current product specifications from our analyses of target users and available technologies. For XAVC HS, we envision users enjoying HLG movies by connecting the camera to an HDR (HLG) compatible BRAVIA TV over HDMI, and 60p is what we view as the default setting for playback with it. To record movies in higher quality in 4K/30p, we would recommend selecting XAVC S and XAVC S-I, 10-bit 4:2:2 sampling, either Long GoP and All-I codec. Could you tell us how creators such as yourself want to use HEVC at 30p so we can provide feedback to our design team?
I found that oddly enlightening.
“Well, it’s not optimal for a BRAVIA TV over HDMI, so why would users want this? Why is it worth it for us to waste half a kilobyte for this option in the UI?” Sony cannot fathom anything outside that.
It makes that whole list in OP’s post make total sense. It’s not even cynicism on their part; with that mindset, what would they need a disk player for? What value is Bluepoint is a business review?
They literally cannot understand why PlayStation users would want any of those things. It’s outside the domain.
I can’t speak to market trends, but I can say this 100% makes my PS5 my last Sony console. I’ve bought every one, and the only reason I continue to buy them is so I can collect exclusives on disc for my collection.
A digital only console is just a bad, expensive gaming PC. I already have a good expensive gaming PC, so I’ll just buy games digitally there.
Yep. Same. I’ve been a PlayStation guy since my teens and could start buying my own stuff. If that’s the move they want to go with then I have zero issues in dropping them as a whole.
Personally I bought a PS5 only to collect physical games and be able to play them. I’m not paying premium PS prices for temporary, digital access.
I think it’s safe to say this means PS6 will either be digital only, or heavily focused on digital. Which for me is a non-negotiable deal breaker.
PlayStation is pulling off the best marketing campaign Xbox could ever dream of.
I mean, thats a pretty low bar. Xbox cant market for shit anymore.
They are also lobbying to make hosting you own videogame server illegal: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/esa-bafflingly-declares-private-minecraft-servers-illegal-in-stop-killing-games-hearing-we-consider-it-piracy-we-have-lawsuits/
Sony is part of ESA.
Bye PlayStation. It’s been a good run, but you’re dead to me now.
I’m not one of those people who pretends they will play a physical disc game for the rest of their life
I do however like physical for two reasons. Firstly, the price, how tf can you justify charging more when you are cutting out all of the middlemen and listing on your own online store. Secondly, resale. I can buy a game, play it and resell.
If the tradeoff on going digital was that games were 50% cheaper, then I’d be happy. I wouldn’t have to hoard games and I’d have the convenience of digital.
Just like self checkout. I’m now doing the work of an employee. So I’ll ring up everything as an apple now, can’t fire me.
They also just announced that the PS3 and Vita Playstation Stores will be shutting down, starting next month in certain regions and everywhere by July 2027. At some point in the future it will be impossible to buy games for your old PS6 because it doesn’t support discs and the Playstation Store doesn’t support the system.
I guess we’re never gonna get to see that super futuristic PS9 that was envisioned back in that old PS2 commercial.
It’ll just be a terminal that connects to Sony’s servers.
Good thing I skipped a generation of console.
I was an XBox guy, and didn’t get into Playstation at all. But it was always clear that they were excellent consoles. At a certain income level back in the day, you’d get an XBox or a Playstation, but not both. If you had a smidgen more money to spend, Nintendo had you covered.
I have no emotional fealty to Playstation in any way, but what a shame to see all three formerly awesome systems now competing to see who can enshitify more effectively.
I had a PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Was a huge twisted metal fan. Xbox came out some friends got that. Halo was fun. What made me switch to Xbox was strictly fears of war. The few of my friends that were still PlayStation fans switched to the 360 almost immediately after playing gears.
I can’t believe Nintendo seems the least shitty of the 3 currently. At least they sell portable licenses via game key cards.
If you had a smidgen more money to spend, Nintendo had you covered.
I always assumed Nintendo stuff is cheaper since it looks like indie games and not anywhere close to the games you could play on consoles. Huh, TIL.
There is no world where Nintendo had you covered
Their hardware and systems, particularly any online connectivity is 20hrs behind. They’ve also be the shittiest of them all with price hikes
20hrs behind
Well, yea. Japan is in a different time zone.
Eh. I’m not surprised to see this. But I am happy I built my PC when I did.
Quite frankly I do not feel bad about pirating everything and storing it to my hard drive. If we don’t own it, it’s not stealing.
It’s like corporations don’t know how to do anything but enshittify anymore
It’s the ultimate push to turn everything into the perfect Capitalist (not market-oriented) business solution: Getting paid for nothing
If your goal is to accumulate capital, and there are not outside forces regulating your worst impulses, you ultimately will create a class of legal-protected thieves, since the absolutely best and most risk free way to accumulate capital is to be given it in exchange for quite literally nothing.
Gambling is about as close to the platonic ideal as you can, but conquest by military force of political capture is also a very, viable route. Use the law to force people to buy your nothing and be protected for it, rather than being lynched when you steal someone’s products.
Mandated insurance that isn’t a crown corporation beholden to ratepayers is a perfect example. If you have mandated insurance for something, and that private insurance has a shareholder requirement to see growth every quarter, and the same amount of things are being insured, only one thing can happen:
Rates go up with denials
Payouts go down
Eventually you’re paying for insurance you know is worthless but it’s mandated by law.
I agree with you, but then isn’t it strange that AI does a whole lot of something instead of nothing? Like, the high amount of effort they put into making AI a big thing runs counter to the laziness of getting paid to do nothing.
Though I guess they ARE getting paid doing nothing, with how many data centers are getting cancelled.
Not when you realize that the “something” they’re charging you for is:
a) bastardized cargo culted knockoff of “something” so insubstantial that it’s very nearly “something-shaped nothing”
b) the “something” is made of stuff that isn’t even theirs.Not only is it giving you a bamboo and thatch sculpture of an airplane when you ask for an airplane; it’s made of STOLEN bamboo and STOLEN thatch.
any company born after 1993 can’t make good products… all they know is exploitation, fire their workers, enshittify, be pink capitalist, eat hot cash & lie
(yes i know sony was founded before 1993 thank you)
So was Enron? I’m not sure why you chose 1993, companies have been shitty across all of time and space.
Welp, I’m the fucking idiot today lol. Thanks!
Really scary to see where the industry is headed! I’ve started purchasing games on GOG whenever possible so as to put my money towards an actually good source in the industry but it doesn’t feel like enough.
These companies are constantly pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with and it feels like we just gotta take it at this point.
I especially feel bad for the console gamers as they have very little options to get around this and switching to PC is unfortunately more expensive than ever.
and it feels like we just gotta take it at this point.
Either that or become tech-savvy enough for 🏴☠️
Yeah, doable for us on PC but a much higher barrier for entry for those on console
Don’t forget that they’ve halted PC ports for their games, including shitcanning nearly-complete work on Ghost of Yōtei.
They’ll probably keep releasing for the PS5 for years into the PS6’s lifespan, so as long as that happens I’ll get their games if they look good, but once they shift over to PS6 completely, I’m done.
PS4 is my last PlayStation. Can’t even recall the last time I powered it up on purpose.
Good call. If you didn’t get a PS5 at launch price, it certainly won’t ever be worth getting one, or any future PS console.
Honestly, I regret wasting my money on the PS4.
Out of curiosity, why did you get one?
There were several PS4-exclusive games coming out that I was really looking forward to,and I was expecting many more; furthermore, I thought it might be handy to have something with built-in optical media support. Most of those original titles were re-released for PC, my future hopes never really materialized, and I never used the optical drive except to insert a disc for DRM purposes.
You might be able to jailbreak it! I have a collection of consoles that I got only to tinker with. I keep up to date with the PS5/PS4 through MODDED WARFARE on Youtube. Might give you something to make it useful for you, even if it is just to run Linux on it. :P
Microsoft is killing their software while Sony kills the hardware and marketplace. This looks like the end of the console generation with the only device left being a handheld by Nintendo.
Nintendo is also now the only one left I’ll consider buying their next console depending on how enshittifed it is. They’re the only one left now that isn’t just a locked-down PC.
