What does subscription based (digital only) content mean for the future of entertainment?

[winb83]

You never own the music. Just the right to play it. There's value to having virtually endless access to data without needing local storage space.

And obviously consumers find more value there, than they do being able to stack their CDs up in a room

You might not "own" it but in the state they sold the rights to you it gave you a fair amount of control over what you did with it. Even on iTunes you can burn a CD and move that media around freely without internet. Re-rip the burned CD back to the computer and you had DRM free music. In my car for example I listen to MP3s on my phone because then I get the best quality and don't have to deal with the faults of cellular service. I have 256GBs of space on any given phone and an extra 64GBs on my Note8 so its more than enough for me to carry around my favorite music and more.

The value consumers find in streaming is the price more or less. Streaming was priced so cheap why wouldn't they prefer it? The companies that sell streaming services want you to see it that way because when they stream to you it gives them far more control over the end product. If it cost $1000 a year to stream Spotify do you think people would have still gravitated to services like that over paying $10 per physical disc? Nah.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

I already discussed how I feel creatives are being raped. Up until recently, artists were able to forecast the potential profit of their projects. Today, the compensation structure isn't transparent and streaming services have way too much power. The answer to this could be that artists or record labels create their own streaming platforms but that can be a whole separate thread.

Yeah, up until now most artists were able to forecast about $0 for their music

I'm fine with more transparency but I think that would hurt smaller artists more than that will help them.

Drakes spins are undoubtedly paying for some of my access to Killer Mike or Kamikazi Revi when you get on ITunes. More transparency would mean drake wants more money and Kamikazi gets less.

I didn't say anyone was. Re-read what I wrote. I'm saying that creatives create with a certain experience for the consumer in mind. None of them create with ads in mind, which alter the experience they intended for the consumer.

Consumers that want the experience that the artist intended still have plenty of options to get it and they pay a premium for it. Consumers who don't have the money or don't want to spend it still access to the music. And instead of illegal downloads, the artists still get some compensation.

I admit, I'm pessimistic and may be more concerned than I should be. Real art finds a way to exist regardless of the platform.
I'm pointing out hurdles artists are having to deal with today that didn't exist before streaming.

Yeah but you are ignoring all of the benefits streaming brings, and the fact that a lot of the artists wouldn't even be in the race without streaming services.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

You might not "own" it but in the state they sold the rights to you it gave you a fair amount of control over what you did with it. Even on iTunes you can burn a CD and move that media around freely without internet. Re-rip the burned CD back to the computer and you had DRM free music. In my car for example I listen to MP3s on my phone because then I get the best quality and don't have to deal with the faults of cellular service. I have 256GBs of space on any given phone and an extra 64GBs on my Note8 so its more than enough for me to carry around my favorite music and more.

Good for you

The value consumers find in streaming is the price more or less. Streaming was priced so cheap why wouldn't they prefer it? The companies that sell streaming services want you to see it that way because when they stream to you it gives them far more control over the end product. If it cost $1000 a year to stream Spotify do you think people would have still gravitated to services like that over paying $10 per physical disc? Nah.

No they would go back to illegal downloads. At least with streaming services money is being generated.

 

[Fatboi1]

I refuse to play episodic games

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

 

[Liquid]

Once you get past the need to own something, the subscription based services start to look very intriguing. It’s the future. Music did it, TV is doing it, and gaming is starting it. It’s the future, regardless of what anybody wants.

It’s for the best. The entertainment value is unmatched.

Valve better come up with something quick or stay the iTunes of the video game world and get left behind.

 

[winb83]

It’s for the best. The entertainment value is unmatched.

Valve better come up with something quick or stay the iTunes of the video game world and get left behind.

It's not for the best. Companies realize the value in you paying a perpetual fee for the content you want. As time goes on we're going to have more and more of these services. Disney looks at Netflix and sees how they're doing so Disney plans to yank it's content off Netflix and start it's own service. Apple music has this artist Spotify has that artist. Eventually you'll be paying out more in monthly fees to different companies than you would have to just buy the stuff you wanted outright and own it. The fact that more and more of these companies will gate off their content behind their own service will make this hell.

We say this is the future but companies like Pandora and Spotify have never made profits and even Netflix carries billions in debt as they burn through money trying to expand their original content for the day all the other companies pull out on them.

These companies are hoping to be the next Amazon the company that burned through billions growing their brand and came out the other end controlling the industry because of it but the truth is they might just crash and burn. Especially the music streamers. $9.99 for all you can stream music isn't sustainable it's Moviepass status. They can't pay all these artist and labels and keep in business letting people pay them $9.99 a month and stream all they want.

What's gonna happen to Netflix when all other companies have pulled their content for their own streaming services and all you can get on there is Netflix originals? This isn't even getting to the price creep which Netflix subs know a lot about.

As for Valve they're gonna face what everyone that builds their house upon the brands other companies make faces. One day those companies will realize we can just do it ourselves. When EA, Activision, and Ubisoft all open their own game streaming services and pull their games Valve won't be able to make enough content on their own to sustain a service.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Resident Evil 7 Heading To Switch In Streaming Form In Japan

Capcom Japan has announced that Resident Evil 7 (Biohazard 7 in Japan) is being released in that country as a streaming game. The so-called Cloud Version of the horror game runs off a smaller installed app, and gameplay is streamed online from there.

In addition to taking up less space on the Switch's storage, the Cloud Version also gives players a few different options on how to play. After downloading the free app from the Nintendo eShop, players can check out 15 minutes of the game at no cost. Once that time is up, players have the option of paying 2,000 yen (about $18) for a ticket good for 180 days of play. It includes the full version of the game and all of its DLC.

There's no word yet on whether the Cloud Version of the game – or a traditional complete download – is planned for release elsewhere.
Resident Evil 7 Heading To Switch In Streaming Form In Japan

I'm telling you. I might be sounding like an old man yelling "the sky is falling" but this stuff worries me.
$18 to stream Resident Evil 7 to a Nintendo Switch for 180 days might seem great for some, but I worry about what it implies if this works on a large scale.

 

[Wiles]

Ff7 remake joke?



Will be the only episodic game I play

 

[Wiles]

I'm telling you. I might be sounding like an old man yelling "the sky is falling" but this stuff worries me.
$18 to stream Resident Evil 7 to a Nintendo Switch for 180 days might seem great for some, but I worry about what it implies if this works on a large scale.

Its a bad plan. They bout to nickel and dime the shyt outta gamers

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Just means I won't be buying any game until the GOY version comes out

If things keep going down this path, GOY versions will never come. Physical media will be gone, and everything will be subscription based.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Its a bad plan. They bout to nickel and dime the shyt outta gamers

Best Buy has been drastically shrinking their movie and video game sections. Now they are getting rid of the gamers club discounts.
All of this is paving the way for a digital only world, where everything will be based on subscriptions, companies will put out content in pieces, and we will live in a society where all entertainment will be the free to play model of content delivery.

 

[Liquid]

Gamers are the worst with this shyt.

Do any of you clowns really fear that you won’t have access to a game? You might have to take some extra steps to get it digitally, but you aren’t paying a ridiculous premium to get the game like you have to do at sites like eBay.

Music listeners and movie buffs have moved on a very long time ago. It’s time for console gamers to stop living in the past.

Stream/Download and move on.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Gamers are the worst with this shyt.

Do any of you clowns really fear that you won’t have access to a game? You might have to take some extra steps to get it digitally, but you aren’t paying a ridiculous premium to get the game like you have to do at sites like eBay.

Music listeners and movie buffs have moved on a very long time ago. It’s time for console gamers to stop living in the past.

Stream/Download and move on.

This thread isn’t about not having access to a game due to a digital format. It’s about the quality of entertainment and the arts suffering due to a compensation model that promotes free to play, episodic content.

 

[winb83]

Gamers are the worst with this shyt.

Do any of you clowns really fear that you won’t have access to a game? You might have to take some extra steps to get it digitally, but you aren’t paying a ridiculous premium to get the game like you have to do at sites like eBay.

Music listeners and movie buffs have moved on a very long time ago. It’s time for console gamers to stop living in the past.

Stream/Download and move on.

I still buy physical but truth is games are all digital now. The version of the game you get on a disc is incomplete and usually a pre-release version. The disc is just a method of installing a digital copy and from then on the disc is just used to authenticate your license.

There's usually a needed day one patch that brings the game to an acceptable level. Thing is when they shut down the servers for your old console in 15-20 years you'll no longer be able to get the patches the games need to make them playable or to reach the proper version.

People who owned the Wii are about to experience this next year they're taking the Wii servers offline.

Your comparison to music and movies is flawed because both aren't tied to a piece of hardware like a console game is. These companies don't want to maintain their servers a day longer than they have to. If old hardware doesn't maintain the needed playerbase to be profitable for the company it's lights out and yeah at some point if you don't download and archive yourself on hard drives that will possibly fail one day you will lose access to the content you purchased.