Will games become more of a service than a product?

[Vault101]

with all thease new things in the horizon, cloud gaming and digital download services it makes me think that the Idea of "game ownership" as we know it just wont be the same

I guess this is all well and good if you have the internet, and mabye it will stop piracy

but on the other hand....it kinda sucks

 

[Nimcha]

and mabye it will stop piracy

Hah, keep dreaming!

I think the group of gamers these days that care about having actual ownership of a game is still quite large so I don't see that happening in the next 10 years.

 

[Snowy Rainbow]

Well, you don't currently "own" any of the games you purchase. You buy the right to play them. So in reality, nothing will change.

 

[intheweeds]

Man, I sure hope it doesn't end up like that. I'm of the type that likes to own physical copies of things. I have a few games on steam, but i like to have them on my shelf if at all possible.

 

[Vault101]

Well, you don't currently "own" any of the games you purchase. You buy the right to play them. So in reality, nothing will change.

perhaps...

but to me the Idea here is that in a perfect world I can play the game whenever the hell I feel like, regardless of the internet conection or if the company hasnt crashed OR the amount of time that has passed since the games release

if they become a service that changes and our ability to play becomes reliant on the whim of somone else (and its already happening really)

 

[Snowy Rainbow]

Well, you don't currently "own" any of the games you purchase. You buy the right to play them. So in reality, nothing will change.

perhaps...

but to me the Idea here is that in a perfect world I can play the game whenever the hell I feel like, regardless of the internet conection or if the company hasnt crashed OR the amount of time that has passed since the games release

if they become a service that changes and our ability to play becomes reliant on the whim of somone else (and its already happening really)

It's a nice dream. But give it a decade and I doubt physical media will even be mass produced.

 

[PurkinjeFiber]

To a certain extent, multiplayer has already become a service. No longer can you hook up multiple consoles/PCs to play over a LAN (see Battle.net 2.0 as an example of this shift).

In my opinion, certain games will never work as a service. Any game without a competitive or extensive multiplayer can't be sustained as a service.