I’m seeing a growing trend of AAA publishers pushing out games that only function fully when you’re online. Some games are actually online only (looking at you, Destiny), and I’d like to take a minute to just shine a light on the path down which we’re now wandering. Cloud saves, no split-screen, mandatory server conduits (like Uplay), huge installations… are we okay with this, and if not, can we do anything to stop it?
We might already be too late. Here’s an example of a conversation I’d have growing up when a friend came over to my house to spend the night. Friend: “Hey Matt, didn’t your parents get you the new Jet Moto for your PlayStation?” Me: “Yeah they did, it’s so cool!” Friend: “Can I see it?” Me: “Yeah, dude, let’s stay up all night playing and not sleep at all!” This was the ’90s, so my friend would probably say something like, “Rock on, let’s do this!” Pretty sweet, right? That’s how things went down back when video games were played primarily offline and everything you needed came on the disc or cartridge you unwrapped in the car on the way home from the store.
Now here’s an example of that same conversation between two friends today. Friend: “Hey Matt, I heard you got Destiny for your PS4, can we stay up all night playing?” Me: “That’d be the best! Oh, wait. Actually, it looks like the servers are down for maintenance or something until the morning, so I guess we’ll just have to go outside and play Flashlight Tag.” Actually this example is flawed because Flashlight Tag is awesome and, even at age 27, sounds way more fun than playing Destiny all night. Regardless, I hope you see my point.
When you purchase a game that functions primarily or entirely online, dependent on servers maintained and paid for by the publisher, you’re basically paying $60 for a long-term rental. Think about it: servers aren’t cheap to keep up, and when a game is past its prime it’s only a matter of time before the publisher decides that the cost of keeping the servers running isn’t worth it anymore. When they pull that plug, your game disc is no longer a game disc; it’s a small, crappy Frisbee. Super Mario Kart is a game that I played with my dad growing up, and it’s a game that I’ll play with my son when he’s young. But will you ever show your kids Destiny’s moon or let them drive around the country in The Crew? The answer is probably not.
When I was a teenager I worked at Target, and I tried to spend most of my time in the electronics and video games sections. The holidays were a lot of fun for me because I’d help out all of the clueless parents that wanted to get their kids the latest greatest thing. I remember a lot of hard conversations with parents trying to explain to them why, when buying Unreal Tournament or the new Halo , they might want to consider buying an Xbox Live or PSN subscription. They always thought I was just trying to sell them more stuff, but really I just didn’t want their son or daughter to miss out on the best parts of these games. It makes me a little sad to think about parents today, especially those struggling financially, who will take the money they’ve been saving to buy their kid a PS4 or Xbox One with a game that, come Christmas morning, they won’t even be able to play.
What do you think of always-online games? What are the benefits that I’m not addressing here, if there are any? Does the constant connectivity make it that much easier for devs to patch the game when something goes wrong? Maybe there are a lot of things handled server-side that would tax our consoles’ CPUs otherwise. Personally, I think the tradeoff is one-sided, and I’d rather be able to play the games I buy on my own time, and on my own terms.