Physical copies do not come with ownership anymore. Some physical copies of games are incomplete and require additional downloads and patches before they are even playable.
In this event, making backups or piracy is your only recourse in maintaining the copies of something you own.
Game Pass is an unsustainable business model and is only supported at a loss by Microsoft because they can afford it. Enshittification to follow.
@nanoUFO I feel like I’m the only Xbox owner that doesn’t do Game Pass, and it’s because I can play games when I want and at my own pace when I buy them. I don’t like wanting to play a certain game, but having to play something different because it’s leaving the service in a few days.
Game Pass doesn’t prevent you from buying any game you like. In fact, if you have Game Pass and want to purchase a title in the catalog there is a discount. Doesn’t matter if it leaves Game Pass, you would still have the game if you purchased it.
Epic games says I own a game but it’s the same where I don’t actually own it, I just own a license to download the game from their servers. Pretty sure it’s the same on PSN, too
you get access to the “claimed” monthly free games as long as you have subscription
you can’t download or keep playing the “claimed” games if your subscription expired.
those claimed game will shown as “in library” and can’t be purchased even if there is a on-going sale.
if you paid for a plus member extra bonus discount game, it’s still yours if your sub expired.
Epic:
you can download the game and keep them somewhere, as long as the auth token can verify you own the game and not expired. (similar to Steam I think the token is valid for a week if your internet goes out. it will ask you to go into offline mode as well. )
this works for both free game they gave out and the one you paid for with money.
I don’t know how the higher tier of PSN and GamePass works regarding the access of game you “played”.
In case I misunderstood, yes, you can buy them on the platform and then you own it the same way as any other platform. You can get a 20% discount on games that are still in game pass too.
You don’t own it on most platforms though, that’s my issue. If they decide to update it, break it, and stop releasing it they can, because they own it and we’re are just renting it.
Is it possible to back-up any digital games that you purchase? Could PlayStation decide your purchase is no longer available to re-install at some point in the future?
I don’t know about any other users, but I use game pass knowing I don’t own the games and they can be taken away whenever. I’ve used it to play games to see if it’s worth buying to own, or games I’m interested in trying out but not interested enough to buy it until I try it
That’s exactly how it is and always has been. And games on Game Pass usually have discounts if you want to actually purchase them. Nothing in Game Pass says you own the games, it explicitly makes it clear you do not… it still has a purchase button right next to the Play/Install button.
Game Pass means being able to give a ton of games a try or even play through entirely without having to purchase every single one. It also means a fairly steady stream of new titles to play.
Considering the price you pay compared to even a single full priced game, it’s pretty damn consumer-friendly. It’s especially valuable for full price games that you’re going to play through once and never touch again, not so much for games you’ll want to keep returning to.
It isn’t ownership, but it does have value, a lot of value for many people.
I’ve been able to play so many games I otherwise wouldn’t have because of it. I can’t afford even one $60 game a month, so getting access to hundreds of them for $10 is awesome. I’ve also been given codes for 3 months of free playpass to give to friends several times, and have played many games with those friends that I otherwise wouldn’t have.
And I don’t care about owning the games, I played them, had fun, finished them, and don’t have a use for them anymore. Why own something you don’t need more than “once” (the time it took to finish or get bored of it) when you can spend way less money for something that gives you access to that thing for what is still longer than you would need?
I buy any game I do want to own, but for the vast majority of games, I’m absolutely fine with not owning forever. And with the subscription, you’re also free to play any game for however long you want and not have to worry about losing refund rights. I have several games on Steam that I would rather not have spent money on, but it took more than two hours to figure that out, so now I can’t get the money back.
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