How would you feel if next gen consoles had always-online DRM?

[NANA]

Something came up in the latest GB cast that got me thinking about this, they were talking about Blizzard and the old controversy around Diablo 3 for being online only, and how plenty of "triple A" games are online only now and no one bats an eye.

Similarly, people were also not ok with that idea when Xbox tried to pull it at the start of this gen, but that was 6 years ago, plenty happened since then, and a big streaming service is just around the corner, so obviously times changed.

With that in mind, would you now be ok with PS5/XBO2 having always-online DRM sugarcoated with some service as an excuse? Or are you still on the offline boat?

 

[nsilvias]

bye

 

[Mack]

Doesn't matter, my consoles are always online.

 

[Qwerty Keyboard]

Yea, wouldn't bother me. Far too much drama is made over always online anyway.
So long as the ability to play games offline if the internet plays up is there it's really a non issue.

 

[Samanosuke Akechi]

Farewell gaming

 

[oni-link]

It sounded bad in 2013 and it's still bad in 2019

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

Always online and would still be willing to commit but not necessarily in approval of the practice. I'd weigh in with some criticism and be fair minded to folks who have far less tolerance for it.

 

[Cookie]

I just wouldn't get them. There's already enough restrictions as is.

 

[SurrenderDorothy]

Hell no to all of that.

 

[Jacobson]

Not everyone lives in a country with good and/or cheap internet connection

 

[oni-link]

There is no excuse for a SP game needing you to be online for you to play it

Even if there are shared world elements like Dark Souls, they should be able to be opted out of

I don't care for MP much, and there isn't a good reason to restrict a player from playing a SP game they own if they don't have internet, or if it's 10 years later and the servers are now down

 

[RoninStrife]

I literally had internet problems the other day and thought "Thank goodness this isn't a thing!"
Literally.
Always online DRM will always be a dumb thing. Always.
We can ALL be glad MS did a U-Turn because if they didn't.. theres a possibility it would have become a gaming norm and the other two of the big Three would be going down that path now too.

 

[Schlauchkopf]

Yea, wouldn't bother me. Far too much drama is made over always online anyway.
So long as the ability to play games offline if the internet plays up is there it's really a non issue.

Click to shrink...

Then it wouldn't be always online DRM.

 

[texhnolyze]

Nah, it won't happen. What will happen is devs and pubs will push more online only games (gaas) instead, as we can already see lately.

 

[FancyPants]

The same as my feelings back when the Xbone was revealed. I will not own and buy games on a console that won't let me play them offline or that need me to stay online for some other checks.

 

[Krooner]

Not for me. But they seem to have the security locked down this gen, I'm not sure "backups" can be played on either the PS4 or X1, so is it really necessary? I'm not super clued up on the ins and outs of "homebrew" thoug

 

[Windu]

My internet rarely goes out. Maybe once or twice a year. So doesn't bother me. Although I don't see why its needed. Would like to convert physical discs into digital licenses though.

 

[Xando]

It's not 2013 anymore

 

[Velezcora]

I refused to buy Diablo III because of that drm and I would refuse to buy a new console that had it too. Why should consumers cede more control to corporations?

 

[Sidewinder]

There is no excuse for a SP game needing you to be online for you to play it

Even if there are shared world elements like Dark Souls, they should be able to be opted out of

I don't care for MP much, and there isn't a good reason to restrict a player from playing a SP game they own if they don't have internet, or if it's 10 years later and the servers are now down

Click to shrink...

This. I have nothing to add.

 

[Subnats]

Unless I'm downloading a game or update, or playing online, my consoles are almost always offline. If a console is online only it may as well just be a streaming box

 

[Jonneh]

I mean I am pretty much always online but I still wouldn't like it, it isn't all about me. A massive amount of the world still doesn't have consistent internet

 

[sirap]

Not a problem, I'll just make a switch to PC and make that my only gaming platform.

 

[skullmuffins]

It's not 2013 anymore

Click to shrink...

it's 2019 and my comcast modem regularly drops network/wifi for a half hour every other day for no identifiable reason. "always online" in the literal sense, for every game, is nowhere close to being justified. if a digital license will simply require a check in every week or so but the game can still be played offline, that's a different story. it'd still suck for people deployed on submarines or whatever but that's a big difference from "you can't play shit unless you are currently online"

 

[adinsx]

Freaking no. The problem is not my house internet, that rarely goes off, but the servers where it needs to connect.
Don't want to be unable to play because microsoft/sony servers are down, and give them ability to just disable millions of consoles of playing games?

Hell NO!

 

[Window]

It's about messaging. You'll get a lot of unhappy people if you present the question as in the poll. But package it as GaaS and many people wouldn't care. Sure you can play a barebones version of the game offline but it's not the full experience. I think the principal matters more to people than the practical application of always being online to play a game. I guess it's also about choice. People are willing to accept an always online requirement for a GaaS game but they still have the option to play a single player focused game offline. An always online DRM requirement for all games removes that choice.

 

[Soj]

I'd feel glad that I had such a large backlog because I wouldn't be buying that shit.

 

[TheForgotten]

It would piss off too many people. They dont need it when so many of the games are always online. As long as I can play my single player games offline I'm going to be fine

 

[DFG]

Aright imma head out

 

[Bunga]

I've been playing Modern Warfare single player recently and Blizzard were having problems with their servers... This meant that my SINGLE PLAYER game was disconnecting mid mission every 5 minutes with no other option provided other than to close the game and go back to desktop. Fuck this shit completely.

 

[Deleted member 29599]

I would be fine with it, purely because i am used to it. Current generation consoles might as well be considered online only considering how gimped the UI (especially Xbox) is if you stay offline. Also bearing in mind how essential the standard day 1 patches are for most games these days and how often games are updated with new content and DLC, you're absolutely getting a vastly inferior experience if your console is not hooked up to the internet. One of the biggest games in the world right now is Fortnite which you wont be playing offline anytime soon. We've come a long way from people giving Titanfall 1 shit for it's MP focus now that the likes of Overwatch have normalised it.

I highly doubt that the new consoles will be online only though, Microsoft is almost definitely not going to want to risk a repeat of the Xbox One fiasco. But for all intents and purposes they might as well be.

 

[ChemicalWorld]

Your internet is down for reasons out with your control (DDOS attacks/ISP service disruption etc) and you can't access any of your single player games.

On what fucking planet would that be acceptable to anyone?

Answers on a postcard.

 

[Khanimus]

Nope

 

[Aurica]

I would suddenly feel like a PC-only games, I'd imagine.

 

[sora87]

I'd tell em to shove it

 

[TheMadTitan]

It's 1:25am my time as I write this post. My internet will go down within the next 30 minutes. It'll be down for 15 minutes to three hours. How do I know this? Because this is the time of day where Cox always seems to have issues. Cox fucking up shouldn't prevent me from playing games.

And I have pretty damn good internet in Vegas; there's people who don't like in major metro areas like do and have far worse experiences. They shouldn't be blocked from playing games because of shitty internet.

 

[oni-link]

I've been playing Modern Warfare single player recently and Blizzard were having problems with their servers... This meant that my SINGLE PLAYER game was disconnecting mid mission every 5 minutes with no other option provided other than to close the game and go back to desktop. Fuck this shit completely.

Click to shrink...

Can you not play the SP offline?

What if you disconnected from the internet and played the SP, would it have still kept kicking you?

 

[Bunga]

Can you not play the SP offline?

What if you disconnected from the internet and played the SP, would it have still kept kicking you?

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure to be honest but it shouldn't really be an issue in the first place to play a single player game you've paid a substantial amount to play haha. Honestly it was so annoying, it even did it mid cutscene and then when I reloaded the game it had checkpointed past the cutscene and I had to watch it in the cutscenes menu at the splash screen (which thankfully is an option in MW).

 

[Gray]

Not for me. I'll be done with console just as I was starting to enjoy them.

 

[Midas]

I'm always online, but it's pure bullshit to have such an implementation.

 

[massoluk]

Online is supposed to enhance gameplay, lack of one should not limit your ability to play a game totally, nor put limit on the types of game offering.

 

[bane833]

No offline no buy.

 

[psilocybe]

What would be the advantage of always online?

 

[oni-link]

I'm not sure to be honest but it shouldn't really be an issue in the first place to play a single player game you've paid a substantial amount to play haha. Honestly it was so annoying, it even did it mid cutscene and then when I reloaded the game it had checkpointed past the cutscene and I had to watch it in the cutscenes menu at the splash screen (which thankfully is an option in MW).

Click to shrink...

Yeah I agree it shouldn't be an issue, I was just curious as to how it worked

There is no good reason why the game needs a server connection for you to play the SP

On another note, I always find it amusing how people who have a strong connection always seem to have the opinion "I'm always online anyway so it's fine"

It's peak "fuck you, got mine" , as they're happy for other people to be inconvenienced for no good reason just because it won't really impact them at all

 

[digifire]

Why would you buy them over using a service like Stadia in that case? Literally no point especially if streaming manages to mitigate lag.

 

[Nosgoroth]

Yeah, sure, I want my games to depend on a third party server that may die, be unavailable, or simply be taken offline a few years after release when it's no longer profitable to keep it up.

 

[T002 Tyrant]

I may as well go with Stadia if it's always online.

 

[fourfourfun]

Fixed console - shrug emoji.
Hybric console - yeah, how would that work.

 

[TheRulingRing]

I mean I am pretty much always online but I still wouldn't like it, it isn't all about me. A massive amount of the world still doesn't have consistent internet

Click to shrink...

Yeah. Sadly most people scoff at such thoughtfulness.

 

[Deleted member 29237]

What I've learned from playing Hitman 2 this year is that an always online game still won't work if the game servers are down. If there's no need for the game to be online to work outside of DRM, then I'm getting a worse experience when their servers are down. My own internet connection is thankfully pretty stable but that's not really the problem here - although it's definitely an additional problem for many people.

Before anyone says it, I know you can play the basic Hitman 2 levels offline but they meat of the game is the challenges and unlocks which are online only.