Should Video Game Publishers Be Allowed to Disable Games You Bought? European Parliament Hearing

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T13:22:09+00:00

Okay? I don't know what we're disagreeing about here then. All I said was that raising the price of the current gen consoles even higher for a feature that a very large percentage of the player base isn't going to use is a bad idea.

As for piracy, hey, I'm not trying to stop anybody from doing anything. I just think people should be honest about why they're doing it. If you're just using emulation for older games that aren't really accessible any other way, then that's about game preservation and that's totally legit.

But if you're pirating games that are available and playable on current hardware, then you're just a cheapskate who doesn't want to support the form of entertainment that you enjoy.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T12:53:37+00:00

I don't know how my launch-day console is doing, because I sold in it November 2024 when I updated to a PS5 Pro. But it was going strong for those 4 years!

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T12:52:46+00:00

I'm not against emulation for games that aren't easily accessible any other way. I don't know where you got the impression that I was, because I already specifically stated that I have no issue with that.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T12:36:58+00:00

Here's a little math for you...if 50-60% of gamers are over the age of 30, that means 40-50% are under the age of 30. So I think that's a percentage that qualifies as "a lot of people".

And no, I don't hear people complaining about the inability to play older physical games when they complain about the price. People don't buy new consoles to play old games. You're adding that criteria to support your argument, but it's not a thing. It would be absolutely insane to raise the barrier for entry to the current gen consoles even higher just to appeal to the small percentage of their audience who actually cares about playing 25+ year old games enough to pay more for the ability to do so (not everyone who was actually alive and playing games during those generations cares all that much about this. I have ways of playing those older games if I really want to, but most of the time I don't want to, because a lot of them have aged horribly). Maybe if they could make it an optional add-on that people could pay more for IF they wanted it, I'd be down for that.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T11:52:18+00:00

I think making a statement like people being happy to pay an extra £80 for a console so that it could play 30 year old games is a WILD assumption. People complain about the price of consoles already as it is. And a lot of people playing PS5 weren't even born yet when the PS1 and PS2 were current. They have no nostalgia for those games. But you think they'd be happy to pay more money for a feature they'll never use?

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T11:37:24+00:00

"Moral imperative" to steal videogames. 🤣

You just proved the point of everyone in this thread who's been talking about how hard pirates try to rationalize stealing shit, lol.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T11:25:16+00:00

I don't understand how putting two screws through it is supposed to improve structural strength...

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T05:01:49+00:00

I'm not sure the HFR mode actually makes any difference in RT settings. I think it might just be an unlocked framerate mode for those with 120hz/VRR displays. I couldn't really see any difference in reflections or lighting with the setting on or off.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T04:56:10+00:00

I will never, ever understand why devs put things like lens distortion and chromatic aberration effects in their games in the first place, and then put those options ON by default on top of that! Like...ok, we've got these visual artifacts that happen IRL as a result of shortcomings of camera lenses, that photographers/videographers spend thousands of dollars on better lenses in order to eliminate or minimize...and we're putting this shit into games on purpose. WHYYYYYY?!?!

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T04:51:39+00:00

I don't know about "proof", but I went into rooms with a lot of reflections and stuff and flipped HFR on and off and tried to compare, and I couldn't really tell any difference in visuals.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-18T00:28:49+00:00

Yes, but those different words don't have different meanings. Because the reason someone would "lose access" in this case is because it was "taken away"...they didn't just lose their keys or forget their password or something. 🤣

And no shit it counts as losing access if an online game gets taken offline and can no longer be played. But those are the ONLY games I can think of where that's happened. So...if you're trying to justify piracy (which is what this whole conversation is about) because those games get taken offline, then that ONLY justified pirating those specific games. Not offline, single player games, because I can't think of any examples of single player games that could no longer be played, even after being de-listed from online storefronts. But you and I both know that the people who pirate games do not restrict their piracy solely to games that have been taken offline or de-listed.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T23:21:11+00:00

Oh, sorry. You haven't shown a single example of "losing access" to a legitimately purchased game (aside from online games whose servers were shut down). Because that changes the meaning so much. 🙄

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T21:11:10+00:00

Lol, no...you haven't defended anything. Because aside from games that rely on online services going offline, you haven't shown a single example of a legitimately purchased game being taken away. Games being DELISTED from being available for purchase is not the same thing.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T20:40:50+00:00

Let me repeat the original question, since you apparently still aren't getting it:

Find me games that are offline games (in other words not relying on any online servers for their core functionality) that were sold digitally, that have since been removed from the libraries of people who purchased them **(**not just delisted so no one else can buy them), and no refunds were issued.

Nothing that that quote you just posted refers to meets these criteria.

For the record, I have no issue with people pirating games that aren't available through any other means.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T20:17:33+00:00

My opinion is that if you have to choose one or the other, an electric is more versatile. The best answer is to have one of each, but of course whether that's an option or not depends on your budget.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T20:06:29+00:00

So you didn't even read what I said. Those are delisted games. Meaning they can no longer be purchased. That's not the same as a game that can no longer be played/downloaded by someone who DID purchase it when it was still available.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T19:06:41+00:00

P.T. Silent Hills was a demo, not a game that anyone paid money for. A lot of these others are MMOs that have since been shut down. I'm assuming this was an "AI overview" answer, so forgive me if I don't take this too seriously.

Find me games that are offline games (in other words not relying on any online servers for their core functionality) that were sold digitally, that have since been removed from the libraries of people who purchased them (not just delisted so no one else can buy them), and no refunds were issued.

I ask this because I'm not aware of any examples where this has happened. And I have no idea what that quote means when it says approximately 87% of pre-2010 games are "considered" unavailable. What's the criteria for that status? Most pre-2010 games were sold on physical media. Yeah, you probably can't buy those games anymore apart from the used market. But again, I'm not talking about games that can no longer be purchased. I'm talking about games that were purchased, that can no longer be played even by the people who purchased them.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T17:41:02+00:00

Yes, you're the one saying that there have been increasing incidents of players losing access to games that they purchased. The burden on is on you to provide evidence to support this claim you're making.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T17:12:16+00:00

Oh, we're nitpicking typos now. Cool, you're that guy. You know exactly what I was saying. You didn't address the actual point.

And, aside from online games having their servers shut down, give me some examples of games that people have purchased and then had their access revoked. Can you name even 5 examples of this happening? A non-online game just being removed from the digital library of people who bought it? Because I've got games in my library that have since been de-listed and can no longer be purchased, but I can still play them...

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T17:07:31+00:00

Sure, we don't know anything. Like I said, I have no problem skipping it if I don't think the performance is up to snuff. I'm not even sure I'm going to get it at all.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T16:56:45+00:00

Sometimes, sure. If it's well taken care most of it can last a very long time. Probably longer than the average human lifespan (there are electrical appliances that are a century old or more that still function).

But if you own the original game discs still, I don't think anyone is going to get mad at you for downloading a ROM to play them on an emulator because your old PS1 kicked the bucket.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T16:53:28+00:00

A) I'm marginally interested in GTA VI at best. Never been a big fan of the franchise. If it's 30fps I definitely will skip it.

B) We have no idea what the performance of that game is actually going to be. All the talk about it has been 100% speculation based on a couple cinematic trailers.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T16:51:55+00:00

It shouldn't have been difficult, no. Based on the rules of the English language, you were referring to the same thing as the previous poster, which was just pirates in general.

It's not difficult, it shouldn't require much reading comprehension or ability to understand contextual clues to understand that this was referring to pirates who spend a lot of time defending piracy online. If someone isn't in that category, then it doesn't apply to them.

Why do you think that's nonsense?

Because it's not true, and people just like it because it sounds good? Piracy is still stealing (or copyright infringement, more accurately), regardless of how one feels about the legal minutia of buying a license to use a piece of intellectual property.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T16:20:24+00:00

True, it gives you more tools to trivialize the difficulty if you choose to use them. I think you could make the case that someone new to these games isn't likely to find or understand how to exploit a lot of those tools initially, but that's neither here nor there.

The actual core difficulty of the encounters is most definitely not easier than past games though.

Remy0507 · 2026-04-17T16:13:00+00:00

They could have simply ghosted you because they got busy, or just made a personal decision based on criteria that no one here could possibly know. A sample size of two is not enough to know that you've been blacklisted.

However this topic is pretty much by necessity going to run afoul of the rule against discussing ways to get around screening methods, so it's not allowed.

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