Luna – Cloud gaming service • Hacker News Board

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#31

Post by hombre_fatal » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:08 PM UTC

QuixoticQuibit wrote: post #9

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

Taking this to some sort of terminal conclusion ("all games will be rented and streamed") is going too far.

The current situation doesn't serve everyone either. You need a decent desktop computer or console, the space for it (desk, monitor, tv, peripherals), and an interest in even owning all that crap to play many modern games. And more to enjoy them at any decent fidelity. That's a crappy deal for whole segments of the population.

Imagine if we were going the opposite direction, from streamed games to locally-run games. You could ignore the upsides and just focus on the downsides all over again. Ugh, the greedy companies now want me to invest $60 just to play their ONE game, and put wear and tear on my own $1000 machine? Hell no, capitalism suxxx!

I built a desktop computer just to play Stellaris on anything more than the tiny galaxy. I bought $900 of parts that fit in a shoebox sized case I could carry onto a plane. A subscription service with a good CPU would have let me enjoy the game without all that. There's downsides, there's upsides.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#32

Post by Judgmentality » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:09 PM UTC

Axsuul wrote: post #27

QuixoticQuibit wrote: post #9

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

With Google Stadia you can still purchase the game and play it forever.

This is roughly equivalent to DRM - you can play it so long as the service is available, but after that you lose it forever and are not getting a refund. So you aren't actually purchasing the game, you're renting the ability to use it so long as Stadia is operational.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#33

Post by tmpz22 » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:09 PM UTC

QuixoticQuibit wrote: post #9

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

Two major points:

* Many subscription services have managed to return good value to consumers, for example Netflix. Other services are more contentious but I would argue are also good value: Amazon Prime, Spotify, and Costco.

* I've never worked at a large tech enterprise company but I believe the following statement to be true: Large companies are risk averse and can only focus on a handful of board-approved moonshots at a time. Seeing another large company do it serves as a carpool lane for it being approved. Employees at company #2 are incentivized to work on (and be bullish towards) those cloned projects because they offer the most opportunity for quick advancement.

I personally find it hilarious that the "smartest minds" at "the best companies" are still doing little more then a grown-up game of monkey-see monkey-do.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#34

Post by Axsuul » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:10 PM UTC

polytely wrote: post #23

Feel like this going to kill any chance Stadia might have had, if they have enough games and they give you a couple of months for free / reduced price if you have a Twitch Prime this will probably own the game streaming market.

Not necessarily, it will also come down to exclusives. Google has already been buying up game studios and the games they release will never be on Luna. I anticipate we're going to see the same fragmentation as we're seeing in the streaming world.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#35

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:10 PM UTC

QuixoticQuibit wrote: post #9

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

[deleted]

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#36

Post by iamjake648 » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:11 PM UTC

DivisionSol wrote: post #25

QuixoticQuibit wrote: post #9

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

It all boils down to $$$, of course. 1. You cannot touch the sacred cow $60 game price. You can go lower, you cannot go higher. 2. Reoccurring revenue & upsells/addons are every business' wet dreams. The game is done, sell it at $60 and shift 9/10ths of the team onto the next game. 1/10th of the team remains in bug-fix/content-churn mode to fulfill whatever season/battle pass scheme they're peddling. Release a new ga…

> 3. Singleplayer games are dead

While they certainly aren't as common as they used to be, this is quite a stretch. Some of the Playstation's most popular exclusive titles have been single player games: Ghost of Tsushima, Last of Us 2, God of War, etc. Same thing for Nintendo: Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#37

Post by LegitShady » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:11 PM UTC

polytely wrote: post #23

Feel like this going to kill any chance Stadia might have had, if they have enough games and they give you a couple of months for free / reduced price if you have a Twitch Prime this will probably own the game streaming market.

I know a lot of people who game I don't know anyone with stadia. Even Microsoft's Xbox streaming is better. Stadia was a solution looking for a problem that can't justify its own subscription costs.

The recently launched Xbox streaming is a better solution with a ton of included games and I don't think that's any good either it's just an add on to their game pass ultimate subscription.

Google will either have to dump a ton of money into it while looking at what their competition is offering, or let the time on their contractual obligations run out and shutter it.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#38

Post by iamjake648 » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:12 PM UTC

Axsuul wrote: post #27

QuixoticQuibit wrote: post #9

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

With Google Stadia you can still purchase the game and play it forever.

"Forever" - so until Google kills it in a year or two.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#39

Post by dyingkneepad » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:12 PM UTC

DivisionSol wrote: post #25

QuixoticQuibit wrote: post #9

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

It all boils down to $$$, of course. 1. You cannot touch the sacred cow $60 game price. You can go lower, you cannot go higher. 2. Reoccurring revenue & upsells/addons are every business' wet dreams. The game is done, sell it at $60 and shift 9/10ths of the team onto the next game. 1/10th of the team remains in bug-fix/content-churn mode to fulfill whatever season/battle pass scheme they're peddling. Release a new ga…

Regarding point 1, it is wrong. Every new game has the $60 version, but also has the ultimate/deluxe/premium/season-pass/whatever version that costs up to $90 or $120 that you can buy on day one and often will even give you extra content on day one. The $60 purchase is not the full product anymore.

Re: Luna – Cloud gaming service

#40

Post by ticviking » Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 8:12 PM UTC

neaden wrote: post #21

QuixoticQuibit wrote: post #9

This feels like an appropriate place to rant on something that’s been bothering me for a while. It’s really disappointing to me to see every single form of entertainment becoming a subscription service. It’s also the same problem you see with various apps/software trying the SaaS model, even when it doesn’t make sense. Are we going to have exclusive games requiring multiple subscriptions to enjoy the content you want…

I find this odd because I think historically most people haven't purchased entertainment. Libraries have always been common for books, more people listen to a song on the radio then on a CD they own, people watched TV on broadcast or cable before Netflix, and most movies are watched in the theaters or rented then on a DVD they own. Games have been weird for being something you have to buy.

The weird thing here is the purchase of the "idea of the rules" instead of a copy of the rules.

Most games and sports had traditional rules that were passed on in a folk tradition, and only around the 1800s were rules gathered and written down.