Completely wrong thought process. The money is not wasted as long as you play the game. You get the enjoyment from the game you paid for. If you buy a game and then wait 8 years and there's no way to play it, then you've wasted your money. If you buy a game and enjoy it and then 8 years later can't play it, you have less
value from your purchase than a game that lasts forever, but it's far from being a waste of money. Can I put a 10 yo game in my PS3 and play it? Nope. Were all those PS2 games therefore a waste of money? Nope!
I think the words "Completely wrong thought process" might be a little overstatement... You are astronomically wrong in your reasoning, Shifty.
Doing something
only while you are allowed to, destroys a substantial part of the value proposition. Perceived value vs Actual value.
You give your 60$-€, you PAY for something you want to keep forever if you choose to do so, and that's it.
The fact that your purchases don't carry over with you, sucks. The useless Xbox 720 and its useless games wouldn't be something to be proud of once they are done. I mean..., it would be a console without pedigree.
Knowing that not only your software but also your hardware aren't *everlasting* is a huge deal breaker.
I am fine with losing after sale support for a game, but buying an useless console? The countdown to death is on-going meaning the value you eventually achieve simply gets eaten away slowly over time. When you buy a game once -sometimes even twice- you do so in the hopes of actually having the game work as intended like in the launch day, for as long as you can or as long as you fancy how and when to play it.
Besides that you mention and imply that if I pay for a game I am enjoying it, where "enjoyment" is another overstatement. I bought certain games for 30$-€, for which I would gladly pay 200€ or more back in the day if I knew how good they were -to the point of having sentimental value to me-, while I paid 60$-€ for games that left me so dissatisfied that I am not sure I would play 1€ or less for them if I knew.
Yet I am happy that I have all those games, and my opinion on a game can change over time, from great to bad -like Doom 3 recently, I loved it in the olden days but I've got to the final boss yesterday and I haven't enjoyed the game as I did in the past- and vice versa.
It's all about freedom and choice.
By forcing persistent online connections gaming companies are not helping you remove the stress of this digitally connected world but rather adding to that stress.
It would cause the industry to collapse! Emails, the social networks, instant messaging, cell phones, and now even consoles, wth?
This is all things that can drain a person on a daily basis with the always constant barrage of information which is being shoved in our faces constantly. Hence why we have hobbies, and one of them is videogames.
Aside from that, for collectors, it takes the fun out of collecting. Who cares about a short-lived system which is dying from the very first day you have it and depending on a countdown?
We grew up to the original consoles, we had a PlayStation, or a Nintendo 64, NES, SNES, etc, and many of us kept at least one of the consoles for each generation. They've always been something you do for fun, alone or with a friend, or a family member. No need at all, to be online. And most of them still work to this day.
The gaming industry is shooting themselves in the foot ... not as a whole, but a heck of a whole lot of them. Always online crap, microtransactions, rip-off DLC, and things that are a drain in your finances. A loss of respect for the industry and the gamers.
I am hoping for a better future for gaming.
At the end of the day, I will choose the option that allows me to spend my spare time playing my games in peace, rather than being frustrated by server issues etc. Especially when I bought the game for the single player.
