Doom: The Dark Ages And suspicions of the industry

Heimdall_Xtreme

Heimdall_Xtreme

Hermen Hulst Fanclub's #1 Member



I've been seeing this video game spark controversy and suspicions about how the video game industry is being directed, mainly because they're hungry for it, or I would say, because companies are imposing their control over the industry.

Hours before the Nintendo Switch 2 video was released, this game suspiciously silently raised its price to $69. Nintendo and the controversial Keycard are causing many developers to do the same. It's no coincidence that at E3, Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo They will stop attending . Or that console prices are rising, imposed by Playstation... What a coincidence that Nintendo and Xbox followed suit.


Or that they waited for Nintendo Switch 2 to come out so Playstation and Xbox could follow Nintendo's lead.

That's my opinion, but I think Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo hold secret meetings and collude among themselves to target and profit from consumers, like a mafia. And the Doom game couldn't hide how these three giants are trying to steer them down a path we as consumers don't want, but these three giants want to impose it.
 
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Again, I won't support any of these horseshit partial downloads games. Great, got it that way"physical is dead" but if you are going to go through the trouble of releasing a physical version anyways, put the fucking game on the disc fully.
 
Synless said:
Again, I won't support any of these horseshit partial downloads games. Great, got it that way"physical is dead" but if you are going to go through the trouble of releasing a physical version anyways, put the fucking game on the disc fully.
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That's right, my friend. I think when there's a "supposed console war"... I think Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo should be laughing because those three giants are very united and agree among themselves on how they'll benefit the consumer. A total deception they led us to believe, which is most likely the case.
 
I think any game that has full game on disc/ card can mention that as bonus marketing material.

It should be understood that full game wont be there most probably.
 
it does say internet required on the box :lollipop_confused:

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Square Enix: complains every game they make wildly misses expectations (because square is actually retarded when setting expectations)
Also Square Enix: puts the whole game on disc, even if it takes multiple discs. (Though I guess not on switch 2….cheapskates)

Microsoft: multi trillion dollar corporation that prints money, has a gaming ceo who claims to support physical media, releases half assed at best physical media.
 
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Heimdall_Xtreme said:
What's the point of buying it digitally, when it's the same as pirating it.
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For me, it's the service provided by whoever is selling me the game which on PC is usually Steam.

In this case this means access to updates, workshop mods, cloud saves and being able to play online. I'd be getting none of those if I pirated the game instead.
 
Thief1987 said:
I don't understand this idiocy, like you already print the disc, why not to put the data there?
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In the absurd minds and brains of the developers, this is so they can't extract the data from the disk and pirate it...

Which seems stupid to me. So they think that having the data in their online store gives them control, which is absurd.
 
Thief1987 said:
I don't understand this idiocy, like you already print the disc, why not to put the data there?
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Because there's a direct and precise intent to kill physical and get everyone onboard on their own walled gardens.

And if people let them do it they'll just take more and more.
 
Microsoft has been doing this for years, this is nothing new for their games. The previous Doom games, wolfenstein, and bethesda games used to come complete on disc, after Microsft bought Bethesda tho, this happened.

Starfield - incomplete on disc, needs to download a huge chunk of the game

Indiana Jones - same thing

Doom the dark ages - only 85MB on the disc

And i still see people saying that Microsoft is consumer friendly... people are so blinded by gamepass they ignore all the issues MS brought to the game industry.
 
It's not going to change and will surely only get worse. As much as it sucks, people really shouldn't be surprised anymore.
 
MS has made up their mind. They aren't going to let you "own" their games outright. There's absolutely no reason/excuse they have for doing this, other than "If our games can't be exclusive, then you can't own them"
 
Xbox wants to devalue and do away with the physical format now, and to do so, there's nothing better than putting just a few megabytes on a 50-100GB Blu-ray and laughing at the user who wants that version and Nintendo players doing damage control with key cards and empty cartridges.
 
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MiguelItUp said:
It's not going to change and will surely only get worse. As much as it sucks, people really shouldn't be surprised anymore.
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People can still vote with their wallets, even if I understand this sounds like crazy talk in this age of everyone just going "give it to me".

In reality, though, there are so many games out there that you can go on living an happy gaming life even if you choose to not buy some.

And this kind of practices just makes my purchasing list way easier to manage. DOOM The Dark Ages.... deleted.
 
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Gambit2483 said:
MS has made up their mind. They aren't going to let you "own" their games outright. There's absolutely no reason/excuse they have for doing this, other than "If our games can't be exclusive, then you can't own them"
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This has happened before they made their games multiplatform. Forza horizon 5 on xbox only contains a small part of the data, same for halo, etc...
 
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Quezacolt said:
Microsoft has been doing this for years, this is nothing new for their games. The previous Doom games, wolfenstein, and bethesda games used to come complete on disc, after Microsft bought Bethesda tho, this happened.

Starfield - incomplete on disc, needs to download a huge chunk of the game

Indiana Jones - same thing

Doom the dark ages - only 85MB on the disc

And i still see people saying that Microsoft is consumer friendly... people are so blinded by gamepass they ignore all the issues MS brought to the game industry.
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It's very obvious how the largest publishers want to exert control over consumers. They've been fighting against the used games market for decades, and will do everything they can to kill it. "Digital will reduce the price of games" and yet here we are in 2025 with $80 digital releases, worse and less frequent sales, and further attempts to blatantly trick people by selling a gimped physical product.

Name, shame, and don't buy these games.
 
Lets be real, this is the future for most mainstream and AAA games moving forward. All the pc players download there games off of steam or torrents anyway so I don't see how it makes a difference.
 
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These companies really want to kill physical games, no matter what.
Even if that means selling a disc with nothing in it, besides a digital key.
 
Quezacolt said:
Thisnhas happened before they made their games multiplatform. Forza horizon 5 on xbox only contains a small part of the data, same for halo, etc...
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And instead of catering to a New Market (PS5) that HIGHLY values physical games, they double down and put out game-key discs for ALL of their "physical" games.

Nintendo at least has an excuse with cartridges being more expensive to produce, but how much are they even saving by going this route with disc? Are they even actually saving anything?
 
Miles708 said:
People can still vote with their wallets, even if I understand this sounds like crazy talk in this age of everyone just going "give it to me".

In reality, though, there are so many games out there that you can go on living an happy gaming life even if you choose to not buy some.

And this kind of practices just makes my purchasing list way easier to manage. DOOM The Dark Ages.... deleted.
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Of course they can. It's just the unfortunate reality that it's likely never going to go back to the way things were. Especially as people continue to push for a more digital future. I still wish we could have a choice of physical or digital. But it's apparent we're being forced into one direction more and more. It's still so wild to me that there are people out there that are okay with this. We should always want options.
 
These three companies, and I'm going to say it, saw the tariff situation and were pleased because their excessive greed made them see an opportunity to raise their prices... and they make deals among themselves.

The idea that there is a fight between the companies Xbox, Nintendo and Playstation is a farce.
 
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Hudo said:
"Physical" PC games have been doing this for more than a decade now. You don't even get a disc.
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Because there's no unified drive system (basically nobody has a blu ray drive, many don't even have a dvd drive).

But at least PC gamers have a thriving piracy environment that makes up for whatever shenanigans can arise. There's no such thing on console anymore, so physical media is really needed
 
The physical games drumbeat has become more of a finger tap.
A neurotic repetitive condition that only shows anxiety for something you can't control.
 
That's my opinion, but I think Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo hold secret meetings and collude among themselves to target and profit from consumers, like a mafia. And the Doom game couldn't hide how these three giants are trying to steer them down a path we as consumers don't want, but these three giants want to impose it.
Click to expand...

Not really, they just see competitors increasing prices and they follow, also espionage is a thing, so they are somewhat aware of each others plans.
 
As long as I can buy and sell used copies then I don't care. That has always been my main point of contention. I don't complain about pure digital on PC because I can get games for cheap through key resellers.
 
Hudo said:
"Physical" PC games have been doing this for more than a decade now. You don't even get a disc.
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It's not the same.
Physical pc games are a 1-time use key that ties your game to steam.

This is not that.
You put the game into your ps5 and it launches a download (like normally installing a game and patch pops up. Same here).
Game is not tied to your account. Needs a disc to play.

So it is still MUCH MUCH MUCH better than digital only PSN game.
-It's not tied to an account,
-Possibly can be fully played offline after installing (and with disc in to authorize). other games like this (like hogwarts) do that.
-You can sell it, buy cheaper from other retailer.
This COMPLETELY removes PSN monopoly from the equation.
it's not death of physical. It's still much better than digital on consoles.

although not ideal but why? Would you ever play that 1.0 copy? Maybe? because we all know that these servers will never die. that download will be there your whole life.
 
I know this is an unpopular take, but business is business. I'm already tired of these threads and complaints here and elsewhere. Games are different these days. Huge files, updates, patches, online, insane development costs (GTA6 cost 2 bil)... I don't know what you guys expect. I collect retro consoles and games and love it, but it's not the same thing anymore.

We need to get over it and talk about the games, because I don't think most of you have any clue about the business.
 
Is there a running list of games that come with such a broken version that it's basically unplayable without a patch? Just guessing, but I'd imagine it's a long list. I think if you're really upset about this, those games should also draw your ire.

When is the last time anyone on GAF went an extended amount of time without internet at their house? Gotta be at least a decade for me. Maybe longer.
 
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