Why are Sony and Nintendo so anti consumer?

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LakeOf9

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Just wondering why they suck so much.

Don't get me wrong, I like their actual products. The games they make are some of the best in the industry. Their hardware is always cool (love Sony's emphasis on cutting edge, and Nintendo's emphasis on novelty and new paradigms). Their stuff is usually so good I'll always buy it to play the Sony and Nintendo games that interest me.

But why are these companies so anti consumer? Their policies are shit across the board. Terrible pricing for games (Nintendo refuses to drop prices, Sony led the charge to $70 games and is also starting to adopt Nintendo style lack of price cuts), bad online services (PS Plus Premium or whatever it's called is a joke, and Nintendo's online is like 1999 dialup level), bad backward compatibility records (both are so shitty and inconsistent at this), making you rebuy stuff you've already bought (Nintendo made you buy your VC stuff like 30 times, Sony refuses to honour PS Classics purchases, and also doesn't support cross-gen purchases, making you pay $10 to upgrade), not fully communicating with the customer (Sony hid the cross-gen status of several PS5 "exclusives" they announced to hype up the system until after people had already put in preorders, Nintendo had the audacity to charge $50 for their more expensive online service without telling anyone what's even on it).

Like, I love PlayStation and Nintendo consoles and games. But I hate their actual businesses.

P.S. before someone brings this up because I know they will 9000%, I have no shits to give for MS and Xbox here; Sony and Nintendo register for me because they at least make cool shit, I don't remember the last time MS did anything that interests me, so I don't even know or care if they are PS/Nintendo level bad with a lot of this stuff, they might as well not exist for me.
 
Price isn't "anticonsumer". Products and services have a price, and you may afford it or don't, you may think that's worth or you may not. It's about you really. If you live in the real world you should already know that.
 
They are company of making money, that 99% of all companies.

I dont care about Nintendo, Sony and MS themselves, only thing I care about is games, as long as they give the game I want then I'm happy.
 
Being the most prestigious publishers in the world gives them the ability to get away with a bullshit business practice every now and then.

And if that's the price to pay for all the great stuff they otherwise produce, so be it.
 
Nintendo doesn't have to lower their price because they make products that people want. That's not anti-consumer. It's pro-consumer.

The rest of your post is a collection of lazy inaccurate labels based on some loosely associated grains of truth.
 
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Its their job to be as anti-consumer as possible since they are both publicly traded companies and as market leaders they can get away with it.

Nintendo has no real competition to keep them in check and Sony does, but theyre still too dominant despite that. Xbox are the only ones who have to be more consumer friendly as theyre the ones who are behind.

If either of these werent the market leaders they wouldnt be so predatory.
 
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Capitalism. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect. But it is the system we are under. If you think you have a better Idea lets go. No corporation I have seen is perfect, and that certainly includes Microsoft.
 
Rush2112 said:
what did Nintendo do that's anti-consumer?
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LakeOf9 said:
But why are these companies so anti consumer? Their policies are shit across the board. Terrible pricing for games (Nintendo refuses to drop prices, Sony led the charge to $70 games and is also starting to adopt Nintendo style lack of price cuts), bad online services (PS Plus Premium or whatever it's called is a joke, and Nintendo's online is like 1999 dialup level), bad backward compatibility records (both are so shitty and inconsistent at this), making you rebuy stuff you've already bought (Nintendo made you buy your VC stuff like 30 times, Sony refuses to honour PS Classics purchases, and also doesn't support cross-gen purchases, making you pay $10 to upgrade), not fully communicating with the customer (Sony hid the cross-gen status of several PS5 "exclusives" they announced to hype up the system until after people had already put in preorders, Nintendo had the audacity to charge $50 for their more expensive online service without telling anyone what's even on it).
Click to expand...
 
We pay less for games than ever, gamers just think their industry is somehow immune to inflation:

p6XbAoG.jpg


No one likes price hikes but $70 (and the inevitable $80) are perfectly understandable prices in this economic climate.
 
You can access your PS classics on the console you bought them in same for the old Nintendo games. Backwards compatibility while nice is not guaranteed or a right, neither is cross gen.

PS plus premium is terrible value but they do offer cheaper options that are decent value so 🤷‍♂️
 
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No big company is "pro consumer".
They are all profit driven and will do whatever they believe will make them the most money. Switch is ridiculously popular, Ps4 was one of the most successful Sony consoles and Ps5 is leading next gen. Sony and Nintendo have no incentive to be more "pro consumer" because the average consumer seems to be perfectly happy with what they are offering now.

The only reason MS is more consumer friendly in some aspects is that Xbox One lagged significantly behind Ps4 and Sony is still leading this gen. So being seen as consumer friendly is in their interest as it's a form of competitive advantage.

If Xbox Series X were to start significantly and consistently outselling ps5 you'd see Sony "magically" becoming more consumer friendly
 
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Don't forget MS they led the charge in the 360 era charging $60 also led charging for online service and MP in the 360 era. The online in the PS3 was free. All the people back then said the online of the 360 was better... obviously you had to pay for it. Meanwhile the ps3 was free.
 
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Still waiting to see an actual anti-consumer point.

Hurry before I run off with the conclusion that you don't know what that term means and that this is all another entitled rant from an adult.
 
Captain Toad said:
Good grief.

I swear some of you think these are non-profit charities.
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Seriously. "Anti-consumer" became this insanely annoying buzz word for gamers who don't understand economics. It's used hilariously liberally.

They make - as OP puts it - best in class games. They make the best, they charge for it. They make money, we have fun. I do not see the problem here. You aren't owed any more than that.
 
scydrex said:
Don't forget MS they led the charge in the 360 era charging $60 also led charging for online service and MP in the 360 era. The online in the PS3 was free. All the people back then said the online of the 360 was better... obviously you had to pay for it. Meanwhile the ps3 was fee...
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They also tried to double the price of Live Gold, and when there was outcry they instead sneakily removed the ability to buy Gold by the year so there was still a significant price hike. They are only kept at bay because they are the underdog.
 
Killer8 said:
We pay less for games than ever, gamers just think their industry is somehow immune to inflation:

p6XbAoG.jpg


No one likes price hikes but $70 (and the inevitable $80) are perfectly understandable prices in this economic climate.
Click to expand...
Games sell a hell of a lot more than they did in the past (and also have plenty more microtransactions etc), so they are actually making more money than they used to.
 
Sakura said:
Games sell a hell of a lot more than they did in the past (and also have plenty more microtransactions etc), so they are actually making more money than they used to.
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Games cost so much more to make now then in the past.
 
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Nintendo always considered their game a higher standard than the rest of the industry and keeping price locked. Recently they made some discounts with Mario Day and also the game voucher program. Your other option for Nintendo is waiting 5+ years so you at least don't regret buying day one.

As for Sony, the game will go down from that ridiculous $70 in a short period if not digital then definitely physical if not hitting their service in a year or so. That's why waiting is best when it comes to non-nintendo games in general. Sony price strategy is so ridiculous that a game that was open for pre-orders at $70 turned F2P with Plus.

As for online Nintendo has been like this for long. Don't expect their major games to hit a subscription service. On the other hand, you can play a lot of 1st party Sony games on Extra subscription for and more to come.
 
RoboFu said:
Games cost so much more to make them in the past.
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Even with that taken into consideration they are still making way more money. How many copies do you think a game like Link to the Past sold vs Breath of the Wild? It's like 5 million to 30 million. Even if BotW had a 1 billion dollar budget, it still makes more money for "only" 60 dollars in todays money.
 
Bonfires Down said:
They also tried to double the price of Live Gold, and when there was outcry they instead sneakily removed the ability to buy Gold by the year so there was still a significant price hike. They are only kept at bay because they are the underdog.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah... forgot about that one. Yep!
 
Celcius said:
They're not in business to give you a great gaming experience. They're in business to make money. Period.
Click to expand...

Not entirely true. One leads to the other.

They could be more like Microsoft but why? There's not real incentive there for them. Hardware sells and the games review and sell great.
 
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Yea... Those "anti-consumer" practices that you listed aren't really all that anti consumer. That's why they are so successful nowadays and people (for the most part) enjoy the systems.

Side note, I do not understand why people complain about pricing in video games. Gaming has quite literally never been cheaper. Games are getting bigger in scope, offer more play time than games in the past and have gone up what, 20 bucks over the last 20/25 years. Accounting for inflation, gaming is a much more affordable hobby than in the past. Then you can also consider legit quality free to play games that are out, or gaming services which gives people a huge catalog of games for about 10 to $15 a month. It's crazy, feel like I am in a different planet sometimes when I see people complain about that.
 
scydrex said:
Don't forget MS they led the charge in the 360 era charging $60 also led charging for online service and MP in the 360 era. The online in the PS3 was free. All the people back then said the online of the 360 was better... obviously you had to pay for it. Meanwhile the ps3 was free.
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Yes. A company offers a service. They charge a price. You choose if the service is worth the price or not.

None of this is anti-consumer.
 
I'm not sure I would classify Nintendo not dropping their prices "anti-consumer".
They're selling their products at prices they see people are willing to pay. That's textbook economics.
But I agree with the rest to some degree... except for Sony. I don't play their games or buy their consoles so I don't know and don't care to know.
 
Imagine pretending Microsoft is "pro-consumer" when they:

- invented paying for playing online with original Xbox Live
- tried to force paying for playing online on PC gamers with Games for Windows Live
- use proprietary storage since the OG Xbox until today
- tried to force always online and no more used games with Xbox One
- force you to buy your own batteries for Xbox controllers
- buy studios to deny exclusive titles to other platforms
 
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LakeOf9 said:
Just wondering why they suck so much.

Don't get me wrong, I like their actual products. The games they make are some of the best in the industry. Their hardware is always cool (love Sony's emphasis on cutting edge, and Nintendo's emphasis on novelty and new paradigms). Their stuff is usually so good I'll always buy it to play the Sony and Nintendo games that interest me.

But why are these companies so anti consumer? Their policies are shit across the board. Terrible pricing for games (Nintendo refuses to drop prices, Sony led the charge to $70 games and is also starting to adopt Nintendo style lack of price cuts), bad online services (PS Plus Premium or whatever it's called is a joke, and Nintendo's online is like 1999 dialup level), bad backward compatibility records (both are so shitty and inconsistent at this), making you rebuy stuff you've already bought (Nintendo made you buy your VC stuff like 30 times, Sony refuses to honour PS Classics purchases, and also doesn't support cross-gen purchases, making you pay $10 to upgrade), not fully communicating with the customer (Sony hid the cross-gen status of several PS5 "exclusives" they announced to hype up the system until after people had already put in preorders, Nintendo had the audacity to charge $50 for their more expensive online service without telling anyone what's even on it).

Like, I love PlayStation and Nintendo consoles and games. But I hate their actual businesses.

P.S. before someone brings this up because I know they will 9000%, I have no shits to give for MS and Xbox here; Sony and Nintendo register for me because they at least make cool shit, I don't remember the last time MS did anything that interests me, so I don't even know or care if they are PS/Nintendo level bad with a lot of this stuff, they might as well not exist for me.
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ONT747I.jpg
 
Gobjuduck said:
It's absurd that Nintendo and Sony still don't offer refunds. I've refunded many games on Xbox and steam no problem.
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How often are you requesting refunds?

Tbh I feel like with all of the information we have at our fingertips these days we should be able to make an informed decision on what games to buy
 
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