Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Disc Version Doesn't Actually Have the Game on it, Serves as Hardware DRM

[TheinsanegamerN]

Like most AAA companies these days, activision will extend as little effort as possible to screw you as much as possible. the last CoD was bereft of features and content yet was the best selling game of the year. Why wouldnt they screw you harder for more $$$?

 

[Shihab]

Modern always-online, ever-evolving titles with constantly changing assets such as this are simply no longer feasible with the medium.

Is there any statistics that show live-service games to be the representative for the entire video game industry? No, not how many players play them, rather how many shipped titles fit the criteria compared to the total volume (measured in titles, not number of sales). Google hits are filled with SEO'ed crap on how popular a handful of titles are.
To claim that the costlier and more complex endeavor of making both the game itself and maintaining the cloud/moderation infrastructure to handle it is more common than the conventional develop-> ship -> push small-sized patches if applicable approach, is a bold claim, imo.
Assuming of course, we're putting all games with online-components in the same bucket, which is a poor generalization.

For every Fortnite, Apex or Genshin, there is a boatload of small-publishers/indie titles focused on solo-play (although they do make for a case against physical media, in their own way).

Edit: Minor disambiguation.​

 

[cvaldes]

Is there any statistics that show live-service games to be the representative for the entire video game industry? No, not how many players play them, rather how many shipped games fit the criteria compared to the total volume.​

Not sure if there are any credible statistics on that particular metric.

I have read plenty of articles stating that mobile gaming revenue is far larger than other platforms; it is also growing at a faster rate as well. Since mobile game title ASP is far smaller than other platforms, my guess is that the total unit sales of mobile titles towers over others.

For sure, the paradigm of video gaming as someone sitting in front of a PC monitor, keyboard and mouse is obsolete.

 

[Shihab]

Not sure if there are any credible statistics on that particular metric.

I have read plenty of articles stating that mobile gaming revenue is far larger than other platforms; it is also growing at a faster rate as well. Since mobile game ASP is far smaller than other platforms, my guess is that the total unit sales of mobile titles towers over others.​

I also read several such articles/researches in the past decade, but I don't think the inference is sound here. An ASP doesn't make much sense for a product where revenue is generated over its life, especially when it isn't unheard of to have most of the revenue generated by a minority of "whales."

That said, personally, I'm inclined to believe some mobile games do ship more units than other platforms as well. But then again, the platform isn't exactly relevant to the optical media discussion, given that it never required or supported it (And yes, I admit, joke's on me for making the scope "the entire video game industry" :|).

Edited my previous post to explain "volume" as number of titles, rather than sales.​

 

[Vayra86]

Keep buying such shit and then cry some more. I'm sure studios and publishers will stop it. /s

I stopped at Modern Warfare (PS3)

I'm still amazed by how little I've missed since. But damn, that was fun for a good while.

 

[zlobby]

I stopped at Modern Warfare (PS3)

I'm still amazed by how little I've missed since. But damn, that was fun for a good while.

You mean 'Monetary Whorefare'? I feel you!

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Gamers against discs must have only started gaming in the last 5-15 years. I prefer to think of the time of only discs when companies HAD to release a working game with as little bugs as possible since there was no patching then. What has online games done for you lately when they ask you to pay for an unfinished mess? This one apparently adds to the steaming pile. Is it getting better or worse?

THIS! THIS! A THOUSAND TIMES THIS!

 

[natr0n]

Did they use a cd or prob wasted a bluray disc.

 

[Chane]

Most if not all PS5 games are pressed on BDXL 100GB discs now, they could have thrown it on a couple of discs without issue. Or... just put the campaign on the disc and have multiplayer be downloaded.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Gamers against discs must have only started gaming in the last 5-15 years. I prefer to think of the time of only discs when companies HAD to release a working game with as little bugs as possible since there was no patching then. What has online games done for you lately when they ask you to pay for an unfinished mess? This one apparently adds to the steaming pile. Is it getting better or worse?

Lots of physical copies of games had patches released for them. Most copies of the physical games I still have, I also have any officially released patches for them saved on a CD/DVD (not every game had patches/updates). Take Neverwinter Nights, for example. At one point in time you could connect to the servers and update your copy of NWN through the server. However, the server connection for this was eventually stopped. I went through and tracked down all the updates/patches for it (there are a lot) and I've got them saved. So if I ever wanted to install NWN from disc again, I have all the updates/patches to go with the game. Thankfully you can, these days, purchase a copy of NWN off GoG and it comes fully patched for your gaming pleasure.

I've been slowly adding .iso of my physical copies to a HDD on my computer (though I need a bigger drive to accommodate all my physical games to do this for , just haven't gotten one yet). Here's a good one:

Brothers In Arms - Road to Hill 30. Released March of 2005. I don't recall when I got the game, had to be around that time and I made sure to find any patches/updates for it and I saved them should I ever need to download and install the game again.

Games didn't come out perfect when they were on physical only. Patches and updates were still out there, but you had to search for them.

 

[The red spirit]

Regarding single-player games, though... GoG's model is probably the closest to perfect as we are going to get. Standalone, DRM-free installers which you can backup as you see fit.

And they will go bust eventually. Their own business models hurts them a lot, because it makes piracy easier than it ever was. You can literally just start installer without cracking and it works every single bit the same as legit and legal copy of game. Say what you want to me, but it makes their own main advantage into their biggest disadvantage. I love GOG nonetheless, but I can't see how their business model is sustainable at all. The only thing that you lose is updates, because you gotta have GOG account to get updates, but that still don't make matters much better for GOG, because most of their library is old and strictly single player games, where updates don't matter or barely matter. So at best they are forced to keep prices low and at worst it means that no matter what they will do to their prices people will just pirate all their shit and if you wonder, yep there already exist GOG website clones that offer torrents of every single game on GOG for free. And those clones copied legit website with very good accuracy too, UI and download menus are nearly identical. The last time I heard, CDPR (they own GOG) wasn't making a lot of money or more accurately said margins, meanwhile the likes like EA do.

 

[Ravenas]

The sad reality of not having Net Neutrality. Data caps. How has the Biden admin not corrected this wrong doing of the Trump admin?

 

[Dr. Dro]

The sad reality of not having Net Neutrality. Data caps. How has the Biden admin not corrected this wrong doing of the Trump admin?

Because they are two sides of the same coin

 

[Mussels]

It's a nightmare for longevity.
The moment the online servers are shut down, this game is gone forever - no one could play the SP or MP legitmately, ever again.


Why do they do this? Easy, because they can sell a remaster since they just drove up demand!

 

[AlwaysHope]

COD:MW2, another rehash of the same old... & 151GB of unimaginative digital pollution.
I remember getting excited with COD 1 & 2, after that they lost me... so I was a fan until...
Just as well more value in gaming is found in older titles these days, which of course necessitates smaller files.
But each to his or her own, as long as the market strength of this publisher continues, they'll get their way.

 

[neatfeatguy]

COD:MW2, another rehash of the same old... & 151GB of unimaginative digital pollution.
I remember getting excited with COD 1 & 2, after that they lost me... so I was a fan until...
Just as well more value in gaming is found in older titles these days, which of course necessitates smaller files.
But each to his or her own, as long as the market strength of this publisher continues, they'll get their way.

CoD2 is my favorite. Still have my physical copy of the game for the PC. The CoD games after Cod2 have become, at least to me, dumber and dumber as more entries were made. I thought the original CoD4:MW was okay, but I thought it was too heavy with the QTEs. I think that was probably one of the last half-way decent single player games for CoD. The heavy focus on multiplayer was the downfall for the franchise for me.

 

[zlobby]

The sad reality of not having Net Neutrality. Data caps. How has the Biden admin not corrected this wrong doing of the Trump admin?

Aren't that Ajit's doings?

 

[Mussels]

Keep politics out of it, or threads get locked fast because people cant play nice once their favourite celebrity's get involved

 

[big_glasses]

Lots of physical copies of games had patches released for them. Most copies of the physical games I still have, I also have any officially released patches for them saved on a CD/DVD (not every game had patches/updates). Take Neverwinter Nights, for example. At one point in time you could connect to the servers and update your copy of NWN through the server. However, the server connection for this was eventually stopped. I went through and tracked down all the updates/patches for it (there are a lot) and I've got them saved. So if I ever wanted to install NWN from disc again, I have all the updates/patches to go with the game. Thankfully you can, these days, purchase a copy of NWN off GoG and it comes fully patched for your gaming pleasure.

I've been slowly adding .iso of my physical copies to a HDD on my computer (though I need a bigger drive to accommodate all my physical games to do this for , just haven't gotten one yet). Here's a good one:

Brothers In Arms - Road to Hill 30. Released March of 2005. I don't recall when I got the game, had to be around that time and I made sure to find any patches/updates for it and I saved them should I ever need to download and install the game again.
View attachment 268028

Games didn't come out perfect when they were on physical only. Patches and updates were still out there, but you had to search for them.

That's a new game though.
Even Total Annihilations had patches, and that's a 1997-game, Starcraft BW (1998) and Warcraft 3(2002) also had a lot of patches

 

[Mussels]

the big problem is with a lack of user-ran servers
Look at ubisoft shutting down their games recently


You have:
1. No install media, at all.
2. No access to patches or updates at all.
3. No offline playback at all
4. No access to any DLC content, all locked behind an online user account


Even if people had pirated copies they kept forever as digital archivisits, without the ability to host your own dedicated servers these games are artificially forced into a "Play it now before its gone forever" mentality - they've become consumables


As big_coffeemugs said right above my post, SC1, WC3, TA: All playable today. Legit owners can STILL patch and play those games.

And yet, the current trend is for disposable games that if you dont play them at their peak, they're gone forever - look at overwatch

 

[Vayra86]

the big problem is with a lack of user-ran servers
Look at ubisoft shutting down their games recently


You have:
1. No install media, at all.
2. No access to patches or updates at all.
3. No offline playback at all
4. No access to any DLC content, all locked behind an online user account


Even if people had pirated copies they kept forever as digital archivisits, without the ability to host your own dedicated servers these games are artificially forced into a "Play it now before its gone forever" mentality - they've become consumables


As big_coffeemugs said right above my post, SC1, WC3, TA: All playable today. Legit owners can STILL patch and play those games.

And yet, the current trend is for disposable games that if you dont play them at their peak, they're gone forever - look at overwatch

Its a problem that fixes itself. Games that are temporary/service focused are never memorable anyway because then why would you not keep making buck on it. We ain't missing much and the value of the games that are made 'portable or persistent' just skyrockets over time. Exceptions happen, I'd say WoW is one of them, but you also see Blizzard makes a real effort keeping that dream alive. It proves the point: if its valuable, it won't be turned into a temporary money tree, they'll want to keep it.

But let's face it, most software has a temporary nature. It is exactly piracy that keeps history intact here, this was never different, even prior to the internet being everywhere. The big problem is always online requirements / games as a service. We need to kill that idea with fire, yesterday. If its not absolutely necessary for the game to function, don't demand it to go online. There is a history of companies doing the opposite and getting burned for it. When it comes to the CoD / mainstream shooter crowd, I suppose that's the segment where these stupid tricks still work. I guess its a case of you get what you pay for, in the meantime hundreds of titles work fine offline, even today.

The service-trend is in some ways already dying down after a period of rampant growth. Its a post pandemic effect, but also an economical one. People are seeing monthly expenses rise, the first things that get the axe are entertainment subscriptions, in most homes. Also: food delivery. On-demand video. Down. Down. Down. It might very well be that lots of economical 'realities' we think are now normal, are actually only possible in a world of free money / low interest. Its a fantasy world, we've postponed lots of uncomfortable truths to make it possible and maintain it, its becoming clear we can't keep that up. For services like Netflix, that is a double problem: they have less money to make shows = less content = lower perceived value of service = less competitive.

That period of infinite consumerism is over; subscriptions are rapidly rising in price for offering the same things (or less than before!), the market is saturated, and its cheaper to do stuff yourself than having it delivered to your doorstep. Add some competition in ondemand services that is present now and already we're seeing lots of businesses in trouble. Flash delivery services are a great example, too. They're all merging, quitting, or somehow adapting to stay afloat. Sooner rather than later, younger generations that grew up in ondemand worlds are discovering that ownership represents actual value and is necessity rather than luxury, if they want to make ends meet. Overall it means you're buying less, but doing more with it, a sensible thing.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Well thank goodness candy crush is safe

 

[ixi]

Yes, because I can re-sell physical copy of any PS4/PS5 game I own, something that can't be done on PC right now.

And struggle with slow loadings .

 

[Chomiq]

And struggle with slow loadings .

7 seconds from cold boot to Spider-man Miles Morales menu? Yeah, slow...

 

[ixi]

7 seconds from cold boot to Spider-man Miles Morales menu? Yeah, slow...

Question is, does it copy game drom disc to harddrive or is loading from disk. If it is from disc, then hard to believe.