Why do Xbox and PlayStation hate video games and their customers? – Reader’s Feature

After a terrible week of news from Sony, and worse to come from Microsoft, a reader worries he’s wasted his time ever getting into video games in the first place.

Part of me feels I should wait until next week to write this, when we’ll have thousands of job losses and multiple studio closures to add to Microsoft’s hall of shame, but since there’s no secret that it’s going to happen there didn’t seem any point waiting. Besides, I’m already livid with Sony as it is, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to think straight once Microsoft start their nonsense.

GC released their Top 10 games of the year so far this week and while I haven’t played all of them it all seemed very reasonable and positive, with lots of highly rated games and plenty of variety in genres. If all you ever did was play games, you’d assume the industry was ticking along nicely, but one glance at the headlines and it’s obvious the opposite is happening.

We are very literally at a point where the entire console games industry feels like it’s about to crash. Xbox are an irrelevance, and a clear and present danger to every other games company out there, and Sony have gone off the deep end by going all-digital… on the same week they shut down the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita online stores and forcibly remove dozens of movies from people’s consoles, that they’d already paid for.

It might seem obvious to say that you shouldn’t think of any of these companies as your friend, because all they’re after is your money, but decades of console warring shows that many, maybe most, people don’t think that way at all. They treat video game companies like football teams and won’t hear a word of complaint against them, or accept that their rivals have done anything good.

I wouldn’t say that console wars are overall a good thing, but I will say that in the past they have seemed to encourage a useful sort of one-upmanship. Sega gave Nintendo something to think about, the Xbox 360 was a kick up the bum for Sony, and so on. They tried to make sure their consoles outperformed their rivals and they wanted the best games possible because they knew if they didn’t have them then the other guy would get them instead.

That’s pretty much disappeared nowadays. Nintendo has been playing by its own rules since at least the Wii and in terms of hardware Xbox and PlayStation are basically exactly the same – and also exactly the same as a mid-range gaming PC. Hardware is now irrelevant and killer apps are much less of a thing, with Sony making far less games than it used to and Xbox… I don’t even know what they’re doing with their first party games but it’s not resulting in anything I want to play.

My point is that the idea competition is good for everyone is no longer true. Sony basically have an monopoly now and they don’t care what Xbox is doing and have no incentive to please fans, by either doing the things they want (make more single-player games) or stop doing the things they don’t want (stop wasting time and money with live service games).

Sony has always been known for their arrogance but the digital-only annoucement was a step beyond because they clearly did not care at all. They wanted to go all-digital and fans can like it or lump it because they haven’t got any alternative, unless you want to buy an Xbox Series X or lose access to a lot of games by going with a Switch 2.

Both Sony and Xbox like to pretend they’re listening to their customers but they’re not. They wish they’d just shut up and stop telling normal people what’s really going on, because their job would be a lot easier if people didn’t know about the layoffs and the policy changes and everything else.

Again, I know they’re just faceless corporations but despite them kind of fumbling the ball with Switch 2 I still believe that the majority of execs at Nintendo actually like games and that it’s not just money inspiring them to make good ones. I don’t believe that for a second for anyone at Xbox and PlayStation.

Sure, the developers and lower level managers probably have a soul but none of the top dogs. Whoever’s in charge of PlayStation don’t even bother to show their face anymore and while the Xbox ones can’t stop talking it’s never about anything meaningful. Heck, there’s one theory that the new boss is only there to wind things down.

Where’s the passion and love of gaming? What’s the point of doing any of this if no one cares about games? These soulless suits could’ve got a job anywhere, at any corporation, why’d they choose games if they’re not going to even pretend to care about the business and the art?

Gaming today feels so different to when I was arguing in the playground about the Mega Drive and SNES. But it feels different even from last gen with the PlayStation 4. Games have turned into a way to funnel money from our wallets to these companies’ bank accounts, and that’s it. It was always about that, I know, but now they’ve stopped pretending otherwise.

Now it’s apparently fine for them to treat us like dirt, and the people that make the games even worse, while constantly raising prices. My mum used to say games were a waste of time when I was a kid but for the first time, I’m beginning to think she might have been right. Because if I hadn’t got into them when I was young maybe I could’ve spared myself the pain of seeing what they’ve become now.

By reader Trespils

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot.

Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email.

MORE: Video games need an expiry date if they’re going to be digital only – Reader’s Feature

MORE: What on earth is happening to the video games industry? – Reader’s Feature

MORE: Why I’m glad GTA 6 is killing physical media for gaming – Reader’s Feature