Sony to delete a ton of content users paid for... Kotaku

Let's get this right, Sony did not steal people's money intentionally. This is all about licencing and could be something that is out of their control. It seems that after the take over the Discovery owners have decided to cut off the licencing arrangement with Sony. If they have done that then Discovery should be re-paying all the money spent on this. That should be the legal precedent. If Sony have received unacceptable terms then a court should decide what are acceptable terms. If Sony has decided not to renew acceptable terms then Sony should pay. Maybe someone can post why this licencing arrangement has broken down.

One thing that must be considered is was it in the terms of service and easily understood that this content could be taken away? I know that with PS Plus if I stop subscribing then I lose access to the game library.

What is clear is there should be some legal protections for the consumer but this being America the corporate bodies will always get protected more than the consumer. What Discovery want is Sony to have to pay the money back even if they are being the unreasonable ones.

Maybe Americans will wake up and see how the system looks at you - some George Carlin pointed out years ago.

@silentchief: Haha. Agreed 100 percent.

I am an old time gamer and I know the value of physical games and the charade of digital games on platforms like Steam, Epic, and consoles that mostly naive young gamers have fallen into hook, line, and sinker.

I still own and play games released 20+ years ago on PC and consoles. Emulators are also available that allows you to 'dump' console games that you own and play them on PC. This helps in preservation of games on physical discs that have limited life. The fact that I can enjoy hundreds of games anytime I want without having to download them makes for a satisfying experience.

The convenience of digital content is rather funny to me in comparison. With physical games, you can share them, rent them, and even sell them. I can copy 100GB games in under 30 minutes that downloading them takes 7-8 hours at max. Now that's real value.

My 3 year old kid 💕 gaming. It feels good to know that I can gift all my collection of 100+ games to him to enjoy and have as much fun I did when growing up.

GoG games are an exception as you own them. This pro-consumer model should be encouraged and endorsed rather than the digital anti-consumer model that only rents you the game.

I have read horror stories online of people losing access to $1000+ worth of games after their account was banned or hacked.

I have never bought a digital game ever in my life and I never will buy them.

@hardwenzen: Talk about dumb. Even you understand that MS rents you games. Sony sold media, took the money and is now taking that media away from you with no form of compensation. There’s no defending this, and no whataboutisms….especially when your whataboutism is incomparable with the latest FU from Sony to its fan base.

@last_lap: you can't compare games to movies. Games are always evolving with updates, dlc, expansions, bug fixes, etc, and even if you pay for it once, it doesn't matter. The only way to keep up with the latest version of games other than purchase, is to pirate it. That's why physical or digital at least for games makes zero difference. You're screwed either way.

Anyways, I personally don't care about this. Going forward, I'll think twice before buying any movie or TV show on my Xbox. Because I can't trust them. I'm also considering getting into piracy. Just download the movies and TV shows instead of having these corrupt bastards steal from you.

As for games...when you purchase a game it's a license agreement and just like Pedro mentioned above. With that in mind, it's best to just buy it as cheap as possible, don't buy full price, and of course the other option is to pirate it.

I'm probably the only one on here who is happy with ghosts and his pirating ways. Pirating is a very healthy part of the industry. IP laws, trademarks, copy right these are all ideas, and ideas are free speech that you're entitled to under the 1A. The courts and government might say different but thats just because of corrupt forces and their greed.

Sony being a greedy anti-consumer company is no news. Last year the company removed StudioCanal movies in Germany and Austria without any refunds. I don't trust these companies' digital content.

If these greedy pricks can do it with movies without remorse, they can also do the same with games. I will switch to PC gaming the moment consoles become all-digital since at least you can fall back to that pro-consumer GoG, or even piracy if GoG goes greedy as well in the years ahead.

Source: https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/playstation-store-studio-canal-movies-germany-austria-23400/

Don't wanna defend the company, but since I remember the "Terms and conditions" almost alwats say that big companies can decide when your contents is not yours anymore and you're basically screwed.

This. Conveniently it's mostly cows saying this instead of criticizing their overlord, they are attacking a medium. As if all companies do this or physical discs doesn't get scratched/damaged/lost.

@ghosts4ever keep on pirating my friend, and don't stop. You're doing the world a favor.

don't be so butt hurt over this. Nobody owns anything forever, we all die, and its not like we play all the things we own. Material possessions aren't that meaningful, and its something that people have forgotten in our government protected and highly socialist / capitalist world.

As for these corporations, just remember that you have the power. You can choose to buy these things at full price or not, or you can just pirate it. Its all your choice, nobody else. If you decide to pay $70, then you're part of the problem. If you buy these games on steep discounts, or better yet second hand, you're helping out the world. If you pirate, then you're a hero.

nobody reads the tos, or has time to go over 50 pages of legal jargon. If they made it concise and removed all the fluff, there would be an uproar among the people which would lead to changes...so they obfusciate. Thats basically how the law works, spread bs and fud to make it too annoying for regular people to dig into things.

Did Sony remove games? No. For MS to remove media, they first need to make media, and they aren't doing anything but renting 4-7/10 games🤭

@hardwenzen: Don’t be silly. You defended Sonys removal of these videos by saying “But MS rents games”.

Absolutely laughable Defense of a company you have told us numerous times you dislike. These days you spend more time defending Sony than you do playing their games…that’s just illogical.

I am not defending Sony. What i am saying is that a company that does nothing but rent you entertainment because they don't want you to own anything, would also be removing media if they were talented enough to produce it🤣

This is what you need to understand, sealionact, and as always, you don't.

Doesn't matter because Steam doesn't block content from their store even after it's taken off if you've purchased it. Steam users can still download and install software that doesn't exist on the store anymore. They don't revoke any access, which seems to be what Sony is doing.

Look no further than Gamepass. Both canabilizes game sales and is resulting in implosion of the Xbox brand. Good riddance

So, this sucks no matter what, but can it be helped? Is this Sony just not wanting to pay the license fees?

If physical media gets damaged, at least that's on the user, and not some random company deciding for you.

@hardwenzen: And yet they have their own Movies and Series App, and have never done what Sony is doing.

MS just does this better. Buy a game, play it for a couple of hours and get a full refund if you don’t like it up to 14 days after purchase. Heck, buy a subscription to any MS product including gamepass and you have the same option.

Anyone deflecting from what Sony is actually doing to what MS potentially could do - but hasn’t - is just looking for an argument for argument’s sake.

Haven’t got time for childish shit like that.

Sony could have avoided all this by allowing these tv shows etc to be rented only. Sony knows what happens when licenses run out, it's not a new thing. So, Sony need to be sued over this to protect the consumers who bought (the keyword here) the content.

This is why physical media needs to stay, but the younger (and some of the older) generation don't really care about ownership these days.

@last_lap: They really don't. "You'll own nothing and you'll be happy," crazy that people actually think like this.

What are you talking about? The very few things they've done, they're so garbage that they're desperate for anyone to see it. Look at the Halo show that's on youtube for free now. Its beyond pathetic. When your content is this bad, you beg people to watch it. They simply can't remove when they're so desperate for others to see.

Been about an hour since someone posted on SW, so I wanted to end that.

Exactly.

This is Sony dicking over consumers.

End of story.

No need to mention Xbox, MS, Valve, Steam, etc....this is Sony, Sony, Sony.

Sue them for this, like they're being sued in Europe for something else.

Sony should have to refund those people affected by this.

@getyeryayasout: Yes. Or at the very least, make a deal with another service to transfer your rights (at their cost and effort), and it should be another service at the same level of quality/convenience or greater, that you can access on the same hardware.

Who's talking about Xbox? Their Gamepass service isn't marketed as owning games. It's marketed as a service that has an evolving catalog of games to play each month. These are not the same thing.

Why, when Sony does something clearly suspect is it an Xbox problem?

literally reversed my opinion on digital due to this issue. was split half purchasing digital for game series bundles (Like KH all in one package, Far Cry bundles) and some physical ownership but I am definitely going for physical collecting now.

I didnt realize Sony owned Discovery?

You'd think they would just to avoid the potential of a class-action lawsuit. Or offer store credit or something.

Deciding to shill for a corporation rather than demand justice for fellow gamers? Yuk.

Those who bought those shows on Sony's storefront(Why though?) are morally in the right to pirate those shows.

@pclover1980: Pirating doesn't hurt Sony as they have people's money already, a lawsuit however is the only thing that will hurt Sony AND send a message to other companies that they can't get away with this.

Why do Hermits think of the piracy route first 🤦‍♂️

@last_lap: It's not about hurting Sony, it's about taking what's rightfully theirs.

@hardwenzen: What are YOU talking about? Sony didn’t produce anything made by Discovery - they sold the content, banked the money and are offering no compensation for removing videos. Heck, they’re so arrogant they don’t even offer an apology in their statement for this mess. Instead they assume “Your continued support”.

Halo is a Showtime networks series produced for Paramount based on the MS owned Halo. MS didn’t produce the Halo tv series.

Literally everything you said is wrong.

Not surprising, digital anything should be a convenience thing. Physical, cd, cartridge etc is the way always. Easy to share, resell, trade, return after purchase, break it and throw it in the trash or burn it, bury it, if it pisses you off.......whatever.

@randy_lahey said:

@saint-george said:

The absence of the resident c'L'ow'N's who criticised MS over giving less free stuff are missing in action here.

Sony shlong slurpers

You ask for the clowns and they appear.

They're not known worldwide as Phony, the one and only, for nuttin ya know. lol :P

There's the reason I refuse to buy digital content apart from games.

That does suck. I've only streamed, I'll never purchase a movie.

Wonder if this opens flood gates to games?

hmmm?

After reading the article and the responses on this thread, I decided to stop buying any future game digitally. Why I can do much with my phyical copies, but not that much with my digital copies? Also, a trend towards digital does create a slippery slope with both undesired and unintended outcomes.

You should be thinking of hurting Sony publicly and financially, that then means compensation for consumers in a refund or their content back and shows these big companies that they can't get away with this.

Piracy means shit because Sony has already got their money, not sure how you're not understanding this.

@TheEroica: Ehh...this is mostly hyperbole talk that exaggerates the story. Discovery shows DO NOT compare to digitally purchased games themselves. Content Playstation is designed to play. I've been buying games digitally since ps3 and I have not ONCE lost access to anything I bought from that time. As long as this remains true, I don't see any reason to worry.

Shitty thing for Sony to do.

No surprise.🤷🏽‍♂️🤭

Lol rich comments coming from you two MS clowns.

I have investments in Sony not MS. I work with Sony and not MS. I get discounts on Sony games not MS. But I am the MS shill.😂 Meanwhile, you are shilling for a company for free..🤣