this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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So, I don't think you're wrong but I think there was another way to do this.
A live example is the Deadpool game on steam. The original game is no longer available and cannot be purchased, bought, rented, or anything. However, if you bought it, you still have access to downloading it.
The reason? The new deadpool IP shredded the contracts with the original game developers primarily because the voice actors weren't the ones everyone is now accustomed to (mostly ryan reynolds).
Steam managed to allow the content owners to be able to download and install the game without any problems while also complying with the new terms surrounding the deadpool ip.
This is primarily sony's fault, in my opinion, because they chose not to go to bat for their customer base and opted to fuck over their own customers. If they do not refund everyone for all the content then anything sony has ever made should be pirated by everyone from now on because it's clear that ownership no longer exists and if I can't own anything, then I also can't steal anything because clearly no one 'owns' it if even the people that paid for it cannot use it.
Makes me wonder how out of touch those guys are that they see the only solution is the nuclear route. Even if there were more issues than just this, it seems like better options could be found.
That's a very good example and I agree that's a much better way to do it.
I would think tho that this was more of a difference in how the original contracts were designed (e.g. Steam probably planned for this from day 1) but it's clear that wherever along the timeline the decision was made that Steam handled it way better than Sony.
I think one other angle we're probably missing is that Sony is in the movie industry in a big way, where Steam is not. From everything I've seen, film/movie/tv/music bigwigs are some of the greediest and most childish asshats in existence. Just look at the pettiness of their lawsuits.