preview

These days there has been a happy coincidence: PlayStation Network and Xbox Live have gone down. Last Friday, PlayStation servers They were out of the game for a few hours and This Monday the same thing happened with Xbox. The result, in both cases, was the same: users who not only could not play online multiplayer, but They also couldn’t play games they had boughtbut they needed online verification to work. And I say that it is a “happy coincidence” because almost a month ago Sony announced that They will stop making games in physical format in January 2028, limiting all purchases to digital games that, remember, not only are not ours, but depend on these servers to function. And the fall of both services practically at the same time is a warning of what is to come. When everything goes digital and is locked down by a server check, if the servers go down you better have an old console on hand if you feel like gaming. A reminder of what is to come That servers fail is not new. It’s something that’s not common, but it’s there and it’s a bummer. So much PlayStation as Xbox They have status pages for the servers and the service, warning if any of the functions (games, applications, profile, friends, etc.) are not working as they should. As I say, we are not facing falls every weekbut it is something that is not so rare and, when it happens, there are games that we will not be able to play and others that we can. If we have the game in physical format (and it’s not a paperweightlike more and more in this industry), we put it in the console and play without problems. But if we have the digital game, that’s when the headaches begin. This is what has happened these days with both consoles: those with a digital library who would like to enjoy that video game they are enjoying would have to choose something else, since digital games check the license before starting and, if there are no servers, there is no verification and, therefore, there is no game. A server outage is much more than an afternoon without playing: it’s a reminder that you have nothing Every time this happens, players ask for compensation for lost playing time and so on. The problems are usually solved within a few hours and nothing happens to us for not playing that game in our free time because we can always get together with another in physical formatbut these almost simultaneous falls, as I say, come at a curious time. Sony announced on July 1 that, starting in January 2028, PlayStation consoles would not receive new games in physical format. This implies that, at least on PlayStation, all games released after that date will be digital, so a server outage would prevent you from playing. It is not known what Xbox is going to do with Project Helix (right now it seems that not even they know very well), but everything indicates that it will follow in Sony’s footsteps with a 100% digital console, and a server outage is much more than an afternoon without playing: it is a reminder that you have nothing. We have said actively and passively that games in digital format do not belong to us because they are a simple license to use (except in specific cases or those of the GoG platform on PC) and There are games on disc that not only do not have the complete content (‘Doom The Dark Ages’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Golden Circle’ or the latest from Ubisoft, for example), but they need online verification to play alone (‘Gran Turismo 7’ or the recently released ‘Halo: Campaign Evolved’). Even if you have these physically, you do not play in a server crash. On the other hand, in a future that aims to be increasingly dependent on streaming gaming, with Nvidia, PlayStation and Xbox very interested in this, a server outage like this also cuts off your immediate access to video games. Xbox has responded through its CTO and that “you don’t play if the servers go down” is not an exaggeration. Scott Van Vlietfrom Xbox, comments that the server outage “caused many scenarios that require a rights check to fail, such as deploying your library and launching the games you own.” Under other conditions, such a drop would have made some noise among players, but it would be one more of those that these services usually suffer. However, the fact that the two platforms go down almost at the same time is that aforementioned reminder that the future that will come sooner rather than later is not the most hopeful for players. In fact, arrives in the middle of a storm by digital rightsthe possession of what we bought and with that murmur of “you will have nothing and you will be happy.” What’s more, the atmosphere is so heated that a publication about a Sony turntable has been filled with comments reminding the company that very well, but that the games are going to be loaded in physical format. In no parallel universe does a announcement tweet For a record player it would have more than 4,000 responses, but in this case, it is a sample of the feelings of many users. November 19th will arrive ‘GTA VI’ only in digital format. Imagine what will happen if the servers go down that day. In Xataka | Between Sony and GTA VI, the coming months have a guaranteed victim in the industry: traditional physical stores