Which of the top 3 is most anti-consumer?

Sony, the ones that wanted to bring competition to the market are also the ones keeping so many games and publishers off their competitors. Hypocrites.

Microsoft is just out for the money. Game pass isn't out of the good of their heart. Phil isn't a nice guy like so many portray him to be (stop it with the jesus paintings guys!!). But apart from GFWL I don't know a ton of anti consumer things they did. Buying Bethesda and Activision? I mean they are putting their stuff practically for free on gamepass.

Nintendo loves gatekeeping their games to certain platforms, which sucks but I can't say they make them unplayable. Their whole Nintendo online ordeal is pretty anti consumer.

@R4gn4r0k: I’d say this is pretty accurate other than I haven’t seen any Phil Spencer as the Messiah pictures personally, so I can’t confirm or deny that that is actually a legitimate thing or if it’s just a troll.

It's this one that people keep posting around here.

this is a good topic. I will have to say nintendo, and I like them. I don't even know if they're anti consumer or just backwards / behind. As for sony, they are scumbags, but they have to compete with MS so they at least make an effort.

MS are the saints of the industry, its true.

Nintendo:

• They sell outdated hardware at full price.
• They sell old games at full price and refuse to discount them.
• They launch copyright strikes at anything remotely resembling their IPs.
• They punish their own fans with copyright strikes.

And so on.

Oh and Nintendo and Sony don't allow refunds, that's anti-consumer right there.

Nintendo actively treat their soyjak fans (mostly adults who collect plastic action figures and cry at Zelda trailers) like trash.

If everyone adopted a PC gamer mentality, the world would be a better place.

People just refuse to upgrade. Love rolling around in the dirt.

In terms of being anti-consumer

Nintendo > Sony >>>>> Microsoft

With Nintendo products you are making a deal with the devil. You get excellent experiences, from a dev that hates you. In contrast MS has gamepass, which has saved me so much money. And also makes me more willing to take risks with my gaming preferences. I have no issues with MS, as far as I know.

Obviously Sony.

Nintendo is only guilty of making great games and charging people for that.

Microsoft is too honest for their own good.

Nintendo is the most anti consumer brand in the world, let alone in the gaming industry.

Definitely Nintendo. Worst on pricing, and go after their own fans for the crime of providing free marketing. But I like their games, so they get my money anyway.

Nintendo, but Sony is working hard to pass them.

MS really pushed backwards compatibility , which I appreciate alot. Ironically everybody was saying they would raise GP prices (which they did) but Sony's price increase was far bigger. Buying up companies isn't great , but atleast it's a company that is already shitty ...

All this is to say ... PC ftw.

@nod_calypse: Don't want to be making threats but if Nintendo wins the DoJ is gonna get a call.

Obviously Sony, lol!

The most asinine and bone-headed anti-consumer moves still originate from Nintendo. Chalk it up to whatever you want: being a Japanese-run company, their renowned insular groupthink, or their "**** you" attitude, they have been the most dubious of the bunch since the mid-2000s. With them, there definitely feels like there is a malicious attitude to some of it (while for Sony and MS it can be viewed as just being stupid or uncertain).

I would normally say Nintendo, but Sony raising the prices on PS+, their games, their hardware, releasing a streaming handheld without Bluetooth in 2023 and requiring a propriety headset to use wireless audio is all crummy to the consumer. Their PS+ classic offering has been pathetic, but like I said, they raised the prices on it. Then they have barely announced any games while moving their focus to games as a service. On top of that, they make you purchase their games again if you want the PC version while MS has play anywhere which is much more consumer friendly.

It is definitely between Sony and Nintendo, but right now, I am leaning towards Sony. They have been very anti-consumer recently.

Careful there, I might pull a Pedro and take you seriously.

Not even close. But they're bad, real bad.

Nintendo i'd say. I mean they all have the anti consumer practices....but of the 3 Nintendo would be the worst.

• Tying their games to their hardware instead of giving people a choice on where to play them.
• Saves backup feature is behind a monthly sub with no alternative offline feature. Your switch craps out? Sucks to be you..just buy another one.
• Some shockingly lazy remasters that they charge full price for (that mario anniversary pack was awful).
• Childish attitude to youtube. Yes, technically, they are perfectly entitled to take all the content down.....but why?
• Charging some pretty insane prices for some of their games (TOTK costs as much as a full price PS5 game...really?).
• There is a 50:50 chance that your online purchases will carry forward. Seriously be careful spending money on the eShop and be prepared to lose it.

....But god dam they make fantastic games! Also, generally speaking, they are the fairest in terms of getting full games for the price you pay. There is a lot less MTX based shenanigans from Nintendo compared to other companies. Also the game will work well from day one....you can be pretty confident on that front.

Sony and Ninty head to head. This is preposterously exciting.

Every lemming in this thread voted for Sony cuz they're butthurt at their TOP GRADE exclusives🤷‍♂️So in reality, Nintendo wins, and its not even close.

Nintendo without a doubt they re release old games on new systems every generation.

@R4gn4r0k: I admit. That one got a chuckle outta me.

Wish there was a Sony and Nintendo option :p

Since both refuse to offer refunds (which Epic, Valve, Microsoft, ...) all do, I'm kinda torn on which one to vote for.

Sony by far. Look at this Portal junk they're trying to get one over on the customers with. Look at the newly raised prices of PS+ that don't even include day one games. Look at this niche PSVR2 that costs as much as a PS5 and doesn't even run without a PS5, and doesn't even have quality games.

Even cows voted for Sony. And manticores.

Even Cows are voting Sony its that bad

Oh how the mighty have fallen

Microsoft the most consumer friendly brand in the gaming world

Easily Nintendo.

All of them are anti-consumer. But the worst has to be Nintendo.

This.

Sony & Nintendo are close in this aspect. Like @R4gn4r0k said they are hypocrites. Sony also charges to use cloud saves like what? 😂

Nintendo has garbage online and makes things difficult for the sake of making things difficult like having to use your phone to download an app? Like what? Also, playing exclusives on such dated ass hardware...even with the Switch 2...it's going to have the power of what? An Xbox Series S? An iPhone 6s? A Tiger handheld? Yawwnnn... 🥱

Good points. Nintendo and Sony both doing the cloud saves for money thing... Valve does that for free. Seriously using Steam costs me nothing and I get:

• Free mod workshop
• Free online
• Free cloud saves

Nintendo and Sony offer me none of those.

And yeah Nintendo also had that answer where they told people to download an app on their phone because they couldn't do voice chat... That's it! I'm voting Nintendo.

Nintendo, then Sony.

Easily Sony. They sensor games, and dictate what game you can or cant play on their shitty Membersship crap. They also tried to put Nintendo out of business and steal all their IPs in secret thinking Nintendo wouldnt read the fine print. And now they pay big money to block games from millions of gamers. They also harbor pedo people hunting kids online, they dont protect the children.

O, and also they dont protect consumers info allowing them to be easily hacked. And they dont pay you money to buy games like Nintendo does. So shitty. They also just copy the completion and never innovate.

20% voting for MS are confirmed fanboys of the other 2 systems 🤣🐄🐑

The FTC case and the leaks shed a lot of light on MS. So...

Ninty.

The correct answer is Sony.

First to raise prices on games.

Raised prices on subscriptions.

Raised prices on consoles.

Cloud saves behind a paywall.

Tried to charge for ps5 enhanced ps4 games.

Continue to pay to keep 3rd party games off Xbox.

Nintendo by far. Can't even make YouTube videos with their games or characters

Kind of a toss up between Sony and Nintendo these days. Pretty strong case can be made for either/or.

PC.

I still don't quite understand this philosophy. What EXACTLY does it take for an action to be "anti-consumer"? Is it anti-consumer if everyone continues to willingly pay for it?

anti-consumer

adjective

: not favorable to consumers : improperly favoring the interests of businesses over the interests of consumers

First I would ask, who and what defines "not favorable"? And secondly, at what point does a company favoring its own interests become "improper"? And what successful business is there that hasn't done this?

I remember this topic coming up a while back, and one example people were using was having to buy a console to play their games. It doesn't seem the physical console is the problem, but rather the price. If the console was $20, would you still consider that anti-consumer? Is it less a definable act, and more your personal situation. Is a $500 console anti-consumer for a millionaire?

I'm not fan of Microsoft, but their backwards compatible offerings seem way better than what the others offer. I could see that being construed as pro-consumer, but it's not like the don't offset that in some other way. I'm not sure if that Phil quote about leaving the games business if game pass doesn't pick up is true, but it does seem to track with all the other unsustainable subscription models. Give away content at a loss, absorb as many subscribers as possible, get them hooked on your drugs, then jack up the price until it's not a good deal anymore, and hope that you stick around out of habit. It's all a bait and switch, and you guys know it. Plus, if they're successful long enough to disrupt the other forms of distribution (physical, rental,etc) they can take those options off the board, and further cement their stranglehold. These companies aren't our friends, these charismatic CEOs will always put their company in front of us, and their number one goal is to make money.

If you want to make the argument that games should be console agnostic, I could buy that. I personally like it when every console has different games, and a different feel, but if it's all the same ubiquitous hardware, system architecture, game engines... what does it matter?

And beyond all of that, who says it's good to be a "consumer". Some bottomless pit of gluttony and sloth. Maybe if people weren't so fixated on consumption, these companies would have less to prey on.

At the end of day, I still think this term is some socialist bullshit, and I don't agree with it. If a company lays a poor value proposition at your feet, quit picking it up. Just walk away, and quit adding to the problem.

Biggest troll i have witnessed in my whole magnificent career.

@hardwenzen: Forcing your consumers to go digital only is anti-consumer, it's just as simple as that.

As for the Troll stuff, if you're looking for the biggest Troll, well just look in that full length mirror you have in your room.

@last_lap: PC? How is that even possible? There's no monolithic structure, lol.

@nod_calypse: Steam, Epic etc, places that forces you to buy digital only, therefore PC anti-consumer.

Dude, you just named a bunch of individual entities.

Something you're not understanding about monolithic.

@nod_calypse: Can you play the games you bought on Steam on the Epic launcher and vice versa?

If not, then why as they're all PC games right?

PC is anti-consumer.

You're not even remotely understanding what I'm saying, lol.

Okay, I'll explain.

Listen, Sony, MS, Ninty = individual entities. Hence, "which one is the most anti-consumer".

Steam and Epic are individual entities. Thus, you can ask, which one is the most anti-consumer.

PC is not an individual entity. There is no monolithic structure. You can do literally whatever you want on PC. For instance, I play physical games on PC all the time. I just did a while back with The Lost Artifact, discs and all. There are no restrictions. Anti-consumer isn't even a discussion for PC. It makes no sense.

Get it?

Sorry, bro, but that's just trolling.