this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
99 points (98.1% liked)

Games

46265 readers
1219 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 22 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Auster@thebrainbin.org 3 points 22 minutes ago

Agreed to the author's opinion at the end:
You don't own the games installed in the console. Physical media requires Sony's hardware's validation. Now you start to not even own the hardware anymore. And all that being slowly normalized for decades, drop by drop, and just now the situation seems to be reaching a breaking point.

Also impressive Sony didn't keep pulling a Nintendo after the Bleem Emulator case. Imagine how bad it is to be able to run a game outside of the native hardware. /s

[–] Ryoae@piefed.social 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Furniture rental services are the devil's work, it really is.

Semi-related, my family had rented furniture before. We had rented like this bedroom set and a wardrobe. It's ludicrous to be into doing that. That's why I thrift for furniture. Will I ever come across a PS5 thrifting? Probably never, not unless it's just the shell of the console itself but even then someone will take it.

[–] baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 13 minutes ago

recently a friend managed to snag a perfectly fine used ps5 for 200€. i think that's a really nice price. buying used is just pretty epic for a lot of product categories.

[–] tinsuke@lemmy.world 7 points 2 hours ago

You'll own nothing. And be happier for it.

Is what corporations and the predatory class would have we believe.

[–] riskable@programming.dev 12 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Folks here jest, but this business model is coming to PCs next. Bookmark my words!

(Literally, you can right-click the perma-link to this message and have quick access to it later so you can reply, "Damn, you were right!" And post the link to big PC vendors suddenly offering a similar services because DRAM and GPUs have become so expensive, normal people can't afford to buy PCs anymore)

[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pomC1CfpC0

You're late to the party, GN released this a year ago. They've been doing this already, but because most people who PC game are semi-tech savy, build their own.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

To be fair I wouldn't be surprised if there's already a vendor for that. They already kinda do that with Chromebooks at schools, and work computers are sometimes lent out to workers including those with beefy hardware. Doing it strictly for gaming wouldn't be that much of a stretch lol

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 3 points 3 hours ago

Pretty common in corporations. In a company I used to work I got a new computer with the latest specs every year. In the one I'm now they own them and I have to fight to get upgrades.

[–] forrgott@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 4 hours ago

Can't recall the vendor, but I saw at least one that tried a rent-a-PC things aimed at gamers. But the price was egregious, and I wanna say they didn't even ship the hardware they advertised.

Anyway, point was it's already being tested in the wild...

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago

I paid $30-something a month for an Xbox Series X and GamePass for 2 years. And I got to keep the Xbox!

(Xbox All Access. It’s no longer offered. And you saved $20 if you did it, at the original price of GamePass Ultimate, $15/month, it’s since doubled in price since they told Congress buying Activision would lower prices for consumers.)

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago

You shall own nothing.

[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 74 points 8 hours ago

“You will own nothing and you will be happy”

[–] Tamps@feddit.uk 26 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

People used to rent their televisions because the technology was too expensive to own outright. It’s weird that this business model is becoming viable again, and specifically for hardware that’s been in circulation for a while. I appreciate that Sony are just looking at ways to expand their player base, and i’d presume some of the economic drivers are out of their control, but I don’t think this should be encouraged or tolerated.

[–] redditmademedoit@piefed.zip 6 points 5 hours ago

People are buying takeout on credit. Pushing small recurring fees (and interest) for things consumers can't afford to buy outright has sort of been the name of the game for the consumer economy for the last 20 years or so.

Maybe more interesting that there is enough of an overstock to do this.

[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 11 points 6 hours ago

It's viable again because well... gestures vaguely at everything

HP just launched a laptop 'subscription' service too. It's a rather disgusting sign of the times. Companies would love for this to become the norm, because renting is a highly profitable game. Get that sweet money coming in month after month. And you are right; we must not encourage them.

I'd rather save up and go to the second-hand marketplace than line a corpo's pocket by renting.

[–] mrnobody@reddthat.com 11 points 6 hours ago

Hell, at least when I did this for my Series X & GP, it was 0% interest and I kept it at the end of the 24 month period! Granted it was $35/mo not $13.50, but that's crazy to lease a console without the option to buy after. 13.5x36=486 so you should buy outright for, say, $150 after?

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 11 points 6 hours ago

We could also rent our couch! It's only $25/month!

[–] OrionTheElder@lemmy.world 48 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

When Xbox did this you paid monthly, subscribed to game pass and at the end of two years you owned the console. It was also less expensive than the separate cost of console and subscription, to the tune of 1p. 😂

[–] TheRealKuni@piefed.social 14 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

It wasn’t a bad deal for me. I was going to be paying for Game Pass anyway, and this was when the consoles weren’t always staying on shelves. Managed to snag one of the lease-to-own versions or whatever and never regretted it.

[–] OrionTheElder@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

Back then, my wife wanted to play Halo 5 co-op and without split screen, this was the best way to do it.

[–] MBech@feddit.dk 32 points 8 hours ago

Let me guess, if it isn't in 100% mint condition when you return it, you get to pay for it, including a service fee of 150€ for their inconvenience.

[–] fortnitefinn@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 hours ago

Useful idiots go crazy