Here’s the thing though…
I’ve bought now three single-player (with online features) games on console not realizing the servers had already been shut down for whatever reason within a year or two of launch. I can’t play them, and I really wanted to.
Sure they might not have made money off me this time around, but if they put out a game in the future and I’d been able to play these, I’d be more likely to try those and give them my money. Instead, because I wasted money on these year-old games that were already trashed, I just won’t touch anything from those studios ever again, since they clearly don’t believe in their games at all. It makes me look real long and hard into how “online” they are… if I need an internet connection to solo play? Immediately not interested, which is becoming much more limiting as that gets more common.
Meanwhile, if I ever bother setting up my ps2 with an Ethernet cable, I can play with other people who have the same setup with 20+ year old games (like champions of norrath, last I played that “online” was about 10 years ago, but it seems to spin up an on-demand server for whomever is available).
There’s tons of games that still have all of their DLC listed for ridiculous amounts 15 years after the game comes out, I guess I just don’t understand why they would scrap all that work when there’s other viable options that could potentially have future returns… instead they just close the door entirely.
“We”…?
Look, I know we are all on this planet together and stuff, but the vast majority of us aren’t doing anything at all that depletes resources at a too-fast rate.
Sure, most people in developed countries have some things they could do in their daily lives to be more efficient, like being a no-scrap-left-behind sort, and if they can practically implement those changes they absolutely should, but that actually makes an insanely small difference in the grand scheme, and requires a ton of individual effort, which makes any change unlikely to stick.
Instead, let’s look at the individuals (rich people) and companies (most companies) who are using more than a reasonable share of the resources, and force us as consumers and employees to use more (throw-away culture via product design, commute especially via private transportation, dress codes, etc.) and, you know, make them stop doing that…? If we did that, and made some changes to infrastructure/zoning/public transit, individual change would necessarily follow with very little individual effort, and thus be more likely to succeed.