I'm sure y'all heard that Microsoft looking to launch Ad-Supported "Free" Cloud Gaming , and I know this might be obvious to some people but in case it isn't:
This is a setup to eventually use the decoy effect to get you to pay more money for shit. Two things are happening at the same time. The price of games is skyrocketing, with many new games cusping on $80 (or $100, if you're looking at a complete Nintendo game with all it's release day DLC), which is going to make some consumers balk. "Man, buying this game outright is really expensive... but I can get access to all these games if I just play $15 a month! That's a no brainer."
So you sign up for the subscription service. You've been priced out of actually purchasing a license for the software. You enjoy the subscription for a while, but then they increase the price of the subscription. Oh, well. That's still less expensive than purchasing the game outright... right? Certainly it won't keep going up. Besides, if it did go up, you'd know, right? You'd be made aware and have the option to cancel before you get charged the new fee, right? As long as you were able to pick that important email out from the rest of the junk the company sends you.
Okay, well, maybe that gets too expensive too. At least there's a free option! Sure, you have to watch some ads, but isn't a few minutes of your time worth being able to play hours of games for free?
Certainly they'll stick to only a few ads an hour, not something ridiculous like... eight, ten, fifteen? But who are you to complain! You're getting this for free! If you want a better-- oh, I'm sorry, to say it's a better experience would be admitting that having so many ads compromises the quality of our service, haha!-- if you want an ad free experience, just go back to the subscription model! No, not the "less" ads tier, the one above that-- no ads! And if you want better quality, you can splurge on our VIP pass for $40 a month! It's still cheaper than buying the game, and there're no ads! Though to provide you with this quality service, we may need to increase the subscription price in the near future...
It's a long-winded way of convincing you that purchasing a subscription to get away from ads that should never have been there in the first place is the better alternative than dealing with the version of their service that they've enshittified. They make the best option illogical to purchase, then degrade the quality of their service until you feel forced to fork over subscription money. It's your choice to enter into the monetization method where they get money from you forever! Pay no mind to all the bullshit they did to make everything else so untenable that it seems like the only option you endure.
