It’s 2026 and you’d be considered weird if you are not a subscriber of one service or another. Music? Check. Movies? Subscribed. News, anime, manga, flo tracker, learning and fitness apps? Check, check, subscribed, subscribed, check, subscribed, give it a trial run, subscribed. Almost everything you want at the tap of a button – for a fee. Let’s face it, the free versions have only the bare minimum.
Gaming has not been left out either. Xbox Game Pass, Playstation plus and so on offer a buffet of games, sometimes at a fraction of the cost of buying a physical one. This sounds like a party, especially in Ghana where the cost of a game is quite steep.
Who Really Owns Your Games?
In 2024, Ubisoft was sued for removing The Crew not only from its store, but also from the libraries of people who had already paid for it. Just like that. No refund. Their defense? Players should know that the fact that they bought a game does not mean they have permanent access to the digital games.
In Ghana, where we have to save up to buy consoles and or games we want, this feels like daylight robbery. Gaming is an investment, and to have your games taken away from you (without hesitation or prior notice) leaves you apprehensive. When is the last time you’re going to have access to the game you enjoy playing?
The Internet Shutdown, And So Did Your Library
In March 2024, West Africa faced an internet outage caused by damaged subsea cables. This caused a panic: Social media (if you even had access to that) was excruciatingly slow. Remote workers were in a frenzy and we had to go outside and actually talk to people to pass the time. This was followed by the crash of Playstation Network for an entire weekend, where players could not play any of the games they had purchased.
These incidents were a wake up call. Probably the loudest warning that cemented the fact that we do not really own the games we purchase digitally but we are kind of like tenants and the landlord decides which of the benefits(games) to take away from us. It might be shocking to note that most digital purchases issue licenses to buyers, rather than ownership titles. This means that players have limited rights concerning the games they buy and what they can do with it.
The Good Side of The Digital Subscriptions
Don’t be hasty to jump into conclusions, there are some perks to the subscription mode:
- Variety: You get the pleasure of exploring new genres without spending more money. You can download and uninstall games as and when you please.
- Convenience: No need to go on a wild goose chase looking for games to buy, hearing the most dreaded words no gamer wants to hear -“We’re sold out”. Lie in bed and get the game of your choice at the click of a button (or the tap of a finger).
The Bad Side
Don’t forget there are 2 sides to every coin. Here are some cons of the model:
- Dependent on the Internet connection: Once you lose connection to the internet, you automatically lose access to your games (aside the ones that can be played offline).
- Vanishing Acts: Some games just disappear from subscription services all the time. Games like Marvel’s Spiderman (2018), Persona 5 andFinal Fantasy VII Remake just disappeared from subscription services.
- Financial risk: You pump money into your game, unlocking and upgrading both your skill and your character. And one day, it can all be taken from you without so much as a flicker of thought to your feelings.
Is This What Jerry Lawson Fought For?
Take a short trip with me to the late 90s, where Jerry Lawson came up with the game cartridge. This invention was to give the players freedom to own and swap at will the games they love and play. Just like Eren Yeager’s futile dream of freedom, Lawson’s dream of autonomy and ownership seems to be shackled by forces beyond control. Servers crash, games disappear from subscription services, the internet shuts down. All these stare us in the face as if to make mockery of the thought of owning a digital game just because we paid for it. If Lawson could see this, would he be proud? Or concerned that now ownership has become nothing but a concept?
How Does This Affect Ghana’s Gaming Future?
The gaming sphere in Ghana is steadily expanding. Communities are forming and growing, tournaments are getting more popular. Local developers are doing their bit, designing games that are wrapped in our rich Ghanaian culture. As the sphere gets bigger, we need to figure out the kind of future we want to walk into. Should we fight for our digital independence so we own our games? Do we enjoy the nectar of subscriptions and be ready to let go of our favourites as and when it is decided? Should we care about owning our games, as long as we get to play them? Before you decide, ask yourself this: If the internet shuts down now, will you still be able to press play?
