I did include the PS2, which only has like 4 games that overlap between PS3 and PS4. It still only counts for Sony only asking you to rebuy shit
twice over the span of 10 years, while Nintendo has asked you to rebuy your stuff four to five times within the same timeframe. Your point about being in the same position for both is fair, but that's why context is important. The number of times the company has been guilty about something, as well as how badly the infractions are, contribute to why Nintendo gets flogged over this but Sony doesn't.
Sony hardware has a history of hard to develop for and esoteric parts for the PS2 and PS3. But where their hardware was dumb and esoteric, they focused on getting their digital storefront up and running and set to modern standards, with only the hardware holding them back from doing anything they wanted. The PS4 is a direct answer to that. It's setting a clean slate so that future games on that system are much, much easier to port and get running on their future hardware, supported by the online backend that they've spent 10 years growing and nurturing.
Nintendo doesn't share this excuse. Nintendo's hardware history is that of gimmicks making their systems into a convoluted puzzle where third party developers have to jump through hoops to modify their games for, but is otherwise simple tech-wise (two gamecubes taped together). But where they kept the hardware simple, Nintendo never ever invested in getting their digital offerings up to date. Now they have to do the same clean break as Sony, but the digital mess they're leaving behind is horrendous and not clean. So naturally, people are already coming into this clean break with ill-will and mistrust in their digital future, compared to Sony which had, until the PS4, still managed to keep all their games running within their platforms (with poor performance, but still).
The future IS the way to look at it though. I'm not worried about being able to play the games
now, that's a given. Yes, I can hook up my Wii and play those VC games now. I can play with my digital 3Ds games now. But I already know those games are doomed to perish one day because there's no persistent account tracking the games I own, and even if there was, those games can only be played on ONE SYSTEM unless I physically transfer those credentials. Meanwhile, I can boot up my Vita and play a PS1 game I bought when PSN first went online on the PS3. Hell, I could download a PSP game to my PS3, then transfer that to any second hand PSP I bought this year. Sony has shown me that they have an interest in making sure the purchases I make
today are safe for a pretty long time. It's why I can safely buy things on PSN without a care. Nintendo has done no such thing to dissuade those fears for tons of people, because of their incompetence in getting a proper online marketplace up and running.
(
Afterburner Climax got delisted, but its still sitting safely on my PSN download list ready to be downloaded the day I want to play it again, no matter what PS3 I download it to. This is not something I could say the same for a delisted game on a Nintendo system.)
You're treating it like should be guaranteed when, clearly, as no ps1/2 classics on ps4 and no VC purchase transfer on switch shows us, it's not reliable nor worth trusting. Tell m, do you expect to be able to play ps2 on ps4 titles on ps5 if Sony eventually makes it? I don't. Still didn't stop me from purchasing Dark Cloud 2. I knew for a fact that I wasn't going to likely be able to transfer VC titles from my 3ds to the next Nintendo handheld and I was right. Games like Crimson Sheoud will be lost in time besides the JP boxed version. Buying digital is messy no matter the platform and any time I buy a digital version of a game I'm doing so with the ful expectation that I will never be able to play it past that system. Psp ps1 games being cross buy acceptable on PS3 was the on lone exception. BC is busted and no longer a guaranteed thing these days. Why would digital be?
No, I don't expect to play all my ps1 games on my ps4 or ps5 in the future. I'm not psychic. But what I am certain of is that, until the day the online backends for my old consoles get sunset, I will never have to worry about whether or not I can play them again
on those systems in the future.
The issue with buying Super Mario Bros on four different occasions is that, four three of those times, Nintendo made it abundantly clear that you would someday lose access to that copy of the game. Nintendo doesn't give a shit whether I want to play my digital games years from now, they just care about getting my money
now. This is why I don't spend money on digital Nintendo games anymore. This is why I point and laugh when they ask people to pay for their online service that they've never once shown any interest in actually maintaining. Because they've shown me multiple times in the past that they don't care about what my purchases are worth to me, and maybe never will.
