Veylon said:Yes, they do have a monopoly within the bounds of their particular hardware/software cul-de-sac. But that's generally considered acceptable because they had to create that cul-de-sac from scratch and allowing the monopoly is society's way of protecting the investment that creation cost. Patents/Copyrights keep other people from simply copying their work without effort.immortalfrieza said:If other companies besides Sony were allowed to produce and sell the PS3, Vita, and the rest then then there would in fact be competition and Sony would NOT have a monopoly, but nobody else is allowed to. Just because companies like Microsoft and Nintendo are also able to produce consoles that are able to play video games DOES NOT mean that Sony does not have a monopoly, because they do not possess the copyrights and patents allowing them to produce and sell the PS3, Vita, and so on.
True, Sony does not have a monopoly on the video game industry itself, but I was never talking about that, they DO have a monopoly on the products that they have created.
That would better than the alterative, which is what we have now. As it stands companies like Sony can charge far more than their products than they cost to produce and provide awful service because they have no competition for their product itself.Veylon said:If that monopoly did not exist, you'd have knockoff cheaper Logitech, Panasonic, etc. PS3 consoles. Which sounds fine this time around, except that who would develop the next console with the threat of anyone and everyone being able to drop in and undercut them?
Sure, if the aforementioned monopoly did not exist then knockoffs would flood the market, but that's a nonissue, and it would NOT mean that they'd no longer make PS4s or whatever. As long as there is a demand there would be someone providing a supply, so there would always be more PS4s and PS5s and so on. What the repeal of copyrights and patents would mean is (for the gaming industry, but it would be pretty much the same for the other industries too) only knockoffs of the PS3 (for example) that weren't very buggy and had fair prices would survive, the rest would go out of business before long, until only a few that made it through this "survival of the fittest" of PS3s would remain, providing competition for each other, ensuring fairer prices, more effective quality control and great customer service across the board.
In short, quality and price is what we're sacrificing for these patents and copyrights. Hell, it's the very reason this very Jimquisition episode was even ever necessary to make to begin with. It's not a benefit to ANYONE except that have these protections, and it pretty much allows those companies to do WHATEVER THEY FEEL LIKE.