I honestly understand the way part of this cycle goes - but I always felt it could be prevented with easy “abandon to competitor” paths.
Like, Xbox tried this with Game Pass. People warned that it would just get more expensive, and y’know what? I ignored them. It was a valid option, because as soon as they did increase prices, I just stopped paying them and took my gaming elsewhere to indie games. People with this playbook choke when they realize they’re in an industry with real competition.
Of course, many other industries like social networks no longer have that safety net preventing the full enshittification cycle. That’s in part due to regulators handing over the whole hog for 5 cents worth of lobbying bribes, to the point we have MANDATORY OS-LEVEL DATA COLLECTION being openly pushed by legislators.
I honestly understand the way part of this cycle goes - but I always felt it could be prevented with easy “abandon to competitor” paths.
Like, Xbox tried this with Game Pass. People warned that it would just get more expensive, and y’know what? I ignored them. It was a valid option, because as soon as they did increase prices, I just stopped paying them and took my gaming elsewhere to indie games. People with this playbook choke when they realize they’re in an industry with real competition.
Of course, many other industries like social networks no longer have that safety net preventing the full enshittification cycle. That’s in part due to regulators handing over the whole hog for 5 cents worth of lobbying bribes, to the point we have MANDATORY OS-LEVEL DATA COLLECTION being openly pushed by legislators.