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Video games: one of the pioneers of planned obsolescence

There is a term used by product manufacturers and retailers called “planned obsolescence.” What this is in a nutshell is the understanding that creating durable products is not commercially smart, and this is the concept that drives modern commercialism.

However, to convince people to buy your products there has to be some guarantee, quality and longevity, so while it can be said that consumers make products that are as good as ever in terms of quality, it is the concept and marketing behind those products what leaves your shelf. limited life.

Video games are just one example. Technology has developed so rapidly that playing old games on old hardware makes you feel very old. You feel like you’re missing the next big thing. But technology aside, the very concept behind gaming has changed. Games used to be focused on high scores, games that often had no ending, or at least no realistically achieved ending, thus allowing players almost unlimited amounts of playtime as they endlessly sought to beat their record score. .

Game developers quickly realized that this business model was not robust. If they already had a great game and still had reason to play, it would limit their desire to buy new games. So games were made with a definite beginning and ending. The games also got easier, so that ending would be achieved more easily and quickly. Once you’ve won the game, there is little else to do. Even if the game is great and it would be fun to play it again, there is not much incentive to do it without anything propelling you, such as a high score to beat. Through this simple change in business model, games went from having a potentially unlimited lifespan to having less than 20 hours of playtime in most cases.

Mobile phones are also an obvious option to consider, also from a design point of view, but also from a marketing point of view. The technology is also there as in video games, constantly improving reception quality, image-taking capacity, size, etc. As insignificant as some of these things may seem, advertising and, to a lesser extent, pressure from others and ourselves, drive us to buy these new products even when old ones continue to perform well. If you don’t have the slimmest, thinnest, and trendiest phones with the latest gadgets, it’s just not right, and advertising lets us know, or at least makes us think this.

Some manufacturers take the really easy way out, and that’s building really shoddy things so they quickly become unusable. This saves manufacturing costs and also ensures that the customer will return to the market for a similar item in the future, although it is unknown why they would buy it from the same manufacturer. This strategy doesn’t seem to make much sense from a business point of view, but this is the way some businesses regardless.

This throwaway society is not only damaging our wallets (with the average American household now in debt from $ 8,000 to $ 9,000, it has also been damaging our environment. Manufacturing these often unnecessary products sheds tons of air pollution, while old products that are still fully functional are dumped into gigantic landfills for precious space.

Fighting this “planned obsolescence” can be difficult depending on your personality. If you are someone who values ​​quality and durability over style, you are probably already doing well to combat this consumerism and have a low APR on your credit cards. If not, it may take a concerted effort on your part to realize how absorbed you are by buying things you don’t need. Do not worry about what other people have, let them be victims of the siren song of the caresses of the ego that brings them the new, just worry about your own affairs and what you need to buy. You’ll be doing yourself and the environment a favor.