"Since Right to Repair can pass here, expect it to be on its way to a backyard near you," says iFixit CEO.
California, the biggest state in the US when it comes to both population and the sheer volume of tech companies squeezed into its borders, has just passed the country's most extreme right to repair bill in the US (via Ars Technica). It's the third state to pass such a bill, but goes further than either Minnesota or New York in that it forces companies to support their products for longer. But while it will cover gaming PCs and laptops, games console manufacturers get a free pass.
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There are exceptions, however, and it seems like games consoles are somehow exempt from this right to repair requirement. Guess someone's been lobbying against the inclusion of consoles, eh? The bill itself talks specifically about an "electronic or appliance product" or just a "product", but stipulates that doesn't include a video game console.
"'Video game console' means a computing device, including its components and peripherals, that is primarily used by consumers for playing video games, such as a console machine, a handheld console device, or another device or system. 'Video game console' does not include a general or an all-purpose computer, which includes, but is not limited to, a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or cell phone."
So, that means your Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch consoles are all seemingly exempt from having to offer long term support, but at least in the computing space your PC and laptop will be covered.
It reminds me of the absolute insane stuff arcade manufacturers would do to keep control over everything.
Capcom used to sell full blown arcade systems where the game's ROM was actually volatile - in 2 years, it would vanish. You needed to pay them a monthly fee so that a technician would come up with a special device capable of rewriting the data periodically.
I mean what features are removed exactly? They have all the components needed to install windows/mac/linux and hook up a mouse and keyboard. I really don't see any distinction besides they come with gamepads and a gaming oriented OS instead of keyboards and a more general OS.
Ok, hear me out. My intuition tells me its because consoles are subsidized. The manufacturer loses money or breakes even in order to make money back in the games sold. I think Nintendo is an exception. So having the additional expense of having to support them harms the hardware subsidy model.
Maybe, but why should that exempt them? If the model doesn't work anymore then it doesn't work. Who cares. They'll still sell consoles and make money. They might cost more upfront or something, but they'll still sell them.
Wouldn't that be an argument for right-to-repair? If the user has to buy another console because theirs broke, the company has made twice the loss for the same number of games bought (or fewer, because the user has less money to spend on games). Reparing looks like a win-win here.
As much of a bummer as that is, I don't think there has ever been any major cases of someone just replacing parts for their console and not selling it. What is a company like sintendo gonna do if you replace the screen on your switch with a 3rd party screen or open it up to replace any parts but don't end up selling it?
Does anyone know the reasoning used for the exception? From the article, it was clearly a deliberate decision. But I do not see any reason why it was needed.