13 Worst Video Game Industry Decisions Of 2017 (So Far)

5. Companies Lobby Against Gamers Repairing Consoles

Near the start of the year, it was revealed that the Entertainment Software Association, which includes Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and countless video game publishers among its members, was lobbying against a "right to repair" bill in Nebraska, in an attempt to maintain control over what consumers can and cannot do with defective consoles.

The clear goal here is to monopolise game console repair, just like Apple have done with the iPhone, where consoles can only be repaired by the official companies themselves or authorised locations which pay a license fee to the manufacturers in kind.

Above all else it's an anti-consumer move, and while there's actually no conceivable way for these companies to physically stop people repairing their own consoles or going to a small-time electronics repair shop to quietly get them fixed, the fact they want to place a stranglehold on pro-consumer behaviour is not good.