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Sony: PS+ fee necessary to 'fund improvements'

S

shinobi602

Member
"That's [was] a big decision," he said, "what we internally discussed and decided is that we will continue the free access to online play on PS3 and Vita, so that's clear. But because on PS4 the online connectivity features such as second screen, auto downloads and share features - these are one big pillar of the PS4 experience and we will continue to invest in this area to expand and improve these online features and services.

"If we keep giving away online access for free, the natural pressure is that we have to cut down on the cost to provide this free service. But that's conflicting with our goal of being able to provide very robust and great online services going forward. So we decided that on PS4, because we want to continue to invest and improve our new services, we've asked the most engaged consumers in the online activities to share the burden with us so that we can continue to invest."
Click to expand...

CVG
 
D

Dead Prince

Banned
Improve the PSN store Update plz.

Where's the twitter campaign for that. surely they noticed their inconsistency with it over the years.
 
F

famousmortimer

Banned
Typical PR spin.

I don't doubt that the ps4 online will be better than the PS3's... but online also provides many revenue streams. I'm not convinced they need this one to fund it...
 
B

Bam Bam Baklava

Member
I'm not be happy about it but I can at least understand it. Part of the reason I barely played PS3 was because the online features just weren't as good.
 
M

MercuryLS

Banned
I hope Sony sticks to this and really does improve PSN over time (dedis for all games pls), if so I have no issues with $50 a year. I also hope they keep the value prop high with the IGC stuff, they've done a great job with it on PS3 and I hope the continue to offer great free games on PS4 (retail and indie).
 
S

Somnid

Member
I was wondering how Sony intends to pay the server bills for all that video. This would be part of it. I'm actually really interested in seeing how their financials play out and if they have a profitable model.
 
K

Kyon

Banned
No paywall for any media apps or any subscription based MMOs/F2P games so you have my money.

It does suck tho everything else was perfect, but we had to give up something for this.

This could've been too good

At the end of the day I seriously think ppl should get PS+ anyway
 
C

Cmerrill

You don't need to be empathetic towards me.
Makes sense to me. Plus it's a service they're providing that requires constant maintenance/cost and I don't expect it for free. I'm not that entitled.
 
V

Vaco6121

Member
DMPrince said:
Improve the PSN store Update plz.

Where's the twitter campaign for that. surely they noticed their inconsistency with it over the years.
Click to expand...

This.

Get the PSN store off of GCT and onto a standard update time. I still don't get that after all these years that the PSN updates are still all over the place for times.
 
HamSandwich

HamSandwich

Member
Spin Doctors.

That DRM thing got people so fired up that they literally have people super cool with paying for internet gaming. I don't think this would have been such an easy sell had this perfect storm of microsoft blowback happened.
 
R

Recon

Banned
On one hand, I love PS Plus and I want to support a great service. On the other hand, I find paying for online disgusting. I dont wanna support "pay for online", but I wanna support everything else PS Plus does.
 
SirCrush

SirCrush

Member
Makes sense now why Nintendo 3rd party support fizzled and is continuing to die. "Oh you can use ANY second screen on XB1 and PS4? Peace out, Nintendo."

Regarding the topic more directly: I hope this doesn't mean that the PS4 features aren't shoddily implemented at first. It took a long time for PSN to get to a standard that wasn't jokeworthy. And even now it's not GREAT.
 
M

mandiller

Member
Doesn't sharing videos etc use a third party service? Or are they all hosted by Sony themselves?

Seems odd. Sharing content and online communication generates continued buzz in a game, which translates to more sales.

Twitter doesn't cost anything to share on...

PS Plus is still good value but they shouldn't have put online play behind it.
 
E

EdReedFan20

Member
The one thing they should clear up is did they drop the Ultimate Game Collection (UGC) for PS4? The PS4 PS+ gives you one free game per month, while the current model gives you more per month.
 
C

Confidence Man

Member
That's fine, but when I buy a game I'm not paying for share features or auto downloads. I am, however, paying for the multiplayer portion of that game, and I expect to be able to use it.
 
A

AlexBasch

Member
Only multiplayer/servers/whatnot = Fuck that paywall.

Sharing/video upload/other promises = You already have my cash from PSN+ and I expect you to keep that shit premium and I won't mind renewing the sub.

It's PR spin, of course, but at least makes sense. What was the point of XBL aside from "better multiplayer"? I'm curious.

The one thing they should clear up is did they drop the Ultimate Game Collection (UGC) for PS4? The PS4 PS+ gives you one free game per month, while the current model gives you more per month.
Click to expand...
IIRC it's one PS4 game per month and more for the rest of the platforms.
 
K

Kyon

Banned
HamSandwich said:
Spin Doctors.

That DRM thing got people so fired up that they literally have people super cool with paying for internet gaming. I don't think this would have been such an easy sell had this perfect storm of microsoft blowback happened.
Click to expand...

this is better than what MS are doing tho and PS+ was already superior to Live. Now that it has Cross game chat no one can complain about it not being on par as far as chat features go

Majine said:
On PS3. They are basically starting from scratch on PS4.
Click to expand...

Drive Club is free day 1. It''s a start
 
L

Lingitiz

Member
I just hope this doesn't make them lazy on adding value to the service because people are forced to pay for MP.

Plus has been awesome because Sony had to go out of their way to justify its existence.
 
O

Onion_Relish

Member
Share the burden? Dis is murica, fuck you I've got mine!

This is the lesser evil. Doesn't mean we are happy but I have faith the service will be worth it.
 
R

Rickenslacker

Banned
Why not let the PS+ fee fund dedicated server use and other online features introduced to PS4 while still allowing for basic console online play free then? I wouldn't be surprised if a good share of games still end up using the P2P approach that makes me feel like a fool for paying.
 
A

Arklite

Member
Hopefully they are actual improvement and not "lets make the PSN store a flashy, slow, messy piece of shit and never optimize it" improvements. I was fine with living with their inconsistent interfaces when it cost nothing, but now there's no excuse.
 
R

Randolph Freelander

Member
If you need the funds to build that functionality, then charge for that functionality. Leave the multiplayer component alone.

Let that sharing crap stand on its own. If it can.
 
S

syko de4d

Member
No way you can get 64player BF4 without people renting servers or all people pay a fee.

And they can´t just let have MS all the money.

Just do some Math, 30Mio People pay 5$ a Month for 5 years

9 Billion $. Hard to say no to 9 Billion $ :lol
 
P

pharmboy044

Member
famousmortimer said:
Typical PR spin.

I don't doubt that the ps4 online will be better than the PS3's... but online also provides many revenue streams. I'm not convinced they need this one to fund it...
Click to expand...

You say it's PR spin but we can't get everything for free and expect improvement. I'll happily pay for online due to the free games but if there is no improvement from PS3 to PS4 then they'll hear from us.
 
P

PeakPointMatrix

Member
I'm A-ok with this. Was gonna subscribe to plus anyway, and $5 a month is a steal. With the promotions and free months available, I'm sure I won't be paying the full $50 every year anyway. Sony did good on us with this console, they deserve money for a good service. This is the first generation for me where I'm out of high school/college, and have my own income. $5 a month is a pittance for what I'm getting out of this service. In other words, take my damn money Sony.
 
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