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[C.Olimar788]

I always assumed there was a real reason that online subscription services existed on PS and MS - and soon Nintendo - consoles. Did they provide dedicated servers for their online games? Did they do something significantly different than online gaming on PC does that justifies the cost?

But, with For Honor notably being peer-to-peer, and with people in that thread saying that most console online is handled peer-to-peet, I'm suddenly rather confused and distressed. Do the costs for XBLGold and PS+ pay for anything beyond the superfluous cloud saves and free* games? With Sony's move to paid online, they claimed that it was due to a large investment of resources. What resources are being invested here? What resources were provided for free on the PS3 that are now locked behind cost on the PS4 that actually cost Sony - or whoever is getting the subscription cost - money?

Is all of this really just a huge scam? I'm genuinely curious. I really want to know where the money I've paid Sony to play Bloodborne online is going.

 

[Ranger X]

The only why you're paying is because people accepted to pay for that.
There's no real reason, its just easy money and everybody does it now, thanks to Microsoft.

 

[DNAbro]

Because Microsoft, Sony, and soon Nintendo want your money.

 

[Soph]

If I could sell people air, I totally would.

 

[MarineMountie]

Because unlike PC players, console players(myself included) shut their mouths and just paid it.

 

[The Last Wizard]

Cause Microsoft.

 

[backflip10019]

Because that's what we do now.

 

[yaffi]

I don't.

 

[dxdydz]

Yup, it's a scam. You're not getting anything that isn't free on PC for decades and wasn't free on consoles just a generation ago.

 

[Hexa]

Welcome to capitalism. If people are willing pay for showing, someone will try to charge them for it. It's just how things work.

 

[Greddleok]

Because people think it's fine.

 

[Doug Heffernan]

I do know that Microsoft provides dedicated servers for their first party games, not sure about Sony or Nintendo.

 

[Munter]

Because they know people will pay it, and corporations like to make money

 

[mxgt]

Because people are suckers and accepted (and even defended) being ripped off.

 

[JetSetRadio]

To feel involved.

 

[James Scott]

Because they can and are charging for it.
It's a big source of revenue and they can improve their services with it

 

[Straight Edge]

Because providing those services aren't free. Now if you want to argue they're too expensive that's another thing.

 

[RK9039]

Because console players like bending over.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

I absolutely refuse to.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

Because those greedy excecutives at Microsoft started this trend and now Sony and Nintendo are following it. If you want to blame someone than blame Microsoft.

 

[dickroach]

would you download an internet?

 

[Bronetta]

Because fuck Microsoft

 

[Get_craycray]

It's easy money for them and, well, we don't really have a choice if we want to play with our friends on console.

I've always heard nothing but good things regarding Xbox Live, but PSN is kind of a joke. You could still tell yourself you get "free" games every month and such but yeah, when you think about it, it feels scammy (for PSN at least).

 

[TheRed]

It's easy money from console players. I don't think any money really goes into making online play much better at all. If anything it goes into funding their OS updates to make things better for you to spend more money, and the rest fattens their wallets.

 

[Ban Puncher]

Why do we pay for anything, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan????

 

[Arulan]

Because they convinced the mainstream it provides value, and because the nature of the closed platform makes it very difficult to challenge.

 

[SeeNoWeevil]

Because unlike PC players, console players(myself included) shut their mouths and just paid it.

You think if *all* multiplayer on PC went paid, every PC gamer would quit playing online completely? No. PC gamers had way more options.

 

[Kade]

Because they can and are charging for it.
It's a big source of revenue and they can improve their services with it

They can but they don't.

 

[RichiRamjag]

Because I want to play online more than I don't.

Why do we pay for anything, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan????

You always bring me a chuckle with your avatar and posts. Thank you.

 

[MarineMountie]

It's easy money for them and, well, we don't really have a choice if we want to play with our friends on console.

I've always heard nothing but good things regarding Xbox Live, but PSN is kind of a joke. You could still tell yourself you get "free" games every month and such but yeah, when you think about it, it feels like scammy (for PSN at least).

I have both services and I see no difference...

I see two services that do a great job of staying up and little time having servers go down. I always wondered why I can play Rainbow Six Siege for free on PC, yet have to pay for it on console. It really makes no sense.

 

[Faddy]

Of course there are dedicated servers. How else would PSN have outages.

 

[Durante]

I don't.

Well yeah, that's my immediate answer.

I think part of the longer answer is because -- and this is the reason for many changes to how all kinds of products have been sold over the years -- generally people are bad at accurately comparing one-time costs to recurring costs.

 

[Pif]

Because people now must pay to play Mario Kart online and that is fine.

 

[Augemitbutter]

thank you microsoft. that was a nice scam.

 

[CDX]

Microsoft got away with doing it on consoles. And console gamers for some reason willingly paid. So Sony and now Nintendo want that money too. So here we are.

PC gamers never put up with that BS.

 

[Shiloa]

There's a lot more to online service than just cloud saves and free games.

A lot of it may be invisible, but it doesn't mean the development isn't there.

 

[Robin64]

Of course there are dedicated servers. How else would PSN have outages.

A matchmaking server is not a dedicated game server.

 

[Kthulhu]

Because we don't have a choice.

 

[RPG_Fanatic]

The only why you're paying is because people accepted to pay for that.
There's no real reason, its just easy money and everybody does it now, thanks to Microsoft.

This is the correct answer.

 

[mxgt]

It's a big source of revenue and they can improve their services with it

PSN download speeds sup

 

[Malcolm9]

It's easy money for them and, well, we don't really have a choice if we want to play with our friends on console.

I've always heard nothing but good things regarding Xbox Live, but PSN is kind of a joke. You could still tell yourself you get "free" games every month and such but yeah, when you think about it, it feels like scammy (for PSN at least).

What a load of crap, seriously?

 

[BadWolf]

Freaking MS that's why.

 

[balohna]

Xbox Live used to be okay to a lot of people (myself included) because they added things to the experience. A persistent friends list, voice chat in every game, certain standards for online... it was all novel at one point. PS2 online was garbage compared to Xbox. I believe MS was also providing servers for third party games at some point? I guess maybe not dedicated servers for online games, because I don't think that was super common. I just remember EA refused to let them run a particular service for them.

 

[wonderful103]

There's a lot more to online service than just cloud saves and free games.

A lot of it may be invisible, but it doesn't mean the development isn't there.

Good thing it's free and paid for by platform providers.
Well. On the platform that has an open market.

If you limit yourself to consoles, you'll be paying a lot of extra costs that you can avoid.

I'll stop paying once the cheaters/modders/scriptkiddies arrive.

They're already there on consoles, thanks to a whole bunch of devices that include macro-ing.

 

[JetSetRadio]

I'll stop paying once the cheaters/modders/scriptkiddies arrive.

 

[Trago]

Because the platform holders can get away with it. It's easy money for them. Sony put multiplayer behind a paywall, and then increased the price, and then nothing changed.


So you gotta up with it.

 

[Ripenen]

Even if all games were peer to peer, PSN and Xbox Live do have to manage your account. That's a big DB of players and player data being constantly updated. That requires some maintenance, support, and infrastructure cost even if it's just providing endpoints to retrieve player data.

Edit: I certainly don't think they are offering these services at cost or even anywhere near it. These are businesses so they'll charge whatever they think the market will bear. However, the point I'm making is that there is SOME level of investment from these online providers. It's not quite equivalent to selling air.

 

[JayEH]

Not enough people fought back when they could.

 

[iMax]

Of course there are dedicated servers. How else would PSN have outages.

That's not how computers work.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Hypothetically their shifting infrastructure costs from the developers to the consumer via user fees.

Hypothetically. I'm sure "because you're willing to pay for it" comes into play at some point.