That’s right, it says why Sony should charge for the PSN, and it’s not a type-o. And no, I’m not rich, crazy, nor do I work for Sony. I really don’t want to pay to use the Playstation Network, or Xbox Live. In fact, I don’t really want to pay for video games at all, but there is a big difference between what I want and what is practical. So, here are a couple of reasons why Sony should to charge for the PSN, and neither one of them is why Microsoft charges for Xbox Live.
REASON #1-TO SAVE US MONEY
A while ago I saw this post about the developers of the game MAG suggesting possible pricing structures to play the game. For those who don’t know, MAG is the recently announced shooter that promises 256 player online matches. If the game delivers on this, it could change online multiplayer for good. So, when I heard the game may have some sort of fee or subscription for online play I thought, “fair enough.” I mean, “World of Warcraft” and many other MMO titles already charge a fee to play so why not; after all, big online games mean big servers, and big servers mean big server maintenance and big server maintenance means money. But, then I remembered this article about Sony’s possible plans for several future MMO titles and it got me thinking.
You see, right now I play whatever game I feel like playing whenever I feel like playing it. If I want a solid shooter, I play COD4, if I want to break out a sword, I’ll throw in Soul Calibur IV, and if I want to be disappointed by a game I’ve waited years for, I’ll play Socom; just kidding, I didn’t buy Socom. (In fairness to Socom, I hear a lot of the bugs have been fixed, but I didn’t buy it because the beta was shit.) Anyway, lets say that next year Sony does come out with several MMO titles, and lets say that three of them are really great, but all three charge a subscription fee. Now, instead of buying all three games and playing them whenever I feel like it, I am more likely to chose a favorite, and only pay to play that one. That is not good for me, nor is it good for the gaming industry.
REASON #2-BETTER ONLINE GAMING
Right now there are three reasons for developers to make a great online console game: the pride and joy making a great game, selling DLC, and selling the sequel. While the first reason is the most honorable, it doesn’t put food on the table. Sadly, and understandably, we seem to see developers focusing more on the latter two. It is, after all, the other two reasons that make game studios money and that is, after all, what they are in BUSINESS for. After the DLC has been sold, and the sequel is on it’s way, there is no money in supporting these games and all too often they fall victim to the glitches, hacks, and cheating that ultimately kill so many online games.
A POSSIBLE SOLUTION
Now, I’m not a game developer, in fact, I’ve never had anything to do with making anything resembling a video game so my idea here may be complete bull shit, but here goes. The reason for PSN and Xbox Live to charge a fee is this: to distribute the bulk of the revenue from online play to the developers on a percentage basis based on usage, or to put it another way, incentive payment. We already know that Xbox Live monitors what is being played online each week, as we’ve seen Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 jockey back and forth for the position of “most played game” throughout most of the last year, but what if this meant more to the game developers than just bragging rights; what if it meant money. If the game studios got paid based on how much we played their game, just image how much free DLC and game support would be going on. Of course, this would mean that Microsoft would have to give up the bulk of the money they pocket from our Xbox Live Gold account fee, but if Sony gave money to the game developers and Microsoft didn’t, I don’t think it would take long for us to start to see a big difference on the quality of online gaming in the two consoles and for Microsoft to soon follow suit.
Again, this is just my suggestion, and it may not be a practical one. But, with gamers already being nickel and dimed to death with DLC, and with the talk of subscription fees for console MMO titles already in the works, it just seems like a workable idea. Or, at least a way to get rid of Qore.
While I’m for keeping it free, if paying a bit would get Sony to put in the features everyone is asking for, I’d pay.
Sounds good, but basing pay on a video game that is the most popular could just lead to just FPS games being developed. The new model would have to allow for individual expression of game development to promote variety and complexity.
if sony were to start charging for psn tomorow, id go out and buy an xbox360 as i would rather pay for xbox live, like stated before if sony did everything people are asking for, that would be a different story. The fact is it isnt on par with xbox live, and the best thing it has goin for it is that it is indeed free. When i shell out 60 bones for a game i dont want to have to pay an additional fee to play it online, or in some cases, at all like with some mmorpgs and such. so if the content was there and it wasnt outlandish, i would pay, but sony has a lot of improvements to make before then.
Live is more than a service for online gaming. It is part of the whole DRM structure of the xbox experience. So anything you purchase through a Live account will only continue to work through said Live account. For example, no Live connection, all your games you bought through the Live Market Place only play as demo games. This is what you pay for through Live. The PSN is far less restrictive. What you buy continues to work as it should without a PSN connection. So MKII still plays as a full game, not a demo (if one existed). One small point. I would drop the PSN if they charged for multiplayer online like Live does. It is nothing more than a cash grab.
Wrong, I bought PS3 because it had no internet fee…i’m about to pay montlhy fee to go shit in peace, wrong the world is full of montly fee and it kills me…paid a higher price to avoid an other montly fee!
Tom, you are a retard. You don’t want to pay for better online play, but if sony started charging you would go buy an xbox today?!!
It should stay free and i think xboxlive should be free there nearly identical in features (yes, i own them both) Movies, Tv shows, games, DLC, chatting. But sony still exclusively offers web browsing, which is why most people pay for a computer. just put it like this if ur paying for home internet service, pay 300 or more on a system and sixty on the game why pay any more?……. And i think resistance 2’s quality of online play with 60 people is awesome, and its also free. I just think Micrisoft is money grabbing you hafta pay for everything! Themes should all be free and why did i pay extra for an elite and still hafta pay for it 2 be wifi.Sony always gives (ex. bluetooth w/ socom, cmera w/eye of judgement.) and xbox takes (ex.buy an elite still gotta buy live card and wifi) there both great systems out of the box, but why pay anymore fees.
Keep it free , not everyone wants all that feature your asking for . All I want is what the ps3 has right now . I just want to play online lag free like killzone 2 and resistance 2 right now with the headset working . People want so much shi…. but than say the price is too high ..fkn dumbazzzz
@truBlue: …and how do you know this? Based on your comment I can see you don’t really know anything about XBOX Live. When you buy content it is your – games do not revert back to “demo” mode, even if you are not online or cancel your account.
you are not crazy neither you are rich. but you are just an idiot. why dont you go pay for every single online service on your pc games as well. this aint an mmo or something. you dont need p2p that kinda lame shit. m$ is just being lame for charging for their online service (and only ppl with brain will understand this logic). i bet you will stop using your msn on computer if they charge you for monthly. of cuz paying would usually means better service as of cuz you pay for you and you sure to expect something out of it. but that doesnt mean free service cant be good either. there are tons of other free services available too like youtube, gmail and many more others. what if one day everything come back to you and tell you oh we are charging you now just becuz they want to provide you “better services”. stop being an idiot. if you have nothing better to write then dont even start an article.
Oh sorry, let it be free!
I don’t care much for MMO, neither do some people.
PSN is just as good as Live, it’s just that Live was successful right from Xbox 1, it’s more reliable and people get on it often.
Just keep the thing free!
Why in the freaking world should I pay £40 for a damn game and later keep paying £40 a year just to play that £40 online!? O_o
I don’t remember paying for online just to play Unreal Tournament 2003 online.
So no:/
If Sony started charging, i wouldn’t pay and start playing on my pc again.
I like being able to casually turn on my PS3 and play online whenever i want to….
I’m not hardcore enough to fully use any online subscription based service.
I even play WoW only 12 hoursa month, and that’s not really worth the fee.
Same goes for XBL….
The biggest advantage Sony has over the competition is that PSN is free. If they were to start charging, I would not pay period. You are not a developer and you don’t work for Sony and yet you’re suggesting they charge for a service that they made free in the first place. Why should a person pay for games, then pay for the system, and THEN pay for online as well when they have other priorities?
Even if I bought a 360 first, there is no way in HELL I’d pay for online service.
@ TruBlue
Thats not quite correct about playing games downloaded from LIVE. What you are actually referring to is when a 360 HDD is placed on a DIFFERENT 360 console than the one on which said content was purchased. That happens because the DRM info is saved on the actual console. Having you sign-in when on a different console is MS’ way of knowing you are OK to play the content. If you are playing on your 360 that you purchased the content on, you dont need an internet connection whatsoever, but you DO have to sign-in to your profile locally (not online, just on your 360)
Sorry for the boring and long-winded response, just want peoples to be clear about that one.
Yes, you are crazy.
I pay my ISP, I paid for the PS3, I paid for the damn game, I pay for the electricity…
I shouldn’t have to pay more to play the fucking game I already paid for.
I also would not pay for the PSN if they started to charge a fee for it. Like many have said above there are far to many things that we have to pay for such as…
- Game System (One time fee)
- Game (One time fee)
- Internet (Monthly fee)
- Electricity (Monthly fee)
and in these struggling economic times. We consumers can’t handle anymore fee’s.
I can see where this poster is coming from though. If you were to buy a lot of MMO’s and instead of paying a per game model on these you pay one fee. The thing to me though is if I start an MMO I would really like to make sure it’s a good one before I bought it and I just can’t see myself or many others going crazy with the MMO’s and buying more then one. Also remember that MMO’s have DLC just in big chunks and they call those expansion packs. Speaking of DLC…
The other thing you mention about getting the DLC given to us instead of charging us for it. While a nice thought, it would never happen, Like you said their a Business they will charge you for anything and everything. Trust me leave the free things alone. Now I am reading about how they are going to start to create alternate endings to games and try to charge for those. THAT IS RIDICULOS!!! Sony just started to charge for Premium themes like Microsoft which really sucks but at least Sony still provides free ones alongside the Premium ones and allows users to create their own.
Now also you have remember one thing Sony is trying to get a lot of User Created content on their system espically with the game that just came out called LittleBigPlanet. If users had to pay to play online that would significantly cut the User Generated content down.
I really think Sony is doing the right thing by keeping the PSN free. I really hope Sony doesn’t get greedy and start charging for the PSN because they will only be shooting themselves in the foot. I mean what better way to get great content then from your fellow creative gamers.
1) Your ASSUMPTION “paid service = savings” is a contradiction. How does a person who pays for breakfast better off than a person who gets a comparable breakfast for free? That’s like saying a paid for copy of “public domain” material is better then getting it for free.
2) Paid for services brings about better online gaming? Hmmm.. I guess Valve and the like to START charging. PC gamers have been getting and continue to get FAAAAARRRR better service for online gaming then console gamers. Xbox LIVE 1st gen. was a fee to activate the NIC card. Thats like paying a monthly charge for breathing. but hay… you pay to breath, be my guest.
3) There are models where paid services work well WITH free services. Some MMORPGs have figured this out. A balance will work when these service provider offer a PREMIUM tier of service.
XBL free
——
15 Player Friends list
Peer-to-Peer gaming
Advertisement infused Dashboard
Base community options
XBL Premium
___________
50 Player Friends list
Peer-to-Peer w/ packet optimization and Microsoft housed private servers
Advertisement free Dashboard and freebies
Premium community options
Sony is already offering excellent FREE service comparable in in some cases better then XBL.
I.E. … WarHawk
Peer-to-Peer and Standalone Servers
PSN Chat with (6)multiple user access
and with Playstation Home developer designed Home spaces like the Warkhawk room, the players can put coordinate better, plan better, execute better.
[...] Loot Ninja’s title says “Why Sony SHOULD Charge for the PSN”, now give the some credit because they did say they were not rich, nor do they work for Sony, nor do they want to pay full stop for PSN or Xbox Live, but here is what they say anyway. [...]
One should never confuse a pay service to mean better service.
Sony’s free online service is fine to me. Sure I would like more things out of it, but does that mean I would be willing to pay for it AND Xbox Live? No.
Many times, companies just pocket this additional money they receive from charging us to access what should be a free service. We paid for the console, we paid for the game, we pay electricity, we pay for internet, and now we have to pay to play the game we already paid for?
If the online fee covered DLC, I would understand, but the reality is that it does not and will not. We will still be gouged for DLC that should have been included with the game on day one. I hate to see a game come out, and then two weeks later read announcements about upcoming DLC in the following weeks. That means the DLC already existed and they chose to serve us an incomplete game to just take more money from us. Yoda/Vader ($5) in SC IV is a perfect example.
Hell, I still pay for Live and I don’t even use it. If Sony tries to charge for their service, I’ll cancel Live as well and stick to NO ONLINE SERVICE. Because for me, the reality is I have no idea what I am getting out of Live that I “need”. The only reason I have not canceled it after all these years is that I was one of the beta testers for Live.
If Sony starts charging for online play, the developers lose, as well as sony, and my wife wins. I will stop buying games and therefore game developers will stop making the games. I will spend less time gaming and more time outside with my wife. I wont need the best LCD or PLASMA tv made by sony, so I wont go out and buy one.
Sony dont be greedy! Jeff dont be a tool!
I’m sorry but thats the stupidest thing i’ve ever heard. Personally i’ve gotten so many people to switch from XBOX360 to ps3 soully on the free online gaming. It is a factor in choice for buyers. Pay for online, or don’t.
You guys act like Xbox Live is $500 dollars a year or something….I mean for god sakes its only $40 a year what you can’t afford $3.33 a month?