SOE All Access is Live: One Subscription, Nine MMOs

[Cognimancer]

SOE All Access is Live: One Subscription, Nine MMOs

Sony Online Entertainment is changing the rules of the MMO model, offering nine subscriptions for the price of one.

Everyone says that the subscription model of MMO games is dying (with that one notable exception), but that might not be the case - we might just need more bang for our monthly buck. Sony Online Entertainment is shaking things up in the MMO world by doing just that with its new and improved All Access program: one $15/month subscription nets you an account (or premium account, depending) in each of SOE's ever-growing collection of online games.

All Access members (a group that now includes anybody with a subscription to any of SOE's games) instantly get upgraded to premium accounts in EverQuest, EverQuest II, PlanetSide 2, DC Universe Online, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Dragon's Prophet will be added to the list very soon (whenever its developer and SOE figure out the details). Any future SOE titles will presumably be included in the program as well, and the publisher has already confirmed the inclusion of the upcoming EverQuest Next, Landmark, and H1Z1. That's a lot of game.

As a cherry on top, SOE will be releasing the original PlanetSide as a free-to-play game alongside the All Access release. It's the classic PlanetSide, untouched - you won't see any microtransactions, but there also won't be much in the way of continued support.

All things considered, this is a pretty brilliant move on SOE's part. By expanding subscribers' libraries of available titles, it's much more likely that gamers will stay with SOE even after they get bored of one or two MMOs. And since most people don't have time to keep up with two MMOs at once, the publisher probably isn't losing much money from dual-subscribers. What do you think: is 15 years' worth of MMOs worth paying a few bucks every month?

Source: Sony Online Entertainment [https://forums.station.sony.com/soe/index.php?threads/the-revised-soe-all-access-program-faq.11500063040/]

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[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I do think it's a good move overall. Customers are getting a better deal for their money and Sony will likely have more overall customers because of the added value.

At the same time, it's a little sad that it has to come to the point where a company needs to offer so much for the same price other MMOs make alone. But after SWTOR's story, it's clear that WoW's success can never be duplicated. Moving forward, MMOs will have to try something different for even a modest success. Off hand, I wonder what this means for my lifetime subscriber account in DCUO?

Also, isn't Pirates of the Burning Sea a Sony MMO?

 

[Cognimancer]

Off hand, I wonder what this means for my lifetime subscriber account in DCUO?

That's actually an interesting point! According to the FAQ, lifetime subscribers to DCUO are now lifetime subscribers to All Access, as long as DCUO stays alive.

 

[Gorrath]

Bravo, a company sees that its numbers for several games are not great and so decides that it should sweeten the pot to attract customers. It's almost like this is a better idea than simply cancelling anything that's not doing well on its own, and wasting years of time, effort and money. I hope this turns out to be really successful.

 

[SecondPrize]

Seriously though, how does this differ from the station pass?

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

Any future SOE titles will presumably be included in the program as well, and the publisher has already confirmed the inclusion of the upcoming EverQuest Next, Landmark, and H1Z1.

Uh, both EQN and Landmark are supposed to be free to play titles, and no particular "special" subscription model has been announced. So....either this is confirmation of some sort of subscription model for both games (which is disappointing, since I was really only looking at them because of the F2P status), or someone at SOE missed the memo.

Its actually common for even the fairest F2P mmos to have a premium subscription, what judges their worth is how much you get and how much you get without that premium. And from what I have seen Sony has been good with being not to restrictive with the full Free to Play of their offerings so I expect Everquest Next would be the same.

 

[RicoADF]

Hmm, this may actually get me to subscribe, I don't normally due to not wanting to pay $15 per month for a game I may play a few times each month but for a few games I play it may be worth it.

 

[direkiller]

Any future SOE titles will presumably be included in the program as well, and the publisher has already confirmed the inclusion of the upcoming EverQuest Next, Landmark, and H1Z1.

Uh, both EQN and Landmark are supposed to be free to play titles, and no particular "special" subscription model has been announced. So....either this is confirmation of some sort of subscription model for both games (which is disappointing, since I was really only looking at them because of the F2P status), or someone at SOE missed the memo.

I have a feeling it will be like planetside 2, where the sub basically gives you a xp/gold boost along with a pay credits each month. Which is hardly anything specal

 

[Isalan]

My problem with this is MMO's are grindy by nature. Chances are unless your unemployed or serving a medium length custodial term then there's no way your going to play more than 2 MMO's simply through time restraints.

I presume they're going to go for the "Subs get something extra" approach but even then, its gonna be a horrific amount of work to keep up in even 2 MMO's. Also, with the exception of PS2 most of Sony's MMO's have been a bit shit. I never got into PS2 cos of the grind.

 

[leviticusd]

I am mind blown to see Vanguard is still around. I played that back when it first came out and the epic mess and collapse of the original company pretty much on release day is legendary. That just blows my mind. Honestly if Star Wars Galaxies was still around and Pirates of the Burning Seas was still apart of it, I would have jumped on it.

I still might give it a shot just to see if My Vanguard Half-Elf Psionist is still kicking around in some memory bank somewhere...

Edit: Now that I think about it they did do this once before back when they had those games (I remember creating everquest accounts too). I think you still had to buy a physical copy of the game though and the all-access pass was $30. Since I was playing three it was a decent deal, but I don't think it lasted long...this was probably in 2008?