Sony: Keeping PSN Free on PS4 Would Have Been Too "Hard"

[FreePSNPS4]

Seriously people, it's like $4 a month. Plus you actually get GOOD free games (like Saint's Row 3) not only on the PS3/4 but also for the Vita. Quit bitching.

$4 a month so $48 dollars a year, so $240 every five years. $240 every five years can buy me a graphics card to play PC games with that DON'T charge for multiplayer and already cost less.

Just because its $4 makes it okay to charge for features that are given for free elsewhere? (Steam, WiiU) Just because your okay with being nickel and dimed to death does not make it okay.

Then buy your graphics card and play PC games. You can spend your money on that, while we spend our money on console online gaming where we don't need to buy graphics cards and other expensive hardware.

Gaming will always require financial maintenance of some kind, it seems. Whether you trade of one for another is a matter of personal preference, and therefore irrelevant. If you don't want it, don't buy it.

That's not the point I'm trying to make. I would have loved to buy a PS4 sometime down the line, but now that won't be happening. Because Sony thinks that they can charge money for a service that should be free; that's why I'll be 100% PC for next-gen... it's not something I'm doing out of personal preference of paying $250 dollars in one lump purchase than $4 every month, its because when I spend that $250 I am buying a well-needed product for PC gaming: I can justify that purchase. But when I have to pay $4 a month for Sony to "Update and maintain PS4," I cannot justify that purchase. I'm arguing that their cost for online is not fair; they are just finding a way to milk the customer out of everything they have inorder to recoup the losses from their failing electronics division.

Again, Steam doesn't charge for all the same services: Voice chat, digital store, profiles, messaging, multiplayer, etc. I'm not sure WiiU has exactly all of that, as I don't have one. And don't feed me bullshit about the netflix and those other serices you have to PAY to access so you can PAY AGAIN to use... I know for a fact that those are free on Wii and WiiU. And on the subject of the free games... what if I don't want them? Just because they are giving you a bunch of old games I could get for a reduced price anyway does not make me anymore inclined to pay. What if I just want my free multiplayer back from PS3 where Sony didn't think it was "too hard."

My phone doesn't charge me a fee to maintain Android and update it every few months. My F2P mmos don't charge me a fee every month to maintain their servers and update content. Steam, Origin, Wii, WiiU, 3DS, don't charge me money for this either. So why is it, that all these different venues can afford to operate without a monthly service fee and Sony can't? Why do they think its okay to sucker their customers into paying a bullshit fee? Because Microsoft got away with it for 7 years.

Great Post! I've been saying this for months and months. People like to throw around the fact that PS+ "gives" you free AAA games. 1st of all the games are not free if you have to pay for the service to access them and 2nd of all who cares what rating the game is. Just because the game has a high rating doesn't mean I'll like it. In fact I'm not interested in most games. The amount of games I've put alot of time into on my PS3 I can count on one hand. That's want kind of gamer I am. I find a game I like and I play it for years and years, so I don't care how many games you throw my way, I'm not going to play them. So what PS+ winds up being for is simply paying for online, something I swore off doing on XBOX and damn sure won't accept on PS. I'm OK with things like cross game chat and Gaikai being behind paywalls because those are advanced features, but I think everyone can agree this day and age that online MP is clearly a basic feature and should not be behind a paywall. If PS+ was such a great service Sony wouldn't have to put online MP behind a paywall to bait people into paying for it, they would willingly do so and would provide Sony enough revenue to cover the new costs they claim they have. When people say PS+ is ok because Live exists, there essentially saying MS has been milking their customers for years, so now Sony is allowed to milk theirs. Apparently two wrongs make Sony right.

 

[FreePSNPS4]

If Sony does not go back on a model that forces you into a premium service then I'm never buying their console. It's that simple.

Some of us are simply not interested in adding upkeep costs to an already difficult economic situation at home. We keep hearing about how these massive, money-infested companies are "hurting", and how "hard" it is for them to get their products to us consumers.

It's a load of bullshit, and every consumer knows it. The scary thing is that Sony thinks enough people will buy this nonsense for them to not lose money as a result of the implied insult to our intelligence.

That tells you just how ignorant many of their share holders are. This, just like DRM, is a way for Sony to look like they're running a business to their share holders, and the attitude is: "screw the consumer", because we supposedly don't know better.

Well, I for one do know better, and that means I will be providing $0.00 to Sony and MicroSoft through their consoles and games this coming generation - unless some real change comes in and soon.

I strongly suggest to every gamer, do not buy a console in this next generation until both the main contenders start to reduce costs and provide free basics as Sony used to on this matter. Consumer power can make a difference in this - it may be tough, and may fail, but it is better to try, and in this way send a message that gamers prefer PC as long as PC gives the better option.

They can stop with the bullshit rhetoric about difficulty as well. These companies have had it easy and their cartels have us jumping from place to place just to avoid supporting their ridiculous notions of good design and their attitude that the consumer is always wrong.

We should do everything we can to increase competition and reduce monopolies in the gaming industry, or we will face these awful standards becoming the only standards. That includes for PC, because if I was MicroSoft right now, I'd start using the Windows OS monopoly, relationships with ISPs and corporate buyouts of game companies to phase in paid standards on all online gaming as soon as it becomes apparent that people won't buy Xboxes just to avoid it.

At that point, paid-only services and intense DRM become the norm, and people begin to accept these things over time. That is a cartel, and it is what we all should be extremely careful of if we love games designed for gamers, not for share holders.

I agree I will be sticking to my PS3 as long as possible, hopefully in the coming years Sony will drop the fee, but that is highly unlikely. The majority of gamers welcome this, so now paid online MP is set in stone on Playstation and Microsoft systems. There is a petition as well. It doesn't have many sigs but like you said it may fail but it's better to try. http://www.change.org/petitions/sony-computer-entertainment-don-t-require-playstationplus-for-online-multi-player-on-playstation-4

 

[FreePSNPS4]

Honestly it may not cost very much but I'm sorry I can't go along with the idea of paying for something that was free in the past, call me cheap or hypocritical but thats just the way I am, granted if I did get a PS4 I would almost never use online multiplayer, but for me its the principal of the thing, I get it PS+ grants you all sorts of free stuff and I guess that is fine, but multiplayer is an advertised part of the game and charging for it simply doesn't sit well for me

So yeah I probably won't get a PS4 since I am quite happy with my PS3, I maybe would have bought one a little later if PSN remained free but now... I think I'll pass

Yes it's the principle not the price. I could easily purchase PS+, I don't lack the funds to do so. I just will not support this because I will not contribute to a policy I despise.

 

[Evil Smurf]

On PC I can play online for free, this is one reason why I can't take shit like this from companies.

 

[Edl01]

I don't really care about Playstation Plus being required. Sony is a business, they want my money. It's the same with every other company in the world. Being angry at a company for being greedy is like being angry at Yahtzee for criticising, it's just kind of what they do. The second that you expect anything more from a company in when you will get dissapointed.
If a business are spending out money to uphold servers it only makes sense to me they don't want to be making a loss on it. This especially doesn't suprise me considering Sony's current financial situation, as they quite recently cut their predicted profit for 2013 down by 40%.

 

[likalaruku]

I think I remember reading that Rockstar said it would be too hard to port Red Dead Redemption to PC. Months later I saw Youtube videos advertising that it had been unofficially ported to ROM. PC gamers felt justified because the game wasn't even offered to them without the substantial fine of having to buy a console just to play it. So it would be no surprise to me if some angry jobless guys with a lot of free time on their hands find a way to emulate PSN. I could be pulling this out of my ass though, because I don't really know what PSN is or how it works. I also remember Sony having some kind of pole with demand for multiplayer coming in almost dead last, so the point is probably mute anyway.

 

[Lunar Templar]

*reads first page and rolls eyes*

seems no one knows what 'operating costs' are ....

 

[Griffolion]

-snip-

I've never been against Xbox Gold membership for all the online services it offers, for what you pay it's pretty good value. So long as the PSN is good value, I wouldn't really have a problem giving my money to it.

Also, not all online games require PSN to play, for instance, Blacklight: Retribution doesn't need a PSN subscription to play online. Other games with this special exemption do exist as well.

 

[cefm]

The part I didn't see in Sony's statement was "and it will be every bit as good as XBox Live".

That's kind of the trick, isn't it? XBox Live costs, but it's worth it (mostly) because it's the best thing going. PSN blows chunks, but you don't complain as much because it's free. But if all they do is start charging you and still deliver a terrible inferior product, then......... how's that going to work?

 

[Atmos Duality]

While most of the PSN functionality remains free to use, one clear difference with PS3 is that you must be a paying PlayStation Plus subscriber to access online multiplayer.

Translation: "We (Sony) forced you to use our network to play multiplayer, and now that you're used to it, we're going to charge."

Bait bit, Hook set. Now they just need to reel it all in.

Everything else they're offering is just honey to ease swallowing the bitter pill.

I'm not concerned, given that I deliberately avoided buying a PS3 or a Vita on account of Sony's shenanigans, and I've been expecting this for years now. (didn't Sony mention that they were eventually going to charge for this way back?)

 

[Therumancer]

Seriously people, it's like $4 a month. Plus you actually get GOOD free games (like Saint's Row 3) not only on the PS3/4 but also for the Vita. Quit bitching.

Well, here is the thing, when everyone is nickel and diming you constantly saying "it's only $4 a month" isn't much of a defense, that's $4 on top of everything else I'm getting hit with from the gaming industry as a whole. This is also $4 a month on top of my existing internet connection costs, specifically to use one device for gaming if I want to be online with it. Now to be honest the only games I tend to play online multiplayer with are fighting games, and I could live without those, but we're at a time where pretty much all games are being developed with online features and the need for a constant connection.

I'll also be painfully blunt about something I haven't been for a long time. I am a bloody mess, I have probable brain damage, severe emotional problems, and medicate myself out the gills. I was pretty much forced out of my previous job of ten years, and am currently "retired" on social security which allows me to survive despite some decent amounts of debt from back when I was working due to living at home. I game when I have the focus to in order to pass the time. Eventually being able to put together $400 for a PS4 is quite doable, however on the other hand wanting an extra $4 each and every month from me in order to use that machine is a bit much when I'm on what amounts to a fixed income.

The point here isn't so much "woe is me" (I only mention it because I've rambled about my situation before in other topics) but to say that not everyone is in a position where they can just go "meh, it's only $4 a month". Sure that's "only the price of a cheap meal at Mcdonalds!" which sounds good until you consider that some people might actually need that cheap meal at Mcdonalds.

Now don't get me wrong, I'll still game, it's one of the few things that gives me any kind of joy in life, but to be honest this can be a big deal to a lot of gamers. Granted at one time it might have been "well meh, if need be I'll do an hour of overtime every couple of months" at the very least, I mean heck in security that was easy since you didn't leave a lot of posts until relieved and if you wanted to nail a bit of extra cash you could just volunteer for posts relieved a little late, claim your 15 minutes a few times, and boom you'd be set. Alas not everyone has those kinds of options to cover petty expenses anymore (an hour or two accumulated time and a half in a department where they expect it for stuff like that tends to add up over time).

I'll also say that if they were offering something worthwhile in connection to this fee it might be tolerable, but they are pretty much charging for what they provided for free.... and honestly internet connectivity for this kind of thing SHOULD be free, it's why I pay for an internet connection. I notice PC gaming services lime Steam don't seem to be having many issues here.... and honestly the only real difference I've noticed between gaming online with a PC and gaming online with a PS or Xbox is that with the consoles their "network" spams me with advertising when I turn my system on and navigate through the menus.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

My 3 main issues, ordered from rational to irrational:

1. Once everyone has it there will be no incentive for Sony to make it as good value as it has been (and it has been good value, I just haven't been interested).

2. I just want multiplayer. That's all. I already pay for an internet connection. Extra features are all well and good, but I don't care. I want the most basic functionality, and only that, and it pisses me off that things I didn't ask for are the justification for a subscription service.

3. I don't like subscriptions because they reinforce the service-not-product atmosphere (that people are relaxed about because it happens without our input or knowledge) and basically, cost more when you're someone like me who gets a lot of value out of things they buy.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I'll believe their arguments when they allow for direct IP connection options for games and other apps.

I'm already paying for an internet connection, and direct IP connections are a basic feature of any internet-capable framework, so there is no valid excuse to remove said capabilities.

If they (and I'm not restricting this opinion to Sony, but rather to any and all online service providers) want to add extra value for a fee, no problem, but locking out the basics to force me into said premium service is unacceptable.

That's pretty much how I feel about it.
To tell you the honest truth, before they announced that ps+ would be required for online play on the ps4, I was thinking about switching from gamefly to ps+. You don't get a choice in games but you get quite a bit for a lower price. But making it required for online play made me feel like they were strongarming me into it.
Now instead of considering a ps4, I'm thinking it's time to update my pc.
It's for the best, the next game I'm really looking forward to is Fallout 4 and after New Vegas, I'm never buying a Bethesda game for a playstation.
I pay TWC plenty for online service. If sony wants a cut, they can go try and get it from them.

 

[The Ultimate 2]

This may not be much but here is a link to a petition telling Sony that we don't want this. Follow it, sign it, send it to your friends. Remember people raised their voices long and hard enough when Microsoft tried to force their DRM policies in our face and we said no, now they were forced to take it off, also need I remind everyone about the Mass Effect 3 ending fiasco? Get loud,get angry, let Sony know that we don't want them to turn into Microsoft. https://www.change.org/petitions/sony-playstation-ps4-free-multiplayer-no-sense-in-going-there-now#

 

[FreePSNPS4]

My 3 main issues, ordered from rational to irrational:

1. Once everyone has it there will be no incentive for Sony to make it as good value as it has been (and it has been good value, I just haven't been interested).

2. I just want multiplayer. That's all. I already pay for an internet connection. Extra features are all well and good, but I don't care. I want the most basic functionality, and only that, and it pisses me off that things I didn't ask for are the justification for a subscription service.

3. I don't like subscriptions because they reinforce the service-not-product atmosphere (that people are relaxed about because it happens without our input or knowledge) and basically, cost more when you're someone like me who gets a lot of value out of things they buy.

I completely agree with everything you just said here especially #2

 

[FreePSNPS4]

This may not be much but here is a link to a petition telling Sony that we don't want this. Follow it, sign it, send it to your friends. Remember people raised their voices long and hard enough when Microsoft tried to force their DRM policies in our face and we said no, now they were forced to take it off, also need I remind everyone about the Mass Effect 3 ending fiasco? Get loud,get angry, let Sony know that we don't want them to turn into Microsoft. https://www.change.org/petitions/sony-playstation-ps4-free-multiplayer-no-sense-in-going-there-now#

http://www.change.org/petitions/sony-computer-entertainment-don-t-require-playstationplus-for-online-multi-player-on-playstation-4 This petition has more sigs. Just a heads up

 

[rakesh23]

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