Ever since Sony introduced online gaming to the PS2 way back in 2002 with it’s online gaming adaptor, one of Sony’s biggest selling points has been that online has always been free. In the ever-raging fanboy war, Sony supporters have always had the word “free” as ammunition against Xbox users, and anytime a debate surfaced over which company’s service was better, PlayStation users could always say that their online gaming is free.
Now all of that is in jeopardy with Sony contemplating the introduction of a paid subscription service. Below is the chart of the four options Sony is thinking about implementing (click on it for a larger version of the image):
I understand the pros of each option, but I’m here to say that I think that implementing a paid service is a horrible move on Sony’s part. Lets rewind back to late 2006 when the PS3 first launched. It’s safe to say that it was pretty much a disaster of a launch with very little game support and shortages. Over the next few years, the PS3 didn’t sell very well at all and was in last place by a long shot in the sales department.
Let’s look at Sony’s situation now; it’s VASTLY improved. With quality titles like Little Big Planet, Killzone 2, the Uncharted series, and God of War on the way along with GT5 and potentially The Last Guardian this year, the PS3 is in a pretty good place. It still hasn’t overtaken the 360, but there’s no denying that Sony has done a great job over the last couple of years to take out a chunk of the HUGE gap that it started with, which brings me to why I think a paid service is a horrible move for Sony, and comparable to losing a big name exclusive title.
Now that the PS3 has finally picked up some steam, introducing a paid subscription service would cause that momentum to come to a screeching halt. I feel as though you can get a pretty good feel for what console has the most momentum by frequenting forums, as they provide a decent gauge because you can see what most people are talking about and what games people are the most excited for. So why would you add something that would be viewed by the community as a negative into the mix? I realize that online gaming would remain free, but I don’t think that some of the things are even worth paying for.
Sony has been talking about introducing Cross-Game Chat for quite some time now, and people are going to be pretty excited when it comes, but when they find out that they can only get it if they switch to a paid subscription, they’ll be pretty pissed. The Cloud storage feature is essentially useless if you have a thumb drive, so that one is right out, and the extended warranty really bothers me as well. I view it as a slap in the face for people who don’t subscribe. If you make a product, EVERYONE should have the same warranty. Group A shouldn’t get to have their product replace because they’re paying you a few dollars a month and then Group B is left out in the rain, I just don’t think that’s fair.
Not to mention the fact that Sony will no longer be able to use free online as a selling point for their console. I also feel that half of the people who game today are willfully ignorant and too stubborn to do any research, so when they hear that PS3 online isn’t free, they won’t go home and research that online gaming is still free, you only pay for certain features, they’ll just think “oh well, since PS3 online isn’t free, I may as well just get a 360,” which obviously isn’t what Sony wants.
Maybe in the future Sony would be able to implement this, or they might even have to wait until their next console release, I just feel that at this time, when the PS3 has a lot of momentum, it’s a horrible idea to implement it and lose that momentum. It’s not a matter of money at this point, but it’s a matter of integrity and image, and this service would put a huge dent in both.
What do you think? Discuss it on our forums.
looking down through the list of options, i saw ‘Online Music Video Service’.
does that mean they plan on making us pay for Vidzone?
to me, the cheapest one looks like the best one, in terms of value for money.
$30 is onlt about €20 here, so if it isn’t a big dent in the wallet, but it would be great if they had subsciption cards like LIVE’s.
This article sounds like a little bitch. Listen here punk. I’ll pay for whatever Sony plans to do to make PSN just as good as XBL. If your too poor ass to pay for an online subscription then i sadly say, change fucking hobbies.
I for one am absolutely excited to see what Sony will pull out of the bag. Is gonna be awesome. so much limitless possibilities
WES, maybe you should actually read the article. I never said it was a money issue.
Well i don’t really think that offering a pAid subscription is a bad idea.. We as gamers are given the option of playing with premium services. In my opinion sony is doing right on remaining the online capability free if they began to charge to play online then yea that would be a different story. However their just going to charge for additional services which i don’t mind paying if their worth the money.. Im really excited on what type of services they will be hoping for the best !!!!
[...] Bob Rea’s, one of our authors, opinion is quite the contrary — you can read his article here. Some users may be more than comfortable with their free service and fear that this Premium stuff [...]
I don’t see what’s wrong with the Premium Service since it’s all based around choice. And the PlayStation Network being “Free” would still be a selling point, since everything we have now would still be.. well, Free.
They would just have to think of a way to tell the more “casual” consumer that there is a paid service too & advertise it well enough to get more people on board.
To be completely honest, after looking at the list of possible features, that PSN Premium Service looks amazing. It literally gives you everything you’d ever need as a gamer. I plan on signing up if most of those features make it in, that’s for sure.
this article not make sense to me. i think it is a good idea for premium service, if i pay a few extra dollars a month i expect to get extra features than someone that is not paying. That is not a slap in the face nor is it unfair ,if group b does not chose to pay they are leaving themselves out in the rain. Also u can extend the warranty without the premium service
This article doesn’t make sense I think. Yes it’s a bad idea because nobody really likes to have to play online but it’s a good idea in my opinion because of the extended Warranty $69 a year for a 3 year warranty is great when it costs you over $150 to get your ps3 fixed from Sony when it breaks.