PSN : Pay to Play ? - NOW WITH POLL

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nicksfix
  • 100 comments
  • 9,468 views

Would you pay to play on the PSN?

  • Yes, definitely

    Votes: 9 8.2%

  • No, absolutely not

    Votes: 47 42.7%

  • Depends on the cost

    Votes: 33 30.0%

  • Look! A squirrel!

    Votes: 21 19.1%
  • Total voters
    110
The PSN is why I don't play my x360 anymore.. (aside form the ring of death it is currently being warranty-repaired for.) If They started making you pay to play, I dunno, I would probably use both systems again.. or something (lol). 'Cause right now, I am debating on locking my x360 to the HDTV in the houses living room to share, since I don't use it much. But it will DEFINITELY get locked down.
 
There is a clause in the terms of conditions that allows Sony to start charging for the online without notice.

Its always been in the back of my mind everytime i argue for the PS3 in the various console wars i've seen across the web. I know eventually it will become Pay to Play, but the majority of people who bought the console according to some polls, only bought their console with the knowledge the online was free, which gives it a significant advantage over the Xbox 360.

It would be a good marketing move to start charging for the online, but completely unethical and quite frankly out of order. Many users will trade in their consoles in protest, but it is inconsequential as Sony already have our money. But i dare say the majority of PS3 users will bite the bullet and start paying for their subscriptions.

Charging for the online would be a win-win for Sony. Charging for online means they can also reduce the base orice of their console, so it will be barely higher than an Xbox 360 elite, which will inevitably attract more customers. Hopefully hoaxes like this show Sony what people think. Or maybe they were infact put out there by Sony to test the consumers' reaction.

I just hope Sony have a heart. <--- :indiff: I guess we're screwed then.

EDIT: I voted for depends on the cost. For sake of marketing i bet Sony will introduce the fee as a lifetime subscription (Simply because its a different way to Microsoft), and i don't think i'd be willing to pay more than £30-35 for it (which is what you pay a year for XBL).

This also poses a problem as the PS3 currently in my household is my brothers. So for two seperate accounts it could be quite expensive.
 
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it has already been announced that Sony will begin offering a "premium" online service for a fee....the current Playstation Network (including the ability to play games online) will remain free...
 
If they start charging for online play then I hope the GT5 offline part of the game is huge because that is where I will be playing then. I can not afford to pay to play a video game after already paying 60 USA dollars to own a copy. The thought of it is just crazy to me.
 
I already pay to play xboxlive. No way would I pay to play on another gaming system. Paying for 1 is enough for me.
 
Just under a month ago it was reported that Sony was planning a paid PSN subscription service for 2010, and today Kotaku (linked above) has revealed a survey indicating a premium PlayStation Network may indeed be on the way.

To quote: "A survey sent from IPSOS Online Research indicates that Sony is considering premium subscription plans for the PlayStation Network, detailing potential prices and premium services, including full hour game trials, free access to PSOne Classics, and cross-game voice chat.

Reader Brenna sent us PDF files containing the Sony survey, which begins with the following bit of text:

Sony is considering offering a premium PlayStation Network subscription in the future. The subscription offering would provide new premium features you could choose to pay for and are in addition to the features currently available for free such as access to online multiplayer gaming (current features would remain free).

Following the introduction is a series of definitions of terms such as Token Wagering - a set number of tokens given to subscribers per month that can be used to be on games and exchanged for PSN content - and Cloud Storage Space for Games, which would allow players to save their game online rather than on their hard disk, protecting their data.

Other notable services listed as potential premiums include loyalty reward programs, automatic updates, member-exclusive Facebook Connectivity, an online music service and music video service, Hulu TV catch-ups, member-only game content, discounts, demo-sharing (sharing exclusive member-only demos from your full games with friends), and Netflix without a disc.

By far the most attractive premiums are full title trials, which give the user one hour access to full PlayStation 3 games, and free access to PSOne Classics, PSP minis, and premium themes.

The list also indicates that some eagerly awaited features could be subscriber only, such as cross-game voice chat. Having waited so long for the feature, I doubt fans would be particularly happy to have to pay for it.

The chart below details four potential plans, with three costing $69.99 a year or $9.99 a month - more than an Xbox Live Gold subscription, and one running $4.99 a month and $29.99 a year."

img_18603.jpg


Thanks to PS3 news for putting this on there site
 
I read this just about a month ago somewhere else. I would have to disagree with their plan or idea of start charging. I think its a great selling point for the PS3, one that doesn't get them a lot of customers over Xbox, but still a selling point. Keep it all free, and keep the selling point OVER the Xbox.

Chad
 
To be honest, from what I'm reading if this is indeed true, then it doesn't bother me in the slightest. If the current features all remain free, such as online gaming and such, then I don't care if someone wants to pay to test full titles before they buy them or to save games and data to a server rather than their HDD etc. Sony can do what they want regarding features I don't already have, but if they were to take current features that are free and then start charging for them, that would be a different story.
 
Dave A
To be honest, from what I'm reading if this is indeed true, then it doesn't bother me in the slightest. If the current features all remain free, such as online gaming and such, then I don't care if someone wants to pay to test full titles before they buy them or to save games and data to a server rather than their HDD etc. Sony can do what they want regarding features I don't already have, but if they were to take current features that are free and then start charging for them, that would be a different story.
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Same.

What we have now is good enough. The only thing i would really want added is multi-person ingame chats rather than the simple messaging system we have now.

If they want to start charging for other additional features thats fine, but charging for the base online service would be crap, i can see maybe a facebook group with several million members boycotting it.
 
Additional premium services which are chargeable? Sounds good to me. Some of the services that have previously been mentioned seem really good. Not really sure how this is worthy of a red alert or how it's about Gran Turismo 5 though?
 
PSN is horrible now, it needs a major overhaul. If we get one and they start charging, I will be disappointed. Thanks for the new, OP
 
BlackZ28
PSN is horrible now, it needs a major overhaul. If we get one and they start charging, I will be disappointed. Thanks for the new, OP
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Whats horrible about it? :confused:

Its a good online service. The only thing it really lacks is ingame multi chats. Things like Voice chat are always enabled, its up to the developers to include that in their games (Hence why we didn't have any form of chat or lobbies in GT5P)
 
As long as online gaming is free I don't really care. And Sony has said online gaming and all the current features we have now will remain free.

If people find value in some of the things mentioned in these tiers of a premium service and are willing to pay for them...let them. Personally the only things I would like are the extended warranty and the cloud storage but I wouldn't pay those prices for them.
 
snoopybg
I sold my XBOX360 mostly because they want me to pay for things on the PS3 I get for free.
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This is beside the topic, but that's not a very good reason to sell a console.
 
Notice the fundamental difference between the PSN subscription model and Xbox Live. With PSN, if you choose not to pay, you won't lose any functionality of your console. You will still be able to play online, surf the web, as well as buy movies and games from the PlayStation Store. You pay for additional (bonus) features only!
This new subscription model is a good thing. After all, we want Sony to keep making money if we want to keep playing all those delicious exclusive titles.
Its a step in the right direction for them, and you guys have nothing to be upset about.
 
Online gaming stays free.

But WHAT?! Am I misreading something? Subscribers get PSone classics and PSP minis free? If so, sign me up! At least for a month so I can download all the PSone games... :lol:
 
People fail to read the original message, everything we have now remains FREE.

If we get those extra options like being able to download PS One classics and PSP Minis I would gladly get this, but what's even better is being able to try out full games, now that would save me a ton of money. I also like the feature to be able to save games online and cross chat.
 
Allright so if you pay for PSN you might get cross game chat, but if you want to chat with someone that didn't pay will it work ? And why would we pay for cross game chat, when there's already an option to chat I admit that it is pretty useless because you cannot chat with microphones.
Will we get some new avatars if you subscribe ? If so count me in, I'm tired of the ugly user pics. :D

Wake up sony and stop giving people features that are useless and that nobody cares about. (See Facebook trophy sync.)
 
It's all speculation about what it will cover exactley (provided this news is infact true and not just a random rumour), the cross game chat might be free it might not, we don't really know yet.
 
I'm all for it! If they make the servers better with more speeds available then im more than happy to pay them money! Either it be monthly or annually!

I hope they do it!
 
If it makes the PSN better I'm all for it. Having used both services, I prefer XBL over PSN as it just seems to be smoother and has more features.
 

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