Sony Considering Subscription Service For Games?
Questionnaire might well highlight just what Sony's thinking.Published 29/12/2009 at 9:00 by nofi
Greg’s already discussed at length the various options Sony are considering for what has been dubbed PSN Premium, but one of the features not mentioned on the list (which did appear to cover every other angle possible) is paid subscription for games. Currently the closest thing we’ve got to a continued, steady revenue stream for developers is the episodic content model (such as that seen in Blue Toad or Siren) but going down the route of a full subscription service is one step ahead.
Over the weekend some PS3 users (including myself) were asked to take part in a survey by a third party, and one of the questions relates to this very matter. “How likely would you be to subscribe to a service like this in the future?” asks the questionnaire referring to a hypothetical paid subscription service for films, music or games. Well, this could infer a number of things – an ad free Vidzone (as Greg pointed out) or some kind of Netflix-esque affair for European PS3 owners.
Regardless, it’s the ‘games’ bit I’m interested in. Massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft could easily run on the PS3, both in terms of online infrastructure and visual grunt, but without a paid subscription service in place it’s unlike to tempt the likes of Blizzard. If Sony can get a decent monthly sub model up and running then there’s no reason why such games wouldn’t find their way onto the PlayStation platform. Not that we’ve not had such options on consoles past.
What the PS3 really needs is a decent online community title, with persistence and a sense of consequence. The Dreamcast, bless it, introduced me to Phantasy Star Online and it’s still the single most played game I’ve experienced in all my gaming years. If Sony can come up with something equally engaging (and over broadband, this time) I’d happily put down a tenner a month – it would be a welcome change of pace from the me-too FPS flooding the market. How about you?
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
masoke | 29/12/2009 09:04
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Final Fantasy XIV, surely
Kamokazi-UK | 29/12/2009 09:10
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Makes sence.
jasopan | 29/12/2009 11:59
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Sense*
speaker5 | 29/12/2009 23:06
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Sence lol
Lorcan | 29/12/2009 09:13
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A tenner a month? Maybe not. But a fiver is something I’d be comfortable with. How much is Xbox live? £40 a year?
bajere | 29/12/2009 10:51
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£5 a month will still feel like a jip IMO…To be honest, the amount i paid for my Launch 60gb PS3 deserves free subscription…People like me, who get in on the start, should always be looked after. If we didn’t go out and buy the 60GB launch model, do Sony really think that they would still be alive today and be able to sell slims?!?!
The PS3 users who have been here from the start, have stuck with the Playstation brand through the years, have put ther hands in the wallet hundreds of times for Sony, have put up with LLOD, poor XMB, lack of games, and other problems the console had in the 1st few years.. these people should remain getting a free service.
legalisemurder | 29/12/2009 10:56
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I’ve had every Sony console on its launch day so i agree with you.
Fresh191 | 29/12/2009 11:07
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How very selfish!
So I got my 40Gb a few months after launch does that make me less of a good customer than you, I got my Slim on launch day does that redeem me for the few months late on my first console, I didnt get my PS1 or PS2 or my PSP on launch so that still means I dont qualify as much as you.
Fucking bullshit.
A paid service for everyone could work really well…for everyone!
bajere | 29/12/2009 11:50
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@ Fresh191 –
What im getting at is that early adapters have paid more than enough money to Sony, and are the main reason the console has gotten to where it is now. Those who have just bought a slim for £250 with a few games, would not of even had the chance to get one for that price unless the people who bought the console in its early stages paid out the £400+ price tag… So when they start asking for money for a service i believe i have already paid for, i will say no, along with millions of others.
BrendanCalls | 29/12/2009 11:59
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@Fresh191 – please check the tone of your comments before you submit them and curb the language, particularly on the front page
bunimomike | 29/12/2009 14:41
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Interestingly, Sony were taking a huge financial hit on the launch PS3s (were they not?) so would’ve had to sell a titanic number of games to try and make anything back. I think you guys actually cost them more!
but buying at launch price shows Sony there’s still people out there who will throw down a serious amount of money for a games console. If you didn’t do this then Sony would have to realise that this was a terrible mistake (let’s be honest, they know this already). However, I don’t think you should be looked after with any sort of difference/special privileges other than potentially having a better/longer warranty seeing as you took the plunge with relatively untested hardware.
In very realistic terms, we’ve all cost them a bit of money and they’re trying to make some of it back. Now think about the $5billion black-hole they’re trying to fill and how they might go about investing in future hardware (read: PSP2, PS4). If they don’t recoup their losses then things might go the way of the Dreamcast.
@bajere – is LLOD a flaw in PS3s only purchased in Wales?
KeRaSh | 29/12/2009 09:19
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“but without a paid subscription service in place it’s unlike to tempt the likes of Blizzard” This doesn’t make sense to me. What does a Sony subscription service has to do with playing MMOs? On the PS2 you were able to Play FFXI. You payed your monthly fee to SquareEnix without having a monthly subscription on Sonys end.
masoke | 29/12/2009 09:23
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The survey was from a ‘third party’. Besides, if Sony can demonstrate PlayStation customers would support a subscription service then it would tempt customers.
Alternately, if you paid your subs to Sony it is easy for the consumer, they have a relationship with one person no matter how many subscriptions they have, you can use your PSN ID, and Somy can take a cut.
KeRaSh | 29/12/2009 09:43
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What would really suck though is if you had to be a PSN Premium Member in order to be able to play MMOs. Then you would have to pay double the fee. That’s what really sucks about XBox Live toghether with FFXI.
hazelam | 30/12/2009 09:54
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from what i understand though you can play ffxi on the 360 with just a silver account.
at least it was that way when the game launched, who knows, now that ms have decided 95% of the features available on the xbox require gold you might need gold to play an mmo now.
BrendanCalls | 29/12/2009 09:19
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Not for me, I have never played a subscription game and don’t really see myself doing so in the future either, but then I did say exactly the same thing about play games online in about 2002.
masoke | 29/12/2009 09:26
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It depends entirely on the game. If I felt I would benefit from a subscription service then I’d pay. I have to say that I think that I’d need more persuading, especially if I was locked in for any period.
minerwilly | 30/12/2009 09:43
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yea thats the year I got into online gaming . The game …. Battlefield 1942 of course , only ever bettered by BF2 .
legalisemurder | 29/12/2009 09:43
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I’ll subscribe to FF14 whoever i have to pay.I read somewhere that it won’t be using playonline which might hint at square having something to do with this survey.Given the way we are milked by unscrupulous,money grubbing developers like capcom and media molecule regarding dlc i don’t think subscriptions for mmorpgs is much of a leap in the dark.I’ve subscribed to phantasy star on PS2 and FF11 on 360 in the past and as long as its easier to cancel your sub than those two or xbox live for that matter i don’t have a problem.
jimmy-google | 29/12/2009 09:45
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I liked the option of getting access to all the psone and minis as part of a subscription.
That questionnaire took ages to fill out.
Deadpixel | 29/12/2009 09:48
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OK, so if (big if!) a game like WoW will be released on PSx, will that convince existing players to switch to the new platform? I doubt that, most of em will keep playing on their PC. By the way; isn’t a mouse and keyboard way faster to play a mmorpg (or did I just commit social suicide at TSA?)
I think a subscription model is more suitable for a stable distribution of (episodic) DLC, and has all the benefits of customer binding. Things like channel subscription (as in Youtube) podcast subscription (iTunes) are (free) examples of this. This concept could easily be integrated in the Playstation Store..
BrendanCalls | 29/12/2009 12:09
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I would agree with you there, all the current MMORPG’s so far have been best suited to PC gaming, however 2010 see’s the introduction of some major MMO’s to the console world so I suppose we will soon see if a worthy MMO can make it on the console
KeRaSh | 29/12/2009 13:07
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When I started playing FFXI on the PC I always used the mouse AND keyboard. After a while I switched the input method and just used the keyboard alone. I can hook up a keyboard to my PS3 so that wouldn’t be an issue for me. But WoW players tend to use little external addons to customize their GUI. They would only complaint if there was a less customizable version on the PS3.
cc_star | 29/12/2009 09:49
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If it was a subscription service to play unlimited games in a LoveFilm style format then I’d be interested depending on the specifics
but it could be subscription for mmorpg style games like WoW, we know Blizzard want to do something on consoles, perhaps this could be related to old news like Activision wanting Blizzard to explore subscription opportunities for their existing IP – hell maybe CoD8 will be pay2play online and Sony are doing a survey to see if people want this sort of option
but until we know whether it’s a LoveFilm/Netflix or ActiBlizz model we can’t even answer the question, surely?
legalisemurder | 29/12/2009 09:55
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Well i most definitely won’t be giving activision a penny.
Ed the Penguin | 29/12/2009 09:49
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If I’m going to pay a monthly subscription straight out to Sony, I’m not going to pay individually for games. The odd one here and there is OK, but I wouldn’t fancy going further than that.
Except for FFXIV, does anyone think they’d try this with MAG?
Boomshanks | 29/12/2009 10:49
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Wherewill it end. If the free accounts keep the same options they have now and you only have to pay to be able to play certain games online I’d be fine with that. I just hope th don’t take things everyone is waiting for (cross gamechat) and makes them for subscriptions only to tempt more people to pay money.
Apnomis | 29/12/2009 10:56
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Obviously I don’t know the context that question was asked in, but it could just be an innocent question about existing postal services like LoveFilm – I can pay a subscription today and get movie and game rentals, even the likes of GAME offer a subscription service now. For music there are subscription services like Spotify.
This question may have some deeper cloud-based computing connotation to it, but to me it just reads as a question about whether you would prefer to buy things like games or whether you prefer to subscribe to services that allow you to rent them instead…
The normal give-away in these questionnaires as to whether it is a question about an existing service or something they are planning to launch in the future is the phase “should it become available”, which this question doesn’t have…
tantalus_blank | 29/12/2009 11:15
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This subscription thing is all a bad idea. Someone needs to go and kick Sony in the nuts.
iNsAnE_gAmInG | 29/12/2009 13:03
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Agree with you there buddy. Really hope it does not come to be. This subscribing for a single game would not bother me as I probably just would not buy THAT game.
minerwilly | 30/12/2009 09:44
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Good point iNsAnE thats the way i feel about it too .
cam the man | 29/12/2009 13:33
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I’m not against subscription games as long as they don’t cost too much.
It could start to get expensive if subscription games and a premium PSN take off.
carlosfilippsen | 29/12/2009 14:07
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Agreed. I dont mind, as long as its not a total rip off.
bunimomike | 29/12/2009 14:49
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Regarding the potential to have the likes of WoW (World of Warcraft) you have to see this from a gaming/hours point-of-view. You subscribe to an insanely immersive world where you pay your monthly amount but get looked after when each new update comes along (or have I got that wrong?). When it comes down to it, the option might soon be there for us to purchase such a thing. If it was a tenner a month we’d be looking at £120 per annum. However, think about the hours someone playing WoW might inject into such a title. Maybe 10 hours a week. That’s a monstrous 520 hours a year and all for £120. Incredible value for money with an everchanging world and interaction with the online community of said game.
It’s all about whether you flit from game-to-game or are the Oblivion-type of gamer where you want to dive into the highest level of escapism. I, for one, simply can’t invest that sort of time into any game but it’s an option for millions of people around the world.
Foxhound Solid | 29/12/2009 17:18
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This could really work. If its something that runs alongside the free PSN as it stands, you know so its something we can choose to opt out of, then its a win win if you ask me.
CHOICE. Give us the gamer, CHOICE and Sony win here is you ask me!