Future Sony Games To Use PSN Pass

nofi 84 Comments

I don’t like the concept of online passes.  In fact, I’d probably go as far as to say I hate the very idea of them.

[drop2]Maybe it’s because I’m older than a lot of gamers and am used to just throwing down some money and expecting – you know – a complete game, but that no longer appears to be the option and it’s becoming increasingly rare to find a game that doesn’t have some kind of online pass.

It doesn’t even need to be a multiplayer thing – DiRT 3 had extra vehicles that unlocked once you entered a one time code – available with the game but won’t work with second hand or rented copies of it, requiring a further purchase from the PlayStation Store.  I understand why the publishers are doing it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to like it.

Enter Sony, who kicked off their PSN Pass program with Resistance 3 and will follow shortly with Uncharted 3.  And then, according to SCEA (via Destructoid), Sony games afterwards.

“Online Pass will be incorporated into Uncharted 3 and future Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) games with online functionality,” said a spokesperson for the company. “We will provide further information in the future.”

The statement doesn’t specifically say ‘all’ as some are reporting, but it’s not difficult to infer that that’s the intention.  And besides, if it makes money and there’s only me whinging, then surely it’s a winner.

Right?

Tags:

Related stories from TSA

Your First Glimpse Of PSN Pass
PSN Pass Will Be “System Level”
2011: The Year The Publishers Fought Back
PSN Pass Leak Was “Way Ahead Of Sony’s Schedule”

84 Comments

  1. This is really disgusting. And very disappointing to see Sony joining in.
    If you complain about piracy, fight it. Don’t fight the rightful customer who bought your game in a capitalist, free market. If you do, I’m sure piracy is going to increase.

    I wish some agency regulates this.

    P.S.: I don’t own any second-hand game. It doesn’t matter. They shouldn’t be allowed to do it.

    • i am never one to question some ones opinion but i cant agree with this at all. This is not about piracy it is all about the cash left on the table from the second hand market the devs think they are loosing out on and the shop making from it. step back and take a look around it could be worse, you could be one of the millions of people paying full price for games and having no internet access to play the multiplayer side of games. or you could have and xbox360 and paying for live and then be charged twice then to play online once with the live price and once to get a pass for second hand game.

      • Technically you do, the second you bought your new game, it became second hand. But thats just technical semantics

      • @hunterstryfe, lol, good point. technically everybody plays used games, unless you buy a new game every time you play.

    • You’re using the free market argument and then asking for an agency to regulate such a thing?

      • Maybe I didn’t explain it right.

        What I’m saying is that they are trying to control the market, the game’s industry, destroying the second-hand part of it.
        So that would be more about “regulating the regulator”, if you get me; no company ought to restrict the free market for its own benefit.

  2. Some(most?) online enabled games have very few players to begin with. As if it wasnt hard enough to find fellow players, Online passes are just going to make less people play online. Hence, making the online experience less appealing for everyone.
    Who would’ve thought; the future of gaming is playing with buddies in your own livingroom. :P

  3. After a while average multiplayer games that use passes are going to dry up. People aren’t going to stop buying used, they’re just going to stop playing multiplayer. One reason CoD is so successful is because of the used market constantly bringing in new players. This keeps the multiplayer experience fresh, as theres always a mix of talent. I wonder if multiplayer would be as strong as it is today if CoD2 or Halo2 had online passes when they released. Lots of multiplayer games get cult followings before they become successful, imagine if MS charged extra for Halo LAN connections. Would people have been excited when Halo 2 MP arrived, would Halo 3 even been made. Developers need to become inspired again and provide an original, fun experience that makes people want to keep their games long enough where there isn’t enough copies available for a used market. Or add extra value to a new purchase other than that new game smell. This industry was created without MP, it can also survive without it.

    • Don’t forget that for both CoD 2 and Halo 2 people were already paying for online access to Xbox Live. People are more than happy to knuckle under and get on with things.

      • True… those may not have been good examples, but I think your missing my point. Would they have bought XBL if they also had to buy a MP unlock from the publisher, and would enough people knuckle under to make MP anything more than a gimmick, instead of a mode that would evolve into something people are willing to pay for today in an online only game like MAG? Everquest for PS2 required a monthly sub, how many monthly sub games are on the PS3, and out of them how many are going free2play? People will pay for quality and value, but when a game is free and another game isn’t isn’t, people are going to play the free one, after all, its the same reason people buy used. And the ‘pass games’ are going to stop supporting the mode because no one plays it 6 months after launch… point is adding fees to MP is going to hurt some MP games, and the people that enjoy them. You can still easily find a lobby in MW2, but I doubt you’ll find a lobby for R3 2 years from now.

  4. Doesn’t affect me much. Since I moved house, I don’t really see my friend as much so can’t borrow of lend games to him.

    Besides 98% of my games are newly bought and I don’t trade in. Hence why my PS3 collection is my biggest so far.

  5. *sighs* Looks like i won’t be able to lend Uncharted 3 etc… to a mate if i wanted to if he wanted to try out the mutliplayer. If they want people to buy new, put an incentive to do so other then an online pass. Include some free stuff for your mutliplayer avatar thingy or your PSN avatar. Or even a free theme. I mean, this is punishing those who want to get a game very cheap.

    I hate the idea of online passes and every time i boot up the game, i think the game will keep asking me if i want to buy one. :-/

    • HUH!? Is this post serious?

      Many AAA games do offer incentives already mate for new buyers…. there called pre order bonuses :0)

      They include everything you have suggested!

      • It is serious. Not everyone has the cash to preorder it. They may wait a few weeks to see if the price goes down. ;) Most pre order bonus are usually restricted to one shop who like to rip off people.

        If they added what i said, they may find an increase of people buying new. :-)

      • So you want an incentive full stop to buy a game new rather than 2nd hand,

      • Yes in a way. I rarely have the cash to get a game new and when i do, i am usually tempted to get a preowned copy of a game and another game that i have been waiting to get for a while.

        Plus it would would rewarding those who buy new. At the end of the day, i’ll have a copy of that game one way or another and the publisher has to prove to me why i should get the brand new copy instead of the preowned copy as i barely have cash.

      • * I meant barely afford a new game when i actually do have the spare cash to do so.

      • the publisher has to prove to you to buy new? abit of naive comment, The publishers don’t have to prove anything you’ve just got to be interested in their product.

        I guess we’re always going to disagree in this case cause I buy new and collect collectors edition, where as you can’t really afford to buy new… so we’re both in different boats and I’ve been there not being able to afford the games I wanted so know what it’s like…. although there wasn’t any online back then so I did buy 2nd hand – but obviously the cost of production value back then was alot less then they are today! without the cost of running online aswell.

        I guess the incentive is….buy new get online for free… publishers are looking for one thing and 1 thing only,

        make a product,sell as much as possible and make as much money,

        And so they should!

      • Im beggining to wonder if you have any money at all, every post about buying games from you is about not being able to buy a game and waiting, and to pre-order is the same price as the full game, heck,pre order is easier if you get it a few months in advance, £5 a week to the shop and in 2 months its paid for without any huge dint in your wallet in 1 go. I know in one of my local game shops i can pay in chunks until the game is released.

      • I do have cash but i can’t afford to get any games. :-/ Not if i want to eat and pay the rent. I don’t know why i keep bringing up my lack of income. :S

        I have a lot of games to get once i do actually get a job though. If i could put aside £5 a week, i would but i can’t as that would half of my food budget be gone. :-( I’ll try to stop bring up my finical situation. *bites lips very hard*

      • I think he is unemployed from what I gather from other threads so probalay can’t afford games.

        but hey we’ve all been there! well I know I have.

      • your food budget? I though you said in another post about how your mum pays for the Internet so I assume you still live at home!?

        Thats how I can afford my gaming lol

  6. I thought the other day about incentives.
    The publisher and developers really, really want you to buy new. They get more money that way, so why not, instead of locking away content, actually give you more stuff? In this particular instance, a fully independent, digital download copy of the Multiplayer component to sit on your HDD, so you don’t need the disc to play.

    Make it so that this is only available from codes supplied with a new game, and even then, maybe only with the install option being on the actual disc, or only with special editions of the game. So that it’s not just giving away free copies of the game.

    I’d certainly pay the extra for a SE to get that.

  7. The thing that gets me is that in this gen, the online multiplayer has been done to death. How many COD clones can you play? I’ve been looking forward to Battlefield 3 for months as Battlefield 2 was one of my favourite games. Afer playing the Modern Battlefield Warfare Bad Company 3 Beta I thought not another COD Clone.

    Meanwhile the campaign length has dropped to a point where you don’t even get the standard 8 hours. This is probably why I love Gears 3 so much, a solid 10-12 hour campaign compared to the 6 I got out of the likes of Homefront, Killzone 3, Resistance 3, etc.

    Of all these games Gears is the only one I’ve played online for longer than 2 games and it’s got no Online Pass. I’d be gutted if I’d paid for an online pass for Homefront or Resistance. Not worth the money.

    • Lol Battlefield 3 is far from a COD clone, it’s a more spruced up Bad Company 2 Clone from the same company :) But I get what you mean

    • variety is the spice of life my friend! what you dont like others do and vice versa.

  8. I don’t like it but i am not going to moan about it on the internet LoL If you people are not happy then just get a Xbox 360 because everything is all free on the Xbox 360…oh wait… LoL

    • Oh, so we shouldn’t have the right to express our opinions then? I thought TSA allowed everyone to express their opinions, oh wait they do. What has the xbox got to do with the PSN pass? Did you really feel that it was nesseccary to keep badmouthing the xbox in most of your comments if not all of them? There is xpressing your opinion and there is being a fanboy who keeps going on about the same thing in at every opputurnity.

    • lol steven, read his comment again….

      • Lol. Although I would love to badmouth XBOX, I don’t think I can as there ARE a couple of games at least on XBOX that I like. But I just would not buy one. (Wife won’t let me – Unemployment sucks) lol. This is why I have same amount of 2nd hand than new. I own Dragon Age 1&2 New, and Burnout Paradise/Kane and Lynch 2 2nd Hand. Now all those complaining I bet have Waaaay more than that. :)

      • sorry steven, didnt realise haha. (Cant think of anything witty to detract from my protection of fanboyitus) errrrr “is that an xbox in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?”

      • Just throw him the bait and he will always bite.

    • Hi Reality Check. I’m not sure what your point is exactly. This site covers PS3, 360 and more. As for “moaning about it on the internet”, TSA also posts a lot of opinion pieces, which have a good following, and are often entertaining, amusing, or thought provoking. Indeed, I would be saddened were some of my favourite writers to stop having the occasional moan.

  9. A major concern for me, beyond the profiteering that online passes clearly represent, is the danger that we are moving towards a model where games are sold with a lot of content, even for the single player mode, locked out until a code is redeemed. Indeed, we have already seen this in the likes of Dirt 3.
    How long before that code is not included in the game at all and we are expected to pay an additional fee even to gain all the content in the standard, offline, game?

    • Yeah this would be a horrid move. If this happened I think I would get a new hobby. :(

  10. What worries me a little is the effect this will have on services like LoveFiLM – renting games, especially things which I wouldn’t usually buy, but would like to try out the multiplayer aspects, suddenly stops being an option.

    • EA had the online trial periods on their end of 2010 games… If I remember correctly, it was a 48-hour one time only pass that allowed you to do all the online stuff.

      This should be as standard. What better way to get people to buy a pass than to have a 2 day trial in there?

      • space marine 40k had the best way, play multi player to a certain level then if you liked it you could buy a pass if the game was second hand…more games should be like that if they include a pass with the new game.

      • @Dlaf42:

        Homefront had the same thing. You could reach level 5 and then had to buy a pass to rank up past that but technically you could play forever as a lowly level 5.

    • Indeed, I recently rented Resistance 3 but I couldn’t try the multiplayer.
      Thing is, I liked it but completed the campaign in the time I was renting and couldn’t try multiplayer. If I had, there is a good chance I’d have got really into it and ended up buying the game so they’ve missed a chance at a sale there.

    • Trials and demos are always the best bet.

Comments are now closed for this post.