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Sony should release online multiplayer from PS plus and make it free

Mr Hyde

Member
With Sony introducing new tiers to their PS plus subscription service, they should release online multiplayer from the paywall and make it free. It shouldn't be an exclusive feature or perk when subbing to PS plus, it should be available for everyone free of charge.

Now that Sony introduces new tiers, they have multiple compelling options for people paying for PS plus, in the form of cloud saving, streaming, game downloads, exclusive discounts and deals, demos and free games every month. People will pay for this and be happy. A majority of their fan base will still be subbed. But me, who only want to play some co-op multiplayer in Elden Ring/Souls or make a couple of runs in Returnal, it fucking sucks I need to shell out a lot of money every year for a service I barely use.

TLDR; It's fucking bullshit to keep online multiplayer behind a paywall.
 

kyliethicc

Member
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Infamy v1

Member
That's the majority of their gaming revenue right there, lmao. It's never going to happen. PSN was only free in the beginning because PSN was trash back then and extremely barebones. Also, PlayStation is Sony's biggest moneymaker so having them remove free guaranteed revenue is a pipedream.

Microsoft is more likely to do so given the heavy rumors, parity with mobile and PC, Game Pass getting more and more successful which could fill that void and that it wouldn't affect them financially bevause they're so rich. Even then, Microsoft isn't stupid enough to canx a free guaranteed revenue source.

TLDR: not happening.
 

JaksGhost

Member
With Sony introducing new tiers to their PS plus subscription service, they should release online multiplayer from the paywall and make it free. It shouldn't be an exclusive feature or perk when subbing to PS plus, it should be available for everyone free of charge.

Now that Sony introduces new tiers, they have multiple compelling options for people paying for PS plus, in the form of cloud saving, streaming, game downloads, exclusive discounts and deals, demos and free games every month. People will pay for this and be happy. A majority of their fan base will still be subbed. But me, who only want to play some co-op multiplayer in Elden Ring/Souls or make a couple of runs in Returnal, it fucking sucks I need to shell out a lot of money every year for a service I barely use.

TLDR; It's fucking bullshit to keep online multiplayer behind a paywall.
Well fuck, maybe we should get out our pitchforks for Microsoft and Nintendo too.
 

Quasicat

Member
Sony and Nintendo need to also do free cloud storage of save files. I could move save files to a thumb drive on the PS5 I suppose, but on Switch it’s not an option.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
They will have to if they ever want to grow the user base beyond the core console audience. To me the playstation ecosystem is single player only and I do not even consider playing multiplayer on it because of this.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
Remember when Microsoft said that these subscriptions where to maintain the servers you played games on back in the day when they introduced xbox live?

Yeah well since we all know that this is bullshit and they store your account data etc if you dont pay for plus/gamepass, I do think they should make multiplayer free... its free for free 2 play games anyway.
 
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NinjaBoiX

Member
Meh, the price is so inconsequential that it’s not worth stressing about. What is it, the price of a pint a month?

If that was a stretch for me then I’d probably sell my console anyway.
They should as should MS.
I only pay to play online don't care about the free games enough to subscribe.
Didn’t you just say in the PS Plus thread that you’d just stacked two years of Premium?
 

Hari Seldon

Member
I would like to see the business analysis of why milking your existing customers is more lucrative than acquiring more customers. Consoles are stuck trying to extract more and more money from a static audience, while Mobile and PC continue to grow.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
Meh, the price is so inconsequential that it’s not worth stressing about. What is it, the price of a pint a month?

If that was a stretch for me then I’d probably sell my console anyway.

Didn’t you just say in the PS Plus thread that you’d just stacked two years of Premium?
Plus is what I meant.
When I heard whispers of the new upcoming service I stacked up just in case.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I would like to see the business analysis of why milking your existing customers is more lucrative than acquiring more customers. Consoles are stuck trying to extract more and more money from a static audience, while Mobile and PC continue to grow.
There's got to be some kind of min/max threshold that shows it's better just to milk the customer base for money then go cheap getting more users.

It's like a sports team with hardly any fans. What they can do is sell tickets even cheaper or say admission is free hoping if they go from 10,000 paying fans to 50,000 cheap/free tickets at sold out stadiums the money made from parking, beer and food will outweigh the revenue made from 10,000 ticket paying fans (and their concessions).

Similarly, everyone has probably thought why the hell are beers and hot dogs so much? Why not reduce the price by 50% and people will buy more. I'm sure they will buy more, but is it enough to make back all the sales lost at regular price.
 
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At this point I wouldn't expect Sony to remove it even if MS removed theirs, it's the easies money in gaming, close to pure profit and no effort required (they shut servers down anyway when it suits them).

There should be a monument to Xbox 360 players for embracing paid online and pushing it as an advantage back in the day, they doomed us all (except PC players), once Sony got a taste of it there was no going back.

F2P at least was always free on PlayStation and it keep getting more popular for multiplayer games so there's your chance OP, once every popular multiplayer becomes F2P they might decide to stop charging to gain some PR points (or maybe they won't do it even then).
 
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Bo_Hazem

Banned
Can't see that happening. Anyone would do it (Sony, Nintendo, MS) would be out of desperation.
 
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With Sony introducing new tiers to their PS plus subscription service, they should release online multiplayer from the paywall and make it free. It shouldn't be an exclusive feature or perk when subbing to PS plus, it should be available for everyone free of charge.

Now that Sony introduces new tiers, they have multiple compelling options for people paying for PS plus, in the form of cloud saving, streaming, game downloads, exclusive discounts and deals, demos and free games every month. People will pay for this and be happy. A majority of their fan base will still be subbed. But me, who only want to play some co-op multiplayer in Elden Ring/Souls or make a couple of runs in Returnal, it fucking sucks I need to shell out a lot of money every year for a service I barely use.

TLDR; It's fucking bullshit to keep online multiplayer behind a paywall.

Sony did that during the PS3 gen and you all bitched and moaned that PSN was not as good quality as a paid service. So now you get what you asked for.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
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I was told online shouldn't be free like PC because it prevent cheaters and maintain servers and shits. In fact Sony should increase the price of PS Plus
 

yurinka

Member
At this point I wouldn't expect Sony to remove it even if MS removed theirs
Yes. I assume server costs of a platform with over 100 MAU must be huge and I understand why they charge for it, but also assume that both companies could afford to offer it for free because they make a lot of money.

In any case, I assume that since Sony is the market leader, MS would be the first one who could offer it for free to try to compete against Sony. And if Sony sees it helped MS to gain market share tthen following it some time later Sony would go back to having online MP for free.

I don't see Sony being the first console maker who would put online mp for free.
 
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graywolf323

Gold Member
Sony did that during the PS3 gen and you all bitched and moaned that PSN was not as good quality as a paid service. So now you get what you asked for.
pretty much, it was all about how you got what you paid for with XBLG and both Sony & Nintendo have now followed suit because it‘s a massive income source (same reason why instead of getting rid of XBLG like rumored, MS tried to double the price)
 
Yes. I assume server costs of a platform with over 100 MAU must be huge and I understand why they charge for it, but also assume that both companies could afford to offer it for free because they make a lot of money.

In any case, I assume that since Sony is the market leader, MS would be the first one who could offer it for free to try to compete against Sony. And if Sony sees it helped MS to gain market share tthen following it some time later Sony would go back to having online MP for free.

I don't see Sony being the first console maker who would put online mp for free.
Server cost... you really fell for it. Who is paying the server costs on PC? A place where games tend to cost less.

They need the servers running to sell games and keep their entire business alive, people already paid for all of it countless times already (yet they'll still shut games down at the first opportunity).

Paid online is just a cash grab there is no justification for it, except that they can get away with it.

MS wasn't market leader when they came up with it, I doubt that Sony will let go of it easily. It's also a massive risk to MS since it's the main thing about Gamepass ultimate and the only thing still keeping Gold alive (lets not forget that MS tries recently to increase the price for it).
 
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ViolentP

Member
Too strong a precedence has been set for consoles. At this point, they'd have to say "You know what? We made enough money. Let them go."
 

cormack12

Gold Member
I would like to see the business analysis of why milking your existing customers is more lucrative than acquiring more customers. Consoles are stuck trying to extract more and more money from a static audience, while Mobile and PC continue to grow.
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It's a closed ecosystem. Just like developers have to pay to certify their patches etc.

You want to live in the ecosystem it costs a premium. If you use the service rarely why are you paying a full year as well for three games? Just get a 3 month sub instead?
 
I'd love to go back to the PS3 style of online, but I can't really see it.

It was one of the big reasons why I actually moved from 360.
 

John Wick

Member
When the first console maker did it, people said it was a good thing for everyone....
Exactly! It's conveniently forgotten now that MS started all this and putting F2P and other free services behind a paywall.
Xbox users used to boast how great the online service was. I don't mind paying as long as Sony keep on improving the online experience. The gap between PS3 online and PS4 is huge.
 
Meh, the price is so inconsequential that it’s not worth stressing about. What is it, the price of a pint a month?

If that was a stretch for me then I’d probably sell my console anyway.
This is the mindset that has these companies doing this. You're spending more of your money than you realize - and on stuff you're often not using at a for months at a time

PS+ Premium, GamePass Ultimate, Nintendo Switch Online. All so cheap, they're basically inconsequential.

Expect that's $350 a year. Over the seven-plus year life cycle, $2,450. And, if you're luke me, you will still end up buying as many games as before, as the stuff you really want to play at a particular time isn't on these services at that time, or not at all.

Then, you do the same for your television shows or movies where the number of services you need just continues to grow. Same with music. Even books.

Your monthly entertainment bill is suddenly ridiculous, yet you still end up needing to buy stuff full price, while at least a few of the stuff you're paying for each month goes completely unused.
 
The biggest favor MS and Xbox did for Sony was show them that people were willing to pay to play online. There is NO WAY Sony makes that free again, they make money hand over fist because they charge for online play, it would be an idiotic move from a business perspective.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
While i'm against paying for online, Plus isn't that bad of a deal. You could sometimes grab a voucher for 40 bucks, and if one game a year on there suits your needs you've essentially earned it back. Last year I wanted Control UE for example, I would've bought it if it wasn't on Plus. Oddworld being there was also pretty cool, since I anticipated that game (didn't turn out to be as great as I hoped, still liked it).
 

Rayderism

Member
I figure if they made online free, most people would drop PS+. It's the main reason most people bother with it in the first place.
 
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