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Sony is requiring devs to offer timed game trials for PS+ Premium subscribers for games that cost more than $34 (Update: Wholesale Pricing)

Topher

Gold Member
Revenue share has fuck all to do with being pro-consumer.

Wait....I don't get a cut?

Angry No Way GIF
 

FrankWza

Member
Because Sony continues to ‘rake it in’ and directly profit, regardless if there’s no converted sale I.e. refunds do not make anyone money, mandatory trials still make Sony money.
Sony is using their resources to create the demo. How are they “raking it in”? People don’t work for free
 
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Great point in the bolded. I also think "secretly" this is motivation for Sony to get more gamers to buy games digitally too. I'm not sure how publishers will feel about the scenario that you just brought up. I'd like to know (we will NEVER know), how many gamers would play the digital game trial and then buy the game physically.

It has to be less than 10% right?

Honestly wouldn't know, myself. Maybe R reksveks or Heisenberg007 Heisenberg007 would have that type of data on them. I'd have to scavenge through a ton of links to maybe find it and time as short 😁.

Myself personally, I would probably take that option but only because my internet has a data cap and I wouldn't want to risk spilling over that cap on large game downloads (the bandwidth itself isn't an issue tho neither is connection (now) thanks to them coming out to repair the node in the area....love taking it directly up to the supervisor cuts past the BS).

I really don't think Sony are or will be providing incentive to publishers to post trials; I think they will just use their position as market leader and influence. I mean for a company that charges publishers for enabling crossplay, I really don't see them parting away with ith money.

Almost tempted to think this is the case, at least for now, and I'm not exactly sure how well it would hold out in the longer term. Technically speaking, Sony has enjoyed a large marketshare advantage over Microsoft, and while Nintendo tends to do as well if not better than Sony in total units sold, they are also in a much different segment and not directly comparable.

But I also can't ignore that, at least so far this year, MS's been getting more Series systems out there than Sony has PS5s. Those are facts, and due to that whatever unit sales gap there was earlier between the two has been shrinking, however gradually or by any whatever amount. If that for whatever reason, by whatever means, continues, then Sony may not be able to leverage that marketshare advantage on its own. They would need to provide some type of financial incentive as well.

So are we on board for a win for consumers or nah?

Yeah in totality this is a net benefit for players mainly those on PS+ Premium. But I do understand some of the concerns, too. Also it's kind of wild to consider we might be finding out about this ahead of 3P partners!

That's why I find this interesting. I wonder if anyone complains enough or stands up to Playstation here. I agree they do have a choice, but it is a choice that is being forced onto them and not one that they would like to make.

I am off to play Road 96 anyways.

It would be damning if a publisher like Take Two, EA or Ubisoft came out against it. But that likely won't happen...unless one of them (cough, Ubisoft) might just happen to be acquired by a certain other platform holder.

Because coming out publicly against it would likely erode some business relations between Sony and that particular publisher. They could even improve the terms for other 3P partners and shut out the one who comes out against it critically, partially out of spite. But before any of that, I think the idea itself needs to be given a fair chance to see how it works out, and there are probably other details both public-facing and privately behind-the-scenes we aren't even privy of which could really get 3P partners incentivized to be onboard.

First off I don't see how this will be for more games when there is a price limit near $60. Secondly Game pass is a paid service that gets you access to complete games without a 2 hour time limit. Third Game pass is completely voluntary and devs are compensated for being on the service. I don't think paid trials and Game pass are the same thing at all.

How do we know 3P partners are not being compensated for providing the trails? There are probably more details to this than have been mentioned so far, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a financial incentive and the easiest would be to just reduce the 30% cut by 5% or 10% for the first 500K - 1 million units sold.

Which, since these are mainly for AAA games anyway, gives a good incentive for 3P publishers and good buffer for Sony on the money side, since almost all AAA games do at least 2 million copies these days, if not WAY more than that.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Well at least the devs and publishers can look at the used game market and say ‘well we were involved with the initial transaction’.

This just appears to be immensely one-sided at the moment.

Fear for any slow-burn/high exposé titles that require some investment in time to reach the gameplay hook. Plenty of JRPG’s take a while to ‘get going’

So you think publishers like the used game market, more than this? Are you people insane?!
 

Menzies

Banned
So you think publishers like the used game market, more than this? Are you people insane?!
I speak for myself. If I were in their shoes I would have problems with;

1. Sony forcing me to offer this.
2. Sony making money by gate-keeping this behind their pay wall.
3. Sony not sharing any of their subscription fee.

If this is so win-win they would have offered this of their own volition.
 
Playstation continues to be the worst gaming platform for both consumer and developers.
But it's a good platform for Sony shareholders

This literally does nothing positive for discussion.

Oh I get, Gamepass makes people buy more games because they can play the entire game, but PS+ makes people buy less games because they only get to play a 2h trial. Makes sense.

The logic simply doesn't add up 🤔...

To me there are very few drawbacks to a 2 hour time trials. Although some people said above it's minimum 2 hr up to 6 hours. Didn't know that. I must had missed reading a tweet or article say 6 hr max.

It should available to everyone for these reasons. But in it's current state behind a premium tier it still applies.

Pro
- Gamers get to test a game before buying
- Gamers are testing the final version (devs cant complain that gamers are only playing an old beta build)
- Dev doesnt have to spend time or money making a demo, but still have the option to
- It's a limited time trial. Not forever active demos like the 360/PS3 days
- Limited to higher budget/priced games. So indie maker launching a $15 game that can be beat in an hour doesn't apply here
- Dev has to do it within 3 months of launch. Games are a front loaded industry. Even with day one reviews and YT videos, gamers dont wait anyway
- IMO, the long run is devs will make better high budget games
- Sales increase as gamers test out games because the game is good or it's a game with zero marketing, but now there's their opportunity to try it

Con
- Eats up tons of bandwidth as gamers download games and dont convert to buying
- Devs making shit or short games are fearful gamers wont like it and avoid buying. So their buyer beware sales tactic is less effective
- Sales decrease due to reasons like it's a shit game, or cheapskates never buying games again as they milk it only playing trials forever

This is a pretty good, comprehensive summary.

That’s spinning a selective perspective.

The product hasn’t been released and we don’t have survey samples to validate how many users are subscribed just for this feature.

On the information we have it just seems unethical at best for Sony to directly profit from this.

Well, MS directly profited from netting Outriders for GP last year while PeopleCanFly basically not only got none of that money, but missed sales targets so they lost out on royalties, too. Can that be called unethical on MS's part?

Plus the only way Sony's benefitting from this is in getting more PS+ Premium subscribers...and we still don't know in what way 3P partners are (hopefully) being financially compensated for the trails.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Sony is using their resources to create the demo. How are they “raking it in”? People don’t work for free

I seriously doubt they will do anything but build some 2 hour DRM that applies to all games. Not like Sony is going to "build" demos, that would be ridiculous. For one, it's incredibly unlikely Sony ever sees any source code for any game that isn't yours. You submit signed builds, not code, to Sony.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The publishers can do that if they choose to. Blame the publishers.


But the publishers don't have a choice in the matter with this new deal tho.

Even if Sony are doing all the work, supposedly there is no profit sharing based on the leaked info, so as someone pointed on the last page, Sony are monetizing on someone else's work.

Of course there's something to react to. The fact that trials are tied to the most expensive PS+ tier. A fact which you are now only concerned about in this thread for some reason

You're just making a mountain out of a molehill now. Literally not one of the active posters in this topic made any noteworthy point about the trials in the last topic.

There was no info to make any point to in the first place. Expecting the level of discussion to be the same now and back then is a fools errand.
 
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You're just making a mountain out of a molehill now. Literally not one of the active posters in this topic made any noteworthy point about the trials in the last topic.

There was no info to make any point to in the first place. Expecting the level of discussion to be the same now and back then is a fools errand.

This is what happens every time you respond to me without actually reading. Again. You do it everytime
 

Menzies

Banned
Well, MS directly profited from netting Outriders for GP last year while PeopleCanFly basically not only got none of that money, but missed sales targets so they lost out on royalties, too. Can that be called unethical on MS's part?

Plus the only way Sony's benefitting from this is in getting more PS+ Premium subscribers...and we still don't know in what way 3P partners are (hopefully) being financially compensated for the trails.
I don’t know the specifics of the Outriders deal with GamePass, except for just that, it was a 2-party opt-in negotiated deal.

Not a gun to the head like this.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I speak for myself. If I were in their shoes I would have problems with;

1. Sony forcing me to offer this.
2. Sony making money by gate-keeping this behind their pay wall.
3. Sony not sharing any of their subscription fee.

If this is so win-win they would have offered this of their own volition.

Do you know if the bolded is true?
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives

So reading that article I noticed this.....

Combined, Sony is hoping it’s enough to convince players to pay up to $18 a month.

Where is this $18 a month thing coming from? Is this some Euro pricing or something? I saw $10 a month if you buy the year package. Or is he not going to reference that this is the price for most people?




And then the author says this.
And it doesn’t appear that Sony is offering any extra compensation to developers in exchange for providing the new perk.

What does he mean by "it doesn't appear"? According to who? Who did he call or email? He doesn't say. Weird. It's okay to allow things to play out before just saying things.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
So reading that article I noticed this.....



Where is this $18 a month thing coming from? Is this some Euro pricing or something? I saw $10 a month if you buy the year package. Or is he not going to reference that this is the price for most people?




And then the author says this.


What does he mean by "it doesn't appear"? According to who? Who did he call or email? He doesn't say. Weird. It's okay to allow things to play out before just saying things.
That’s modern journalism for ya. Just use your own feelings, setting a narrative, without any facts.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
What does he mean by "it doesn't appear"? According to who? Who did he call or email? He doesn't say. Weird. It's okay to allow things to play out before just saying things.


All this news is coming from vague unconfirmed sources, so it's weird to take half the things at face value and ask the other half to allow things to play.

All of this falls in the 'allow things to play' category right now.
 

Corndog

Banned
It's try before you buy.

It's an additional perk to a premium subscription, not the only perk which people seem to be neglecting.

Nothing has been removed just gained.
For money. Did Xbox charge for demos when they required them for indies? Like I said earlier, offer them for free and then it’s a positive. Heck, at least do it as well as EA.
 

Corndog

Banned
So just console warriors? That makes these convos boring though. I should be having real conversations. I think I'm going to be out on this talk for now, if all we are doing is talking to warriors.
So only console warriors thinks it’s good or bad to pay for demos? This site has plenty, but saying paid demos is bad shouldn’t automatically lump you into one group.

I see it as some good, some bad. Having demos is good. Having to pay for them is bad.
 

Phil and Ybarra while still at Xbox actually gamed with clowns like Timdog (Only one I know for a fact)

Was playing PUBG with Phil and Mike and Timdog wanted in and they let him play though actually while gaming he was a decent guy

Might have been COD Blackout it was one of the BRs
 
I wouldnt be surprised if there was zero compensation.

Why would they?

I dont know the history. Did MS or Sony pay devs for 360/PS3 demos and trials even though those cost devs time and money to make?

If I was Sony, I'd spin it as a zero compensation feature as they are the ones doing the work with the bandwidth and timer. It's free advertising for devs. And by the looks of it, it doesn't even have to be a day one trial. It can be a 3 month down the road trial so launch day sales will be saved. It's not like day one reviews or YT videos seem to affect sales poorly for popular shit games. And this feature is only for select gamers who pay for the prem plan.

Main reason I'd fear this feature if I was a dev is if I was going to release a shitty and/or ultra short game.
I have no idea if developers were compensated for their demos on the 360 but there is a reason that policy ended. I wouldn't be surprised if developer push back was a big part in that policy changing. A trial 3 months later doesn't seem like something gamers should be paying for. Poor sales generally are because the the game's aren't great and trial won't change that.

How do we know 3P partners are not being compensated for providing the trails? There are probably more details to this than have been mentioned so far, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a financial incentive and the easiest would be to just reduce the 30% cut by 5% or 10% for the first 500K - 1 million units sold.

Which, since these are mainly for AAA games anyway, gives a good incentive for 3P publishers and good buffer for Sony on the money side, since almost all AAA games do at least 2 million copies these days, if not WAY more than that.
I would certainly hope so. Sony SHOULD be compensating devs for a policy they can't opt out of. We can all tell how serious Sony is if they put their first party game trials up day 1.

It's their policy and they should lead by example. They also wouldn't have to worry about losing sales because their games usually can't be beaten in 2 hours and the quality is implied. Perhaps it will be an inspiration to all the devs who will have to provide a trial as well.
 

yurinka

Member
at least so far this year, MS's been getting more Series systems out there than Sony has PS5s. Those are facts
Are you sure? Please tell me how many units did PS5 and Xbox sold worldwide this year.

, and due to that whatever unit sales gap there was earlier between the two has been shrinking, however gradually or by any whatever amount. If that for whatever reason, by whatever means, continues, then Sony may not be able to leverage that marketshare advantage on its own. They would need to provide some type of financial incentive as well.
I think you forgot that Sony has around 80-90M PS4 still active monthly, so buying games, paying game subs and so on. And his is why they make more money than MS.

It would be damning if a publisher like Take Two, EA or Ubisoft came out against it. But that likely won't happen...unless one of them (cough, Ubisoft) might just happen to be acquired by a certain other platform holder.
Why should they be against it? And well, ask a publisher if they prefer to continue focusing on selling games and have trials for premium games or to move to an strategy where they would put all their AAA games day one on GP. I bet all of them will prefer the demos.


I would certainly hope so. Sony SHOULD be compensating devs for a policy they can't opt out of. We can all tell how serious Sony is if they put their first party game trials up day 1.

It's their policy and they should lead by example. They also wouldn't have to worry about losing sales because their games usually can't be beaten in 2 hours and the quality is implied. Perhaps it will be an inspiration to all the devs who will have to provide a trial as well.
How do we know 3P partners are not being compensated for providing the trails? There are probably more details to this than have been mentioned so far, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a financial incentive and the easiest would be to just reduce the 30% cut by 5% or 10% for the first 500K - 1 million units sold.
Pretty likely they will be incentivated with getting the 70% revenue share of the extra game copies, DLC, MTX and season passes sold to high spender users thanks to these demos.

EA is a data driven company so if they keep having these trials behind the subscription is because it works for them. If it works for them why should it be bad for the other publishers? And if it's good for them and doesn't require them any extra cost why should Sony compensate them?
 
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Calverz

Member
Explain how this is good?
When this was originally announced, I believed it to be good for consumers in general. Because I believe demos should come back. I mean imagine if there was a demo for cyberpunk? Demos are good for us consumers.

However I hve since learned that it will be actually be the psn store creating the 2 hour demos which leaves me with mixed feelings on this.

In no way was I stating this was good value for their subscription service.
 

Edgelord79

Gold Member
How not to create a Game Pass competitor in 1 easy step by Jim Ryan:
It’s not really a competitor to that service. It’s an offering on the PlayStation ecosystem only.

If they were both on the same system, then it would be a competitor. Maybe one day they will be.
 
Elaborate
I don't know if publishers are ready to yield so much control over their product to a 3rd party. I remember when Nvidia started its Geforce Now thing and then had to delete hundreds of games from its service because the publishers didn't want their games there. And these were games that have been paid for by customers. So I'm looking forward to seeing how publishers react to Sony's move.
 

Shmunter

Member
I don't know if publishers are ready to yield so much control over their product to a 3rd party. I remember when Nvidia started its Geforce Now thing and then had to delete hundreds of games from its service because the publishers didn't want their games there. And these were games that have been paid for by customers. So I'm looking forward to seeing how publishers react to Sony's move.
Yes, but this is wielding their power for the good of the customer. Needs support not slander no
 

ZywyPL

Banned
People are saying there is no value in effectively a try before you buy? :messenger_neutral:

You know, it's up to the publisher/dev to convince me to their product, and that's vehat demos were all about, and here it's you who has to pay to maybe get convinced into buying bthe game... It's like paying for a test drive when looking for a new car, or paying a rent when you eant to look at the house you're interested in. This is simply not the way.

But nevertheless it all makes sense IMO, Sony needs something strong to differentiate 2nd and 3rd PS+ tiers and this is a really neat feature to convince people to pay a bit extra for it.

But like I said previously, that's something that shouldn't be put behind a paywall, never was, I personally feel this is a second XBL situation which made people OK with paying for online, and I have absolutely no doubts that when publishers notice people don't mind paid demos they'll abuse it even harder that we can even imagine, they always do.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Good luck to Arrogant Sony, this has the potential to spectacularly backfire.
I don't know if publishers are ready to yield so much control over their product to a 3rd party. I remember when Nvidia started its Geforce Now thing and then had to delete hundreds of games from its service because the publishers didn't want their games there. And these were games that have been paid for by customers. So I'm looking forward to seeing how publishers react to Sony's move.
So when Xbox offers a 14-day refund policy for digital games that also applies to non-XGS developers and publishers, publishers are ready to yield that much control over their product to a 3rd party (Xbox)? When do you expect that Xbox policy to spectacularly backfire? 🤔

(For the record, I appreciate and like Xbox's refund policy because it is pro-consumer and I wish Sony had something similar).
 

solidus12

Member
Seems like whatever they do, PlayStation are subjected to criticism.

Everything is scrutinized and journalists and other influencers are upset. Game trials were a thing back on the PS3 days with PS Plus.

What’s up with all the criticism and outrage; we don’t see that stuff happening with Nintendo and Xbox.
 
So when Xbox offers a 14-day refund policy for digital games that also applies to non-XGS developers and publishers, publishers are ready to yield that much control over their product to a 3rd party (Xbox)? When do you expect that Xbox policy to spectacularly backfire? 🤔

(For the record, I appreciate and like Xbox's refund policy because it is pro-consumer and I wish Sony had something similar).
Refunds are a different matter imo, there you have to buy the game first and you also can't abuse the refund policy much, at least with Steam I know that people who abuse it get banned from being able to refund games.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Refunds are a different matter imo, there you have to buy the game first and you also can't abuse the refund policy much, at least with Steam I know that people who abuse it get banned from being able to refund games.
That's different to you, but it's not really different objectively. The end-result is objectively the same -- gamers are playing roughly 2 hours of the game for free, and the console manufacturer (Xbox/PS) are forcing this on devs, and devs have no say in it.

If anything, the refund policy can be even more damaging to developers because the person who has refunded the game is less likely to buy the game again. OTOH, the person who has just finished playing the 2-hour demo might be, comparatively speaking, more likely to buy the game.

Either way, your objection was that the publishers are not ready to yield that much control to a third-party console manufacturer and because of that it can spectacularly backfire for Sony. My question is why Xbox imposing a refund policy that can be easily abused and be detrimental to developers and studios haven't spectacularly backfired yet? And what makes you think this will?
 
That's different to you, but it's not really different objectively. The end-result is objectively the same -- gamers are playing roughly 2 hours of the game for free, and the console manufacturer (Xbox/PS) are forcing this on devs, and devs have no say in it.

If anything, the refund policy can be even more damaging to developers because the person who has refunded the game is less likely to buy the game again. OTOH, the person who has just finished playing the 2-hour demo might be, comparatively speaking, more likely to buy the game.

Either way, your objection was that the publishers are not ready to yield that much control to a third-party console manufacturer and because of that it can spectacularly backfire for Sony. My question is why Xbox imposing a refund policy that can be easily abused and be detrimental to developers and studios haven't spectacularly backfired yet? And what makes you think this will?
The refund policy can't be abused, as stated above. That's why it's also not usable as a way to get free demos. It's a completely different thing.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
The refund policy can't be abused, as stated above. That's why it's also not usable as a way to get free demos. It's a completely different thing.
Now you're just making up things, aren't you? Why can't it be abused. Of course, it can be abused.

Take a look at the official Xbox refund policy page.

stAqdH3.jpg


And here is how people have been abusing it.

fjcDzJy.jpg
dyH7YS1.jpg


There you go. There is literally evidence of how some people have abused this policy in the past and continue to do so. Because of course this policy can be abused.

Now, back to our question: when do you think it'll "spectacularly backfire" for Xbox? And if it still hasn't, and if you think it won't, why do you think it'll for Sony?
 
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