Sony: Market Conditions Push Up Prices

You've got to be kidding. Nobody is "exploiting" you.

Exploitation is when poor job seekers from India are lured to Qatar and other Arab nations, have their passports taken from them, and are forced to work after signing illegal contracts under inhumane conditions. Price gouging on basic food staples and predatory lending to impoverished, inner city families is exploitation.

A company raising the price of a videogame service is not exploitation. It's a hobby to do in your free time in no way necessary for survival or even your well-being. I'm sure companies that make plastic airplane models also increase their prices from time to time. I guess that's "exploitation" as well? You need to re-calibrate your opinion of market realities in a capitalist system or life is going to be really unpleasant.

I'm not "defending" the practice. It's a reality not subject to my opinion of it. If you think it's too expensive, fine, that's your right. Don't pay for it. If the majority of other gamers think similarly, Sony will be forced to lower prices. Products and services are worth what someone else is willing to pay for them.

Evil corporations trying to make money is the only reason we have videogames in the first place. Or personal computers. Or the internet. Or this forum we are talking on right now. Companies raise prices for lots of reasons: inflation, increasing costs, lower profits in other sectors, etc. Despite development costs skyrocketing in recent years, I can buy a brand new game in 2015 for less money than when I owned a Sega Genesis. I can buy a 48'' Sony LED 1080p TV in 2015 for a third of the price that a 35'' Sony SDTV cost 15 years ago, BEFORE adjusting for inflation. Sony, who we are currently complaining about, has come precariously close to bankruptcy in the past decade. If that happens, people won't even have the option of paying for their gaming service.

Drop this asinine victim complex. Nobody is being "exploited".

Sony has had nothing but problems with their online since the PS4 launched.. and immediately following yet another service outage, they increase the price of their 1/3 month packages. This gen is slowly but surely forcing me into the Hermit fold.

I llive in the US so I don't care :)

Glad I bought 10 years for $20 each on Black Friday a few years back.

What cracks me up is all the hypocrisy in this thread. You idiots bashing Sony for raising the prices are the same people criticizing them for losing money for all those years. Well you know how you make money? Force people in 1 year subscriptions when you already have the market cornered.

You all trashed them for years when they had a powerful console for its time( the PS3) and sold it for a loss. So they built a much cheaper console it sold like hotcakes and now there entire company posted the largest profit it's posted in 7 years. Profits for a company usually doesn't translate to anything positive for the consumer but most you fools didn't seem to realize that. So you criticize Sony for taking risks with expensive consoles and free online? Well maybe you were right but don't criticize them when there finally making money.

It is not even surprising that Sony fans would defend paying more to Sony.

@CanYouDiglt: Yet it was Microsoft who are the reason we pay for online now and you xbox nut huggers who were happy to pay maybe if you had shown some balls instead of bowing down we may not have had to pay to play multiplayer. So stop pointing your hypocritical finger when you and your xbox buddies are guilty of the exact same thing. I am not defending Sony I don't give a damn about them but some of the hypocrisy I've seen in SW is ridiculous.

Not defeding it. Thats pretty sucky.

That said....it makes it even cheaper to buy a years sub and that is still cheaper than a year sub for LIVE.

It's $50 a year.....surely anyone bitching here can come up with $50 within a years time.

TC said it all. Nothing to add.

the are increasing the 3 month trail perios (who buys that anyways?) only for EU....

its just the 3 months and in EU.

wHO gives a ****?

Its not as bad as when M$ increase the price for XBL all together.

Oh you puppets never learn, they're increasing the price of the one month and three month subscriptions to make them off-putting to most who buy them and essentially force them into paying more and buying a one year subscription as they'll see better value in that.

This is rudimentary marketing and extreme anti-consumerism to generate more money.

@nyadc: +1

Oh i know why they will hike the price..... hahahaaha isn't it obvious.? And is not controlling 70% of the EU Market the reason for 10 point guess what the reason is...lol

Oh my this post wow...Total Perfection this is like a tomahawk missile hitting the target right in the middle.

Devastating...

Not really... Not at all actually... How do you think an online infrastructure and a backend network functions? How do you think a console can be continually updated and changed via software? Do you think that hosting is magic? Do think that this all works because we want to will it into existence? No, it works because there are server farms hosting these games online, people creating content and maintaining these systems, hosting downloadable content and games, all of this has to be paid for by someone...

Why would the platform creators pay for this and do work for free? They're not making use of these things, the community is, and as a result the community has to pay for it to continue existing. This isn't rocket science, this isn't a PC platform where developers float online costs due to a continued revenue stream or allow the community to supply its own servers. It's a service being provided to the community, a service that has massive costs associated with it which must be paid for.

You people are so ridiculously ignorant, this is brazen stupidity and a total lack of understanding of how the world works, nothing is free...

Lol look at the hysterical lemmings flooding this thread.

MS or any other company never did this in the past...oh wait...

Still not good for consumers but lemmings should be the last to call sony out on this.

70% of Eastern market.

Good gravy I didn't know SONY was on the BIG of ROLL.

Goodness gracious guys, SONY might keep current gen 8 console leader title.

We know MS wouldn't do anything like this and try to make a console to change the industry on their own, tell you what you can or cant do with your purchases or make you do something silly like check in with them everyday.,

Oh wait..

Im aware of that, and that is obvious. (Generate more money, leading people to get the full year service)

But why do I give a ****, this is NOT a big deal no matter how much people here exaggerate.

You people forget that M$ raised the price of XBL last gen from $50 to $60 for no reason or benefit. (The new benefits of XBL started when X1 came along).

Lol at the stupid cows who actually think this is defendable.

Lol even more at the ones who are trying to blame MS for Sony requiring PS+ to play online.

What a dumb statement with the not bowing down and whatnot. Most Xbox fans were never happy to pay but the usual response was at least we got the better service out of it, which we Xbox fans still have the better online service. The only real defense from Xbox fans was you get what you pay for and since PSN was free it was crap. Sony is charging now and still PSN is down all the damn time. They are not only charging now but raising the price on such a subpar service. PS4 has been out around a year and a half and they are already increasing the price on PSN.

So why not take your own advice and as a Sony fan why don't you not bow down refusing to pay until Sony is free again or at the very least a better service. Or let me guess you would then realize how dumb that is.

The usual suspects are suspiciously missing from this thread

LOL

Only time bought a full year subscription was for the 360 a few years back. I didn't play as much as i would like due to being busy and figured it was a waste of money (for me). I only buy month to month.

Lets see MS charged from 2002 to 2010 $50 dollars for P2P gaming the only servers they had were for matchmaking and stats keep you don't need azure or even close to do that,now Azure is other thing is a great investment so those $60 can be some how justify alone side games with gold.

P2P gaming doesn't require all that much since you are using your own connection and your own console to host the game,Now that we clear that let me educate you on this.

How do you think that sony was able to run Resistance with 20 vs 20 players online and smooth.?

How do you think Resistance 2 support 60 players at once,or 8 players co-op you do know no xbox or xbox 360 game had 8 players co-op right.? It wasn't until the xbox one and sun set over drive that MS got one.

Sony had more servers dedicated to games than MS many of the PS3 big games on the beginning ran on servers,hell Socom on PS2 ran on dedicated servers and was free to play online,gaming online on PS3 was also free and had more dedicated servers than MS on its games.

Not only that but sony supported cross platform play with PC something MS didn't with the 360,and even supported mods,had Home which ran on servers and was free as well where you could play games and launch games from it.

All freeee... It was MS constant charging what justify for sony to charge for online play period,why do you think sites say nothing when sony started charging.? How could they when many didn't complain about xbox live.

MS charged for live because on 2002 it was a way to get back something and not loss everything,just like they charged people if you wanted to see movies as well and had to pay for a remote to unlock it.

So yeah his post was total perfection and he hit the mark clearly all lemmings here defended xbox live,from those who use to justify it by saying party chat to those who didn't want to press a damn button to sync something.

P2P doesn't require even close to the cost of running all in dedicated servers or something like azure.

Microsoft Explains Why Its Xbox Live Price Hike Is Good, And Good For You.

Now in 2002, it was strictly multiplayer gaming. Now we get those Call of Duty map packs before anybody else does. We’ve got Gears and Halo, of course, as exclusives. We continue to get exclusives on the service as well. And we’ve gone from 400,000 members in our first year to 25 million.

http://consumerist.com/2010/11/03/microsoft-explains-why-its-xbox-live-price-hike-is-good-and-good-for-you/

As easy to defend as this...hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

How fast they forget the good old days when it was MS only charging and hiking the price so they could give the extra $10 to activision and get those map packs 2 months before any one else,so not only were you payed for the maps you also payed for the exclusivity.

Well now sony has that exclusivity so yeah that is probably the reason for the price hike,alto they didn't raise the 1 year subscription,unlike MS which hiked all prices on all packages.

Bullsh**.

I argued lemmings to the end not only they defend xbox live using Party chat as excuse,also using Netflix, or what ever lame excuse they could find.

Arguments like you pay for online to your ISP to justify it was the order of the day,specially from Blackace,arguments like you pay for electricity Hahahahaahaaaaaaaaaa man those were the good old days,not only they defend xbox live but they also defend the price hike from $50 to $60 in 2010,you were here already so either you have short term memory problems or you are playing dumb.

PSN is not down all the and live is also down to.

Oh please MS charged people for P2P for 11 years,it wasn't until azure on 2013 that things changed and still many games are P2P and don't use azure as using azure is not mandatory.

You defend it xbox live on xbox 360 so stop your damage control dude,fact is live hiked the price first and you people defend that.

@tormentos: You're reaching dude. I give you credit for trying though.

XBL is a superior service, that SOMEWHAT justifies the price. Am I happy about having to pay for it? No, but I do because I understand that having all those server farms out there isn't free.

Sony offers a subpar service compared to MS. This isn't really debatable. From downtime to security, Sony's service just doesn't hold up. With the PS4, Sony began requiring PS+ in order to game online. The money raised from this was supposed to go towards improving their online server infrastructure, but years later, and they're still renting almost all of their servers. Their service is actually worse now than it was when it was free. Lol

Sony is merely milking their userbase, and you're just playing along with it.

Hahahahahahahahaaha. Sad.

@babyjoker1221: Except Xbox isn't a superior service. It went down twice last month while PSN had no problems at all. It's something Xbots keep telling themselves as victories of any kind seem to elude them.

Every major title runs on third party servers and there's virtually no difference between them. The difference between Sony and MS is Sony actually threw in games with your subscription which is something MS did later since they wanted to charge you full price just to play online! :D

@AM-Gamer: XBL went down a couple of times as W10 rolled out. It was to be expected. I have used both services for years, and it isn't even close. PSN has faaar more downtime than XBL.

Tell yourself whatever you have to if it makes you feel better though.

It's similar to how movie theaters charge $4 for a small popcorn, $4.25 for a medium popcorn and $4.50 for a tub.

Let's say that, for whatever reason, it was absolutely necessary for someone to get a popcorn to fully enjoy the movie, (like getting PSN to enjoy PS4 multiplayer games) which one would YOU buy.

The one that's $4.50, it's an age old marketing strategy and it works.

Prices on paid services like that go up all the time inline with inflation, 8 years ago my standard payment for my Virgin package was 85 quid a month its now 135 quid a month.

the truth is that SONY's operating costs are increasing, you think there electricity, Gas, phone and internet bills don't go up in line with inflation or greater?

Things increase in Price, it's nothing new.

You are like the opposite of Showjenga

Yep

'Ken Kutaragi had this to say about Sony's goal for the PS3: "for consumers to think to themselves 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else."

http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/06/sony-wants-you-to-earn-that-playstation-3/

A more accurate and Respectable analysis then the OP's

That was my first thought.

They're matching the price MS already charges. Nice own goal.

With the euro in decline, Sony isn't targeting a major windfall here. They'll be lucky to earn as much per sub as they did a year ago. Even that's unlikely since they are keeping the one year sub flat, and who goes for 1-3 month subs?

Nope, read it again.

1) "you should always work hard for your Sony products."

2) "Sony's goal for the PS3: "for consumers to think to themselves 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else."

The words in number one don't match the words in number two. Furthermore, they mean two very different things. The first means you should work hard to earn our products, the second means we want to create something so great, you will want it no matter what. Not the same sentences, not the same meanings.

If what you claim was true, then you should be banned from this site. Not that you spelled out the threats, bigotry and hatred directly, but you typed the letters that could be rearranged into such things. So should we hold you accountable for that?

Sony you greedy fucks. Looks like I'll be playing on my ps4 even less. I miss the free online days...

What exactly were you paying for? you didn't have the perks you have now with xbl. Maybe some were against paying they were the smart ones but at the end of the day you paid full price for a game you should not be charged extra to access multiplayer you already paid for it when you bought the game.

I pay for psn for perks you pay xbl for free games, discounts, access to betas it annoys me that multiplayer is tied to that. I have never had issues with psn such as playing online better now because I have better internet. Aside from maintenance and the ddos attack that affected MS also no problems but psn isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I don't agree with raising the price I think it gives a bad impression but companies have their reasons the world of economics is too much for me.

I am not a Sony fan I am a gamer I don't have any allegiance to any company. I do have preferences you could call me a PlayStation fan but you would have to call me a fan of x360, sega megadrive, nes, snes, n64, gameboy and PC. Lol sony fan my ass. If you prefer xbox that's fine I'm the last person to criticize anyone for their choice but don't shill for the company defend the product this is system wars since when did it become company wars. I don't want to end this on bad note so have a nice day.

This is true...

@babyjoker1221: I don't need to its a fact. I own a PS4 and XB1 and there is virtually no difference in the quality of service.

So the bolded isn't in that post?

If they did that in the US I would drop them faster than a bullet train.

"This is for the players"

Lemmings complaining about the price of an console online service. I really did wake up in a parallel reality.

Actually I think they're laughing mate.

Stupid of them. As long as they don't do that for yearly. ..

@AM-Gamer: Keep telling yourself that bud. The quality of service is not the same between the two.

@babyjoker1221: I don't have too, I own both. There quality is identical. Just stating facts.

Milking the blind ponies. They're becoming MS of last gen, just because they're on top.

So glad I play on systems and PC with FREE online.

Cows defending getting screwed harder, lol.

I guess it's true that since Sony is on top "When you dont have to compete, you dont have to care."

Please, enough with the "oh it's just business" retort that we've all heard countless times before. Yes, I know businesses want to make money, that doesn't mean it has to be through greedy anti-consumer practices that overall harm the industry. Again, these types of practices do not benefit customers, only the companies implementing them. Yet here we have people getting upset when someone criticizes these ill principles, as if they actually work at Sony or something.

@AM-Gamer: No. You're stating your experience. The FACTS are that PSN is down considerably more often than XBL. That's without even getting into security, ddos, and matchmaking. The facts are that XBL soundly beats PSN as a service across the board. You can keep on repeating yourself as much as you want, but that doesn't make it the truth.