Sony Would Have Made a Profit If PSN Required Subscription

There are 25 Million XBL Gold Members worldwide. At an average of $50/year, that equates to $1.25B in revenue. Although PSN would never have 25 Million members, they would at least have enough where that half a Billion dollar annual loss would be negated. Something to think about, don't think this wont cross Sony execs minds. It likely already has

Still not sure why they don't.

They can continue using it as a selling point against the 360, but in the end Microsoft is laughing all the way to the bank on this deal.

Sony should realize by now that that $30 a year for Live is not the biggest concern for consumers. I'm sure they'll impliment some kind of subscription soon enough.

25 million gold subscribers? You sure?Anjunaddict

There are 25 Million XBL Gold Members worldwide. At an average of $50/year, that equates to $1.25B in revenue. Although PSN would never have 25 Million members, they would at least have enough where that half a Billion dollar annual loss would be negated. Something to think about, don't think this wont cross Sony execs minds. It likely already has

shadow8585

nope, impossible! Sony fans complain so damn much about 50 bucks a year that Sony fans would never pay. they would all buy PC's and scream to the high heavens how Crysis will forever be the graphics king. Sony would have gone bankrupt on day one! ;)

Their Selling point is the fact that it's Free Online.

Sure it has nothing to do with a 600 dollar launch and them stumbling out the door with the games. Also its been said online will be free for psn still,but theres hints of advance serivice with some bells and whistles that will charge. Though it will still be free to play online.

WEll I'd rather Sony not make a profit and cost me less money and them make a profit off of my money from locking away the MP portions of games. What a rip off

Their Selling point is the fact that it's Free Online.

LegatoSkyheart

but what about all the people who praise Sony for not charging. My oh my, what would they do

Unless its an MMO I should not have to pay to unlock mygame.

i wouldnt pay for sony online.. i already pay for xbox live. maybe if the ps3 had some of the features xbl has and trials for all arcade games and let u listen to music while playing games online.. other than killzone 2 which is the only game ive played u can do that while playing >_< they better not charge for online lol itd be as dumb as nintendo charging for online :o

Unless its an MMO I should not have to pay to unlock mygame.

dercoo

Sony charging for online play is inevitable. And yes, I mean actual online play. Its just a matter of time, but Id say next gen. This gen, they'll introduce a subscription based premium service where you get party chat or some other "premium" features.Anjunaddict

[QUOTE="LegatoSkyheart"]

Their Selling point is the fact that it's Free Online.

shadow8585

Im sorry but thats a load of crap and if you try to convice youself otherwise your just a fanboy in which case your thought on the matter is pretty much void.

[QUOTE="LegatoSkyheart"]

Their Selling point is the fact that it's Free Online.

shadow8585

with that logic the Wii and the PS3 have the same online function.

[QUOTE="dercoo"]

Unless its an MMO I should not have to pay to unlock mygame.

yoyo462001

XBL does lock away a section of your games that you already bought. No Gold Subscrption = No MP.

I can assure you that if MP was free and XBL Gold just gave you cross game chat, cross game invites, etc there wouldn't be nearly as many subscribers

Sony charging for online play is inevitable. And yes, I mean actual online play. Its just a matter of time, but Id say next gen. This gen, they'll introduce a subscription based premium service where you get party chat or some other "premium" features.Anjunaddict

idk I still say no to that,but I say 100% on the premium features thing that will cost money. Since the free online is one of sonys cards.

[QUOTE="yoyo462001"][QUOTE="dercoo"]

Unless its an MMO I should not have to pay to unlock mygame.

BPoole96

XBL does lock away a section of your games that you already bought. No Gold Subscrption = No MP.

I can assure you that if MP was free and XBL Gold just gave you cross game chat, cross game invites, etc there wouldn't be nearly as many subscribers

[QUOTE="LegatoSkyheart"]

Their Selling point is the fact that it's Free Online.

shadow8585

No way. Sony gaming would have gone under and would have had a MUCH rougher launch if PSN was not free. The PS3 had a really rough launch as it is the extra hardware features that have made it a great product in the long run made it really expnsive even when Sony sold it at a loss. The PS3 would have a drastically different (cheaper) hardware design for it to ever have survived with a pay for online service.

Basically, if Sony had a monthly fee, the player count would be reduced to nothing.LiftedHeadshot

[QUOTE="LegatoSkyheart"]

Their Selling point is the fact that it's Free Online.

shadow8585

[QUOTE="LiftedHeadshot"]Basically, if Sony had a monthly fee, the player count would be reduced to nothing.Santesyu

Edit: Oh, and people would stay to play offiline exlusives.

[QUOTE="BPoole96"]

[QUOTE="yoyo462001"]This quite a big inconsistency, you feel that buying XBL means you unlock aspects that youve already paid for, which i will say is totally wrong but i will follow your line of misinformation, but for an MMO its somehow alright to keep charging you for content you already paid for...Its quite illogical as a rational consumer.yoyo462001

XBL does lock away a section of your games that you already bought. No Gold Subscrption = No MP.

I can assure you that if MP was free and XBL Gold just gave you cross game chat, cross game invites, etc there wouldn't be nearly as many subscribers

How does me buying a game not warrant me the right to play online? When I buy something, I like to be able to use all of the features that come with it. I don't like have to pay a company money just so I can use the game I just bought to its full potential. Sounds like extortion

[QUOTE="yoyo462001"][QUOTE="BPoole96"]

XBL does lock away a section of your games that you already bought. No Gold Subscrption = No MP.

I can assure you that if MP was free and XBL Gold just gave you cross game chat, cross game invites, etc there wouldn't be nearly as many subscribers

BPoole96

How does me buying a game not warrant me the right to play online? When I buy something, I like to be able to use all of the features that come with it. I don't like have to pay a company money just so I can use the game I just bought to its full potential. Sounds like extortion

Still not sure why they don't.

They can continue using it as a selling point against the 360, but in the end Microsoft is laughing all the way to the bank on this deal.

Sony should realize by now that that $30 a year for Live is not the biggest concern for consumers. I'm sure they'll impliment some kind of subscription soon enough.

treedoor

Perhaps they think it's a ridiculous business model? A good business decision is based on more than just the "right now" effect of it, you have to think about your reputation and how you're perceived. I'm sure that between being the only online platform that requires a fee, faulty hardware, and a lack of exclusive content will hurt MS next gen. Meanwhile, Sony is building its online infrastructure a bit at a time while keeping it free. This instills consumer confidence. Doesn't hurt that most launch units are still functional today.

Nintendo has plans to charge for online play... so I guess it's probably matter of time before Sony takes the same path.

M$ also gives us a lot more than the multiplayer with the XBL Gold membership fee. We get far faster downloads than PSN, smoother running Netflix than Wii or PS3, more digital content, cross-game chatting, better online competition and moreshadow8585

M$ also gives us a lot more than the multiplayer with the XBL Gold membership fee. We get far faster downloads than PSN, smoother running Netflix than Wii or PS3, more digital content, cross-game chatting, better online competition and moreshadow8585

Check your network settings. I d/l'd a gig demo of psn earlier in 15 or so minutes, maybe 20. Netflix pulls up a video and never has to buffer after, so I don't know how it can be smoother, and it has a search bar, which I'm told isn't on the 360 netflix, though that may be inaccurate.

Better competition? I don't know what this means, do you honestly thing that Live players are just better at gaming than PSN players, or are you talking about feature sets. The only games I've played this gen with real, deep, clan and competition systems built into the games were PS3 exclusive; specifically Warhawk, R1 and R2, KZ2, and I think that's all I've played. I guess you can kind of count MAG? Not really I guess, that's just the way the game is designed.

[QUOTE="BPoole96"]

[QUOTE="yoyo462001"]If you already bought it then how can you re-buy it again? you cannot (or any sane person) doesnt buy the same thing twice. It obviously means the initial transaction did not involve the price of XBL. I.e when you buy a game you don't buy the right to play online. yoyo462001

How does me buying a game not warrant me the right to play online? When I buy something, I like to be able to use all of the features that come with it. I don't like have to pay a company money just so I can use the game I just bought to its full potential. Sounds like extortion

[QUOTE="treedoor"]

Still not sure why they don't.

They can continue using it as a selling point against the 360, but in the end Microsoft is laughing all the way to the bank on this deal.

Sony should realize by now that that $30 a year for Live is not the biggest concern for consumers. I'm sure they'll impliment some kind of subscription soon enough.

Pug-Nasty

Perhaps they think it's a ridiculous business model? A good business decision is based on more than just the "right now" effect of it, you have to think about your reputation and how you're perceived. I'm sure that between being the only online platform that requires a fee, faulty hardware, and a lack of exclusive content will hurt MS next gen. Meanwhile, Sony is building its online infrastructure a bit at a time while keeping it free. This instills consumer confidence. Doesn't hurt that most launch units are still functional today.

Yah, but their reputation to whom? The very small minority on forums?

The fact is is that the 360 has pulled 40 million sales even with these fees, and other stuff. The general, mainstream consumer isn't going to care that much.

Its a good suggestion for now, fees for online gaming remain xbox 360 exclusive and the lack of them a selling point for the Ps3

I really don't see why cross game chat is so important.. I don't know anyone who would want that on the ps3..

Free PSN has more suscribers then XBL, I could only see them loosing some of them, most people play its online cause it is free.

Free PSN has more suscribers then XBL, I could only see them loosing some of them, most people play its online cause it is free.

svenus97

Keeping customers happy by providing a free service >>>>>>> making a profit by charging for something that everyone else does for free.

Is Live better than Steam? You'd think a superior service to Live from a company with much less money than M$ would charge to play online? nope......M$ is just greedy and they've got you all by the wallets.

FWIW i have a 360 and paid for Live for 1 year, as far as playing online goes there is no difference between Live and PSN except the price *note i said online play, cross game chat and the like are not required to play online.

[QUOTE="BPoole96"]

[QUOTE="yoyo462001"]If you already bought it then how can you re-buy it again? you cannot (or any sane person) doesnt buy the same thing twice. It obviously means the initial transaction did not involve the price of XBL. I.e when you buy a game you don't buy the right to play online. yoyo462001

How does me buying a game not warrant me the right to play online? When I buy something, I like to be able to use all of the features that come with it. I don't like have to pay a company money just so I can use the game I just bought to its full potential. Sounds like extortion

Bad analogy. Everything the developers put on the disc should be able to be played for free, multiplayer is included in this whether you like it or not. Having both systems and buying a multiplayer game like BFBC2 it came down to buying the game and then having to pay to play it......or buy it and play it online for free. People get annoyed at companies charging for DLC included on the disc, M$ is doing the exact same thing, charging for multiplayer content already on the disc.

If your not buying the multiplayer component when paying for the game then why isnt a multiplayer-less version of the game available?

There are 25 Million XBL Gold Members worldwide. At an average of $50/year, that equates to $1.25B in revenue. Although PSN would never have 25 Million members, they would at least have enough where that half a Billion dollar annual loss would be negated. Something to think about, don't think this wont cross Sony execs minds. It likely already has

shadow8585

[QUOTE="yoyo462001"][QUOTE="BPoole96"]

How does me buying a game not warrant me the right to play online? When I buy something, I like to be able to use all of the features that come with it. I don't like have to pay a company money just so I can use the game I just bought to its full potential. Sounds like extortion

dachase

Bad analogy. Everything the developers put on the disc should be able to be played for free, multiplayer is included in this whether you like it or not. Having both systems and buying a multiplayer game like BFBC2 it came down to buying the game and then having to pay to play it......or buy it and play it online for free. People get annoyed at companies charging for DLC included on the disc, M$ is doing the exact same thing, charging for multiplayer content already on the disc.

If your not buying the multiplayer component when paying for the game then why isnt a multiplayer-less version of the game available?