Mandatory PSN Plus subscription

Byte

Member
Nov 11, 2012
585
1
It seems that our good friends the MBAs at Sony have decided to further "monetize" online play and require a PSN Plus subscription, contrary to the PS3.

If a PSN Plus membership is needed to play TPA I will NOT buy a PS4 (I will use Steam on the PC).
 

brakel

New member
Apr 27, 2012
2,305
1
It doesn't sound like it will be a requirement to play games, just to play online multiplayer. They said that you'd be able to play offline and watch Netflix without Plus. That means that without Plus you'll have access to the store. The only question would be if you can access friend lists and leaderboards without Plus.

Besides having better infrastructure for multiplayer games the PS4 is going to have more online options the specifics of which I'm sure we'll learn soon. But they've hinted at some including streaming of select ps1/2/3 games.

I am already a Plus subscriber so it makes little difference to me but I will be disappointed if they charge for online play and we still don't have cross game talk, have party joining problems or problems with in-game chat.
 

Lord Boron

Member
Apr 18, 2012
583
1
I can see where it would be annoying, but I never ever play online, but I subscribe just for the free games. I already have more than I'll ever get around to laying.
 

ER777

New member
Sep 8, 2012
797
0
Same here, I can't even come close to keeping up. I have over 50 titles that I "own" but haven't played yet (most were freebies, but not all :confused:).
 

spoonman

New member
Apr 20, 2012
1,435
3
I wouldn't want PSN without the Plus..

Once you are used to the free weekly games, and the piece of mind daily trophy backups , 2GB of PSN Cloud saves there is no going back.
The best news I heard at E3 was the integration of Plus to the PS4. So now we will get Plus on PS Vita, PS3, & PS4.

June is going to be a fun month too. :)
8975999184_8566aca932_z.jpg


If you buy even a few things from the PSN store Plus usually pays for itself on one or two purchases. This month alone I saved about $30 on PSN sales.
Sound Shapes $3.75 (normally $15)
The Unfinished Swan $3.75 (normally $15)
Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit $3.75 (normally $15)
The Walking Dead – Season Pass $5 (normally $20)


I also picked up Music Unlimited for $12 last year. It's normally $120. I use it on my PS3/Vita/and iPod. I love sales like that.
 
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Tabe

Member
Apr 12, 2012
833
0
Tomb Raider is also on sale for $20.24 and includes a bunch of DLC and the (terrible) game Quantum Conundrum as well.
 

SKILL_SHOT

Banned
Jul 11, 2012
3,659
1
Paying for plus to play online doesn't sound too bad considering all the content you get from PS+ but with all that content your distracted from playing online. :p
 

Lord Boron

Member
Apr 18, 2012
583
1
Just yesterday they gave away Uncharted 3, X-com, and Little Big Planet Karting. That right there more than paid for it.
 

warh0g

New member
Jan 3, 2013
618
0
I wouldn't want PSN without the Plus..

Once you are used to the free weekly games, and the piece of mind daily trophy backups , 2GB of PSN Cloud saves there is no going back.
The best news I heard at E3 was the integration of Plus to the PS4. So now we will get Plus on PS Vita, PS3, & PS4.

June is going to be a fun month too. :)
8975999184_8566aca932_z.jpg


If you buy even a few things from the PSN store Plus usually pays for itself on one or two purchases. This month alone I saved about $30 on PSN sales.
Sound Shapes $3.75 (normally $15)
The Unfinished Swan $3.75 (normally $15)
Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit $3.75 (normally $15)
The Walking Dead – Season Pass $5 (normally $20)


I also picked up Music Unlimited for $12 last year. It's normally $120. I use it on my PS3/Vita/and iPod. I love sales like that.

I can recommend playing Machinarium. A really nice point-and-click adventure :)
 

warh0g

New member
Jan 3, 2013
618
0
I was a bit surprised that they went with this being mandatory for Onlineplay, but not shocked. (Allready a PS+ subscriber so I was going to get it for PS4 anyways)
 

Tann

New member
Apr 3, 2013
1,128
1
The mandatory online play is a very bad news.

Without me. I will never pay to play online, and I don't care of free games and all stuff, because I haven't much time anymore to play videogames as in the past.

The free PSN was perfect, as you don't have to "profit" a monthly subscription. If you don't have enough time to play online during two months or more (it happens), it's ok. With this mandatory, it's like you lost money.
 

spoonman

New member
Apr 20, 2012
1,435
3
It was inevitable. I believe they want to add a much richer experience with the PS4, such as Cross Game Chat (a highly requested feature), voice messages, video sharing, and all of the other stuff that will require a heavy server load. I didn't expect them to foot the bill on it

Simple Leaderboard stuff should still remain free though. So if you weren't much of an online gamer before you can continue as you were for free.

I still feel that, if you are enough of a gamer to buy a PS4, then it would be in your best interest to get Plus. I always buy discs and physical media over digital, but there has been at least one game sale per month that I buy with a Plus discount and it more than covers the cost of the service.
 

brakel

New member
Apr 27, 2012
2,305
1
The mandatory online play is a very bad news.

Without me. I will never pay to play online, and I don't care of free games and all stuff, because I haven't much time anymore to play videogames as in the past.

The free PSN was perfect, as you don't have to "profit" a monthly subscription. If you don't have enough time to play online during two months or more (it happens), it's ok. With this mandatory, it's like you lost money.

Sony could have continued with the same online model that they had with doing multiplayer on ad hoc peer to peer networking with one of the players randomly chosen to host or they could upgrade to an infrastructure that Sony would host. The former was free but the latter costs money. I can appreciate people not wanting to spend more money but we get what we pay for. I also appreciate that Sony is only making people subscribe to Plus for multi-player online and not ancillary things like Netflix.

Sony tried the free model for the entire run of the PS3 but decided that it wasn't ever going to deliver the online experience that we deserve.
 

ER777

New member
Sep 8, 2012
797
0
Sony tried the free model for the entire run of the PS3 but decided that it wasn't ever going to deliver the online experience that we deserve.

More people should focus on the positive aspects of this. I want the best experience possible and I don't mind paying a fee for it, especially when the fee is literally 15 cents a day.
 

Deathtickle

New member
Dec 10, 2012
28
0
Im probably not getting the PS4 until the 2014 Holiday season. I anticipate that GTA V and TPA should fill up most of my 2013-2014 gaming time. Moreover whether is was the 1st generation pong or 1st generation Atari 2600 or the first generation Xbox and PlayStation; they all seem to die on me and I have to buy the same thing twice. I hope to avoid this situation this time round, as the frivolous income isn't what it once was.

I was really disappointed with the Xbox1 and the direction they are trying to take gaming. I dont mind paying for the PS4 network as in the end it really is a option, where as Xbox1 its a necessity.

There are many knowledgeable & helpful posters on this forum. I look forward to their review of the PS4 and how TPA is in all facets. Still have my fingers crossed for a Highspeed being released for the PS3 and android in 2013.
 

Jim

New member
Mar 23, 2013
38
0
I've never really found Plus that useful honestly. I had it for a short time, and canceled it fairly quickly. The discounts weren't enough to justify it alone, and the free games are removed when you cancel, so it's more like a "rental" rather than truly being free.

Requiring Plus for online play seems a bit greedy to me (not that I'm surprised by it). The thing I'm wondering most though is this: All of the incentives for Plus (discounts, etc.) were designed to get people to become Plus members. Now that Plus is mandatory for online play, I wonder how many of these incentives will be disappearing.

EDIT: Also I am curious what will happen to all those free PSN accounts (mine included) that are on the PS3? I'm not planning on getting the PS4 right away; I still have plenty of PS3 games I'm enjoying, but will all the free accounts be forced to upgrade to Plus? I won't be happy with that, and I know I won't be the only one.

--Jim
 
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brakel

New member
Apr 27, 2012
2,305
1
I've never really found Plus that useful honestly. I had it for a short time, and canceled it fairly quickly. The discounts weren't enough to justify it alone, and the free games are removed when you cancel, so it's more like a "rental" rather than truly being free.

Requiring Plus for online play seems a bit greedy to me (not that I'm surprised by it). The thing I'm wondering most though is this: All of the incentives for Plus (discounts, etc.) were designed to get people to become Plus members. Now that Plus is mandatory for online play, I wonder how many of these incentives will be disappearing.

EDIT: Also I am curious what will happen to all those free PSN accounts (mine included) that are on the PS3? I'm not planning on getting the PS4 right away; I still have plenty of PS3 games I'm enjoying, but will all the free accounts be forced to upgrade to Plus? I won't be happy with that, and I know I won't be the only one.

--Jim

Your PSN account will still be there. You need a PSN account to access the store, download patches, play Netflix, buy DLC, etc. You only need Plus to play online multi-player games. I would imagine most people who don't want to play online multi-player will still want to buy stuff from the store, watch hulu or whatever.

I know if it weren't for the perks I probably won't pay for Plus except for three months after an online multi-player game drops that I want to play.
 

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