[bitTech] PSN will continue to be free - Overclock.net

linskingdom · 07-04-08

Quote:

At bit-tech we occasionally give Sony a little bit of stick and it's no secret that the company has had a fair bit of bad luck lately, but one thing we do constantly admire about Sony is its ongoing commitment to the freely available PlayStation Network.

The only problem is, what with Metal Gear Solid 4 helping to shift more PlayStation 3s than ever before, more people are signing on to that free service. More people equals increased costs for Sony - more servers, more bandwidth, more updates and so on. There's inevitably going to come a point when Sony has to ask people to start paying, right?

Apparently not. In a recent interview with Next-Gen.biz, PSN boss Eric Lempel said that Sony has no plans to charge for the PSN service.

"We’re happy with what we’re doing right now and we’re going to stick with it. I think being free is always an advantage. The fact that it’s free is nice for consumers who want to try out the online experience, those who may be new to it and may not be ready to commit to spending dollars, and that’s a really good message for us."

Source

**ENTERPRISE** · 07-04-08

Even though it may not be as good as XBL is some ways. I think its AWESOME that its completely free and enables online gaming for free. I really hated the idea of having to pay MS extra just to play online . I mean C'mon...you just bought there console ETC and then have to pay more for online lol.

Firestorm252 · 07-04-08

hmm nifty, although they do bring up a good point. somewhere along the line the cost of it all might prove to be more than "offer it for free" can sustain.

and although i've always understood why they charge for subscriptions/usage, i've never been able to justify it personally. what with my somewhat eclectic gaming habits and all.

just ask my old-MMO buddies, i'm about as sporadic when it comes to keeping up a game as anyone can get

mrtn400 · 07-04-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENTERPRISE

Even though it may not be as good as XBL is some ways. I think its AWESOME that its completely free and enables online gaming for free. I really hated the idea of having to pay MS extra just to play online . I mean C'mon...you just bought there console ETC and then have to pay more for online lol.

It's not like they have to pay for all the servers and the people that set them up and maintain them.

benfica101 · 07-04-08

gex80 · 07-04-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENTERPRISE

Even though it may not be as good as XBL is some ways. I think its AWESOME that its completely free and enables online gaming for free. I really hated the idea of having to pay MS extra just to play online . I mean C'mon...you just bought there console ETC and then have to pay more for online lol.

Dude seriously, it's only 50 bucks for one year. The average person spends more than that a month of take, fast food, and garbage.

I know your just messing around enterprise but people in general are complaining about 50 messily dollars like they are paying for a car or something. Its like if you can afford the monthly high speed bill, then you can afford xbox live. What makes it worse is that people who play WOW are willing to pay 12-15 bucks a month to play one game but ***** and complain about how 50 bucks a year to play almost all xbox live games for a year is too expense. This world is built on hypocrisy and it is real sad. Humans in general are a pain in the ass sometimes.

Coma · 07-04-08

gex80 - people are complaining because even $50 is outrageous. Nobody has ever had to pay for ONLINE PLAY - so in this case Sony is doing it right and MS are just being greedy buttholes.

As for MMOs - the price is justified. It's true that in the case of WoW they could have drastically dropped the price now that they have so many subscribers, but they started with $14.95 and stuck with it. You could argue it's because they don't want to confuse subscribers, or more likely, they want to generate more profit.

Companies have always provided the server indexing service for free. Look at EVERY PC game.
It's just the way it has always been - MMOs have a pay to play model or a pay to upgrade model, and everything else is free.

Just because these games are console games doesn't mean people won't pay 3rd parties to get their own server.

Look at PC games - people don't host the servers on their computers, but pay a 3rd party to host it for them and get admin access to it.

The publisher should always fund some servers to get the game started and then leave it to the community.
If you charge EVERYONE for servers and don't give them the capability to host their own, all you'll get are frustrated players who wouldn't think twice about leaving if something happened to incline them to leave.

abc1234 · 07-04-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coma

gex80 - people are complaining because even $50 is outrageous. Nobody has ever had to pay for ONLINE PLAY - so in this case Sony is doing it right and MS are just being greedy buttholes.

QFT

edit: 150th post

zacbrain · 07-04-08

whoo this is why i got a ps3(also im cheap) lulz. but yes, this seems like a good decision.

Hellisforheroes · 07-04-08

if it stays free with in-game XMB and HOME then it will be the best thing ever for PS3 gamers.

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[bitTech] PSN will continue to be free

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