Sony ponders charging for 'online pass' game functionality


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Sony ponders charging for 'online pass' game functionality

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We specifically told you guys not to tell your friends at Sony about a certain "feature" of EA Sports whereby the player is charged $10 to unlock online content and multiplayer functionality. And what do we have here? It looks like someone spilled the beans, because GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that Sony Computer Entertainment head Andrew House has been giving the matter some serious thought. "On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee," he said, "we're broadly supportive... and we're exploring actively the same option for our own content." Of course, this runs counter the free and democratic nature of PlayStation Network, but you know how strategies can change once someone gets dollar signs in their eyes.

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If we should be blaming anyone, shouldn't it be Microsoft for their xbox live subscription service, rather than activision?

Either way, I can't see this working out too well. I'll stop playing online, the games are costly enough as it is. Although I wonder if they'll try to work some kind of deal in to Playstation Plus, whereby if you have a subscription then you still get online play for "free," whereas those without a PS+ subscription can choose to either buy a sub or pay for just online play?

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A similar article has already been posted.

EDIT: Although on second thoughts, this article is making it sound like they're thinking about charging for all online multiplayer, not just for second hand games...

oh, looks like same article. Both talk about charging for online play though. In any case, this is better discussed in Gaming forums?

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Last source I read this from it was about the whole used/new game scenario. New games come with a code, used games well, 99% of the time the code will have been used.

Edit, yeah

When asked “How do you feel about a publisher like EA making online play an extra payable component on PSN with the Online Pass for second-hand consumers?” House replied;

“On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee, we’re broadly supportive of that. And we’re exploring actively the same option for our own content.”

http://www.thesixtha...ng-online-pass/

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Last source I read this from it was about the whole used/new game scenario. New games come with a code, used games well, 99% of the time the code will have been used.

Yeah, that's what this was about. I'm not entirely sure if the article here is talking about the same thing (something tells me it is) or whether Sony have decided to up the stakes and just say, "Sod it, everyone has to pay. Happy now?"

However, I can't really imagine it being the latter of those two choices. It wouldn't win them any friends in the consumer market.

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Yeah, that's what this was about. I'm not entirely sure if the article here is talking about the same thing (something tells me it is) or whether Sony have decided to up the stakes and just say, "Sod it, everyone has to pay. Happy now?"

However, I can't really imagine it being the latter of those two choices. It wouldn't win them any friends in the consumer market.

It's the same thing...

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If we should be blaming anyone, shouldn't it be Microsoft for their xbox live subscription service, rather than activision?

Either way, I can't see this working out too well. I'll stop playing online, the games are costly enough as it is. Although I wonder if they'll try to work some kind of deal in to Playstation Plus, whereby if you have a subscription then you still get online play for "free," whereas those without a PS+ subscription can choose to either buy a sub or pay for just online play?

Why would you blame Microsoft? Even if you have XBL you still have to pay for one of these passes for EAs/etc. games if you buy them used. Also, its already working pretty well for the publishers that are trying it out right now.

This isn't an issue for me. If I'm thinking about buying a used game (which I rarely do), I'll just tack on the $10 to the cost when I'm thinking about whether or not the game is worth what I'm about to pay for it.

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Why would you blame Microsoft?

My point for asking if we should blame Microsoft came from the understanding that this article was different from the one that I linked to, and that this article was saying that Sony was considering charging for all online multiplayer, not just for those that were buying the game second hand. This is what Microsoft does at the moment with XBox Live.

However, as has been established, this article is in fact talking about the same thing as the original article that was posted, so all of this here is a bit unnecessary given that it's already being discussed on the Neowin site.

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