Eric Lempel on PSN
- Thread starter pipo
- Start date
He's speaking about cross-game chat in that particular instance. The next-gen article is pretty misleading IMO. It seems to highlight the possibility of Sony charging in future, but the actual response was 'we don't absolutely know what choices we'll be making in the future, but our model that we have and intend to stick to is free.' Of course they might charge in future, but the interview itself wasn't suggesting anything of the sort, which I felt the article didn't represent accurately.
As to the issue of gamerpoints, I hope Sony handle it better than MS. I actually find it irritating on XB360 because in order to play multiplayer, you have to sign in. You can't just pick up the game and run with it, but have to have a profile and select it. This has been an unwanted faf when playing with friends. Gamerpoints should be optional; record them if you choose to sign in, but also games should have the simplicity of last gen multiplayer - pick up a controller and join in the game.
As to the issue of gamerpoints, I hope Sony handle it better than MS. I actually find it irritating on XB360 because in order to play multiplayer, you have to sign in. You can't just pick up the game and run with it, but have to have a profile and select it. This has been an unwanted faf when playing with friends. Gamerpoints should be optional; record them if you choose to sign in, but also games should have the simplicity of last gen multiplayer - pick up a controller and join in the game.
Ah, thanks for that. I finally got the vid to work myself.
I think it would be nice to have an at-a-glance way to view achievements (err..i mean, trophies), a little like a gamercard perhaps, viewable from outside Home. I hope they do something like that, whatever about a cross-game scoring metric ala gamerscore.
inefficient
Veteran
Off topic but I started watching some of the other bonusround videos after I watched the one linked in the OP. And god damn Jason Rubin really does look act and sound EXACTLY like the protagonist in Uncharted!!
It's from a Bonus Round interview. The interviewer did actually press the Sony man for comments on what MS have done right, so it wasn't volunteered praise. But the praise was honest.
woundingchaney
Regular
This would make things very interesting. The number one advantage the PSN network has is its current lack of cost, adding a fee associated with it may deter some adoption of both PSN and the PS3 itself.
Ehm. If you actually watch the interview, all he does is covering his ass in case this will ever change. But he also says that right now they are very happy with it being free, as are their customers, and for the foreseeable future nothing will change.
The most likely thing that will happen I think on the shortest term is MMOs that are not free, and perhaps they will charge for moderation on Home. That could be a pretty smart thing to do. If you've got kids you want to protect, you can pay a small extra fee to have moderators keep the place clean, something like that. The vast majority of people won't need it beyond a very basic level of abuse (cheating or conning in some form or other), just as they are perfectly happy making up their own minds about where to browse to.
Hey Shifty, I just noticed your sig. After 10,000 posts, have you still not heard of the Edit Button?
woundingchaney
Regular
Ehm. If you actually watch the interview, all he does is covering his ass in case this will ever change. But he also says that right now they are very happy with it being free, as are their customers, and for the foreseeable future nothing will change.
The most likely thing that will happen I think on the shortest term is MMOs that are not free, and perhaps they will charge for moderation on Home. That could be a pretty smart thing to do. If you've got kids you want to protect, you can pay a small extra fee to have moderators keep the place clean, something like that. The vast majority of people won't need it beyond a very basic level of abuse (cheating or conning in some form or other), just as they are perfectly happy making up their own minds about where to browse to.
Hey Shifty, I just noticed your sig. After 10,000 posts, have you still not heard of the Edit Button?
Ehm, I actually watched the interview (although had some problems initially with the feed) and regardless a mentioning of this within itself does have some magnitude. The primary focus of PSN and the quality associated with it is that the service is free. Jeopardizing this standard would be critical to PSN.
I view it as him covering his ass as well, but that in itself doesnt deny the concern. With the simple mentioning of it one now knows that the concept is being considered. It is possible that in order to keep the costs of PSN to a minimum or even put the service in the black they need to incorporate some kind of charge outside of the charge associated with dlc. Although if much of their proposed entertainment dlc (music and movies) as well as LBP, Home, and arcade like titles take off I cant see this being an issue.
I see little reason why a potential charge would only be regulated to specific Home moderation or MMOs. They could very well incorporate a structure of tiered based membership and charging for the robust membership (similar to the gold and silver of Live) or any number of options found on PSN. I would question that "if" they are going to charge why only make the move in very limited and specific circumstances, if they move to a charge based membership or options I cannot see it only being associated with Home moderation (MMOs are going to be charged regardless).
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It's free now because it cannot compare and it'd make the PS3 even less appealing to the masses. Once their service is on par with Live or even better perhaps, I can see Sony charging for it. MS likely makes good money off Live. Getting people into a habit of paying for online conditions them well for the future. Quite sure Sony doesn't want to miss out on this party. Reverse the role and yes, Sony would be charing and MS would be free. It's just how it is.
crazygambit
Regular
I disagree. I believe the service will remain free regardless of its feature set, it's their philosophy. A case could be made that Home can indeed be better than XBL and it's gonna be free. What they'll be charging you for is premium content within Home, like a bigger appartment, clothes and other crap. That should hopefully provide enough revenue to make charging for the service unnecessary. Also they don't want to limit the pool of people that can access this content by charging for the service.
I can't see that they are too concerned about that, Sony don't seem to think a high price is a barrier to entry. That being said however it does fit the perception that they are a hardware company. Hardware costs money, software is cheap (free). But then again lose money on hardware, make money on games.
I'm so confused.
Where were we?
Ahhhh, here comes the nurse............
I don't think they could get away from suddenly starting to charge for the service that used to be free.
I think their philosophy is more charging for content (music for Sing Star, episodic content, downloadable maps, vehicles...), not for services.
I don't get it how you think Sony would start charging the service and MS would start giving it for free?
No, not 'considered'. It's on the table, or the flip-chart, as all valid ideas should be in a well run business. They have options and they won't out-right exclude one forever. Businesses have to change and adapt on occassions, and if you come out and categorically state one absolute fact 'we'll never charge for our online network' and then in a few years you have to rescind on that for business sense, it'll come back to bite you on your PR arse. That's why business types and politicians use vague answers and non-committal comments. Such comments don't mean they're reconsidering their plans, but that they are willing to reconsider them. And all businesses will. Putting it another way, even if they said 'we'll never charge for our online services' they could change their mind. It happens. The comments in interviews don't lay out absolutely and unwaveringly what's going to happen over the next 5 years - see PS2's promises on how 'we'll offer all this' never came to anything. Instead they can set out the intentions and current plans. In this case, the intention is to keep it free. That's how it's launched and how they're keeping it, and they've explained where they expect to get money from. If that fails they may go with a backup plan. That doesn't mean that at this moment they're investigation price structures for their network.
I think since PS2, Sony had modelled their network structure on the ubiquitous PC online gaming to a degree - though it was fragmented, it was always free. The infrastructure is provided by third parties, that are typically ISPs who get recognition for their servers. It is a thriving situation on the PC space.
Of course, it has now evolved into a unified experience (further improvements to come), with ample opportunities for commerce, while expensive server infrastructure is still not necessarily run by Sony. There is good reason to believe that it will remain free for the life of the console.
Of course, it has now evolved into a unified experience (further improvements to come), with ample opportunities for commerce, while expensive server infrastructure is still not necessarily run by Sony. There is good reason to believe that it will remain free for the life of the console.
I'd be very surprised if they end up charging to use PSN.
Keeping the "basics" of the service free is what makes it attractive: Any of the millions of PS3 owners can log in and use it. The more people they get onto the network, the more attractive it becomes for 3rd parties to use it as a platform to promote products with virtual ads. Ads make money. Also, the more people log on to the network, the more likely it is that more people buy into additional features that cost money: i.e. buying different furniture for your home, expanding space for more user content, differentiating yourself from others or buying additional features that make PSN a more attractive place.
The concept of micro-transactions and making money of these things are far more lucrative in the end than having smaller amount of people pay more. Potentially, any of the x million free users login onto the network is a customer, at the latest when he sees or wants one of those costly features...
Besides, keeping the basics of the network free yields the advantage of being able to promote a "free network". Even if it's just marketing speach, it's a bullet feature compared to competitors that charge for their service.
Making "home" a 3d world place was a brilliant idea. It makes it easy to have a lot more space for ads and other things that make money, compared to a 2d environment where any kind of ads comes across as too disturbing or obvious.
I see Live Gold going free before PSN charges. Live charges because of a lack of competition, it's flopping in the PC world with negative backlash. Playing P2P games for $50/year is kind of ridiculous if you come from the PC world. Let ads and premium content pay (MMO) for the basic service.
