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I can’t believe Sony and Microsoft still get away with charging to play online.

Tophat Jones

Tophat Jones

Alt Account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
14,946
Recent PayPal statement told me I had spent $60 to Sony Entertainment. New game? Nope. Time for my annual $60 fee to play online games. I can't believe we are still getting sold this lie that it's actaully costing Sony and Microsoft a significant amount to run these servers. Sony was fine doing it for free last generation, but hey if they can sucker everyone into it like Microsoft then why not? Remember how that money was going to go towards stability and improvements? PSN download speed is notoriously slow. And it was a million times easier to group up and play together in MW2 than it was for Battlefield One, we are not improving at all in functionality or ease of use. PC does it for free and does it better.

I don't give two shits about PS Plus games, and haven't downloaded one in over a year. If you want to charge people for that service, fine. Make it separate.

I really think these companies deserve some flak for stealing millions every year from their loyal customers. Unless someone can give me a good reason that it costs $60 a year to play Overwatch online with my friends in the year 2018.
 
Zukuu

Zukuu

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,809
"Still get away"? It's widely accepted and even Nintendo is doing it soon. Consumers didn't fight back hard enough when MS did it, so companies just do it. I mean, why not? Insane profits basically for free.

It's all on the people that support it, just like pre-order shit, DLC and microtransaction. If no one would buy it / boycott it, they wouldn't do it.
 
Vashetti

Vashetti

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,553
OP it comes across that you're more upset with yourself for not turning off auto-renew.

If you don't like the service, don't pay for it.
 
Ramstein

Ramstein

Member
Dec 3, 2017
60
I still can't believe people ALLOW THEM to "get away" with it. Because remember, whatever it is they do, they'll keep doin' it(or worse) until you speak up. Console gamers as a whole, have proved that this is OK. Much like when HALO2 fans decided that $50 was too low a cost for videogames, so they bought the "special edition" in droves and showed the industry that "we" want to be milked even more so.
 
OP
OP
Tophat Jones

Tophat Jones

Alt Account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
14,946
Odd responses... why don't you justify why it makes sense.

I want to play Overwatch with my friends and it's dumb as hell that it costs money to do that.

But good job stanning for billion dollar companies I guess?
 
darkside

darkside

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,280
Nobody is forcing you to pay for it. They weren't trying to obfuscate the fact that the online service would cost money when they launched the system

Which is kind of not the case with the Switch and is probably a more valid complaint there honestly (albeit at a much lower price point so shrug, whatever).
 
Miles X

Miles X

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
710
"I can't believe we are still getting sold this lie that it's actaully costing Sony and Microsoft a significant amount to run these servers."

I'm not sure they've ever stated that? I see it more like how cinemas jump up the price of snacks, to make a profit. I don't think Sony and Microsoft are as profitable on the videogame business as most think, and that's WITH this subscription money.
 

Deleted member 12100

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
57
Not a fan either, so I only ever buy renewals with a decent discount online, and only when I know I'm going to be playing. Bought a year for bloodborne, and just bought a year for Monster Hunter.
 
Hexa

Hexa

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,735
If you don't think a game is worth your money don't buy it. If you don't think a service is worth your money don't pay for it.
 
DocSeuss

DocSeuss

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,784
I don't think you understand how expensive servers cost to run, much less how much it costs to license "free" games for everyone.

Are they profiting? Absolutely. But you act like they're some kind of evil cartoon villains.
 
Rmagnus

Rmagnus

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,923
Yup folks were cheering when Sony announced it during WE, we are way past this point
 
danm999

danm999

Member
Oct 29, 2017
17,125
Sydney
It doesn't bother enough people so they can do it. Microsoft tried the same thing on PC and it failed dismally.

At this point it's been a practice on consoles for over a decade so it's likely here to stay.
 
pixeldreams

pixeldreams

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,036
Tophat Jones said:
And it was a million times easier to group up and play together in MW2 than it was for Battlefield One, we are not improving at all in functionality or ease of use
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Blame devs for that, not Sony.

Tophat Jones said:
I don't give two shits about PS Plus games, and haven't downloaded one in over a year. If you want to charge people for that service, fine. Make it separate.
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Then you have missed out on some good games.

Feel free to not renew.
 
OP
OP
Tophat Jones

Tophat Jones

Alt Account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
14,946
DocSeuss said:
I don't think you understand how expensive servers cost to run, much less how much it costs to license "free" games for everyone.

Are they profiting? Absolutely. But you act like they're some kind of evil cartoon villains.
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What is it costing on the PC side to run Overwatch servers?
 
Multiverse Moo

Multiverse Moo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,427
Silicon Valley
Tophat Jones said:
Odd responses... why don't you justify why it makes sense.

I want to play Overwatch with my friends and it's dumb as hell that it costs money to do that.

But good job stanning for billion dollar companies I guess?
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Who are you even talking about? Everyone is suggesting you DON'T PAY FOR IT - aka VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET if you don't like it.

It literally DOES cost money to have servers for tens of millions of people to connect and play games together, and there are literally loads of great games given out. Don't believe me? Rocket League, an amazing game that was given out via PS+, did really well but they messed up the amount of server load their own servers (the one PSN connects you to) was doing, and it nearly tanked the whole company. Yeah.

If anything, you should be tweeting Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to lower the cost.
 
CountAntonio

CountAntonio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,715
If you own a console and want to play online you don't have a choice. Yes it sucks, ye people can move to PC gaming but most people say screw it pay the money and move on with their lives.
 
Foldedpencil

Foldedpencil

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 27, 2017
156
Never paid for any of those services and never planned to, but my wife is hooked on splatoon, so...
 
Boiled Goose

Boiled Goose

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
9,999
TLZ said:
He doesn't really have a choice though if he wants to play online.
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PC?

You have to vote with your wallet. They get away with it. Because you're paying for it!!

I don't buy digital on consoles because I have issues with the business model. It sucks to miss out on some digital only games but there's plenty else to play.
 
blitzblake

blitzblake

Banned
Jan 4, 2018
3,171
Well i guess it's just an additional stream of revenue.. if you don't like it you're more than welcome to play on pc. I like to think that it goes towards supporting Sony first party output. Don't forget you're also paying for cloud saves and the ps plus games and also deeper discounts on all the awesome (at least in the eu) sales.

During these sales, 9 times out of 10, it's actually cheaper for me to renew ps plus and get the deeper discount on the games I want to buy....



Edit: yes it'd be nice if they could remove the paying for online and make the sub cheaper and have it include everything but the online
 
NullPointer

NullPointer

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,172
Mars
How else would we have our 100% dedicated server support and an end to that archaic practice of shutting down game servers?






Oh, wait ...
 
enkaisu

enkaisu

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,414
Pittsburgh
Love how people act like it's a choice. You either pay to play online or you don't get to at all. It's one of the worst things these companies have adopted and there's no going back now. There's no 'vote with your wallet' anymore.
 
UraMallas

UraMallas

Member
Nov 1, 2017
18,909
United States
You aren't just paying for the servers. Any bug they have ever fixed (STABILITY UPDATES), any game they have ever put up, any feature they have ever added (clubs or LFG), any update to a game (like the 4k updates to 3rd party 360 games) take actual people doing actual work. R&D is a real thing that exists. At the end of the day, you are paying for a curated experience in a walled garden. This isn't you connecting PvP for each individual game. Party chat across all of Live or PSN doesn't cost $0.

And, all that being said and any objection you might have to the above paragraph, at the end of the day, if you don't believe the value is there for you, you can play games elsewhere. Microsoft is play anywhere and free online on PC and Sony doesn't have too many games that you need an online sub for in the first place.
 
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cmagus

cmagus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
674
Main reason I ditched consoles tbh. Not that I can't afford it I just find no value in PS+ at all.The idea of having of paying $80(can) for a game and not being able to have access to the whole game unless you pay a third party to play it online is ridiculous and on top of the PSN is pretty lousy.
 
OP
OP
Tophat Jones

Tophat Jones

Alt Account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
14,946
How does "if you don't like it don't pay for it" play in micro transaction threads?

You can still like Sony and think this is a dumb thing to pay $60 for.

When there is no difference between the free and $60 servers, yea. I have issues with that.
 
CountAntonio

CountAntonio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,715
Viking Jesus said:
It's absolutely a solution.

If enough people stopped paying, they'll change their tune.

Since that isn't happening and millions of people are paying for the service with no problem, here we are.
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It failed on PC because we had better options that were free and nobody gave a shit about windows live. We PC players like to act as if we are above it but we had the luxury of abandoning a shitty platform trying to charge us when console players really do not.
 
greenbird

greenbird

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,094
Unfortunately, this ship has sailed and I can't see it ever going back to how it was in the console space.
 
Nightengale

Nightengale

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,708
Malaysia
Because online paywall is, unfortunately, the carrot and the stick that works.

Sony never shared what numbers PS+ subs were at during their PS3 days, but anecdotally reading at their sharings of PS+ details post-PS4 release, that number was less than 5 million. Back when online was free, and all that the PS+ service offered was discounts and rental of games, the attach rate was 4-6% at best.

Now it's at a 40-50% attach rate.

For me personally, PS+ is only around $40 due to regional pricing, and the 'rental games' that comes from IGC and the PS+ discounts are worth the value of the service. Consumers are by and large, comfortable with paying that additional fee and companies are experimenting in ways to get you to pay more beyond that. ( thus Gamepass, EA Access, etc )
 
Jeff6851

Jeff6851

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
753
Microsoft is doing everything they possibly can to make Xbox appealing except getting rid of Live (not happening) or cutting its cost down.
 
Rizific

Rizific

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,949
thats what happens when you lock functionality behind a paywall. what other choice do you have if you want to play multiplayer on a console?
 
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