GetDotted Domains

Viewing Thread:
"Playstation Plus - From Plus to Problem?"

The "Sony Games" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.

Wed 27/08/14 at 21:25
Regular
"Tip The Scales"
Posts: 869
Playstation Plus – From Plus to Problem

Sony has created a beast – a beast that lies within its consumers. Or rather, something that is turning some of the fan base a little bit fervent. Its name? Playstation Plus.

I’ve been wanting to write something on Playstation Plus for quite a while now, since around the time of the instant game collection announcement. It was then that I saw that Sony was potentially going to cause themselves, and potentially the entire industry, a few problems.

For those who are unaware about Playstation Plus, allow me to give a little bit of background into it. Playstation Plus is Sony’s premium network offering. It was announced back in 2010, and offered full game trials, store discounts, exclusive items and free avatars and themes.

With the inclusion of free PSOne classics, minis and some small PS3 games (a few indie titles and the Megadrive remasters) and the addition of cloud storage later in the offering, I joined the service. The main benefits, I found, were the automatic downloads of firmware and patches for games (which took forever, normally) and the ability to move copy-protected saves between consoles. This last point was probably the biggest selling point, as it allowed me to play my Star Ocean 4 save at both my own place and at my girlfriend’s (she was enjoying the story and refused to let me play without her – one of the possible reasons why I haven’t yet finished it, but that’s a story for another day).

I have been a subscriber to Playstation Plus ever since. The introduction of the instant game collection and subsequent Vita and PS4 additions to this, Playstation Plus developed into what was a must have subscription for those who loved the possibility for being introduced to missed gems and AAA titles. It was through Playstation Plus that I have been introduced to games like Catherine – intelligent, captivating, beautiful, weird…and absolutely something that I would not have played otherwise. The quality of the service was never a problem.

But the quality of the service would become a problem, or, at least for some people it would be. Earlier, I mentioned that I wanted to write an article on Playstation Plus since the announcement of the instant games collection. Why? Well, around that time, I figured that the improvement to the Plus service was to introduce more people to the service before it became a requirement for online multiplayer. There’d been rumblings since before the original announcement that Sony would be charging for online, but it didn’t seem to make sense to make this change in the middle of a generation. No, but it’d be required for PS4 – and what better way of lowering the culture shock than to attach it to a must-have service in the first place.

And that is part of the problem. The quality that has been produced by Sony, particularly for some of the PS3 games, is near impossible to keep up and absolutely impossible to replicate on a new system – the Vita struggles enough and that’s been out for quite a bit longer than the PS4.

The presence of games on Playstation Plus for many people might seem a little curious. Why would game developers and publishers want to effectively give their games out for free (not including the money provided to them from Sony for having the game on plus in the first place)? Looking at the releases, most of the time it’s a pretty simple answer.

There are a few reasons to why a game might appear on Playstation Plus, and they’re all fairly valid. Indie developers are happy to provide their games for distribution on Plus because it provides the studio with much needed marketing. Future games from these developers can be sold on the back of games that people may have previously enjoyed on Plus and it is therefore useful for them.

Alternatively, franchises that have sequels coming out also often see their games on Plus. This allows a wider audience the possibility to play a game shortly before the release of a sequel, or reminds players who may have played the game earlier of its existence. It can provide buzz and introduce new players to the franchise who may then purchase the sequel when they might have had to inclination to do so. Examples of this can be seen with Saints Row 3 and Far Cry 2.

A third reason can be somewhat applicable to most games that appear on Plus. DLC: the bane of many gamers and the saviour or life extender to some game. A lot of games that appear on plus have downloadable content. Games may appear on Plus when the sales numbers of a particular game are low enough that it can be considered that the market of players who would naturally purchase a game may have been expended. The offering of a game at this point in its life for free can provide extra revenue through the sale of DLC (which is sometimes seen discounted at around the same time to make it more appealing).

So now you have the situation as it is: people are readily complaining about the quality of the service. This happens in a multitude of places: forums (of which I’ve seen several), the Playstation blog, Facebook pages. They are spoilt. The PS4 model of going back to what made Playstation Plus interesting, to me at least, of introducing independently developed games such as Road Not Taken and Don’t Starve. But time after time you see people asking: “where are the games?!” Requests for Killzone, Knack, Infamous and even Watch Dogs are not particularly rare.

All of this is on top of the massive increase in subscriptions due to the use of Plus for multiplayer access. The number of “free” copies, and therefore potential sales that are lost with this greater number of subscribers leads to a situation where publishers are less inclined to offer up their games on Plus until much later. All the while, the beast gets continually more irritated about a perceived lack of quality. A positive in Plus is turning into problematic publicity from few.

And this is not the only problem. A suggestion can be made that the over-reliance of these vocal members of communities on the games provided to them by Plus, one that can be seen in abundance through unrealistic demands, points to something far more worrying for the industry at large: waiting.

It is pretty well established that the pre-order market is particularly important for the world of gaming. Pre-orders are the lifeblood of many development studios and publishers, and without significant pre-order numbers, some games can be considered to be failures. Pre-orders are guaranteed money for the publisher that are not reliant on the quality of the game overall but the quality of the hype that a studio can develop (proof of this is not difficult to find).

In fact, gamers themselves are known for being pretty impulsive in this regard. Few gamers find themselves without large backlogs of games that have been purchased and yet to play. Many will eventually purchase games that they never will get to play (and I myself have fallen prey to this over nearly every generation of console there has been during my lifetime). But a new development has caused gamers to be far more patient than they normally would be. This is another consequence of Plus.

Again, across the internet, another rage can be seen in the direction of Plus on every announcement of the new rotation. “I already have this!” or even “I’ve literally just bought this on the store”. The perception of having bought something that is then offered for free later is quite a bitter taste for many. Again, I myself have been 'stung' by this, having bought Sleeping Dogs and found it free later on Plus before I’d even started playing it. It has, for the most part, changed how I purchase games and from the looks of what I read on the internet, I am not an isolated case.

All of this worries me slightly about the direction of the industry as a whole. With changing spending habits dictating that fewer games may be purchased by what is potentially a significant proportion of gamers, the smaller studios that may rely more on the impulses of the gaming public may struggle. I fear that Sony may continue to feel backlash from customers unhappy with the service provided and lose some support, despite there being an extension of the service over three consoles and an unrealistic expectation from many over what the service can be. Offshoots like EA Access seem to me to prove that Plus has caused a problem that can only be solved by a change in approach for selling in the industry, forced by a service that proved to be unsustainably good for a long enough period.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Playstation Plus, it has provided me with lots of entertainment over the years and is well worth the price. But I predict that, in one way or another, it will change the industry for the worse over time.

I hope I’m wrong.
Sat 30/08/14 at 08:44
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
A good article, though I don't agree with all of it.

Developers and publishers will find a way to make money and these subscription models are just a different route to doing this. Sony probably have big incentives for publishers who put their games on PS+ and the rise of both Games with Gold and EA access seem to show that the industry is leaning towards subscription models too.

I think the biggest threat towards complaints about the quality of Sony's PS+ service is from their competition. Games With Gold is still fairly new and initially was pretty dire, with really old games appearing as part of the deal, but since the introduction of GWG for Xbox One the Xbox 360 content has been pretty good and the Xbox One content is on a par with PS+

In a way, it's the indie games that appeal to me most on the service, though from the various gaming forums it's clear some others would disagree. Because PS4 is still fairly new, all the PS+ games have been indie titles so far! though Sony did promise a couple of AAA games by the end of the year (one of which will probably be the cut down Driveclub, though). But these indie games have actually been pretty good and certainly better than some AAA PS4 releases that could have made their way to PS4.

Driveclub represents another direction the service could take; a cut down version of a AAA game. Not a demo, it's a fully playable version that would have looked like a meaty game if it was released a few years back. It has all the game modes, but has less tracks and cars than the retail release. You can just play that or upgrade to the full game and keep your progress. I think that's a great idea but, as usual, there are those who are complaining that 'it's just a demo'.
Fri 29/08/14 at 14:46
Regular
"Tip The Scales"
Posts: 869
I managed to get through the last steam sale unscathed. I bought (or rather, was gifted) one game (The Stanley Parable) and played through it to see a couple of the endings. It was certainly enjoyable. I can't say the same about some of the games I've played previously, though.

I'll admit that my Plus backlog is also pretty substantial, although the list of stuff I've got and actually want to play is quite a bit shorter, as is my normal purchased game one. I'm getting through a couple, though, so that's good.
Fri 29/08/14 at 14:27
Staff Moderator
"Meh..."
Posts: 1,474
dav2612 wrote:
That's an interesting stat about unplayed Steam games.

My PS Plus collection is certainly heading that way. Regardless of whether I am interested in the game, I 'buy' it anyway just incase. I've got a list of all the games in order to keep track of them. I actually had a look at the list last night and there are some good games on there that I've just ignored. I need to make amends for that... but probably won't.


At least I'm not abnormal. Seems to be the general process when you have a Steam account, load up on the games that you "might play sometime" when they're in the sale, never look at them again.
Fri 29/08/14 at 10:08
Regular
"And in last place.."
Posts: 2,054
That's an interesting stat about unplayed Steam games.

My PS Plus collection is certainly heading that way. Regardless of whether I am interested in the game, I 'buy' it anyway just incase. I've got a list of all the games in order to keep track of them. I actually had a look at the list last night and there are some good games on there that I've just ignored. I need to make amends for that... but probably won't.
Thu 28/08/14 at 20:03
Regular
"Feather edged ..."
Posts: 8,536
Knew I'd read something earlier regarding Steam and DLC ...

Steam and unplayed games ... sounds similar to Plus
Thu 28/08/14 at 16:04
Staff Moderator
"Meh..."
Posts: 1,474
Not really all that odd, nor is it a surprise. The "something for nothing" mentality has been hanging around the gaming industry for longer than I can remember.

It's exactly why so many people have an issue with DLC (argue against that all you want, my opinion...), it's exactly why so many people have an issue with any move to stop trade ins (again, my opinion), it's exactly why console games will continue to be £50+ when freshly released.

PC gamers are no better, in fact in a lot of way, we're worse.

I won't pay for mobile games, I flatly refuse. Mobile games are "throwaway", I'll play them as a diversion, nothing more, so why should I pay for them? So, the only ones I play are the freebies...

I suspect this will have an impact on Sony's sales short term, but on the gaming industry as a whole?

Probably not. That particular horse already bolted...
Thu 28/08/14 at 14:59
Regular
"Tip The Scales"
Posts: 869
Thanks dav. Yeah, it's a bit of a long one, granted, but as I said: I've wanted to discuss it for a long time, and the longer I waited, the more points I wanted to bring up. :)

I have an example of where I've seen change within myself and how I think about purchasing games. It was with me and my housemate about a month or so ago.

He asked me whether I wanted to go halves with him for Playstation All Stars Battle Royale. The idea being that the game would be available for play on the PS3 in the living room, for multiplayer with friends round (the dearth of local multiplayer games is a discussion for another day). As a bonus, I'd get the Vita game code as he doesn't have one. I refused and my reasoning was "Eh, it'll be on Playstation Plus soon." I was right, it's coming to the service next week, but it's a sort of newly developed attitude, feeling I can wait for the experience to come to me rather than pay to have it now.

I've seen a massive curtailing of my spending on games and it hasn't been a particularly conscious effort, more of a switch to "I'll get it, for free, eventually" and the more people who get like this, the more concern I have for the industry overall - unless something changes.
Thu 28/08/14 at 13:45
Regular
"And in last place.."
Posts: 2,054
I could have downloaded a couple of PS Plus games in the time it took me to read this :)

An interesting read and I can see where you are coming from.

PS Plus was the best and worst thing I signed up for. Best for a regular stream of games and at times, ridiculously good value for money. On the other hand, I have a huge backlog which I will never get through and if truth be told, I've not played most of the games.

Now that the PS4 has come on board I get 6 games a month; 2 for each of the systems I own. The appeal of the games is definitely reducing but I still think I get my money's worth.

I can see these subscription services becoming more common but I quite like them. I still need to see how often content changes but at the moment I'd like to be able to subscribe to EA Access.

I think PS Plus could do with breaking up. I think there is some benefit to having a sub per console and having better content. For instance, I tend to use the Vita content the most, then the PS4 and it has been a while since I played any of the PS3 games. I'd happily pay for a better Vita subscription and if the PS4 subscription was more like the EA Access then I'd be all for that.
Wed 27/08/14 at 21:25
Regular
"Tip The Scales"
Posts: 869
Playstation Plus – From Plus to Problem

Sony has created a beast – a beast that lies within its consumers. Or rather, something that is turning some of the fan base a little bit fervent. Its name? Playstation Plus.

I’ve been wanting to write something on Playstation Plus for quite a while now, since around the time of the instant game collection announcement. It was then that I saw that Sony was potentially going to cause themselves, and potentially the entire industry, a few problems.

For those who are unaware about Playstation Plus, allow me to give a little bit of background into it. Playstation Plus is Sony’s premium network offering. It was announced back in 2010, and offered full game trials, store discounts, exclusive items and free avatars and themes.

With the inclusion of free PSOne classics, minis and some small PS3 games (a few indie titles and the Megadrive remasters) and the addition of cloud storage later in the offering, I joined the service. The main benefits, I found, were the automatic downloads of firmware and patches for games (which took forever, normally) and the ability to move copy-protected saves between consoles. This last point was probably the biggest selling point, as it allowed me to play my Star Ocean 4 save at both my own place and at my girlfriend’s (she was enjoying the story and refused to let me play without her – one of the possible reasons why I haven’t yet finished it, but that’s a story for another day).

I have been a subscriber to Playstation Plus ever since. The introduction of the instant game collection and subsequent Vita and PS4 additions to this, Playstation Plus developed into what was a must have subscription for those who loved the possibility for being introduced to missed gems and AAA titles. It was through Playstation Plus that I have been introduced to games like Catherine – intelligent, captivating, beautiful, weird…and absolutely something that I would not have played otherwise. The quality of the service was never a problem.

But the quality of the service would become a problem, or, at least for some people it would be. Earlier, I mentioned that I wanted to write an article on Playstation Plus since the announcement of the instant games collection. Why? Well, around that time, I figured that the improvement to the Plus service was to introduce more people to the service before it became a requirement for online multiplayer. There’d been rumblings since before the original announcement that Sony would be charging for online, but it didn’t seem to make sense to make this change in the middle of a generation. No, but it’d be required for PS4 – and what better way of lowering the culture shock than to attach it to a must-have service in the first place.

And that is part of the problem. The quality that has been produced by Sony, particularly for some of the PS3 games, is near impossible to keep up and absolutely impossible to replicate on a new system – the Vita struggles enough and that’s been out for quite a bit longer than the PS4.

The presence of games on Playstation Plus for many people might seem a little curious. Why would game developers and publishers want to effectively give their games out for free (not including the money provided to them from Sony for having the game on plus in the first place)? Looking at the releases, most of the time it’s a pretty simple answer.

There are a few reasons to why a game might appear on Playstation Plus, and they’re all fairly valid. Indie developers are happy to provide their games for distribution on Plus because it provides the studio with much needed marketing. Future games from these developers can be sold on the back of games that people may have previously enjoyed on Plus and it is therefore useful for them.

Alternatively, franchises that have sequels coming out also often see their games on Plus. This allows a wider audience the possibility to play a game shortly before the release of a sequel, or reminds players who may have played the game earlier of its existence. It can provide buzz and introduce new players to the franchise who may then purchase the sequel when they might have had to inclination to do so. Examples of this can be seen with Saints Row 3 and Far Cry 2.

A third reason can be somewhat applicable to most games that appear on Plus. DLC: the bane of many gamers and the saviour or life extender to some game. A lot of games that appear on plus have downloadable content. Games may appear on Plus when the sales numbers of a particular game are low enough that it can be considered that the market of players who would naturally purchase a game may have been expended. The offering of a game at this point in its life for free can provide extra revenue through the sale of DLC (which is sometimes seen discounted at around the same time to make it more appealing).

So now you have the situation as it is: people are readily complaining about the quality of the service. This happens in a multitude of places: forums (of which I’ve seen several), the Playstation blog, Facebook pages. They are spoilt. The PS4 model of going back to what made Playstation Plus interesting, to me at least, of introducing independently developed games such as Road Not Taken and Don’t Starve. But time after time you see people asking: “where are the games?!” Requests for Killzone, Knack, Infamous and even Watch Dogs are not particularly rare.

All of this is on top of the massive increase in subscriptions due to the use of Plus for multiplayer access. The number of “free” copies, and therefore potential sales that are lost with this greater number of subscribers leads to a situation where publishers are less inclined to offer up their games on Plus until much later. All the while, the beast gets continually more irritated about a perceived lack of quality. A positive in Plus is turning into problematic publicity from few.

And this is not the only problem. A suggestion can be made that the over-reliance of these vocal members of communities on the games provided to them by Plus, one that can be seen in abundance through unrealistic demands, points to something far more worrying for the industry at large: waiting.

It is pretty well established that the pre-order market is particularly important for the world of gaming. Pre-orders are the lifeblood of many development studios and publishers, and without significant pre-order numbers, some games can be considered to be failures. Pre-orders are guaranteed money for the publisher that are not reliant on the quality of the game overall but the quality of the hype that a studio can develop (proof of this is not difficult to find).

In fact, gamers themselves are known for being pretty impulsive in this regard. Few gamers find themselves without large backlogs of games that have been purchased and yet to play. Many will eventually purchase games that they never will get to play (and I myself have fallen prey to this over nearly every generation of console there has been during my lifetime). But a new development has caused gamers to be far more patient than they normally would be. This is another consequence of Plus.

Again, across the internet, another rage can be seen in the direction of Plus on every announcement of the new rotation. “I already have this!” or even “I’ve literally just bought this on the store”. The perception of having bought something that is then offered for free later is quite a bitter taste for many. Again, I myself have been 'stung' by this, having bought Sleeping Dogs and found it free later on Plus before I’d even started playing it. It has, for the most part, changed how I purchase games and from the looks of what I read on the internet, I am not an isolated case.

All of this worries me slightly about the direction of the industry as a whole. With changing spending habits dictating that fewer games may be purchased by what is potentially a significant proportion of gamers, the smaller studios that may rely more on the impulses of the gaming public may struggle. I fear that Sony may continue to feel backlash from customers unhappy with the service provided and lose some support, despite there being an extension of the service over three consoles and an unrealistic expectation from many over what the service can be. Offshoots like EA Access seem to me to prove that Plus has caused a problem that can only be solved by a change in approach for selling in the industry, forced by a service that proved to be unsustainably good for a long enough period.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Playstation Plus, it has provided me with lots of entertainment over the years and is well worth the price. But I predict that, in one way or another, it will change the industry for the worse over time.

I hope I’m wrong.

Freeola & GetDotted are rated 5 Stars

Check out some of our customer reviews below:

Top-notch internet service
Excellent internet service and customer service. Top-notch in replying to my comments.
Duncan
Impressive control panel
I have to say that I'm impressed with the features available having logged on... Loads of info - excellent.
Phil

View More Reviews

Need some help? Give us a call on 01376 55 60 60

Go to Support Centre
Feedback Close Feedback

It appears you are using an old browser, as such, some parts of the Freeola and Getdotted site will not work as intended. Using the latest version of your browser, or another browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Opera will provide a better, safer browsing experience for you.