Sony: PS4 multiplayer fee 'will fund improvements'

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Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has defended the company's decision to charge customers for online multiplayer on PlayStation 4.

In an interview with CVG at E3, Yoshida explained the move was necessary to maintain a high quality service and facilitate improvements and expansions.
"That's [was] a big decision," he said, "what we internally discussed and decided is that we will continue the free access to online play on PS3 and Vita, so that's clear. But because on PS4 the online connectivity features such as second screen, auto downloads and share features - these are one big pillar of the PS4 experience and we will continue to invest in this area to expand and improve these online features and services.

"If we keep giving away online access for free, the natural pressure is that we have to cut down on the cost to provide this free service. But that's conflicting with our goal of being able to provide very robust and great online services going forward. So we decided that on PS4, because we want to continue to invest and improve our new services, we've asked the most engaged consumers in the online activities to share the burden with us so that we can continue to invest."

"IF WE KEEP GIVING AWAY ONLINE ACCESS FOR FREE, THE NATURAL PRESSURE IS THAT WE HAVE TO CUT DOWN ON THE COST TO PROVIDE THIS FREE SERVICE"
During its E3 press conference Sony revealed PlayStation 4 owners must subscribe to PlayStation Plus for $5 a month to play online multiplayer and access a number of additional benefits.

"To make the pain a little bit less we will continue to offer free content with instant game collections, discounts and early access to betas on PS4 as well," Yoshida continued.

"So at the beginning we typically picked from older games for the instant game collection on Vita and PS3, but because everything is new on PS4 we decided to make a smaller version of Drive Club with all the online features open, included in that instant game collection on day one.

"In addition to that we add one digital game every month, so they get high quality indie games as well on top of what they get on PS3 and Vita. So hopefully that makes people's decision easy to join PS Plus."

During the press conference Sony confirmed PlayStation Plus memberships will carry over to PlayStation 4, so current members will have access to all of the benefits across PS3, PS Vita and PS4 for one price.

Sony later confirmed in a Tweet that PS4 users that aren't Plus members "can still enjoy single-player games and access to media services won't require Plus".

PlayStation 4 will launch this Christmas in Europe and North America for 399 USD / Euros or £349 GBP. A free PlayStation Plus version of Drive Club will be available to Plus subscribers at launch.

Posted:
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/413823/sony-ps4-multiplayer-fee-will-fund-improvements/

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"Sony: PS4 multiplayer fee 'will fund improvements'" :: Login/Create an Account :: 107 comments

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mysticalrainbowPosted:

PSN will now be equal to Xbox Live in 2005, Sweet! At least it wont get hack again. Hopefully..

EvoVIIIPosted:

Hey It Sounds Like Microsoft Membership Now.

WoobiePosted:

I'm fine with the fee, I'm switching from Microsoft so it's nothing new to me.

yo2434Posted:

ScubaSteve97 well would you look at that. Seems like Sony bought another Xbox player... The xbox one is going to suck sooooo much. All the kinect bull crap is annoying and i got verizon for tv service. also i believe PS3 games can be played through because both have Blu-ray am i correct? Also a new game a month thats a nice bonus also. so Sony is back on top i believe the PS2 was sooo much better than xbox original, then 360 beat ps3 (my opinion), now PS4 is going going to be toe to toe or maybe on top. Good job Sony keep them servers up now.
Anyone know if they have a party chat at all? if soo im definitely getting the PS4


the disk drive isn't the reason they won't have backwards compatibility. it's because of the different architectures, the ps3 used the cell design while the ps4 is using an x86

yo2434Posted:

kal45
Vampiric
VisionaryMGMT
OutbreakGaming
Sembolo It's a miracle they've JUST decided to charge now! People saying "You should get it anyway"

It costs money to make games and upkeep **** at companies like SONY.

Besides, only 5$ compared to 10$ a month? I like that, + PS4 doesn't have all this ******** about connecting once every 24 hours, or no used games or whatever the hell other downsides the Xbox has. Who gives a damn about watching TV on Xbox? I've sucked Microsoft's **** for 5 years for this ****? SONY always did make higher quality products in my opinion. :P

I've made my final decision, along with like 15 other friends, I'm going to PS4.


$10 a month? Hmm... I pay $39.99 per year for Xbox Live lol.
But on topic I'm not really surprised they have done this as it allows them to put more into there services. Anyways can't wait for both systems to come out!


Well your lying because the minimum for Xbox live anywhere per year is 60 dollars and most people only buy the 3 month passes which is more expensive even then :(


how's he lying? 12 months of live is easily found almost everywhere for $50, perhaps he has an employees discount or something, or maybe he gets them on a sale like black friday. Also I've never seen or heard someone buy a 3 month, to me that's just stupid if you do. i personally like how microsoft has made loaning games(not talking buying used games, i just don't buy used) because i didn't loan games worried that the game would be ruined by my friends(has happened before) but since you loan them digitally they can't break it and perhaps i'll end up letting people barrow my games now. On top of that between forza 5, halo 5 and titanfall there's no doubt as to why i wouldn't want the xbox.

kal45Posted:

Vampiric
VisionaryMGMT
OutbreakGaming
Sembolo It's a miracle they've JUST decided to charge now! People saying "You should get it anyway"

It costs money to make games and upkeep **** at companies like SONY.

Besides, only 5$ compared to 10$ a month? I like that, + PS4 doesn't have all this ******** about connecting once every 24 hours, or no used games or whatever the hell other downsides the Xbox has. Who gives a damn about watching TV on Xbox? I've sucked Microsoft's **** for 5 years for this ****? SONY always did make higher quality products in my opinion. :P

I've made my final decision, along with like 15 other friends, I'm going to PS4.


$10 a month? Hmm... I pay $39.99 per year for Xbox Live lol.
But on topic I'm not really surprised they have done this as it allows them to put more into there services. Anyways can't wait for both systems to come out!


Well your lying because the minimum for Xbox live anywhere per year is 60 dollars and most people only buy the 3 month passes which is more expensive even then :(

VEVOPosted:

I agree. Paying currently 60 dollars a YEAR on 360 is not that big of a deal. It insures safety and future upgrades to improve performance. Ads also help fund them.

Snowfl4k3zPosted:

It's not just to go online, like the x360. It's Plus, you get exclusives and stuff.

xboxfan7892Posted:

Im personally fine with paying, especially if it will help the PSN and besides you get 2 good free games a month... Playstation plus is already worth the money and i dont think people should worry to much about 60$ a year

STXPosted:

People look forward to getting free multiplayer when they get their playstation. This is taking away one of the main aspects of why I consider buying a playstation.


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