Sony Exploring Online Pass

[env963]

Sony is 'exploring actively' the idea of an online pass for its games, a model which would see it move in line with recent efforts from THQ and EA.

Sony's European President Andrew House came out in support of the model in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, and revealed that Sony is looking into following suit. "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," House said, "And we're exploring actively the same option for our own content."

EA's Online Pass has proved a success, with COO John Schappert revealing that between 60 to 70 percent of online players are using the code, the result being an increase in revenue.

House was also quick to acknowledge that one of PSN's biggest pulls is the fact that it allows for free access. "In terms of just a charge for basic online play, that's something that we have to talk about a lot more," he said, "and we struggle with a little bit because we feel very vindicated and base a lot of the success of PSN today - a 70 per cent connection rate across consoles - on the fact that we've removed that major initial barrier to entry."

Sony introduced PlayStation Plus earlier this year, a premium paid-for service that gives subscribers free content. We've been gauging the value of PlayStation Plus since it launched.

House reflected on the success of the service, saying "It's interesting that there's been a more significant uptake on the annual subscriptions than there has been on the three months subscription, with the exception of Japan. I think that we need to remain hard at work on ensuring the content offering and the content flow remain strong."

Taken from IGN

[GamerMON]

a premium paid-for service that gives subscribers free content

lol wat

[fastbilly1]

Paying for a game, then paying to play online. Hmm why does that sound familiar? Oh yeah, MMORPG/MMOFPS's, and the reason I stopped playing them.

[AppleQueso]

I get the feeling I won't be buying any consoles next gen

[ZeroAX]

I get the feeling I won't be buying any consoles next gen

likewise. Good thing the 3DS exists/will exist

[env963]

I think what they are saying is if you buy the game used, and you want to go online, you will have to "purchase" a online code for a fee, say $5 or $10 or whatever that may be.

[MrPopo]

I think what they are saying is if you buy the game used, and you want to go online, you will have to "purchase" a online code for a fee, say $5 or $10 or whatever that may be.

Exactly; it's essentially EA's $10 Pass. Sony doesn't just want to change to a global "you give us money for online" as they recognize that it is a selling point that the PSN is free multiplayer while Live costs money. But by doing this they go after the people who buy used games.

[kiteJargon]

I find it difficult to accept that Sony will just ditch the free portion of the service outright. I only play online on my PS3 because it's free, if they moved towards an XBOXLive style subscription service I just wouldn't play online on my PS3 anymore. As far as I know the one time fee model that EA is implementing only applies for buying used games, the code comes included in new purchases. It was an effort to curb the booming used game market that keeps all the money in the retailers with substantially less going back to the publishers and developers. I'm personally all for buying new next-gen games anyway as I'd rather support the developers than bloody GameStop.
/End_Tangent

I think if Sony went the XBLive route it would just mean a good number of people not playing online anymore, especially the more casual players.

[Flake]

I get the feeling I won't be buying any consoles next gen

That's why I've stopped with the Wii. Nintendo isn't perfect but at least they haven't started this kind of BS.

...yet.

[Dakinggamer87]

I'm not surprised with the way the used gaming market is currently but I buy almost all my games brand new so it won't affect me as much but still annoying nonetheless