Let’s take a trip back in time. Back to when the Xbox players had to pay for their online services and Playstation players didn’t. Xbox had the more stable services, with more updates and a better quality of life and the Playstation had a somewhat unstable service that wasn’t updated all that often, but it was free! Everything seemed to balance itself out in the end and consumers on both ends were fairly happy with how it all ran. Then Playstation made PS+ mandatory if you owned a PS4. Let’s talk about how this changed the way that Playstation looked and felt.
So as I said before, Playstation customers were used to a service that wasn’t all that reliable, went down often and didn’t update the home page all too much, but they had friends on the system, some exclusives they enjoyed and the online service was free so it wasn’t a big problem. Fast forward to today and ask yourself a question, what did the mandatory PS+ subscription really change?
The short answer is not much at all. The slightly longer answer is while it definitely hasn’t made the service more stable, akin to Xbox Live, it has bought and brought exclusive content to the Playstation that Sony just couldn’t afford before. Things like Watch Dogs exclusive gameplay, Call of Duty’s new home for competitive and early DLC and Destiny’s marketing and further exclusive free content are great bonuses for the PS4, but what it comes down to is would you rather have all of the aforementioned perks, or a stable online service that doesn’t go down for days at a time with a risk to personal information such as credit cards and passwords.
Playstation are a laughing stock in the coding world, with so much of their encryption being sub-par and seemingly hackable by anyone with a computer and some semi-sophisticated software. Sony need to start investing some of that money they are screwing loyal customers out of into something that benefits everybody on the network, rather than exclusive content that is in some cases, completely irrelevant and too late (buying Call of Duty in 2015, what on Earth were you thinking Sony?).
The way I see it, Sony have two very clear options. Either take Playstation Plus back to an optional service that people actually want to buy if they support the company and give away some really great bonuses that makes it worth the money. Or they should invest much more of the money from subscriptions than they currently are into infrastructure and focus on making Playstation services the best they can be for the money, and leaving the game exclusivity deals on the back burner for when Sony are actually capable of running an online service that isn’t down on a monthly basis.
What do you guys think? Is Sony’s PS+ really worth the money? Would you rather PS+ was an optional service once again with benefits that make you want to buy it, rather than a mandatory fee? Let us know down in the comments!
starscream1180
when i had the ps3 i always told myself how awesome it was to not pay for the service bc it wasnt ideal … i been on ps+ less than a year with the ps4 …and lol it should be 10 bucks a year bc its not ideal , i thought hey its same price as xbl they mustve revamped the service and its super stable now …i guess i was wrong.
and yes the free games cover the yearly cost in its yearly lifespan …but it would be great to have better service.
bettergetdave
I hear you but seriously how often are you gaming?? How many outages have you experienced? I am 33 with a full time job and I probably still get close to 12-16 hours a week but I just don’t experience any interruption in service. I read about way more than I have ever experienced.
starscream1180
i have a 10 hour job and i go to the gym 2 hours 6 times a week … and my ps4 has been down quite a few times… my xbox one maybe 4 times in the last 10 months.
Kasey Moore
With Games with Gold the two services are identical in every way including price so when PSN has lots of outages it’s only right to question it’s value. Sony needs to step it up.
bettergetdave
Games with Gold is far from identical to PS+. I have both services all though admittedly only xlive for 1 year as compared to PS+ for 3. Bottom line though if you think games with gold holds up to PS+ you are not using both services or just aren’t making an honest comparison.
Kasey Moore
How do you mean? Are you talking about quality of the games? I’d say Assassin’s Creed : Black Flag is a far better option compared with Rocket League (which is currently broken)
Gamez Rule
PS+ is a multi featured service, not a game rental service. Just wish others see that fact. You get given stuff like Map-Packs for FREE to keep forever, you can keep all the Avatars / Dynamic Themes / Add-ons, including DLC which do not expire when a PlayStation Plus subscription lapses. Yet people seem to leave that part out? Does GFG give these items out?..Nope
Whatever you buy ( using the PS+ discounts ) is also yours to keep forever. Now this is NOT my opinion when i say PS+ offers the best deal on any console network for gamers
If you want to access the multi player portion of the game you paid for you HAVE to pay for XBL Online Membership to use that game feature? And GFG ( Games For Gold ) is no exception ( something that doesn’t affect PS3 / Vita gamers)
The only thing Microsoft has dominated is last place. Sorry, but it’s true. They have never dominated a PlayStation platform and it’s not gonna happen this gen either☺
PSN & PS+ have always given back to the gamer something to do with gaming and have done so for many years ( IMO MS only started this GFG due to public outcry and PS+ offerings from Sony ) otherwise XBL would still be just taking gamers money and giving them nothing in return.
bettergetdave
In all fairness ps+ wouldn’t exist if the 360 wasn’t beating the ps3 in sales for the majority of last gen.
Gamez Rule
Thing is 360 wasn’t beating PS3 in monthly / yearly sales. Here is why.. 360 had a 12mth+ release lead on PS3 with approx- 10 million console sales head start. PS3 ( in the same time span ) not only outsold 360 it then went and passed the MS home console in total World Wide Sales.
bettergetdave
Uh yea it was see vgchartz, not until 2011-13 did Sony catch up and them pass them, it wasn’t just a yr head start it was about pricing, games and online service, all things that didnt improve till later in the gen for Sony
Gamez Rule
vgchartz = BS! everyone knows this.
Fact is even though PS3 was set at a higher selling price it still outsold the 360 and sold more overall.
Now PS4 and Xbone are launched in the same year you can see that PS4 is outselling Xbone worldwide, and even when MS lowered the Xbones price it had no effect on PS4 sales.
Fact is no MS home console has outsold a Sony home console to date. And IMO I can’t see MS outselling PS4 this gen,
bettergetdave
If vgchartz is bs what is more accurate??? And no shit ps4 is crushn xbox there is no way in hell MS is goin to catch them captain obvious! Do u even know who or what your arguing about? I never said anything about this gen or Xbox ever outselling Sony globally! Stop w the super Sony defense you make the rest of us fans sound obnoxious! My only point is that PS + was created and marketed to outsell the xbox, if the 360 didn’t sell so amazingly well u likely would have never had such an awesome service in ps+! You think that’s wrong your drinking too much koolaid
Gamez Rule
More accurate = official figures from MS and Sony ☺
“PS + was created and marketed to outsell the xbox, if the 360 didn’t sell so amazingly well u likely would have never had such an awesome service in ps+”
Where is this stated?
Sony gave PS+ to gamers for a fee to offer a good service to gamers and make money from the free network costs. It was only until PS4 that PS+ was needed for online gaming to help with the above information. This has nothing to do with how consoles sold as PS3 outsold 360 ( in the same time span ) like explained.
bettergetdave
Gamesz….VG uses those figures, plus NPD, plus information from retailers and so on. You can’t trust companies figures alone anyways! Microsoft is well known for providing fuzzy math on there “official figures’ including 360 sales in xbox1 sales numbers or counting shipped units instead of sold. VGchartz helps by sorting that crap out. You have to know this and are just being hard headed at this point. VGchartz is the #1 place for this data.
That said I double checked the figures and you were right, MS only outsold PS 2 years last gen globally. They beat them regularly in the US though every year and maybe that could have had something to do with it but maybe not. Who knows?
Gamez Rule
“That said I double checked the figures and you were right”………
Which is why I stated…
“360 had a 12mth+ release lead on PS3 with approx- 10 million console sales head start. PS3 ( in the same time span ) not only outsold 360 it then went and passed the MS home console in total World Wide Sales”
bettergetdave
Whatever dude screw off
bettergetdave
Sure, the game was also already free with an Xbox purchase though. But that is all just this month, historically there are more games free and more AAA titles by far on ps+.
d0x360
The only reason Sony bought COD was because Microsoft didn’t want if anymore. The series is on a decline and will not recover THANK GOD!
As for ps+ I’m considering not renewing. I accidentally let it renew this year but if I’m honest with myself… I never use it. Ever. I rarely even turn on my ps4. Yesterday was the first time in months that I had and I ended up playing watch dogs for about 10 min before jumping back over to pc for witcher 3. I am getting nothing for my money so the downtime isn’t even an issue.
What I can say is this. If xbl were down as much as psn I would cancel immediately because I use it constantly. I’m thankful that I have multiple options I know many don’t. Service is unacceptable on psn and Sony can’t afford to make it better
Gamez Rule
https://downdetector.com/status/xbox-live/archive ( this year = over 240 downs )
https://downdetector.com/status/playstation-network/archive ( this year under 240 downs )
How is XBL more stable when it’s down just as much this year as PSN ( if not more so ) People have paid for years to use XBL online features and STILL it’s down just as much as PSN. Plus Sony have only started charging online access to PS4 gamers ( not PS3 users ) while giving extras to the PS4 users ( something MS didn’t do for many years )
IF a paid services was better than a free service, then why has XBL been down more times this year than PSN which is a FREE service and a paid service to PS4 only gamers?
Jecht_Sin
What a joke of an article. XBL keeps going down after the launch of Xbone and yet you discuss only about the PSN. At least PS+ gives out a ton of value in games.
kreator
So now it’s cool to pay for online gaming?
kreator
These ponies should be asking where’s the money going from PSN, if it’s not going back into the network!
Gamez Rule
XBL users having been asking MS this same thing for 10 years. IE: Where’s our money going if not back into the network! ☺
kreator
Bullshit! You mad?
Gamez Rule
From Lizard Squard..
The easier game network to take down was Microsoft’s Xbox Live. *Sony had apparently upgraded its security recently, which took “a bit of time to work around*,” but Microsoft had “almost nothing” in terms of security.
Yet this Network from MS has been charging gamers for years to play online ( unlike Sony ) that started with PS4 gen.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-hacker-gang-lizard-squad-took-down-xbox-live-and-playstation-network-2014-12
So much for BS☺