Sony Announces Flat Rate MMO Subscription

Thorizdin writes "It looks like Sony is making moves that will change gaming, but not just in the handheld market. SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) are bundling their MMO subscription plans so gamers can play all of their premium games for one flat rate ($21.99 US per month), rather than pay for many subscriptions separately. There are some exceptions, though, since the new pricing only applies to SOE-published games, so you won't get Star Wars Galaxies in the bundle." For the record, the specific games included are Everquest, Planetside, Everquest Online Adventures for PS2, the Station Pass (Tanarus, Infantry, Cosmic Rift), and Everquest 2 when it launches.

Comments

Good Move - mostly

[Murrow]

I think this will help SoE move people from EQ to EQ2 because they'll be more likely to experiment at this price than if they had to have a second subscription. I know I can only justify one $12/month game to myself (and the wife). This is only a slight savings over two $12/mo games, but you're getting access to a lot more than two games.

I think, however, that this will make my trying SW:G less likely since it will be a comparably worse deal.

Re:Good Move - mostly

[Dreetje]

It's a good idea, however as the site reads: a potential savings of more than $15 a month I think the savings aren't that big as: Players will still have to purchase each title individually which makes you chose anyway. It's not like you can play all the games at once.

How many people play more then one MMOG anyway? I know I have hardly any time to play one, let alone 7.

Also makes me wonder, will the individual subscription fees stay?

What I do think would be a good idea, is to have total free trials for the online games, if you like more then one game you could decide if you want such an subscription.

This makes a lot of sense

[truffle]

Access to multiple entertainment streams will make it more likely that someone will be a loyal Sony Online customer, trying out the new Sony games, always keeping that Sony membership active.

Smart move Sony

Re:Mass Market Appeal

[Dreetje]

I really doubt this.

I'd rather choose my own package and pay less to the cable company. However it's not an option.
I truely wonder if there will still _be_ an option for sony subscribers in a few months.

not a good deal

[aflat362]

I don't know about other people but I usually only play one game at a time. When I get sick of it I move on to the next game.

Re:not a good deal

[PeeweeJD]

don't know about other people but I usually only play one game at a time.

I agree that it is not a good deal. How many of these addictive_as_crack games can a person play at any given time? Sure you are only paying for about 2 of them, but is there enough time in the day/week/month to play 2 (or more) games of this type?

Good Thing?

[BigNumber]

I know a few people who play Everquest and I wonder if this is relevant? It seems that once you get addicted to the game, you stop playing everything else. Are there a lot of people who have time to play multiple online RPGs?

What would make more sense to me is a sort of mini-site-license that allows everyone in a single household to play for a flat fee. I know of at least two families where both parents and at least one kid all play Everquest. It would make sense to offer a flat fee for them.

Actually, now that I think about it, Sony is probably doing what makes more financial sense for them. A person is more likely to try another game if they don't have to pay another subscription fee.

Of course, based on the people I know, they could charge 50 bucks a hit for EQ and people would pay it. It's worse than heroin.

Re:Good Thing?

[Crockerboy]

This is really going to make them some bucks for Planetside when it is released in a week. They are going to have trouble getting a lot of people to $13/month for a FPS that is basically Tribes 2 on steroids. With this pricing plan they will get more people buying boxes of PS and upping their subscriptions so they can play Planetside everyone once in a while to do some good fragging. It will also make people more willing to give EQ2 a shot if the subscription is already included in their account. SOE is going to make a boat load of money with this.

Re:Good Thing?

[th3walrus]

"Are there a lot of people who have time to play multiple online RPGs?"

This is the best point about multi-game subscriptions. Even back in college (when we have all the time in the world) I didn't have the time to keep up with two MMORPG's. Believe me, I tried. I always found myself eventaully going to one or the other full-time.

I have seen MMORPG's that claim to be for the "casual" gamer, but none live up to the hype. If you don't spend loads of time online, powerleveling your character, then you can't keep up with the world. You never get to participate in the more advanced features. Eventually even hunting becomes impossible as in order to level you need to fight powerful creatures who require party combat to beat. Good luck finding a party, getting equipped, finding a monster, and destroying it in the hour you have before bed.

A game like Planetside may turn out better in this regard. The fast action and game design should let you jump in and out of the game at your leisure and still have a blast. It is a FPS after all.

So I think the only way this will work well is if you offer several different genre's of games. Unfortunately all the rest of the games will just be there when you're taking a break from the RPG.

Might help me out

[Dark Paladin]

So far, I've never subscribed to any MMRPG, mainly because of children in the house that take away from time (so hard to play online when you have to hit the "pause" button), and also because at $10 a month, I'd have to really pick one and only play that.

With this, I think I could stomach paying the $20 a month (perhaps less at a "yearly subscription rate" and hook up to whatever I want. So if I want some Planetside shooting action, great. If I want to RPG a bit, I can stop playing Planetside for a week/month and come back to it later, and not worry about my user being deleted or something.

Sony's got a smart idea here. I hope they hook up more systems under the model, perhaps extend the offer to other third party companies, so you can pick and choose from a list. I wouldn't mind paying $20 a month, and clicking 3 or 4 games total from a list I'm going to use if it included 3rd party stuff like Dark Age of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies, etc.

Of course, this does sound like someone else's Live service once it hits the third party stuff, but the difference would have to be "choice". I don't have to use Sony's all-you-can-eat plan if I don't want to, unlike Microsoft where their games are "Live or Nothing" all too often for online play. (Well, unless I want to tweak Mr. Router a bit.)

It's going to fit right into the culture

[The Evil Couch]

People that play persistant universe games fall into 3 basic catagories:

Casual gamers that will only play so long as they're having fun. Once they hit the XP treadmill, they'll try something different, like a new character or a completely different game.

Serious gamers that will play even if they're not having fun, because they enjoy the friends that they've made in the game. These poor bastards willl trudge through the XP treadmill and some will even make the top level, but most will simply hang around the upper levels, without much real hope of gaining the top level since they'd rather play with friends than do XP.

Fanatical gamers will play until they hit top level, then once they don't have a goal to shoot for in that game, they'll find another game and race through that one, too.

the first and third group fit perfectly in with the concept of a fee that'll let them play all the SOE games. Casual gamers always want something interesting and fanatical gamers reach end-game too quick. I know more than a few high levels in AO, EQ, AC and DAOC that are running wild in more than one of those games.

too bad about the no Star Wars: Galaxies bit. Lucas could have made a mint with the cross-promotion. Instead he's going to have to compete with his own dev company.