Subscription Gaming - worst thing ever.

[The Author]

How many people here pay for the PS3 subscription?

[Toffer]

Is it really?
Xbox Live: Money is exchanged for access to an online community where a number of games can be played with other like minded people.

Generic Subscription game: Money is exchanged for access to an online community where a particular game or group of games can be played with other like minded people.

All things being equal and not taking into account dickheads on XBL who are just out to grief you they seem pretty similar to me.

In the Tetris example in it's solidarity it's a huge difference. That's possibly one of the simplest forms of gaming turned into a pointless subscription model.

Compared to Xbox Live which offers SO much more.

[Ste]

I don't but have considered it. Some decent free games on there sometimes. I wouldn't call that subscription gaming though as online play on the PS3 is still free. PS Plus just offers members free games, discounts on stuff and online cloud storage.

[Rynstex]

Compared to Xbox Live which offers SO much more.

• Early demos? Used to get them free with magazines until Live et al took over and monetized it.
• Multiplayer? Your playing for a P2P network (with exception of a few games that use dedicated).
• Voice chat? It's mostly skype now which is free anyhow isn't it?
• Video chat? See voice?
• Gold only deals, wooo save £2 off a £50 copy of Crackdown 2.

Not sure exactly where exactly this "SO much more" is?

[ZeroMark]

Not sure why we are having this discussion. In the tetris game, do you require the subscription to play?

and even if you do who the fuck cares it's tetris.

[Ste]

The tetris is still free, the subscription lets you level up faster. So really its not a subscription based game at all. More of a freeium type model.

[ZeroMark]

The tetris is still free, the subscription lets you level up faster. So really its not a subscription based game at all. More of a freeium type model.

Exactly.

[Toffer]

• Early demos? Used to get them free with magazines until Live et al took over and monetized it.
• Multiplayer? Your playing for a P2P network (with exception of a few games that use dedicated).
• Voice chat? It's mostly skype now which is free anyhow isn't it?
• Video chat? See voice?
• Gold only deals, wooo save £2 off a £50 copy of Crackdown 2.

Not sure exactly where exactly this "SO much more" is?

I think we're missing the point I was making. The SO much more is in comparison the Tetris thing. Nothing else. Although as Zero has pointed out it's not a requirement to pay.

I'm aware of all of the above...

[Jocky]

This is a bit of an off the wall idea though. Does this mean that in future I might have 47 separate subscriptions set up, one for every game that I play? That's just plain unwieldy, and a big company like EA has plenty of options to consolidate this into something a lot better.

Just for starters how about consolidating the subscription so that it's across multiple EA games?

[Ste]

Just for starters how about consolidating the subscription so that it's across multiple EA games?

And offer value for money by making it cheaper for consumers? Silly Jocky!