Ben-DutkaPlayStation Plus has proven to be a great program for consumers, and Sony plans to keep pushing it in the months and years to come.
As Sony boss John Koller told GamesIndustry.biz , Plus will be a "significant part" of their marketing scheme for the next 6-24 months. He added that it's a "nice weapon" to have in their arsenal and that it offers a fantastic value for consumers.
But maybe more intriguing is what he said about Plus convincing more people to turn to the digital side of the industry, which is rapidly gaining steam. Said Koller:
"Some of PlayStation Plus' benefit is getting consumers more comfortable with digital content who may not be. Obviously, there's the current PlayStation 3 consumer who tends to be fairly comfortable with digital and we have a great DLC sales and full game downloads and those types of things. But the new consumers who are coming in in particular, which is what I'm looking at here, if we can introduce them to PlayStation Plus and this instant game collection idea, you're bringing them into a world that may be a bit foreign to them if they don't own a system this current cycle. So that comfort level is important to us, it's important to publishers, it's important I think to most people in this industry that we get them comfortable with digital content."
That's all very possible and there's no doubt that many have opted for more digital entertainment since becoming Plus members. If you're not a subscriber just yet, you can get 3 months of service for $17.99 or a full year for $49.99, which is the better deal. This grants you early access to certain betas, discounted and free content, and 1GB worth of cloud storage so you can back up your game saves. It seems like with every passing day, more reasons show up to be a member.
No wonder every Ps3 bundle Sony releases comes with a month of PS+.
^not everybody is ready for it yet.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 10/26/2012 4:34:22 PM
I have been a PS+ member since literally the first minute it became available and I have not regretted it one bit. I feel this is without a doubt the best service available to the PS3.
However I can assure them that I have not been swayed to the digital side at all. I am not against the options of having simultaneous launches of both physical and digital copies of games, but I will never accept a digital only world. I also am not against digital games as I own many of them, but if the game is even remotely interesting to me I will find a physical copy if it exists. I just can't wait for the day when one of the major digital distributors goes out of business and everyone finally realizes what they actually bought is now gone, that day will happen and I will sit back and watch the internet cry.
By "major digital distributors" do you mean, Sony, Microsoft, or Valve? If you're a console player, you have to go through either XBA or the PSN Store. And while there are other distributors on pc, Steam is by far the largest. Because if any of those go belly up, I'm sure more people will be crying than just digital game buyers.
Yes those are what I am talking about and even the music realm as well, something like iTunes. We have already seen Walmart get into the digital music industry and flop and those customers lost their content, and unfortunately the gaming industr is not invincible. We had Sega bow out of the console industry, luckily digital gaming didn't really exist yet(console wise at least).
But even if Sony was to go belly up I wouldn't be crying nearly as much as someone who was buying mainly digital. I like my physical collection and have a decent sized one at that, so I would be ok for quite sometime. Plus I have always liked the idea of physical over digital because I would love to leave my collections to my kids or grandkids whether or not they appreciate it the same as me also does not matter.
As I said in many posts on here I am not against digital, only the idea of digital only. And if any company goes that route they can count me out as a customer, regardless of what titles they make. The backlog of games I can play from the last 40 years would last me a lifetime anyways. Plus I already can guarantee that many companies will remain both physical and digital anyways as the money that can be made from collector's editions is to great to pass up.
if they have something up w a discount for plus then yea more then likely i'll go w digital… If they get more games to be made digitally then good cause im an impulse buyer usually
Sure I'm comfortable with Digital Content, if I'm getting it for free or a really good discount, otherwise I'm getting the physical copy.
You get my way of thinking cLoudou! They have to slash the price by a third if they want me buying it digital…
Last edited by Yukian on 10/25/2012 11:30:24 PM
I am a lot more comfortable with digital than I was but it's scary to think it could all go "poof". Hell I don't even know how I could carry all this over if I lost my attached email or forgot my password or ditched that credit card.
That is the frightening thing about digital really. But it is the future and I guess it will inevitable that 5 years from now, most territories would have gone completely digitally. I wonder if brick and mortar stores can really survive, and if they can, on what?
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Until digital games costs me EXACTLY the same as purchasing it physically then I'm not gonna get convinced on that brainwash that it's the beter choice!
And I'm talking the gaming world as a whole, not only Sony.
I'd like them to cost less, on release day.
As long as they can keep the price down on new releases, old games and current games I don't mind it, but I still like my Physical games that I can interact with manual and all.
I don't like the idea of digital, but it's probably inevitable.
I'm already pretty comfortable with digital, but if there're giving out any incentives, I'll take them just the same.
I'm a Plus member, but as a long time gaming collector, I hate buying digital & I'll almost always go 99.99% for the disc version over a D/L title.
I want my games showing on my bookcases, not just on my PS3's games list, dammit!
But….I will on a rare occasion buy a digital-only title if that's the only way I can get it, such as Motorstorm RC, From Dust, Super Stardust HD, Mercury Hg, infamous: Festival of Blood, Urbanix, and Escape Plan.
But I usually don't buy D/L only titles until there's a great sale on them like the 2 that I just got tonight(Amy for only $2.50 & for my PSP, only $1.25 for Ghostbusters:Sanctum of Slime)
Last edited by BikerSaint on 10/26/2012 12:17:14 AM
Nice new avatar picture there BikerSaint. Now that's some hope and change I can get excited for 😉
Either of you watch John Stewart? That's where I go for my US political news. As a non-American, it's the only way I can enjoy foreign politics.
cackle-cackle
"goooOOOd…. GOOOOooooood"
Been with plus since available and I love it, worth every penny, but when the net is down so are many digital games which require ownership rights to be able to even be played.
I won't be swayed to make digital my first choice, free digital games great, but when I put forth my money I want my game in hand.
Make mine Bluray, FTW!
I'm definitely more comfortable with digital than I was before PS+, but that's only because of great discounts and free stuff. Borderlands is the only game I bought digitally instead of getting a physical copy because it was only $20 with all DLC. All other digital games I have were DL only or free through plus. Except for FFVII, I have both phys and digi copies of it.
But there is no way I would DL a new game like ACIII for the same price as a phys copy.
sorry to disappoint you $ony but the exact opposite is happening!
doom 3 BFG edition retail $40 dollars, PSN WITH plus discount 70!
WTF!?
nuf said!
Never been sold on PS+ sure you get a lot of content with the package, but you have no control over it. A lot of the time the stuff they put on deal you wouldn't normally play anyway, it's just a way of opening you up to buying more.
I have bought quite a few games off the store, I got a lot free with that apology for the network hacking fiacso. But the main reason I'd buy games digitally, if they're games I could not get in the UK and have been put up on the US PS Store. I've also enjoyed a lot of the Dreamcast HD ports.
One thing I do not get is how they intend to sell digital PS3 games at 50% the extra price. I'm not joking the latest 007 Legends games was 50% over the original retail price… Who in there right mind would buy that over a cheaper physical copy?
Last edited by Vivi_Gamer on 10/26/2012 6:26:56 AM
PS+ has been outstanding….however there is one serious problem with it. The separation of gamer locations and free full PS3 games. Europe has gotten some unreal games for free while the USA hasn't gotten them. For instance, Red Dead Redemption, Darksiders, Motorstorm Apocalypse and Dead Space 2 to name a few. For this system to be perfect the world should get the same games. There shouldn't be any difference.
Other than the above I am so very happy with PS+ and find it very easy to spend the money on the service. The discounts are incredible!
well, all but three of my 56 games are digital, so yeah, makes sense. I got a lot of them for free through plus however.
Those games may be free but once you end your PS+ subscription you lose all those games and everything else you may have d/l with PS+. So in the end what are you really paying for??? Something digital to temperarely play??
Ps+ is worth the 50$ for the entire year. Its cheaper than a game, and some people can play games they can't afford like infamous 2 and little big planet 2. Plus with all of the discounts, and free stuff it comes with and for only 50$ i seriously recommend this to anyone.
I'm comfortable with all digital… until something breaks down and I have to re-download 100's of downloads…
I'd be even more comfortable if NA internet was as good as, say, Korea's.
DVD = Digital Versatile Disc.
The content has always been digital, the issue is whether digital content is distributed as a download with digital licensing, or as a packaged good with physical good licensing.
The licensing is the same whether it's physical or digital. Literally the exact same. 😉
As for it always being digital… well… yes. yup.
Until North America and Europe catch up to the internet bandwidth that Japan and South Korea have, digital is very impractical. It took me a week to download the last e3 instant game collection.
Last edited by JROD0823 on 10/27/2012 1:30:55 PM
agreed.
Which is why I never renewed my Plus after the trial – I don't want free digital games. I'd rather pay for the physical. If I get a digital game, I play it and delete it, when I'm done with it. It's such a huge pain to redownload them, that it makes me think long and hard about doing it. I replay my disc games a lot more. All I have to do it pop it in and play.