SCEA: PSN “As Good, If Not A Better Experience” Than Live

John-Shepard February 24, 2010 Archive 136 Comments

The PlayStation Network has come a long way in the past few years, and although it remains free, some believe the $50 for Microsoft's Xbox Live service is worth the money because it remains a better experience.

However, according to what SCEA Senior Vice President of Publisher Relations, Rob Dyer, told Industry Gamers , the Network is the easier, more "egalitarian" service. His comments are interesting, because they relate to how third-party developers and publishers view the progress of the PSN, and why more are starting to side with the PS3's service. Also, because hardware sales continue to rise, this also helps the download numbers; after all, if the service is free, a PS3 owner only needs to hook up the machine, sign up for a free account, and go. Said Dyer:

“When I first started here [at SCEA] two years ago, it was slow and cumbersome and we were really struggling to put any kind of a dent into Xbox Live. But PSN has come a long way in just a couple years. What we're now finding is we're at par and offering as good if not a better experience; and publishers are putting a lot of content on our system now that they can't put on Xbox Live. And having been a publisher on the other side, I can say that PSN is a lot more egalitarian. It's easier to get stuff up, it's easier to get it promoted and easier to get it to your consumer, versus what you have with Xbox Live."

He went on to say that it doesn't take as much convincing to get publishers to put their content on the PSN these days, primarily due to the number of PS3s that are currently in consumers' homes. As of now, the total worldwide count is up to 33.5 million and that's the kind of number game makers aren't likely to ignore. Dyer ends by asking the rhetorical question, "So if I'm a developer, which system should I make the content for?"

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SirLoin of Beef

14 years ago

The one thing I think XBL has over PSN is the lack of having to install after downloading. Other than that, it's nice not having to pay to play online, use Netflix (if I used it) and the like.

TheHighlander

14 years ago

I think Sony's security architecture prevents the console from executing something it's downloading. Considering the swiss cheese security on the 360, I'm quite happy with the PS3's approach.

coverton341

14 years ago

To everyone speaking on the fact that the downloading of patches and probably downloads in general on the 360 are faster:

You all have to remember that Microsoft has been pushing for this whole digital download revolution for a while. It would make their DRM antics much more fruitful and give them more control over things. That being said I am pretty confident that they have in place redundant servers or utilise a type of network that is similar in architecture to P2P networks.

If there are any network admins or CCNPs around they could go into great detail about how this type of thing would work and give faster download times.

Nynja

14 years ago

What XBL has that I would like to see on PSN;

– Group voice chat ability with other PSN users no matter what I'm doing (playing game, browsing internet, watching movie, etc). I don't want to have to sit in a chat room just to talk with friends. *This would cover cross-game chat as well of course.

– Mute option via PSN (similar to blocking user). I'm tired of all the racist people I encounter on PSN. If I block that user on PSN, they cannot send me messages. What good is that when I can still hear them in game? XBL allows users to mute other XBL users, why hasn't Sony offered this yet?

– Rating system. We need to be able to rate other PSN users. I love that I can rate other XBL users as well as submit abuse reports right from the dashboard.

These are the 3 things that PSN needs include free of charge to surpass XBL. If I have to pay then it will be on par.

Alienange

14 years ago

Ratings system should be paramount for Sony. It's almost silly that they haven't done that yet.

Kowhoho

14 years ago

Yeah I've been disappointed by the blocking system thus far. I've blocked several people but I can unfortunately still hear them over the mic.

TheHighlander

14 years ago

Of course you can generally block them in-game.

Personally, if someone is on my blocked list, I don't want to be in a game with them anyway, so forget blocking their voice, block them.

Superman915

14 years ago

The only thing I would want from PSN is the ability to pay to change ur PSN user name (even for a fee), like XBL have. Besides that, I could care less about cross game chat. we got netflix which was the nest thing I wanted.

Last edited by Superman915 on 2/25/2010 1:08:41 PM

TheHighlander

14 years ago

Yes, this would be nice, as would the ability to have a custom avatar picture!

A premium PSN service I would pay for in a heart beat is cloud based storage of game saves. I cannot tell you how irritating it is to have a game that locks me to a specific seat to play it. If I begin a game on the PS3 my wife uses (let's say Star Ocean 4) and then want to move that to another PS3 – such as the one on my desk – I am hosed. If I wanted to play a game at a friends house to show him/her my progress in a game – hosed. Hardware failure requires me to buy another PS3, I'm pretty hosed on those protected saves. Why the developers feel the need to lock the save to anything other than the PSN id is beyond me. If Sony ever comes up with a way to resolve this by pushing saves up to the PSN, I'll be among the first in line to pay for the service.

Superman915

14 years ago

both those things would be great, but you know some sex-less idiot would put pornographic material as their avatar.

giant123

14 years ago

last things im waiting for are: cross game chat, and your own music in all games

give me those two things and i will have nothing more to complain about 😀

TheHighlander

14 years ago

I don't think you will get your own music in all games unless you are willing to use your own music player. Sony has already made the functionality available in the Dev Kits and firmware, it's up to developers to use it.

LittleBigMidget

14 years ago

I'd love for PlayStation Cloud to have life. Ingame music is up to the developers.

Rings0fUranus

14 years ago

i wish you were able to join friends' games like the xbox has "join session in progress" on PSN. that would be great, along with being able to change your name and custom avatars. the avatars PSN has are just horrible. also a bigger comment section or whatnot (maybe showing your home character on your gamercard?)

but alas, wishful thinking…still love PSN though.
i'm torn on whether to get bad company 2 on ps3 or xbox though…:(
i ran the demos side by side and the 360 has better colors and textures, but i have more friends on PS3…what should i do?

Alienange

14 years ago

Play with your friends.

LittleBigMidget

14 years ago

Yup thats a very hard choice, more friends, or more pretty things to look at…. decisions decisions

Liquid

14 years ago