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.

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.

Re:Good Move - mostly

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

The real question is whether or not I can be playing two different games on the same subscription at the same time. Probably Sony wouldn't want this but it would make a nice family plan if one of the kids could be playing online in one room while the other was playing online in a different.

Insert obligatory 'people should spend more time talking to each other in real life and less time playing video games' paragraph here. Throw in a bit at the end about enjoying the beautiful weather with the ones you love

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

Mass Market Appeal

[RealDeadFred]

Can't remember where I read this... broadly speaking its the idea that consumers don't like the idea of having to pay subscriptions for individual games, they prefer paying for a package, in the same way you would subscribe to a cable or satellite service for a flat fee and then have access to a number of channels. Seems like a good idea then!

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?

Who cares?

[Sevidrac]

They should pay me $21.99 a month to play those. But seriously, why not make something worth paying for?

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,

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

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.)

Re:Might help me out

[RealDeadFred]

Yeah... right now I don't play MMO games since they seem to require such a huge time commitment, one that, having a wife, job and kids I just don't have! I can see the flat subscription thing working for me, provided there were games that it was possible to dip in and out of... Some of my workmates are getting into the PlanetSide beta right now, and these guys are playing 8-12 hours at a time. No thanks!

Re:Might help me out

[Tomato8]

There are turn-based MMO games that don't require that kind of commitment. Multiplayer.com just launched a service that features a number of those like High Descent,Territories,Wizards Challenge, etc. Like Sony, they're offering multiple titles for one price.

EQ1/2 crossovers

[Tarindel]

In case you missed it, there's another article on the site (http://www.sonyonline.com/corp/press_releases/EQ2 _incentives_051303.html [sonyonline.com]) that shows Sony is trying to provide additional incentives to those who play both EQ1 and EQ2. The most relevant paragraph follows:

"SAN DIEGO, CA - May 12, 2003 - Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, announced today that it is adding incentives to EverQuest® II, the parallel online universe to the hugely successful gaming phenomenon EverQuest®, to reward current EverQuest players for the time they have invested enjoying the original title. The incentives will include exclusive crossover quest zones in each game that will be accessible only by subscribers of both games, allowing characters in EverQuest and EverQuest II to gain access to hidden treasures, an EverQuest II in-game reward for loyal fans, and additional features to be disclosed over the coming months for ongoing EverQuest and EverQuest II players"

Last game I played that had crossover zones to encourage people to play both was probably Might and Magic IV/V...

skotos.net has 7 games 1 price

[herderofcats]

This looks like moving to a cable-style subscription model is becoming a trend. For instance, Skotos (www.skotos.net) instituted a 'many games, one price' subscription plan last year, which they now currently have 7 different games for $12.95 a month, and more on the way.

I guess this makes sense as who the online game industry really competes against is the premium cable industry. They want you to watch 80 hours a month of their programming, but instead you play 80 hours a month online games.

It is curious

Re:skotos.net has 7 games 1 price

[th3walrus]

"It is curious that they are excluding Star Wars Galaxies -- is that only because they can't because of LucasFilm licensing?"

I'm guessing it's something else. The game is Star Wars and it has been hyped all to hell and back. They *know* it's going to sell massive numbers off the shelf. Whether or not people continue subscribing is a different matter. They're going to get that $12 (extra $12 for people who already play EQ/Planetside/etc) from all those people.

Now, if the game sinks after release and turns

Following XBOX Model

[telstar]

This is what Microsoft has been doing since day 1.
It's also part of the reason EA decided NOT to go with Microsoft in creating Live-enabled XBOX games. It'll be interesting to see how EA responds now that Sony has decided to follow this unified service model ... at a notably higher price that Microsoft.

Re:Following XBOX Model

[Babbster]

To be fair, and despite my appreciation of the quality of the Xbox Live service, Microsoft isn't yet offering any massively multiplayer games that are included in the $50/year price point (even PSO costs $9 a month). Those kinds of games take a lot more work to maintain due to the size of the world, the number of people online on the same server [farm] at the same time, and the overall increased complexity of the gameplay experience - balance issues alone over the time period required to advance in a MMOR

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.

Re:It's going to fit right into the culture

[Judicator]

One game that is not mentioned above that might make the huge difference for me is Final Fantasy XI. It was announced just recently that SOE will be publishing this game for Square/Enix.

Re:It's going to fit right into the culture

[Babbster]

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.

"Compete" and "Star Wars" in the same paragraph? Hilarious.

Seriously, the main reason that SWG isn't going to be included isn't because of the differing companies. It's because they (LucasArts and Verant/SOE) are sure that people will pay full price for it separately. If anything, the move is to protect EQ and the rest from having people

that's not too shabby

[tankdilla]

I haven't gotten into everquest yet, waiting for everquest 2. But I do spend about $20 a month on Magic the Gathering Online (league play), and Sony's deal lets you play more than one game per month for $22 / month. That's not too bad. Don't know if it can take the place of Magic. Although it may be time for a new addiction, we'll have to see.

Re:fuck that

[Ledneh]

So just pay the $12.99 for a single Planetside subscription or whatever. Yeesh.

wow

[chill182]

Everquest AND Plantside? Damn, if only I didn't have a social life...

This is the Greatest Thing Ever (tm).

[Ledneh]

Sony's definitely got the right idea on this one. I could never convince myself to pay a monthly fee for a game, no matter how good, as long as it was more than $5. (though, oddly, I paid $1.99 an hour for Federation waaay back when... man, what a fun game that was ^_^). But now, referring to the above comments about the cable channels, this is like a group package. I've ALREADY convinced myself that I can do this. (By the way, maybe I just misread the post, but did it say that people who aren't already s