Wretched Ride: PS4 Driveclub Game Rental Tied To Paid Subscription 93
MojoKid (1002251) writes "The upcoming PS4 game Driveclub is making waves for reasons that have nothing to do with its gameplay or development status. In a new video, the company has spelled out its free trial and upgrade policies, and the requirements are a doozy. First, the good news — PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to download a demo of the game that contains a few maps and one trial area, India. If you choose to upgrade that version, the full title will cost you $50. Here's the catch — that purchase is tied to your Playstation Plus subscription. In other words, if you stop paying Sony the official $49.95 a year for PlayStation Plus, you lose your $50 game. This is completely at odds with how PlayStation Plus membership is supposed to work. It contradicts Sony's official FAQ, which states that: 'Any content you purchase with a Plus discount is yours to keep, regardless of you membership status.'"
It's the loophole (Score:5, Interesting)
Official response: Well you didn't purchase it, you licensed it.
Silly consumers...
There's a simple solution (Score:4, Interesting)
You try to bullshit me with your contract, I'm not entering it. Keep your game, I keep my money, let's see who can rather afford it.
Re:MSRP of subscription MMOs (Score:4, Interesting)
Did EverQuest, World of Warcraft, or any other subscription MMORPG cost money to "buy" at launch?
All of them. It's very rare that a non-freemium MMO doesn't have a purchase price.
I do not think they are even remotely comparable to this though. For that monthly fee, you're getting something. There's in-game support, constant development of new areas, improved rules, GM events, etc... You're paying to keep the online servers up, and the development to continue. MMO's are an entirely different animal than other games.
I'd compare it to buying a bowling ball. If you buy a basket ball, you know you can use it where-ever, even setup your own hoop. Buy a bowling ball and you're totally aware that to play that game it's going to cost you $20 every time. It's part of the deal and you understand it. But what this developer is doing is akin to selling you a basketball with a coin slot on the side. You have to put coins in, but you get nothing in return. It's just a money grab.
Re:It's the loophole (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think that's the loophole, actually. Since technically as far as Sony cares you license everything, the physical disc just gives you a "license" to use the software on it.
No, the distinction is that the "unlock" is "DLC" and the full version is a "game."
One of the "perks" of a PSPlus subscription (in fact, the only perk prior to the PS4) was that you'd get discounts on the PlayStation Store and that sometimes you could get free games. If you got a "free" game through PSPlus, you only could use it while you have an active PSPlus subscription.
Well, guess what? The demo version of this game is, in fact, a "free" PSPlus game. It's only available to PSPlus subscribers. So as soon as you drop your PSPlus subscription, you lose access to the demo.
And the "full unlock" is DLC to said "free game," so if you drop your PSPlus subscription, you lose access to the entire game as you can no longer play the "base" game (the "demo").
This whole thing strikes me more as laziness than out-right maliciousness. Someone realized it screwed people over, and then rather than try and fix it by making an exception, Sony said "fuck it" and reverts to screwing customers over, in typical Sony fashion.
Still malicious (they could fix it, after all), but with a nice helping of being too lazy to fix a problem they clearly recognize exists.