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PlayStation 4 online multiplayer is free this weekend

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lol Scotland... fail

PlayStation have announced via their official blogs that online multiplayer will be opened up to everyone for free this upcoming weekend, starting on Friday until the shutters are brought down late on Sunday again.

That’s the end of this story really, but apparently I’m not allowed to post an article that short even if it is useful so let’s have a chat about charging for online multiplayer.

I had completely forgotten that you actually now needed a PSN+ membership to play online on the PlayStation 4  – which just goes to show how much better Sony has gotten at marketing over the years. The Xbox brought in this weird idea as part and parcel of their offerings way back when the original Xbox was revealed. The logic behind it makes sense really as they need to create the infrastructure for you to compete over. Since the Xbox and PlayStation are closed systems it’s not like anyone and their dog can spin up a server to play on that so that cost is all held by the company in charge and companies need to be paid.

It can be argued that the sale of the game and hardware should cover it but then it would be reasonable to expect the price of Call of Duty to be far higher than Mass Effect seeing as it requires more infrastructure. I’d love to see how well that idea would go down.  There is also the oddity of Battlefield 4 which uses external servers to play on but which still requires you to pay the monthly Xbox Live or PSN+ subscription. If the networks were so closed how can they have external Battlefield 4 servers? And since they do then why can’t we get local servers for most of our online games?

What I want to know however is which will be the first ecosystem on the PC to start charging for online play? While the PC master race looks up to Gabe Newell as a godlike figure I can’t believe the idea of charging a small monthly charge for Steam online multiplayer + exclusive Steam sales hasn’t been pitched to him.

All he needs to do is figure out how to market it properly and bingo, he’ll be rolling in it.. well more of it anyway.

 

Last Updated: September 23, 2014

27 Comments

  1. Lord Chaos

    September 23, 2014 at 07:40

    With the excellent service from Steam I doubt they need to market it at all. Just do a press release that a monthly charge will be needed and very few will complain.

    Reply

    • ZUnfue1969

      September 23, 2014 at 07:59

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      Reply

  2. Mossel

    September 23, 2014 at 07:50

    Heresy! Lord GabeN, the one true savior of gaming, will never treat his disciples with such disrespect!

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      September 23, 2014 at 07:59

      He will deliver unto us the Freeman.Hopefully your messiah does it before the second coming.

      Reply

      • Mossel

        September 23, 2014 at 08:04

        Ah the third coming of the Freeman. We can only hope. The Lord GabeN works in mysterious ways.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          September 23, 2014 at 08:13

          LOL

          Reply

        • HvR

          September 23, 2014 at 08:52

          Holy Trinity = Freeman, GabeN and Steam.

          Reply

        • BStictied1359

          September 23, 2014 at 09:10

          I Ju?? go? Paid<-$7500 BY WORKING PART TIME OFF OF a LAP-TOPB­­­­­­­­Y ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­G­­­­­­­­­­­­OOG­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­L­­­­­E­­­­­­­­­­­­­.I­ A­­M ­­­­­­­­­M­­A­­K­­­­I­N­­­G ­­­­­­­­­A GO­­OD ­­­­­­­­­ SA­­LA­­RYfr­­­om ­­­­­­­­­h­­.o­­m­e ­­­­­­­­­$­­5­5­0­ 0­­­­­­­­­-­­­­­­­­­$­­7000/w­­­­­e­e­k..L­­­ast Thursday I got a BRAND NEW BM­­­W SINCE G ETTING a chEck for $647­­­4 this – 4 wEEks paSt.I beg­­­an this 8-monthS ago and imm­­­ediately waS bringing home at lea­­­St $97 peSdr hour. I wo­­­rk thr­­­ough this link, go? to tech tab for work det­­­ail­­­

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          Reply

  3. Spaffy

    September 23, 2014 at 07:52

    Please don’t start giving the man ideas!!!

    Reply

  4. Hammersteyn

    September 23, 2014 at 07:57

    It was inevitable that they would charge for online play, but I didn’t expect the quality of games taking a dip. Still is a nice gesture on their part.

    Reply

  5. Admiral Chief 0

    September 23, 2014 at 08:08

    Pffff, Steam won’t do it, cuz they actually CARE!

    Reply

  6. FoxOneZA

    September 23, 2014 at 08:09

    The free online play is to give gamers a taste of FIFA online while the Mater Racers play online for free.

    Reply

  7. Admiral Chief 0

    September 23, 2014 at 08:17

  8. Ryanza

    September 23, 2014 at 08:23

    Are there servers in South Africa? If not then you paying for a laggy experience. I say only the countries that has servers need to pay. And if they planning for servers in a country then make them pay for funding.

    You shouldn’t be paying for not having servers in your country.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      September 23, 2014 at 08:25

      Agreed. Local of GTFO

      Reply

  9. Alien Emperor Trevor

    September 23, 2014 at 08:26

    I’d have to think long & hard before paying a monthly fee to play online on PC, I’m fairly sure the answer is no though. I’ll miss you Warframe. It’s not you, it’s me.

    Reply

    • Brady miaau

      September 23, 2014 at 08:42

      I think online console fees is not quite the same as the PC. It is a more of a closed eco-system than on PC, so Witcher 4 online and Eye of the Beholder 4 online all goes though the Xbox or PSN systems.

      Also you get some other stuff with your monthly fee, like free, old, mostly crap games (some great ones!). And some other stuff I no not know or care about.

      Reply

      • Ryanza

        September 23, 2014 at 08:59

        For the most part. PC is a closed system. You get your Steam, Origin, Uplay, and next year Galaxy. Seems pretty closed to me.

        Don’t support DRM.

        Reply

        • Brady miaau

          September 23, 2014 at 09:12

          But a game I buy on Steam does not have Steam Servers, does it?

          Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        September 23, 2014 at 09:08

        I know, I don’t think it’s very likely PC will get the same system as console because of the whole closed thing. Closest thing to it is subs for online games like WOW. Can you imagine having to pay a sub for Steam or Origin? That’s like paying a fee to enter a shop & then full retail price for whatever you buy too. Not very likely.

        Reply

  10. CAE9872

    September 23, 2014 at 08:33

    Nice gesture I suppose Sony.

    Reply

  11. Brady miaau

    September 23, 2014 at 08:39

    Whatever happened to Mwebs push a few years ago to get local servers for gamers? They advertised it and stuff.

    Also, I would rather pay a small fee for my Xbox Live account (or PSN+ I suppose) to be assured of continued service in the future. Free is fine and well, but free means the service can change or be discontinued due to financial constraints.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      September 23, 2014 at 08:43

      I dunno dude, but I really distrust MWEB

      Reply

      • Brady miaau

        September 23, 2014 at 08:44

        Me too. IS seems a lot better to me, for big ISP stuff. And IS still has local mirrors for a lot of freeware and open source stuff

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief 0

          September 23, 2014 at 09:17

          Our company ISP has moved from IS to Vox, and I’m impressed with the service

          Reply

          • Brady miaau

            September 23, 2014 at 11:45

            Just had a meeting with IS. They bough Mweb, announced yesterday

  12. Buzz Jackson

    September 25, 2014 at 14:58

    Now we just need some games worth playing, huh?

    Reply

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