You know I really feel for Sony on this one, they showed us MAG at E3 this year and it looked absolutely awesome and I said then that if they could pull it off it would be one of the best games ever.
However it seems that Sony is about to drive a nail straight through MAG’s heart by setting up a subscription plan for it… in other words making you pay for it.
They have been sending out surveys for people to fill in which has 15 questions relating to different payment methods for MAG.
So why do I feel bad for them? Well they made the decision not to charge for online multiplayer and are now having to subsidise the infrastructure costs that a game like MAG is going to take. The bean counters are obviously not jumping at the opportunity to blow millions of dollars on an idea and would like some reassurances that they will be making a profit on this one.
Now if they had a central infrastructure that was being paid for (ala Live) they could just add a couple of servers to the mix and away you go. If the game flopped you can then transform those servers into normal Live servers and they will pay for themselves soon enough.
Let’s hope that Sony decides to take the risk and allow free play for MAG as the game really deserves to be given a decent chance at changing the world.
Source: TheBitBag
[Thanks Ewie for the tip]Last Updated: September 29, 2008
koldFU5iON
September 29, 2008 at 13:36
I’ve always had a problem with Pay2play games, but when FFIX came out on XBOX not only did you have to pay for Live but you also had to pay a seperate fee for the FF online servers… I WAS keen to get the game but rapidly put it back in it’s place, however seeing as Sony doesn’t charge for Online services I think they may be able to cut through this one slightly, that being said I think that the MMORPG’s are ruled by the PC market at the moment and they work better on PC’s because there “seems to be more to play on console” (I say that very lightly)
Banana hammock
September 29, 2008 at 14:53
I don’t see the problem, don’t 100% of XboX gamers pay for online play?
Don’t WoW users pay for online play?
Why should Sony be shot down for charging for 1 game?
LazySAGamer
September 29, 2008 at 15:46
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that Sony shouldn’t charge for online gaming.. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to charge for a single game. I think it will cripple the game.
They should just bite the bullet and charge for all gaming.
Yes WoW players pay for gaming and so do quite a few other MMO games, I still don’t think it will be successful for MAG… let’s hope I am wrong
abe
September 29, 2008 at 16:10
I think it wil cripple the game and Its very sad news.
Possibly the single biggest reason I wouldnt want an xbox is the fact the live isnt free!
JimBob
September 29, 2008 at 16:47
Well, they’re doing market research to find out whether people will pay or not. If it comes back resoundingly negative, I doubt they will go ahead with charging a sub fee. I’m sure they said they weren’t going to charge for the Agency because they realised users weren’t going to bite. 256 players on a server is pretty heavy, and I guess it needs to be paid for somehow.
Remember, Xbox Live doesn’t have game servers, like Warhawk or Resistance. Microsoft is paying for matchmaking and messaging and content downloads, but it is not carrying the can for you to play since games are peer-to-peer or on third parties’ servers (like EA’s).
StNick
September 29, 2008 at 16:47
“They should just bite the bullet and charge for all gaming.”
Wait, so rather than charge us for only ONE game, you think it’s a better idea to stop free gaming altogether, ala Xbox Live? What the ef?! I’ll keep my free online gaming thanks, and opt to pay for MAG if I want to.
kjkhfwdk
October 25, 2009 at 01:15
i lik the game but wen i played it i mad poopy in my pants. it ws vry squish 🙁
lans
October 25, 2009 at 11:11
Squish?