PlayStation Plus for PS4 multiplayer to fund service improvements

PlayStation Plus will be required to play PS4 games online, but Sony says this will help the company "continue to invest" to "expand and improve these online features."

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PlayStation Plus will be required to play online multiplayer games on PlayStation 4. However, Sony says the cost will ultimately benefit the consumer.

"We decided that on PS4, because we want to continue to invest and improve our new services, we've asked the most engaged consumers in the online activities to share the burden with us so that we can continue to invest," Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida said. Continuing the service for free on PS4 would put pressure on Sony to cut costs, and that would be at odds with the goal of providing "very robust and great online services going forward."

"On PS4, the online connectivity features such as second screen, auto downloads and share features--these are one big pillar of the PS4 experience and we will continue to invest in this area to expand and improve these online features and services," Yoshida told CVG.

Current-gen gamers need not worry about the Plus requirement being retroactively applied, however. "What we internally discussed and decided is that we will continue the free access to online play on PS3 and Vita, so that's clear," he said.

On the bright side, PlayStation Plus will continue to offer the well-received Instant Game Collection bonuses, and one Plus membership gives you the benefits across PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Vita. Having a Plus membership on PS4 will net you a "Plus" edition of DriveClub, and the indie games Don't Starve, Outlast, and The Secret Ponchos.

"In addition to that we add one digital game every month, so they get high quality indie games as well on top of what they get on PS3 and Vita," Yoshida said. "So hopefully that makes people's decision easy to join PS Plus."

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 13, 2013 8:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, PlayStation Plus for PS4 multiplayer to fund service improvements.

    PlayStation Plus will be required to play PS4 games online, but Sony says this will help the company "continue to invest" to "expand and improve these online features."

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 8:40 AM

      but plus isn't required for Netflix and stuff like that, right?

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      June 13, 2013 8:41 AM

      "We decided that on PS4, because we want to continue to invest and improve our new services, we've asked the most engaged consumers in the online activities to share the burden with us so that we can continue to invest," Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida said.

      let's be honest if matrick said this there'd be screaming outrage

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 8:43 AM

      [deleted]

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      June 13, 2013 8:59 AM

      They also mentioned that they are doing away with online passes as a result for all 1st party games and will be pushing 3rd parties to do the same.

      Also F2P games won't fall under the fee requirement as well as MMOs with a subscription model already in place.

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      June 13, 2013 9:13 AM

      the social and communication differences alone between PS3 and PS4 probably need a good amount of money to fund and maintain

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 9:27 AM

      Let's be honest here, only a fraction of that is going to be reinvested in the infrastructure. The majority of that is going over there in the column on the books known as PURE PROFIT.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 9:32 AM

        That's kind of a given.

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          June 13, 2013 9:39 AM

          I'm sure that has been a lovely column to MS for the past 7-10 years.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 9:33 AM

        Let's be extra honest, you actually have no clue what fraction of the money is going to be invested. And, you know, publicly traded companies have a fiduciary duty to make a profit.

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 9:33 AM

      As a 360 owner, I don't have a problem paying for an online service. Especially in this instance where it's cheaper and I still get free games. While a bit over priced, I think Xbox live has been a great service and kudos to Microsoft for trying to put more value in it by offering some free games. For current users of the PS3 I can see how this sucks royally though.

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        June 13, 2013 1:03 PM

        Most people I know with a PS3 already have PS+ because of all the other benefits. So it's not that bad.

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      June 13, 2013 10:25 AM

      My burning question is what the difference is between the Plus edition of Drive Club and the regular edition. Is it a gimped version of the full product? Surprisingly very little Drive Club news from E3 overall--it's like the game just flew under everyone's radar.

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 10:28 AM

      With PS+ just in the last week i've gotten for free, full versions of Uncharted 3, Deus Ex HR, XCOM, LBP2, inFamous 2


      it's fucking worth it.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 10:30 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 10:35 AM

        Sony really positioned it well over the last few months. Not having it is silly if you're invested on the console.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 10:44 AM

        Has anyone ever found how how the developers get paid for PSN+ inclusion?

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 10:49 AM

        those are the kinds of deals they can offer late in a console's life (and i think it's awesome). with PS4 they've mentioned one game per month and i'm sure it will take some years to get access to that kind of library.

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 12:16 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            June 13, 2013 12:19 PM

            in late 2014 in the US only

            • reply
              June 13, 2013 12:26 PM

              [deleted]

              • reply
                June 13, 2013 12:28 PM

                [deleted]

                • reply
                  June 13, 2013 12:32 PM

                  I don't think there was ever a concern that it wouldn't be coming to other territories.

                  In any case, I think it's kind of silly that the same community that largely decried OnLive as a waste of time is now excited about streaming PS3 games. It's a good solution for Sony but for those of us with PS3's I suspect we'll just want to keep them hooked up or bring them back out for old stuff (especially since it's not clear how the streaming service will interact with my existing library).

                  • reply
                    June 13, 2013 1:01 PM

                    [deleted]

                    • reply
                      June 13, 2013 1:27 PM

                      I recall OnLive impressions where people were surprised how annoying it was to use with seemingly ideal games like Civ where it wasn't twitchy. The lag doing cursor type selection stuff proved more noticeable than the fuzzier input timings in something like a third person action game. We'll see, it won't matter to most people anyway since they'll be busy playing PS4 games by the time the service is really ready.

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 12:17 PM

          I agree it won't be nearly as good on the PS4 for awhile (for AAA full retail games anyway, though I like their idea of giving away 'big' indie titles) - but keep in mind that even early on with the Vita they offered major titles free with Plus (Uncharted, Gravity Rush, Wipeout)

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            June 13, 2013 12:19 PM

            the Vita needed a lot more help to try to bootstrap the system though, PS4 won't have that kind of problem

            • reply
              June 13, 2013 12:22 PM

              agreed - what I'm most curious about is if this Drive Club PS Plus Edition (the version of Drive Club with Plus on PS4 has all the features etc., but a limited amount of cars and tracks) thing is going to start a trend of offering content-reduced games for Plus (maybe just early on, maybe forever) or if it's just a one-off thing since they don't have a back catalog to offer up at launch

              • reply
                June 13, 2013 12:28 PM

                yeah that would be an interesting concept if more traditional $60 games come parcelled out in pieces, whether outright F2P or more like a small core game with a bunch of DLC to make up what you'd normally have to go all in for with $60 (or splitting multiplayer, singleplayer and co op or something as that'd be a good way for a free copy to turn into real sales to friends down the line)

                • reply
                  June 13, 2013 1:04 PM

                  I kinda hope both Sony and MS start experimenting with stuff like that, pretty tired of the (mostly) one-size-fits-all $60 pricing on retail console games

              • reply
                June 13, 2013 6:26 PM

                [deleted]

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 10:38 PM

        wow. that's pretty good. do you still get to keep those titles should you cancel psn+ ?

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 10:30 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 10:31 AM

      You got to pay for quality, it's like my ford raptor I have to pay for quality and baja rated truck, if I wanted it for free I would get a poor quality Chevy, ps online services has been lackluster and uninspiring hopefully they can raise the bar but it will still fall short from number one Xbox just like my raptor.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 10:39 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 10:54 AM

        ha, you actually thought for a moment that your quality and baja rated Raptor could ever raise the bar higher than champion of the world exbawkswun?? You poor fool. p.s. where the free chevys at?

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 12:18 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 12:20 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 12:35 PM

        This is like a character account playing gegtik, who is playing a character account.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 12:38 PM

        man you gotta slow down you're gonna burn out!

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 12:39 PM

        go easy, now. you're overdoing it.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 12:50 PM

        Tiresome

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 12:57 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 1:09 PM

        Another hit+run from the Spart4n.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 1:11 PM

        I kind of like how ducks are really just economists, but jubilantly delegating the porpoise incurs significant distraction

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 1:33 PM

        I knooow whoooo you aaaarrrrrreee!!!

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 1:46 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 1:55 PM

          oh snap, a character account?

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 2:07 PM

          oh man, I'd love to see the modboard right now!

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 2:08 PM

          Nooo!!! You must let this continue unabated!!!

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 2:10 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 2:15 PM

          Lol I think I'm wrong. He might just be some doofus.

          There are a few things that link him to an old school well known Shacker, but enough other things to show it is probably just a coincidence. MY BAD. I used an Xbox One in Ford so my results are all fucking stupid.

          • reply
            June 13, 2013 2:17 PM

            [deleted]

          • reply
            June 13, 2013 2:20 PM

            The top men worked on this already! Here are the results:

            http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=5782924

            • reply
              June 13, 2013 2:21 PM

              The underscore casts doubt. You'd never hack it in my precinct rook!

              • reply
                June 13, 2013 2:26 PM

                The contents of the page do fit the psychological profile though.

            • reply
              June 13, 2013 2:24 PM

              ha!!

              OMG, the biggest epic fail announcement of all time. No women, tech specs that were for 1st graders, games that look like current gen, controller that is not even close to xbox design, and the ultimate no-show the console itself. Really 2 hours for no actual physical console? The point of an announcement is to show the thing that you are going to sell.

              Thank goodness this will be Sony's last console. They deserve the epic failure of the past 8years and it seems they have not learned a thing. Microsoft must be kicking themselves to see if that actually happened. Cannot wait for Xbox Next Gen with a actual physical console and Call of Duty Next Gen ready to be shown. Cannot wait till E3!!!

            • reply
              June 13, 2013 2:29 PM

              Either he's been trolling for the last 7 years or he is what we think he is: http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3/How-does-my-360-component-capable-do-1080p-and-not-my-PS3-HDMI/td-p/20879419

              "Oh also I have a monster hdmi cable, the best one out there, so it shouldn't be the cables fault either."

              • reply
                June 13, 2013 2:40 PM

                a man that enjoys the finer things in life.. no signal distortion in his games

              • reply
                June 13, 2013 2:43 PM

                I want to believe

              • reply
                June 14, 2013 12:11 AM

                Scepticism rising. No one can be that daft.

            • reply
              June 13, 2013 8:38 PM

              [deleted]

          • reply
            June 13, 2013 2:43 PM

            All suspects have been cleared. He's just a random special boy who wandered into our neighborhood.

            Here's the issue though. We all know where this is going to go. He's not smart enough to post here. It's not fair, and as entertaining as it may be to throw rocks at the dummy, we try to be a better signal to noise ratio message board. I don't expect all pinkies out and the Queen's English at all times but it should be better than 2nd grade playground slobbering. We've let him smoosh his dirty face against the chatty for weeks now and it only is getting to be more and more of a circus act. He's not in here breaking specific rules, but he is "causing a scene". At some point it's going to be sitcom level "Oh that spartan!" with canned applause. I want this place to be more basic cable AT LEAST than CBS sitcom. We can have console arguing and debate, but full blown console warriors must die. Die bloody and screaming. If he was saying these things in real life as the THIRTY SOMETHING YEAR OLD man we seem to think he is, you would keep your distance. You might call the white coats and butterfly nets, because someone slipped away from his keepers.

            So if he and any of our new friends we've been seeing of late continue to come in and Herp and Derp their way through the Chatty about over the top fanboyism, and shit on the Gamefly staff here they will need to find a new place to play.

          • reply
            June 13, 2013 2:51 PM

            worst mod ever

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 2:21 PM

          please please pleeeeeeeease tell us when you find out and dont just quietly ban him.

        • reply
          June 13, 2013 2:52 PM

          BLOOD OCEAN

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 1:54 PM

        you are my favorite schill account. not sure why I find it so enjoyable but I do.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 8:43 PM

        Dearest glorious finalSpart4n is correct, as always.

      • reply
        June 13, 2013 11:49 PM

        [deleted]

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 12:55 PM

      As long as they keep giving free games, im in.

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 2:09 PM

      1yr sub of PSPlus is $40 at Bestbuy if you a reward zone member. I think the discount is till June 22. Not quite sure about other countries other than the US.

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 7:11 PM

      Some ones gotta say it, maybe it'll by better security?

    • reply
      June 13, 2013 11:25 PM

      One of the main reasons I'll likely avoid the new xbox, is the fact that they're keeping their paid multiplayer.

      If Playstation follows suit, my 'Next-Gen' system will likely just be a new PC...

      • reply
        June 14, 2013 12:25 AM

        There is no "if". This article is about sony confirming that PS+ is needed for online multiplayer on the PS4.

        • reply
          June 14, 2013 1:23 AM

          While it's a shame they had to go this route, I like that they seem to be going as reasonable as possible, keeping it free for F2P games and MMOs, and continuing to let streaming video services not require it (unlike XBO)

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