Since Qore was rolled out on the PlayStation Network Store earlier this year, there’s been a sense of division. Qore subscribers have been the early beneficiaries of demos for SOCOM Confrontation and Valkyria Chronicles, to name a couple… while the non-Qore folks are left kinda wondering if it’s worth the extra monthly or yearly charges.
As an annual Qore subscriber, I’ve not really seen the benefits of such a premium program as of yet. Aside from the sheer size of each monthly installment, the demos really haven’t been anything (personally) to write home about, and the rest of the content is uninspiring. Monthly publications have been rendered nearly moot by the advent of gaming news and review websites, many of which are updated multiple times daily and which contain much of the same types of content that Qore provides (minus the weak minigames that Backbone Entertainment has been adding in the last few installments). Basically– the annual fee that I paid has been a waste of money and bandwidth so far. Perhaps the biggest slap to subscribers come by way of ads that tend to disrupt the flow of the presentation; if I just paid $20, why am I still getting ads to begin with?
Now Sony has added a section within the PSN Store for Premium Themes. While it’s understandable that Sony would like to score some extra revenue, charging for themes is a potentially dangerous idea. Up to now, we’ve seen all themes for free; they’ve been additional tools of promotion for games… but now we’re looking at a price for the Bioshock theme? Really? Sure, it’s $1… but the cost isn’t so much the issue as is the fact that we’re now seeing the reality of paying for themes. Will we now see a decrease in the amount of free themes that we once saw? It’s sure possible, despite what people at Sony Computer Entertainment America may try to otherwise spin.
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Look, I get that PSN is a free service to use. I know that it’s got a long way to go before it comes anywhere close to what Xbox Live has to offer, but free is still cheaper than $50 annually. My big problem is that, especially in these difficult economic times, these alternate revenue streams are dividing the PSN userbase and souring expectations… and leaves many asking when PSN will become a pay-to-play service. These recent moves can certainly be interpreted to mean that Sony’s considering such a move. Why else would Sony be looking to charge for things on PSN that used to be free? It’s one thing when third-party publishers charge arguably exorbitant amounts for disc-based add-ons (like EA’s asking price of $7.50 for one golf course)… but it’s another when Sony themselves start charging for early access to demos that users never had to pay for before. Sure, most of the demos do become available to everyone after a time, but that moment of initial impact is already gone by the boards.
It’s entirely possible that the Premium Theme experiment will go by the boards; looking at the initial list of themes here, there’s only one that’s game-related. The rest are based on animals or on colleges and universities. I’ll admit that I have a soft spot for the Man’s Best Friend theme, but I’m not motivated enough to drop money on that when, for just a little bit more, I can buy a new song for Rock Band that I can play to death. Themes were a nice perk, but if Sony starts to charge for more and more of them, then I’ll just stick with what I have. As for Qore, though, I don’t see an end in sight, meaning that certain demos will continue to be limited to subscribers initially.
As far as PSN going to a pay-to-play scheme, I don’t think that it’s an imminent change, but I do think that Sony is watching closely to see how well that its premium options are faring. With Sony in its current last-place position with the PlayStation 3, it makes sense for them to use the allure of free online play as a positive when trying to push more units this holiday season and beyond. With the trend towards nickel-and-diming PSN users, you have to wonder how “free” the service really is.
To me, the most disappointing thing here is that, by charging for demos and themes, Sony is limiting the promotion of certain software for the PlayStation 3. Demos have always been a great tool to get consumers excited for certain titles, and themes have been a way to extend that excitement and show a certain amount of “fan love” for a game. Some people will undoubtedly pay for these things, but there will be many more who don’t– and, considering the competitive nature of the console gaming marketplace, it becomes one more disadvantage for a platform struggling to make up ground against Microsoft and Nintendo.
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