Microsoft might not "host the games" in Call of Duty but their servers are used for matchmaking, which is no small amount of traffic. PS3 version uses demonware. Good, but not up to par with MS MM servers.

Also, lets not forget the bandwidth involved in downloading the games you play online and DLC for the games you play online. MS provides bandwidth to developers for these things free of charge. On PS3 Sony charges for bandwidth on everything. End result is every single XBLA game has a trial or demo, nowhere close to that on PSN.

Yes, I know.  That is how F2P games work. Microtransactions.  Again, it being "free" has nothing to do with Steam.

It was never supposed to be premium. Microsoft brought in the business model that you SHOULD pay. Nowhere else does this happen but with Microsoft so stop acting like Sony needs to do it. This is why they created an alternative that gives you choice. Microsoft gives you zero choice in your premium service.

Plus on PS4 won't be able to offer free games. They will need to offer a different plan for at least a year.

Why won't the PS4's premium plan offer free games?  From what I am seeing, the plan is to get people to sign up for a subscription and have them access a huge library.  It will be like what you have with Plus now, with needing subscribing to the service to access.  Maybe they get rid of offering content at a reduced price for a premium service.  My distinct feeling is Sony is very much interested in an ongoing revenuee stream.

He's probably referring to the fact that PS4 has no backwards compatibility.

They could still offer some PSN/PS4 retail games though. Just not amazing ones or anything.

Oh man! I was trying hard to complement them on... ...something innovative, new or creative.  Turns out I didn't know they were copying what someone else has already gotten rid of.  Well, I wish them luck then.

To a specific group, or on your 'gaming area' sounds like a good idea. I know in Dance Central 3 you can send out score challenges, but I don't know what they look like to receive them.  I hope it’s not annoying.

I think Beacons or something like that should be something they are planning.

Its true that $5 a month is nothing, but $60 a year is the price of a brand new game. In Economics, the oppotunity cost for paying for Xbox Live is quite high.  

I'm pretty on the fence these days as far as Sony/MS siding but I'll say it straight. I've never met anyone who owns an Xbox 360 and refuses to pay for live because of cost. They don't have it because they don't play multiplayer. The only people I've ever seen who aren't willing to pay for live are people on forums like VGChartz who don't actually own an Xbox 360 and own a PS3.

Not trying to have a go but the gold subscription figures speak for themselves.

From a business point of view I think Sony are stark raving bonkers for not exploiting the revenue stream of charging for online and constantly giving away free stuff. PS+ is way too much of a good deal for customers and I ask myself how on earth they are making any money on it after paying publishers the royalties for offering those games for free. I don't know how they do it and make a profit.

Of course, that's great for the consumer and hats off to Sony for it.

It still doesn't change the fact though that people will and do pay for Live in massive numbers, and the cost is not an obstacle in any way whatsoever.

Because the publishers will be demanding too much money to offer their games for free during subscription. It would put the cost of PS+ through the roof. Since the PS4 would only have just been released, they could only offer "new" games - new games royalty cost to publisher would be a multitude of cost more than "old" games 12 months+ for example.

Think about it, offering game that have just come out for free is lost sales for a publisher, wheras free games as they are now on PS+ are 9/10 going to be games that were never going to be a sale to that PS+ subscriber in the first place.

The cost of developement makes the lions share of the outlay for a game, disk/packaging/marketing/distributor fees is a tiny percentage taken out of the return that the publisher receives.

Not going to happen basically.