Is Microsoft lying to their customers about Playstation Network ?

[Reasonable]

greenmedic88 said:

Reasonable said:

Obviously lying.  Even is MS did know something high level that info wouldn't be passed down to every low paid dude maning a helpdesk phone.

With Plus Sony have already shown the approach they're taking, at least for the foreseeable future, which is to keep the online gaming free and use more of a loyalty customer approach with something like Plus vs Live.

With 360 so dominant in the more online centric US I doubt Sony will change tack anytime soon, either.  They need differences to 360 desperately in US.

I'd also note they've indicated PSN will be profitable early this year, which would indicate that Plus coupled no doubt with Home transactions, etc. and PSN game sales will tip the scales for PSN costs - again, that would imply Sony are unlikely to charge for online anytime soon.

At most, I could see Sony maybe trying for a premium online package, with say cross-game chat plus some other stuff, but keeping current online support free.

That's basically what PSN Plus already is.

They could add cross game chat and whatever few "exclusive" features are left in XBL as well, but that still wouldn't command $50 a year from those who just want basic online play.

I'm pretty much convinced that most PSN users would be perfectly fine with the free service if that was literally the ONLY feature free accounts were granted.

It's these same users who have a problem with XBL Gold accounts because either they aren't regular users, or just don't use most of the features that are thrown into package in an attempt to make the paid service a better value.

If you rarely play XBL online, it hardly makes any sense to pay even the current $5 a month on a pre-paid year of service.

If you're not downloading all the "free" content on PSN Plus, then there's literally no reason to subscribe to that service. Somehow, I don't think many people would consider cross game chat a reason either.

Yeah, that's what I meant.  I don't think Sony would have Plus and something else.  I'm guessing they'd just add say cross-game chat to Plus, etc. and go with that.

The bottom line I believe is Sony need online to remain free at the moment.

With 360 it's a case of Gold or nothing really unless you only want to play offline.

With Plus Sony can argue they are giving broader choice.  No cost to play online, no limit to no-gaming online access - for example it does bug me I'm essentially paying Microsoft an additional fee to get to stuff like Sky Player which is free on my PC - with a premium service that combines some additional online features with the loyalty customer approach of Plus.

I guess my comment did imply something new I just meant they'd probably expand what plus offers with additional online features vs charge for standard online.