My take is that I would prefer free. That was a big talking point last gen. If I had it my way, it'd still be free. But then again, online infrastructure costs money. If I want Sony to do well and keep making Playstations more appealing, I have to put in my share. You can't expect to partake in a service for free, forever. That's just reality slapping me in the face. I don't like it, I wish it was how it was in the past, but I have to adapt.
However, you get free games or heavily discounted games. Games that I wanted to play but never got around to buying. Free AAA games and Steam summer/winter sale prices for games that aren't free? If I do have to pay to play online, at least I'm getting something in return. It's not like how Xbox Live was up til now, where the fee was purely to play online (and lock apps behind a paywall...that were already behind a paywall). Now (thanks to PS+), both paid services get massive discounts and free games. They literally pay for themselves now. Sure, you have to pay $50 up front, but, for example, I just got PS All Stars for $5. It retails for $20. Knock off $15 from PS+. One of the best games of 2013, Bioshock: Infinite, retails for $20. Got that free. Knock off $20 from PS+. DmC is still $20. Got that free on PS+. Knock $20 from PS+.
It may suck that there's an up front cost, but when I think long term, I was gonna buy those games anyway. They would have cost me $60 total. I only spent $55 (PS+ sub/free games + $5 for PSASBR). Not to mention the other free games I got this years and future free games and discounts. I don't mind paying to play online when I get something in return. Paying for itself doesn't make the service "free" but when you think about it, all it really does is reallocate your money that you were gonna spend anyway. If PS+ gives you a lot of fluff sometimes, but if it gives me just 3 games I want in an entire year....3 games I would have spent money on anyway if I decided on want another game one random day, then I consider the service "free" and everything else (discounts, betas, free games, etc) are just icing on the cake.
And with that Sony and MS make lots of money, which they, in turn, pour back into their online services....instead of just eating the cost and remaining at the very bare minimum ala Nintendo
