| Darwinianevolution said: Shame on you Microsoft for making this thing popular, shame on you Sony for putting them on the PS4 and imitating the worst habit of your competitor, shame on you Nintendo for caving into the money pressure and definitively killing free online on consoles, and shame ond you consumers for letting this thing become popular! |
The fault is all on the consumers. Not on the companies. Remember last gen? Everyone bragged about how Xbox Live was superior because it was paid. That PSN was crap because it was free. PS Plus included amazing free games and they only had 1M paying subscribers (now they are closer to 30M).
By giving PSN for free, Sony only managed to make everyone think it was a bad service compared to a paid alternative. So they decided to make it mandatory.
Nintendo Network was always deemed inferior, because it was free. "Problem" solved.
Anyway, people try to make it sound like a big deal. I don't like being forced to pay, but it costs less than a single game. Nobody cares, nobody will stop buying the console because of that. Forum people will complain, but we end up buying anyways. The same people complaining on forums are the one that bought a Wii U, lost support after 3 years and will still preorder the next Ninty console.
Of course, I'm also guilty of giving money to companies. I bought a Vita even with uncertain support and ridiculous overpriced memory cards. I don't regret it, but I usually expend tons of cash on consoles. I was almost buying a Wii U or 3DS, but they announced Switch and I decided to wait. No point in buying soon to be replaced consoles. I'm getting a Switch in 2017.
We, hardcore gamers that go on internet forums, are the market segment that does not worry companies. Because we will buy the products anyway, even if we complain about it for years. The normal consumers are the ones they have to convince.
