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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Are the PS+ "free games" the crack that will bring down the industry?

kabamarutr on 03 January 2014
Mr Puggsly said:
kabamarutr said:

Now let's put the pieces together: A patient gamer does not have to buy every title day-1. All he/she has to do, is wait several months and play it for free. For a meager 50 bucks you get a full library and a backlog that will keep you from buying new games every couple of months. Exception to the above, are personal favourites which we all need to get as soon as possible.

 

Typically the games that are on PS+ are over a year old, maybe several years old, or didn't sell great. Most importantly, not every game makes its way to PS+.

Services like Netflix and Spotify bring money to the movie and music industry people wouldn't have given otherwise. I feel a services like PS+ does the same.

Not entirely true. Bioshock Infinite is several months old. "Brothers" even less so.

Considering losses and profits:  If a dev spends a X amount of money to develop Bioshock and instead of 60$ retail gets a fraction of a 50$ yearly subscription, then we can consider that he has loss.

If he then spends Y<<X amount of money to develop a clone of Candy Crush and gets paid accordingly, then we can consider that the latter is more profitable to him. Let alone easier.



This, I stole from grandpa...It's called soap.

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theshonen8899 on 03 January 2014

This thread implies that Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Music Unlimited, or any other subscription based service is unprofitable.



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daredevil.shark on 03 January 2014

I think this "free games" model will be a standard service like cell phone service (data package, internet usage, sms usage) in future. Like, certain company is offering this range of games and other company is offering something different. Who knows this might be the way gaming industry will operate after 15-20 years later.



Mr Puggsly on 03 January 2014
kabamarutr said:
KingdomHeartsFan said:

Who's really gonna wait over 6 months to play a game and hope that game some day is free on PS+...I have no fear that Irrational games is gonna start making mobile games cause of PS+...


Me. I wait for six and more months and am rewarded for it with keeping my money.

If you have disposable income and you're willing to play the waiting game, you probably weren't very interested in that game.

The games I really want I'll pay $60. The games I'm somewhat interested in... I can wait for them to hit $20 - $30 or I'll play them when they're "free".



Recently Completed: 
River City: Rival Showdown for 3DS (3/5) - River City: Tokyo Rumble for 3DS (4/5) - Zelda: BotW for Wii U (5/5) - Zelda: BotW for Switch (5/5) - Zelda: Link's Awakening for Switch (4/5) - Rage 2 for X1X (4/5) - Rage for 360 (3/5) - Streets of Rage 4 for X1/PC (4/5) - Gears 5 for X1X (5/5) - Mortal Kombat 11 for X1X (5/5) - Doom 64 for N64 (emulator) (3/5) - Crackdown 3 for X1S/X1X (4/5) - Infinity Blade III - for iPad 4 (3/5) - Infinity Blade II - for iPad 4 (4/5) - Infinity Blade - for iPad 4 (4/5) - Wolfenstein: The Old Blood for X1 (3/5) - Assassin's Creed: Origins for X1 (3/5) - Uncharted: Lost Legacy for PS4 (4/5) - EA UFC 3 for X1 (4/5) - Doom for X1 (4/5) - Titanfall 2 for X1 (4/5) - Super Mario 3D World for Wii U (4/5) - South Park: The Stick of Truth for X1 BC (4/5) - Call of Duty: WWII for X1 (4/5) -Wolfenstein II for X1 - (4/5) - Dead or Alive: Dimensions for 3DS (4/5) - Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite for X1 (3/5) - Halo Wars 2 for X1/PC (4/5) - Halo Wars: DE for X1 (4/5) - Tekken 7 for X1 (4/5) - Injustice 2 for X1 (4/5) - Yakuza 5 for PS3 (3/5) - Battlefield 1 (Campaign) for X1 (3/5) - Assassin's Creed: Syndicate for X1 (4/5) - Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare for X1 (4/5) - Call of Duty: MW Remastered for X1 (4/5) - Donkey Kong Country Returns for 3DS (4/5) - Forza Horizon 3 for X1 (5/5)

kabamarutr on 03 January 2014
Mr Puggsly said:
kabamarutr said:
KingdomHeartsFan said:

Who's really gonna wait over 6 months to play a game and hope that game some day is free on PS+...I have no fear that Irrational games is gonna start making mobile games cause of PS+...


Me. I wait for six and more months and am rewarded for it with keeping my money.

If you have disposable income and you're willing to play the waiting game, you probably weren't very interested in that game.

The games I really want I'll pay $60. The games I'm somewhat interested in... I can wait for them to hit $20 - $30 or I'll play them when they're "free".

Well, I did exclude personal favourites. 



This, I stole from grandpa...It's called soap.

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MoHasanie on 03 January 2014

Maybe, but right now I doubt PS plus has many subscribers. Probably less than 5% of the PS3s userbase subscribe to PS Plus. It will certainly increase significantly with the PS4 out now, so perhaps it could hurt the sales of some less hyped games. People might hold off getting some games when they release, and when games are 2 or 3 years old in the hope that it will release for free with PS plus. I know I was certainly thinking about doing that.



    

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Mr Puggsly on 03 January 2014
kabamarutr said:
Mr Puggsly said:

 

Typically the games that are on PS+ are over a year old, maybe several years old, or didn't sell great. Most importantly, not every game makes its way to PS+.

Services like Netflix and Spotify bring money to the movie and music industry people wouldn't have given otherwise. I feel a services like PS+ does the same.

Not entirely true. Bioshock Infinite is several months old. "Brothers" even less so.

Considering losses and profits:  If a dev spends a X amount of money to develop Bioshock and instead of 60$ retail gets a fraction of a 50$ yearly subscription, then we can consider that he has loss.

If he then spends Y<

Hence the word, "typically." That shouldn't be confused with words like... "always."

Also, neither of those games are mega hits. Bioshock Infinite has been selling pretty cheap on the digital market and it didn't see a significant holiday boost. Simply put, they wouldn't be on PS+ if they were selling better.



Recently Completed: 
River City: Rival Showdown for 3DS (3/5) - River City: Tokyo Rumble for 3DS (4/5) - Zelda: BotW for Wii U (5/5) - Zelda: BotW for Switch (5/5) - Zelda: Link's Awakening for Switch (4/5) - Rage 2 for X1X (4/5) - Rage for 360 (3/5) - Streets of Rage 4 for X1/PC (4/5) - Gears 5 for X1X (5/5) - Mortal Kombat 11 for X1X (5/5) - Doom 64 for N64 (emulator) (3/5) - Crackdown 3 for X1S/X1X (4/5) - Infinity Blade III - for iPad 4 (3/5) - Infinity Blade II - for iPad 4 (4/5) - Infinity Blade - for iPad 4 (4/5) - Wolfenstein: The Old Blood for X1 (3/5) - Assassin's Creed: Origins for X1 (3/5) - Uncharted: Lost Legacy for PS4 (4/5) - EA UFC 3 for X1 (4/5) - Doom for X1 (4/5) - Titanfall 2 for X1 (4/5) - Super Mario 3D World for Wii U (4/5) - South Park: The Stick of Truth for X1 BC (4/5) - Call of Duty: WWII for X1 (4/5) -Wolfenstein II for X1 - (4/5) - Dead or Alive: Dimensions for 3DS (4/5) - Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite for X1 (3/5) - Halo Wars 2 for X1/PC (4/5) - Halo Wars: DE for X1 (4/5) - Tekken 7 for X1 (4/5) - Injustice 2 for X1 (4/5) - Yakuza 5 for PS3 (3/5) - Battlefield 1 (Campaign) for X1 (3/5) - Assassin's Creed: Syndicate for X1 (4/5) - Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare for X1 (4/5) - Call of Duty: MW Remastered for X1 (4/5) - Donkey Kong Country Returns for 3DS (4/5) - Forza Horizon 3 for X1 (5/5)

Mr Puggsly on 03 January 2014
kabamarutr said:
Mr Puggsly said:

If you have disposable income and you're willing to play the waiting game, you probably weren't very interested in that game.

The games I really want I'll pay $60. The games I'm somewhat interested in... I can wait for them to hit $20 - $30 or I'll play them when they're "free".

Well, I did exclude personal favourites. 

So you're buying the games you're actually excited about and not waiting for PS+? Just as I suspected!

Furthermore, I think services like PS+ hurt the used game industry more than than new game sales. Hence, more money coming to the industry as opposed to used game sellers.



Recently Completed: 
River City: Rival Showdown for 3DS (3/5) - River City: Tokyo Rumble for 3DS (4/5) - Zelda: BotW for Wii U (5/5) - Zelda: BotW for Switch (5/5) - Zelda: Link's Awakening for Switch (4/5) - Rage 2 for X1X (4/5) - Rage for 360 (3/5) - Streets of Rage 4 for X1/PC (4/5) - Gears 5 for X1X (5/5) - Mortal Kombat 11 for X1X (5/5) - Doom 64 for N64 (emulator) (3/5) - Crackdown 3 for X1S/X1X (4/5) - Infinity Blade III - for iPad 4 (3/5) - Infinity Blade II - for iPad 4 (4/5) - Infinity Blade - for iPad 4 (4/5) - Wolfenstein: The Old Blood for X1 (3/5) - Assassin's Creed: Origins for X1 (3/5) - Uncharted: Lost Legacy for PS4 (4/5) - EA UFC 3 for X1 (4/5) - Doom for X1 (4/5) - Titanfall 2 for X1 (4/5) - Super Mario 3D World for Wii U (4/5) - South Park: The Stick of Truth for X1 BC (4/5) - Call of Duty: WWII for X1 (4/5) -Wolfenstein II for X1 - (4/5) - Dead or Alive: Dimensions for 3DS (4/5) - Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite for X1 (3/5) - Halo Wars 2 for X1/PC (4/5) - Halo Wars: DE for X1 (4/5) - Tekken 7 for X1 (4/5) - Injustice 2 for X1 (4/5) - Yakuza 5 for PS3 (3/5) - Battlefield 1 (Campaign) for X1 (3/5) - Assassin's Creed: Syndicate for X1 (4/5) - Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare for X1 (4/5) - Call of Duty: MW Remastered for X1 (4/5) - Donkey Kong Country Returns for 3DS (4/5) - Forza Horizon 3 for X1 (5/5)

SvennoJ on 03 January 2014

It got me hooked on the Infamous series, now I'll be buying Infamous SS week 1.
And the discounts have made it easier to buy games I was not entirely sure about.

Other free games I missed or didn't think they were worth the money have put certain developers on my radar, so I'm more interested in their next projects. From the makers of .... now means something for those games.
It works both ways, now I know for certain Borderlands and Hotline Miami are not for me.

I guess you can make do with ps+ games only. But someone who is only going to be playing old games is a lost sale anyway, since they'll be buying used.



DamnTastic on 03 January 2014

I believe PS+, now that it's mandatory for online play, can be another great gateway for the casual to the hardcore.

But that's just my opinion....