Online gaming decline - Generally ?

[blackwiggle]

I was waiting for the news on what the free PS+ games for August were going to be, and saw that they were posted today.

Along with the list of games was a article revealing that Playstaion Plus subscriptions had dropped 300k in just 3 months.
https://gamingbolt.com/playstation-plus-subscribers-drop-by-300000-between-march-and-june

There were some other figures given as well.
Firstly to date Sony has sold 82 million PS4's, of those PS4's only 33.9 million people have a PS+ subscription, down from the 34.2 million 3 months ago.

Since you need a PS+ subscription to play online, one can only deduce that at a bare minimum, 60% of PS4 owners don't play online.

The article says that this drop in subscriptions is not unusual as it considered a slow time for gaming, but I'm not too sure that that is really the case, when you have 60% of your user base that can't play online due to not having a PS+ subscription, what percentage of the remaining 40% of your user base that CAN play online, IS playing online?

I have seldom gamed online historically now I come to think about it, apart from HD/FURY and LBP on the PS3 I can't think of any other games I've bothered playing online, I even avoid buying games that have online trophies, or just don't bother even attempting to get the online trophies if there are any....I loath shooters, so that accounts for the vast majority of online games.
The situation with my ever worsening internet speed, combined with the timezone difference being 10 hours when those few that are still playing the Omega pack are online, has meant that I now basically no longer play anything online either.

What about the rest of the forum members?
Are you playing online less than you used to ? and I don't just mean Wipeout, I mean generally, or have you never gamed online much anyway ?

It seemed strange to me that Omega online died very quickly, at first I thought it was a combo of 'Too hard for the Newbie' and 'Already Played it to death' that was the cause, but now looking at the figures I'm not too sure, I think there might just be fewer people playing anything online anymore./
That or there are just too many games spread between those remaining online regulars...??

[AdHoc]

I don’t know if that’s just part of the problem, but for me, paying to be able to play online, when you already payed for the console, the game and the internet connection, is unacceptable.

[blackwiggle]

Well a lot of things now days are subscription based.
Your mobile phone, NETFLIX / FOX / Spotify etc, software from the likes of ADOBE with Lightroom and Photoshop.

When you consider that you are getting at least 3 games free a month, as well as what must be considered a reliable and well kept service for what amounts to the princely of 16 cents a day [if you pay in advance for 1 year when they have subscriptions discounted ] it's probably one of the best deals around.

It's certainly better than Sony's Playstation NOW game streaming service, now that's a rip off.

[AdHoc]

I always had to pay for my mobile phone (I actually pay less and get more now than I used to). Netflix is the same as buying video as we always did (cassettes, DVDs, rentals, going to the movies, etc.). Same goes for Spotify or licensed software. You buy them, but once you have bought them, you shouldn’t have to pay anymore to use them.

For video games, however, having to pay a subscription to play a game online, that’s a new concept. Some MMORPGs like WoW were precursors, but it was never the norm. I don’t want to pay a PS+ subscription to play WipEout online, I just want to play WipEout online. I don’t care about getting "free games" (that aren’t free, I’m paying for them and don’t actually want them), I just want to play online.

As you say, it’s not a rip-off, because you (kinda) get your money’s worth. BUT, as a principle, I don’t want to pay when I shouldn’t need to. It’s forced consumption. Call me a hippie, but that’s not how I like things to work. I paid my console, my TV, my Internet, my fricking game, I don’t want to pay even more still to play the latter online. F that sh**.

[JFthebestJan]

there's the possibility to share your account with a friend, which i do. that means 2 accounts playing online with just 1 subscription. spotify can be used completely free of charge, if you don't mind to get commercial breaks every now and then...and not to forget PS3 and PSVita are completely free of charge...so your numbers aren't completely correct ;)

[blackwiggle]

Yeah, I think it makes them worse.
If you take the 40% of total PS4's sold / over the total PS+ subscriptions, then minus those who have a subscription but only for a PS3 or VITA, then that makes even less people with PS4's playing online.

Even if you added multiple users on the one console in some households, it's still a low percentage that actually would be playing on line with any regularity.

I wonder what the situation is with the Xbone, since it's online has always been a paying subscription.

[JFthebestJan]

i used to game on a 360 years ago, but just for forza motorsport 3. i never had a xbox live subscription though, and sold the 360 after just a year or so, cause of the lack of exclusive games...im planning to get a switch, but nintendo jumped the bandwagon and asks for a subscription now as well, so im a bit on the fence atm. multiple subscriptions is a no-no imho, as 'adhoc' said, it's about a statement as a consumer, i don't want to pay for every s h i t the industry is coming up with!

[eLhabib]

I honestly don't get the frustration over paid online services. If you look at all the free stuff you get with PS+ especially lately with all those AAA games being featured, they are really giving you your money's worth. Also, it's 60 bucks a year. SIXTY. That's the price of ONE game. How many games do you buy in a year?

[JFthebestJan]

well, what bugs me is that: 1. you cannot keep the games after subscription expires, 2. you cannot choose the games you would like to get, sony choosing them for you, 3. if your Internet is down for whatever reason, you cannot access the games if you game share...AND the stuff is NOT FREE as everyone claims, it's 60 Euro/year, which means it's unlimited amount of money if you would like to keep everything.

[AdHoc]

I honestly don't get the frustration over paid online services. If you look at all the free stuff you get with PS+ especially lately with all those AAA games being featured, they are really giving you your money's worth. Also, it's 60 bucks a year. SIXTY. That's the price of ONE game. How many games do you buy in a year?

Like I said, it’s a matter of principles, not of money.

And when you’re an occasional gamer like me (I only play WipEout), well it’s counter-intuitive. I bought the PS4 specifically for that game. Then I launch it and have to pay $100 again to play online? No way José.

You’re not the center of the universe and not everything is fine because it’s "fine by you".

[eLhabib]

You’re not the center of the universe and not everything is fine because it’s "fine by you".

Whoa, slow down there, pal. If you‘re ok with paying 300+ bucks for a PS4 just to play wipEout, but not ok with paying 60 bucks for playing it online, then I don‘t know what to tell you ;)

[AdHoc]

That’s what I thought.

[eLhabib]

No reason to be hostile, mate.
Have fun offline then!

[blackwiggle]

As I understand it, if you download and play the free PS+ games, and then let your subscription slip for a while, upon recommencing it all those games would become active again, as the PSN uses both your user ID, and your PS3/4's motherboard ID to identify you......also how they can choose to brick your console if you become a PITA and have multiple infractions reported by other PSN users.

Even if that's not the case, all the games would be in your download history, so you could get them back that way, but TBH, I doubt I would bother for a lot of them, as once finished I'm very unlikely to replay a RPG or Action game.

With subscriptions falling, if only momentarily , it makes you wonder if Wipeout on Steam might have more online activity......hard one to call since apart from XL/2097 it's been solely a PSN game.
I kind of think it wouldn't for the same 'Too Hard' factor for the newbie.

[AdHoc]

The comparison with Steam is a fair one: when you buy a game on the platform, you don’t have to also pay for a subscription.

So I call bullshit.