450°

How Sony’s Welcome Back Package Helped to Reignite One Game’s Online Community

Sony’s ‘Welcome Back’ package, consisting of two PS3 titles, two PSP titles, and a free month of PlayStation Plus membership, was released to the public roughly two weeks ago, with mixed reactions all-around. Some loved the selection of games offered, some hated them, however, through this ‘Welcome Back’ package, Sony managed to reinvigorate the online community for a particular title, adding a ton more value to a game released over 2 years ago.

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playstationlifestyle.net
joinsideke4699d ago

This is one of the one's I'll be grabbing when I cash in.

Joni-Ice4699d ago

About time we see some positive news concerning the Welcome Back package.

mantisimo4699d ago

Already had the games but nice to be back online.

All of my friends are back too so can't have pissed that many people off.

captain-obvious4699d ago

i just realized how much of a great game dead nation is
especially the leader boards layout

that's innovations man

BISHOP-BRASIL4699d ago

@mantismo

I'm still not able to reactivate my main account, but that's Sony Brasil mess, SCEA already game me the support they could but Sony Brasil isn't moving on with the process... Anyway, I have many friends on the same situation, so on ¨minor¨ markets probably there's a considerabel ammount of people not so happy. At least all my foreign accounts are ok so we keep gaming (and in the end, that's what matters... still missing those 1400+ trophies through).

To prevent people from exploting PSN the one account with my real adress is the one I can't get back to work... Oh the irony.

Anyway, I'm not pissed, the welcome back program and, specially, the free month on PS+ more than paid off for any frustration, I already decided to be a subscriber once the free month ends, I'll just wait 'till my account is reactivated or terminated for once as they announced the store for my region on E3, coming 'till october, but no confirmation of Plus or PS Cards for my region, so I'll wait and see if it's worth getting an American sibscription or if a local one will be viable, and if I'll had to make another brazilian account or keep my main one.

Kleptic4699d ago

Wipeout HD has always been awesome imo...I played A LOT back when it released, bought Fury...spent some time with that too...but did end up kind of forgetting about it because the online community just wasn't there...

Just know what you are getting into...its easily the toughest racing game i've played this generation...trophy hunting in that game is a pipe dream, with several of them being simply the most difficult single trophies i've yet to come across on the PSN...Especially considering nearly every trophy has nothing to do with grinding (save the livery trophies)...but the arcade perfect, zone 75 trophies, sixaxis zone trophy, etc...are simply ridiculous...

love the game though...

mantisimo4698d ago

@bishop.

Man I'm sorry to hear that, truly, and feel really bad for you that psn main account is down in Brasil.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4698d ago
Spitfire_Riggz4699d ago

Yup, knew it would be Wipeout. I got online its fun as hell. Only thing I dont like is it has advertisements every once in a while.

Guess they had to make money somewhere

hamburger1234699d ago (Edited 4699d ago )

I got infamous 2 because i got infamous 1 from the welcome back package. Sot it was also good for sony i guess.

strifeblade4699d ago

what's good for sony does not mean it is necessarily good for you.

I love how all the sony fanboys give sony a pat on the back for the network breach. :(

what has the world come to?

badz1494699d ago

and what are you up to? Sony definitely screwed up with the PSN outage but they certainly are trying hard to redeem trust by giving out A LOT of free stuff! what's more satisfying for gamers than getting free games? I don't know about you but I'm a gamer and I have got ALL their free offerings due to multiple accounts and I'm one happy gamer!

quit your bitching already! shit happens and what's important is that it has passed and now I have too many games in hand and I only spent 3 weeks worth of no PSN which I paid nothing for!

hate sony all you want but I've never got these many free games from anyone EVER!

strifeblade4699d ago

^^^ I dont hate sony, i just dont like how sony fanboys have to spin things to take something negative and turn it into positive.

Just because you never paid for the network does not make it justfied that the breach was ok nor does it make it ok that it was down this long.

Bey0nd4698d ago

@strife

How are free games not good for us..? And I'm tired of people blaming Sony for the hack job, as if they do it themselves. Are you also going to blame codemasters and the Spanish police for being hacked too? At least they were kind enough to give out free GOOD games.. Move on and leave it behind

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4698d ago
NJShadow4699d ago (Edited 4699d ago )

I absolutely LOVE the WipEout HD + Fury pack. Man, not only is it beautiful, but the way the game changes and distorts the custom soundtrack support is awesome. (((d[-_-]b)))

Pintheshadows4699d ago

I had HD already but really wanted the Fury pack as well. Glad I did. Destructor is awesome. Got inFamous as well. Happy.

NegativeCreep4274699d ago

but Infamous is way better. I'm loving that game.

Electroshocked4699d ago

Nice, after that you should try InFamous 2, I'm pretty sure that if you love InFamous 1, you'll love the hell out of InFamous 2.

metsgaming4699d ago

This will help them out so much when there next game is released.

NJShadow4699d ago

I sure hope so. It's unfathomable how this game was overlooked by so many (but then again, based on the reasons in the article, I can see why). O.O But yeah, deciding to include this in the package was a brilliant move.

CaptainMarvelQ84699d ago

i think that this incident might actually increase PS+ users ,me being one of them ;im willing to subscribe for a full year,i didn't realize how much freebies you get until i got this one free month
who cares if you have to subscribe in order those free games
well,they're FREE ,so there shouldn't be any complaint at all

GrandTheftZamboni4699d ago (Edited 4699d ago )

I guess it's true what they say that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

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280°

Sony Taps Bungie's Head of Revenue to Lead Live-Service Games

Sony has recruited Bungie's head of revenue Jaremy Rich to head up its live-service gaming division, Rich has announced on social media.

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techraptor.net
ChasterMies19d ago

Please do not put Destiny’s monetization into Sony’s first party games. The monetization is what’s driving players away from Destiny.

just_looken19d ago

The new temp boss is the sony cfo bean counter so i can see this being a thing get every penny.

Cacabunga19d ago

PlayStation officially losing it.. fans will never support gaas games

just_looken19d ago

@car

The new boss did a interview in japan he wants to tap into the mobile market like nintendio so he give 0 fucks about gamers/fans

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

Redemption-6419d ago

@Cacabunga
You only speak for you and those who think like you, but most fans will support what they want. Playstation and PC fans are literally supporting Helldivers 2 and that is a gaas. Maybe you wouldn't, but many more would if they like it.

Huey_My_D_Long19d ago

@Redemption-64
Look, Im not making any judgement calls about this guy, but I will say that Helldivers 2 GaaS model is unique to Helldivers, and legit the only other game I can think of thats similiar was the Avengers game except HD2 pass is still better.
The fact that you can earn in game currency in a way that doesnt make you feel like you have to grind forever, as well you being able work on that pass that you bought...on your own time without a time limit...that right there is fucking huge to me, and I can't name any game other than avengers that avoided trapping players with FOMO logic...I think GaaS on HD2 shouldn't be compared to the rest of the industry...it should be copied.

Einhander197219d ago

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

In Europe it's a 60 40 split favoring PC.
In the US its a 60 40 split favoring PS5.

So PlayStation owners supported the game just fine, it's not getting carried by PC or anything like that.

FinalFantasyFanatic19d ago

@just_looken,
I'm perfectly fine with the way Nintendo entered the mobile market, I never touched their mobile games, meanwhile, the console/handheld stayed the way it is. As for being a bean counter, he's probably going to reel in these massive budgets that Sony's studios have had lately, I haven't played Spiderman 2, but I cannot see how they almost tripled the budget for that game.

@Redemption-64,
That's an exception to the rule, I'm expecting a lot of these GAAS games from Sony to fail, to be fair, they only need a few to succeed, but I would have preferred that they put more of their resources into other types of games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 19d ago
DivineHand12519d ago

True their monetization is driving players away and at the same time, their decision to chop out content and convoluted systems is keeping new players away from the game.

Joe91319d ago

I don't think that will happen based on how things worked out at Naughty Dog now that we know what we do, seems they had the option to fully commit to live service games or stay making single player experences so they gave up on their live service game. We are not sure how things came about with Bend making a live service game but I hope that was not a forced situation. Sony doesnt seem like they are forcing studios to switch up but we will see, Sony's bread and butter is single player games it is how they dominated the console market.

Obscure_Observer19d ago

Yeah, I though Sony learned something from all their failures in the LS segment under Bungie´s disastrous leadership and supervision which led to games been cancelled, studios closed and all the people laid off.

Looks like Bungie still plays a major role in Sony´s LS initiative and Sony is not backtracking on their GaaS plans.

S2Killinit19d ago (Edited 19d ago )

Are we forgetting that Destiny is also a highly successful franchise? I feel like that definitely deserves mention here.

Besides, there is no reason why a person cant learn from past experiences.

Joe91318d ago

I agree, people act as if Destiny flopped when it came out lol it took 9 to 10 years for the numbers to fall yet people are still playing it add the success of Helldivers 2 no wonder Sony is going forward down this path.

S2Killinit18d ago

Personally, I see no problem with Sony also having service games as long as they make good ones, and more importantly they deliver the AAA story driven games that they are known for. So yeah, I agree 100% with you.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 18d ago
Christopher19d ago

I mean, this person made some pretty bad decisions at Bungie. I hope they've learned from them because I definitely don't see those type of ideas as good for PlaySation in general.

CrimsonWing6918d ago (Edited 18d ago )

Honestly, what’s to learn from? How to make people happily continuously dump money into a single game over its life-time? Buy season passes continuously for several years with a smile on our faces?

GaaS is a design decision that is everything wrong with this industry. The fact that Helldivers 2 did so well and people defend the monetization because it was $40 and is a fun game, scares the sh*t out of me to see that the door is open and all shift will probably be to replicate that in future games. We already know the ROI for traditional game dev cost isn’t doing it for them.

I thought with Jimbo leaving we’d see a change for the better… I’m not so sure now.

S2Killinit18d ago

Service games are being offered by everyone. Sony cannot afford to only create single player AAA games. No one can. They already said they will be doing both.

Abnor_Mal19d ago (Edited 19d ago )

Ps5 gamers in 2023 seemed to play more live service types of games, so regardless to how people feel about them, numbers don’t lie and Sony is going where the money is. I mean look at the excitement around Helldivers2, people are showing that they want live service games.

Christopher19d ago

They play long-time existing live service games like CoD, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and the like. Mass majority of new live service games are considered failures and aren't moving gamers away from older games.

just_looken19d ago

Yep the huge issue with live service is they need paid players along with a reason to play them.

You forgot mobile market that also taps into that player base as well as the eve online style games there is only a certain amount of krakens/whales blind supporters compared to the amount of live service games we have its not sustainable math wise.

700 restaurants making food for every seat for 1000-3000 eaters just does not work out

Einhander197219d ago (Edited 19d ago )

Christopher

I am not a big live service fan and literally own zero of the games you listed, but that is not true, unless you call games that aren't the top games to be failures.

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

Games don't have to be the biggest game ever they just need to make more than they cost.

I challenge you to show professionally prepared data that shows that more live service games fail than make enough to keep going.

Because all the data that I have seen shows that live service is less of a gamble than making a big AAA budget game which needs to survive off retail sales.

FinalFantasyFanatic19d ago

I sometimes wonder if we're at saturation point, where it's hard for a new game to join those ranks unless it's particularly exceptional, people only have so much time and money to devote to these types of games.

romulus2319d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218319d ago

Lol it's not even a quarter of the ps5s sold. Helldivers may have been a hit but let's not say most are enjoying it because truth is most(the real most ) don't care about it.

S2Killinit18d ago (Edited 18d ago )

I play what is fun. If a live service game is good I’ll play it as long as its not a money scheme which Helldivers is not.

And Im a single player gamer.

mastershredder19d ago

How do you kill a franchise that already been killed?
Destiny’s grind, cash-in-on-playbass-cha-Ching, and pop-culture-insertion mainstream-me-too bs totally killed any rep Bungie had. Sony/Bungie, if you are doing this to ward-off players, it’s already working.

crazyCoconuts19d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

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80°

Sony May Soon Let You Decide How Much NPCs Talk In Games

Sony has patented to add multiple dialogue modes to let players switch between how many conversations with NPCs they want in the game.

blackblades25d ago

Sony is like the only ones outta the 3 that has atuff like like this pop up changing thing in ways.

just_looken25d ago

Sony in the past has always been first at bat with new ideas/tech but in the end never fully use it or just toss it away.

blackblades25d ago

I think they did use some but yeah most usually never happened but at least they thought about it. Sony seeks things like this and other, Nintendo seek different ways of playing going by there different controler designs and console designs.

just_looken25d ago (Edited 25d ago )

some of the other stuff sony want's/owns never used
https://gamerant.com/sony-p...
https://gamerant.com/sony-p...
https://www.eurogamer.net/s...
https://metro.co.uk/2023/03...
https://decrypt.co/114754/s...

monitor/adjust game difficultly as you play
https://www.techradar.com/g...

Sony nfts
https://www.theblock.co/pos...

Pay ai to play the game for you
https://thebusinessofesport...

Oh all the above last 12 months

I just imagine a evil scientist with test subjects when it comes down to sony recent patent reports.

Kaii25d ago

Will we get dialogue options that won't spoil puzzles in a matter of seconds? :p

280°

Judge rules in PlayStation's favour in $500m patent infringement lawsuit

Genuine Enabling Technology was seeking damages, claiming the tech allowing PlayStation consoles and controllers to communicate infringes its rights.

Read Full Story >>
gamesindustry.biz
S2Killinit27d ago

Big victory for Sony. And a long time coming.

DarXyde27d ago (Edited 27d ago )

Crazy to think the savings from this lawsuit allows them to develop one AAA game.

Make it Bloodborne 2, please and thank you.

27d ago
Profchaos27d ago

Sounds like patent trolling they tried the same thing against Nintendo with the same pattern.

Motion and control input traversing over higher and lower frequencies seperate from each other allowing the controller to do both

Pyrofire9527d ago

Patents suck. Most of them are complete garbage.

Knightofelemia27d ago

So to recoup the money Genuine is going to take on Nintendo or Microsoft next. I hate patent lawyers they are some of the worst bottom feeders out there.

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