320°

Amazon discounts 1-Year PlayStation Plus Membership to its original price point

Amazon has discounted the 1-Year PlayStation Plus Membership by $10 off, dropping it to $49.99 (the same original price point as it was before the price increase on September 22nd).

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gameidealist.com
SojournUK2767d ago

It's a good discount but to be honest a $10 increase in an anual subscription is barely the end of the world.

Summons752767d ago

No it's really not but we are in the age of entitlement where anyone over the age of 7 that has unrestricted access to social can cry and whine about everything.

DarXyde2767d ago (Edited 2767d ago )

"Age of entitlement"?

You do realize that we didn't need Plus to play online before, right? Well, now we do.

It started as a discount service with free games every month that were pretty good in quality. Now, we get pretty much exclusively Indies (which, mind you, can be pretty good--the offering lately hasn't been great on ANY platform).

Now imagine this: as yet, we have no real justification for the price hike. Don't let one good month fool you--there's no indication of consistency just yet. Don't forget that the network went down for days this month.

My point is Plus has completely changed and not really for the better. Neither of us are right and we need to wait it out and see where it goes. But I will say that this isn't entitlement. Sony, who introduced the service one way is completely rewriting its purpose and offering it at the same price as Live. Granted, Live is a better service and can justify a higher price point. Right now, Sony cannot. They have a larger install base and already have larger revenue potential.

I love PlayStation, but they need to make this really matter and you need to not be so quick to defend this behavior.

Aenea2766d ago

@DarXyde

Hi there American!

I'm from the Netherlands, you know, tiny country in Europe? Anyhow, we've had a price hike a year before you guys had. Did you hear us about it? Nope, it's because we are used to having prices change with currency exchange rates, the economy and inflation.

Sony isn't an American company, their yearly results are done in Yen, not Dollars, the price hasn't been increased in North America since the introduction of the subscription 6 years ago. It more than makes sense they increased the price because of either the exchange rates or higher costs of operation and salaries than anything else.

Don't expect a change in quality of the IGC games, it's wishful thinking and won't happen. Especially not when the rest of the world is still paying the same price as a year ago.

Once the prices are upped all around the world, then it would make a lot more sense to have expectations like that, right now it's silly. But even then it can still mean costs have risen and that they need to raise prices accordingly.

Price increases of almost everything, including services, are normal, why would PS+ be an exception?

mikeslemonade2766d ago

Finally people starting to learn. Yes people are entitled which is one of the main reasons why things are held back.

Anyway I frequently get these cards for $40. I let people who don't know any better to spend full price on things.

xDealtwithIt2766d ago

I remember how people whined and cried about how Xbox fanboys were sheep for paying to play online on 360.

Guess those tears quickly stopped when Sony also asked their fans to "shut up, stop being entitled and bend over!".

I'm so glad to read that consumers expressing their distaste for greedy corporate practices is now being viewed as entitlement by the commercially enslaved.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2766d ago
C-H-E-F2767d ago

where was this 10$ discount before the price hike? lOl but it's all good for anyone and everyone just wait until black friday and get them at target for 29.99. That's what I did a few years back and haven't had to buy another PS+ membership since.

attilayavuzer2767d ago

I guess I'll have to cut out Ramen.

Majin-vegeta2767d ago

A pot of beans and you would be surprised with how muxh food you can mix it with.

KickSpinFilter2766d ago

Ya that two more cents a day is really gonna kill a lot of people...

Pro_TactX2766d ago

@DarXyde

"No real justification for the price hike"?

It's been six years since PS Plus started. Do you know what happened in those six years? Inflation. Your money was worth less every year, but the price of PS Plus remained the same.

This is a pretty basic business principal. A company keeps the price of a service the same for several years, and then increases the price of that service later to balance out inflation, and to recoup the money that was lost by not increasing the price every year.

$5.19 of the $10.00 increase balances inflation. The remaining $4.81 helps recoup the money Sony lost by keeping the PS Plus price the same for six years. In a few years inflation will catch up to the $10.00 price increase.

The price increase is justified.

Artemidorus2766d ago

No but it's the start of greed

KickSpinFilter2766d ago

That's two more cents a day Arghhhh!!!

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 2766d ago
FallenAngel19842767d ago

It's sad that the original price point is now considered a discount

Taero2767d ago

Yeah I hate when things get more expensive over time, like how burgers aren't 25c any more.

Soulrakk2767d ago

Yes because it costs more today for them to run a network than it did a month ago and clearly a food that contains many ingredients such as a hamburger, is a great analogy. Livestock is the same as a gaming network for sure. /s

They clearly told you it was for no other reason then to match Xbox Live's fee.

Aenea2766d ago

@Soulrakk

And the price of a burger went from 25cents to the current price in one bump? Or was it going up slowly over the years?

You would have been okay with PS+ costing $51.99 in 2011, $53.49 in 2012, $54.99 in 2013, $56.49 in 2014, $57.99 in 2015 and then settling on $59.99 in 2016?

That would've been better huh? You do realise you would've paid more the past few years already? $25 more total to be exact.

And then, a hamburger has many ingredients? How many components does a server have? The server farm itself? The energy it costs to provide power? Don't be silly thinking a hamburger has more parts than all this!

Bruh2766d ago

Now I know you're insanely stupid, digital subscriptions aren't prone to inflation moron. Its a service meaning the owner/ creator is in charge of the price stability and fluctuations. In comparison to food products which cycle in the economy and coincide directly with rising living costs and higher cost of production. Last time I checked, a digital subscription that isn't adding anything to your service, doesn't exactly ring a rising cost now does it?

Goldby2766d ago

@Bruh

Digital Subscriptions aren't prone to to inflation.

If the entire service is all digital then yes i canentertain that thought. but PS plus isn't all digital.
There are server farms, employees, buildings, power bills, property costs, all that has inflation happening every single year. we are lucky we are only getting a 10$ price bump 6+ years after it's started.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2766d ago
Thomaticus2767d ago

It's funny how they try to purport this as a discount. It clearly is not. I don't see any justification for Sony having to increase the price by 10 dollars (for something that should be free). I'll wait until black Friday and see if any deals come up.

Bolts2767d ago

It's sad that you used to not need Plus to game online. What a ripoff really.

Goldby2766d ago

its sad that you get games every single month for free, that MS had to copy off of sony to keep buisness

2767d ago Replies(9)
InTheZoneAC2767d ago

and like before the price increase, people will complain about the price hike and wait for the $60 price to return before they extend their service...the logic!

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70°

Disney Dreamlight Valley teases part two of paid expansion

Disney Dreamlight Valley devs have officially teased the second part of the paid expansion titled The Spark of Imagination.

70°

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190°

Bethesda Needs to Reduce the Gaps Between New Fallout and Elder Scrolls Releases

Waiting a decade for new instalments in franchises as massive as Fallout and Elder Scrolls feels like a waste.

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gamingbolt.com
-Foxtrot13h ago

Microsoft have Obsidian but I feel it's Bethesda who just don't want to play ball as they've always said they want to do it themselves.

Once MS bought Zenimax in 2020 they should have put the Outer Worlds 2 on the back burner, allow Bethesda to finish off its own Space RPG with Starfield (despite totally different tone why have two in your first party portfolio with two developers who's gameplay is a tad similar) and got Obsidian for one of their projects to make a spiritual successor to New Vegas.

When the Elder Scrolls VI is finished Bethesda can then onto the main numbered Fallout 5 themselves.

The Outer Worlds 2 started development in 2019 so putting it on the back burner wouldn't have been the end of the world, they'd have always come back to it once Fallout was done and it would have been nicely spaced out from Starfields release once they had most likely stopped supporting it and all the expansions were released.

If they did this back in 2020 when they bought Zenimax and the game had a good, steady 4 - 5 years development, you might have seen it release in 2025.

We are literally going to be waiting until 2030 at the very earliest for Fallout 5 and all they seem bothered about is pushing Fallout 76.

RaidenBlack11h ago(Edited 11h ago)

Its not just only Todd not playing ball.
Obsidian have made a name for themselves in delivering stellar RPGs, but most famous once have always been sequels/spin-offs to borrowed IPs like KOTOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Stick of Truth etc.
Obsidian wants to invest more in their own original IPs like Outer Worlds or Pillars of Eternity with Avowed.
Similar to what Bluepoint & inXile wants to do or Kojima is doing (i.e not involving anymore in Konami's IPs).
So yea, even if New Vegas has the most votes from 3D Fallout fans, Obsidian just wants to do their own thing, like any aspiring dev studio and MS is likely currently respecting that.
But a future Fallout game from Obsidian will surely happen. Founder Feargus Urquhart has already stated an year ago that they're eager to make a new Fallout game with Bethesda, New Vegas 2 or otherwise. Urquhart was the director of the very first 1995's Fallout game after all.
And don't forget Brian Fargo and his studio inXile, as Brian Fargo was the director of Fallout's 1988 predecessor: Wasteland

KyRo7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

Obsidian should take over the FO IP. They're do far better with it than Bethesda who hasn't made a great game for almost 15 years

RaidenBlack1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

@KyRo
So, by 15 years, you mean Fallout 3 was the last great game Bethesda made?
You don't consider Skyrim a good game, which came out 13 years ago?
I'd consider Fallout 4 a pretty decent game as well. It's Story & RPG elements were a bit downgrade from New Vegas but the exploration and shooting on the other hand, were upgrades.
FO76 was disappointing and Starfield could've been better at launch I'll agree.

Duke197h ago(Edited 7h ago)

I disagree. Part of these games is the support for the mod community. If they move to releasing a "next game" every 2 or 3 years, the modding support plummets and the franchises turn into just another run of the mill RPG.

Make the games good enough to withstand the test of time, to keep people coming back to them and expanding on them with mod support.

--Onilink--4h ago(Edited 4h ago)

I dont think anyone is saying they need to come out every 2 years (not to mention almost no game is released that quickly anymore)

By the time Fallout 5 comes out, it will be more than 15 years since Fallout 4 came out (same with ES6 coming out 15 years after Skyrim). Even if you want to use F76 as the metric for the most recent release, that one came out in 2018. It will be a miracle if F5 comes out before 2030

The point is that for a studio that doesnt seem to operate with multiple teams doing several projects at once, that their projects normally take 4-5 years as a minimum, and that now they even added Starfield to the rotation, it becomes a 15+ years waiting period between releases for each series, which doesnt make sense. Imagine that Nintendo only released a mainline Mario or Zelda game every 15 years…

They either need to start developing more than 1 project at a time, let someone else take a crack at one of the IPs or significantly reduce their development times

Duke193h ago(Edited 3h ago)

Why should someone else take a crack at one of the IPs? Look at what happened to Final Fantasy as a recent example - there is pretty clear FF fatigue setting in because they are now pumping out titles in the franchise every few years. Pumping out more games faster doesn't always make a series better.

There are plenty of options to make new games, not just create more titles in the same universe at a faster pace.

-Foxtrot53m ago

"Why should someone else take a crack at one of the IPs"

He's literally just told you why

We're waiting like 15 years before a sequel comes out, it's insane

Skyrim came out in 2011, the next game is expected to come out in 2027 at the earliest so that's 16 years apart while Fallout 4 came out in 2015 and might not release until 2031, again 16 years.

We're fine with Bethesda trying new things and doing new IPs like Starfield but adding a new game to the cycle now means a bigger wait. Also Starfield didn't meet most peoples expectations, can you imagine waiting 15 years or so for a sequel and it's disappointing? It would feel even worse because you would have to wait another 15 years to see if they manage to come back from it.

They need to give it to another developer, we don't need main numbered titles but a spin off of Fallout and Elder Scrolls should be cycled in between the long gaps of the main releases.

Once again you are making out people want these games as quick as possible when all we want is a standard development time of at least 4 years or so rather than waiting 15.

mandf4h ago

Yeah I’m going to say it, who cares about the modding community when making a game? Half the time developers only tolerate modders because they fix there game for them.

Skuletor6h ago

Yeah, let's all advocate for smaller gaps between series' releases, then we'll probably get headlines about how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven. Let them cook.

SimpleSlave5h ago

"how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven" So every Bethesda game then? Got it.

Listen, I would agree if this was about From Software or something, but Bethesda?

🤣

C'mon now. What timeline are you from?

Skuletor3h ago

Think about it, they're already bug filled messes on their current schedule, can you imagine how much worse it would be if they rushed things?

-Foxtrot49m ago

@Skuletor

Who's saying to rush the releases? No one is saying that...

People just don't want to be waiting 15 years for a sequel, they aren't working on the game for that long, you do realise that right? The issue isn't coming down to them working on the game and us "rushing them", it's the fact they are working on other games like Starfield now meaning bigger gaps before they even get started on them.

I bet you any more Elder Scrolls VI only entered full development last year when Starfield was finished despite being announced in 2018.

Duke193h ago

I mean you aren't wrong. People are going to complain about anything

isarai5h ago

Hows about you focus on quality, just a thought 🤷‍♂️

Sciurus_vulgaris4h ago

Bethesda [or Microsoft] would have to reallocate internal and external studios towards fallout and elder scrolls titles. Bethesda has the issue of developing 2 big IPs that are large RPGs on rotation. If you want more Fallout and Elder Scrolls, development will have to be outsourced.

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