It appears as though Sony has recently made some subtle changes to their PlayStation Plus service - and didn't really bother to mention it. AUTOMATON's Shehzaan Abdulla asks, "What's up with that?"
I read below and I think a lot of people did not read the article. What the title is stating is that Sony is trying to re introduce games back into the library, assuming they are trying to "boast" content. I honestly think it's a good idea considering new subscribers only have a chance at the most recent content. Maybe it was a server issue - holding all those games on the cloud and the amount of bandwidth it may take. I think and it's opinion only, as server structure becomes better, Sony will broaden its library again for people to download content. I think it helps with long term customers who may have missed out as well as new ones..
the title seems a bit misleading or implies that it is a bad situation when the content reveals that it is a positive.
Well some services will bring back certain items it has removed to gauge interest. It's not a bad thing for older items to get another chance. So long as these older items are not being put up in place of what generally would be the new additions to the service.
I will say that the xbl service has been known to remove items from their service after they have been available for a particular amount of time(generally over a couple years). And its not just limited to games but also other media that is available through the service.
I have several old free tv shows and movies that I can go back into my download history and yet while they appear there...i cannot re-download them because they have been removed indefinitely.
One such item I know for certain I can't download (ever) is Outrun Online Arcade. that one was removed because it was no longer a licensed game. So I'm thankful I still have my copy and hope my HDD never crashes.
Yeah. I'm thinking some kind of licensing issue is at play there. Makes you really value physical media :P Gotta remember to do backups every now and then.
I think Sony has dropped the ball on several fronts, PSN included. They may not have done what the title of this article states, but I cannot stand several things since going over to PS4. Like the store for example... It is full of advertising and a convoluted mess of everything they offer. At least for the PS4. I wish if you were a paid member, they would take out the ads, for an ad free experience. It Pisses me off. And, make the ui fully customizable so we are not being inundated again with more ads and fluff. We should be able to take Music Unlimited, and all that other crap-load noone uses off the ui bar. Also, too many damn Vita games that they try to pawn off as a free game for ps plus. Just sayin. I love my ps3, my PS4 is soon to be getting the axe.
I disagree with a lot of things they're doing as well. I actually use the app on my phone for the store now. I don't see the ads as that bad, there's a lot worse out there. What I don't like are the downtimes and paying for a service that can't keep up with newly released games. I'm also mad about the Driveclub situation. I'm not paying for plus for awhile because the online just frustrates me. If Charter went down as often, I'd have a lot of free internet coming to me. I don't pay for a service when I can't use it, I don't care what the TOS says. Those are just words on paper, and can change any time to suit their needs.
As for the article, I'm not exactly seeing the problem. Seems like they're doing us a better service, people should be happy. Wth is the world coming to
I love my PS4, I just wish the games would hurry up. As for the store, I love the PS4 store. It loads almost instantly whereas on the PS3 it takes like 3 minutes for me to even get into the games section there, and the PS4 downloads and installs in minutes instead of hours (I remember Hitman on ps3 taking 11hrs to download) As for the ads, seriously stop complaining, ads are EVERYWHERE so why does it bother you that they are here too. Hell on this very site a good 30% of the screen is one gigantic ad. I agree a bit about not being able to customize what appears on the UI as I have games that I don't even own anymore that are taking space there or games I'll never revisit taking up valuable space.
I downloaded hitman too when it came to plus and it was big at 17gb but the only way it would take 11 hrs to download is if you have a 1.5mb DSL connection. I have cable internet so its 3hrs at the most for me. The ps3 store always loads between 5-10 seconds and the PS4 is a bit faster but not by much. There are some ads but they're not in your face or as many as with XBL. Those big games take awhile to install on ps3 but something that big would take about 45 minutes possibly on the high end. I agree ads really aren't a problem here, just improve the user experience and they have with PS4 and it'll get better over time.
Disagree on your statement about too many Vita games, Vita gets 2 games per month (not counting cross buy) the same as PS3 and PS4.... I think that's fair for Vita owners... what do you want? for Vita owners not to get any games?
Yeah, the PS+ ads are freaking annoying. They already know you paid for it. I wouldn't mind if they showed it a month before my sub expires but it's just always there. Also I hate when it shows the new free game and you click on it and it just takes you to buy more PS+ instead of actually taking you to the game. WTF?
Totally disagree, twdll. First of all, your "They may not have done what the title of this article states, but..." comment makes me think you didn't read the article. Because it sounds like you're thinking this article is conjecturing about (quote unquote) *yet another bad thing Sony did (in addition to the stuff I'm about to mention*, when in fact the article speculates about something very GOOD that Sony might have done (give more access to more PS+ games).
Also, I just got my Xbox One this week, and I don't see how it's got a better store than PS4's. It has advertisements as well, and a weird bug where after you download something or go back to a previous menu, the screen flickers black and that white circular loading animation displays for a second, before showing the store again. I found that annoying. The store is designed OK, but it runs a lot more sluggishly than the PS4 store, which surprised me actually because the PS3 store was sluggish as hell compared to the Xbox 360 store. For me, that turned opposite this time.
Also in comparison to 360, whatever happened to the policy of downloadable games requiring a demo? I miss that. I would have liked demos for Crimson Dragon and D4 and some of the other download-only games.
Sunet Overdrive is freaking awesome though, in my opinion (not that that has anything to do with what we're discussing haha, but I'm a huge Insomniac fan from way back, so it was one of the reasons I decided to get an Xbox One, and it didn't let me down in any way).
I really do nothave an issue with either Console's stores. I don't care about adds and it doesn't bother me that there weird glitches when transitioning from one menu to another. However, what bothers me is that I can not view trailers or demos, as you mentioned, prior to purchase on the XB1.
PS4 is a little better about this but virtually every game that is ready to purchase doesn't have a trailer or something I can watch. I am sure they want you to watch the uploaded videos of the games that people are streaming but I don't want to watch those.
I want the production trailers sometimes. That annoys me. Other than that I really don't have a problem with the online stores. The store on my Vita is really nice.
This is what many don't realise - 2007-2013 was a golden age of PS3 games and free online.
Now is Sony making up for lost profits by mostly only announcing games that they know will sell, charging for online and having adverts.
The better tech is a good carrot for people to buy the PS4. But the PS3 was a legendary bit of goodwill and innovative tech on the part of Sony. The PS4 is the smoother, safer, path to financial recovery.
How is it you expect there to be no advertisements in the psn store? Was there supposed to just be a list of contents and nonthing else?
Quote: too many damn Vita games that they try to pawn off as a free games.
Too many games? How is that a bad thing. I may not have have a Vita right now, but i will bg the end of the month. Ive all ready got a 64gb card and tons of games waiting for it.
About the Vita games, I just hate to see Vita games on my TV... If you have a Vita then you get Vita games, if you have a PS4 you get PS4 games. Thats what Im sayin... And as far as the ad thing... Would you pay for Spotify and Pandora and still keep the ads...? I did not think so, so why do it with Sony. If I payed for my PS+ membership then I should not see any ads FOR PS+. Other ads I do not mind for games and such but cmon... PS+ I already own it dont need to see a million ads for PS+ on every page.
Two more things as well that need improvement... Twitch Tv sux on PS4 compared to Xbox one... and the loading mechanism for discs sounds like a cheap kids toy. Especially compared to the Xbone. Just sayin... Im venting people... ha.
Speak for your self. I love music unlimited and use it almost every day.
Also. When has there ever been advertising and fluff in the UI?
And the store convoluted?! I'm sorry dude. But IMO the store is great. Super easy to find any one item using the very intuitive search function. And the whole layout is perfect for seeing new releases and up and coming releases.
No offence. But you come off as either a troll or a whiney bitch.
Sorry but I disagree... Several new games I did not even see until I spent a few minutes browsing and trying to find them in the store the other day.
Im just saying that the UI should be more flexible for those people that are not using Sony services... It would be cool to incorporate other music stores instead of just Music now... Like Pandora and Spotify or even Grooveshark... :) Just sayin.
Same here, I've tried pamdora, spotify and finally music unlimited. And out of the of those three, mu has the better selection of non english music. The variety of OST's they have isn't half bad either.
Once I heard vladivostok fm on gta4, I wanted more. lol
One thing that is stupid is that you have to download the game to own it with PS+. Clearly, it should automatically be owned by you if you are currently a PS+ subscriber when it releases as a PS+ monthly title. As it is now, if you aren't on for a month because of a busy schedule or vacation or whatever, you miss those games regardless of being a PS+ subscriber at the time of their release. That's just stupid. The games phase out when they do, so new subscribers won't have access to last month's titles, current subscribers shouldn't get punished for not downloading in time though.
you don't have to download them, you just have to 'purchase' them from the store... can be done through PC or phone if you don't have access to your console...
I agree it is a bit pointless that you even have to purchase them and its not automatic... However it may give Sony some feedback on what games subscribers are actually interested on
Well I know you don't have to fully download them, but it's still a silly way of doing it. I might have missed some PS3 stuff because I wasn't thinking about it and was too busy on PS4. That should never happen, it should be automatic if I'm currently a subscriber.
So wait, you guys are complaining because Sony is allowing you the choice of whether or not you register for those games?
That they aren't literally shoving them down your throats?
This is also about the Developers themselves, Sony offers them some kind of compensation for appearing in PS+, what that compensation is based on is anyones guess until we actually find out, it could be based on the total number of people who 'purchased' that game when it was free.
Complaining because you have to register for them, rather then them just magically appearing in your console is a ridiculous thing to complain about..... but then again, this IS the modern gaming community after all, it's all ridiculous.
I don't know what to tell you, dude. If you can't be bothered to take a few moments out of the month to put your games in your library, that sounds like a personal failure.
This right here is why PS Plus sucks. If you're going to implement something like this then for god's sake make it robust enough so I don't have to "purchase" it on my damn phone just in case I might want it later.
I mean these consoles are supposed to herald in the digital generation and we're stuck with half ass stuff like this? Please Sony. Try harder.
Sony has to pay for each download. I don't think it's unreasonable of them to ask that you take the couple seconds to click the purchase button to show you actually want the game.
@Maxor: Really? PS Plus *SUCKS* in your words, because of this? Question (I don't know the answer because I just signed up for Xbox Live yesterday after buying my Xbox One over the weekend), but isn't it the same on Xbox One?
After I signed up for Xbox Live I had to go to the store area and download the games, obviously, but if I hadn't done that, would I have still been able to download them for free next month after they rotate out? Would they have been added to my "owned games" library so to speak? I'm actually curious, because I guess I'm not really aware of how the thing works, being new to Xbox One and all.
Speaking of which, is there an equivalent to the Download List on Xbox One? I didn't notice it yet, but I don't know.
@callahan09 yes it works the same way on Xbox Live. You have to manually go into "Games with Gold" and buy the titles that are free.
No you wont be able to find previous games with gold once they've rotated out.
I don't know directly what the download list is on ps4 other than reading the meaning of the name. But I would assume the equivalent to it on the Xbox One is "Queue" which you will find in "My Games and Apps" as a submenu;)
What if people don't want their library/download list filled up with a ton of games they have no interest in ever playing? Don't you think it makes more sense to give people the option to add it to their list?
Yep on ps4 you can't just purchase it - you have to download it to own it and then go back to the dashboard and cancel the download. Its not a big deal but its little things like tgat which make it rough around the edges. Still a million miles more enjoyable to ise than the ps3 store and os though
Edit: just read below amd Sony have fixed this issue now. Awesome!
It's that if you don't download/purchase it within that month, you miss out on it. If you are PS+ during the time a PS+ free game comes out, you should automatically own it to where you can download it whenever you like. Rather than you being busy/away and not being able to/forgetting/etc and missing out on that game for good. That should never happen.
Yeah. It's a bit silly that you have to tag each bit of content for future safe keeping. It's not like I'm going to pass up freebies so they might as well be auto-tagged for me, saving me the ritual of administrative fluff.
And on a related subject, it would be nice to be able to search through our download lists with filters (I think the PS4 essentially has this now with the Content Library).
But it's a major issue on the Vita where you have everything you can't download on the Vita displayed alongside things you can. And from what I remember there's no option to filter demos/PVs/DLC and so on... so yeah, scrolling down pages and pages of DOA DLC to find things I want :P
Even though it is free to you, Sony has to pay the developer something for each purchase. So, they aren't going to give it to everyone for free or they'd have to pay the developer for millions of purchases.
Also, I don't want a bunch of crap in my purchase list if I never plan on using it. Just like how people bitched at Apple for putting U2 album in their account for free.
I love how loosely the term 'free' is thrown around now. It's definitely not 'free' to us. Sony is 'paying' the developer for it with the money we provide them with for our PS+ subscriptions. That's the whole reason we get the 2 or so 'free' games a month. Stop making them out to be charity workers. OMG, they actually have to use some of the profits of PS+ to give us something back, they're saints.
If that's the case anyways, then that means there's still tons of people who NEVER download some of those games, so I shouldn't have a cut-off point at the end of the month if it's actually a game I wanted, but missed it for whatever reason I was busy or distracted that month. So again, as long as I owned PS+ during that period - I should be able to go and download that game if I want it. I can't believe people are arguing against this, speaking of Sony as some poor merchant on the street - rather than the huge multinational conglomerate corporation that it is.
You know how it works. If you don't like it, don't sign up. If you're too busy that you can't find 5 minutes of time in a 30 day period to sign on and purchase it, I don't know what to tell you.
Let me explain this to you again.
Sony makes deals with developers for these free games. They still have to pay the developer for each purchase (some discounted value I'm sure). Let's assume right now 50% of people download all 6 games each month. If Sony automatically gave it to each person, that means they have to pay the developers twice as much money. If that were the case, our PS Plus cost would probably go up significantly.
What pisses me off about my PS+ account versus my Games with Gold account is that if I end my PS+ subscription, I loose those games I downloaded. I do not loose those games if I end my Gold membership. That needs to change. Those games are not free or but more like rented for my PS+ membership annual fee. I usually take advantage of the discounted games for PS+ instead because, since I paid for those, I get to keep them.
*Free Games Offer: For paid Gold members only; Active Gold membership required to play downloaded Xbox One games. Each participating game (selected by Xbox) available for download from Xbox Store during specific window; available games may vary by country. Some titles may only be available for download by adult account holders 18+. Kinect and/or hard drive required for some games. Offer available in all Xbox Live countries where Xbox Live Gold memberships are supported. Offer is non-transferable, not redeemable for cash, and cannot be combined with any other rebate or offer. Offer terms and availability subject to change. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of member. Download charges may apply as set by your ISP. For Xbox Live Terms of Use and system requirements, see xbox.com/live
Have you considered the possiblity that some people may not want every single game offered through PS+?
The current method allows all PS+ subscribers to choose if they want the games offered. Not everyone wants every single PS+ free game on their purchase history.
I may disagree with a few things but this is just crazy. Complaining because you don't have time to get the "free" games? Must not have wanted them bad enough. I know there's some gems I missed with Plus. No big deal. If you want the game that bad just go buy it. I can't believe people "expect" 36 different games for $50, even when they can't download them for whatever reason. That's just sad. Nobody is entitled to that many games for so little money. That would put companies out of business. I think the Plus model works great, even though I'm not subscribing right now. When I was a member the phone worked great for grabbing the games :)
Personally I'd rather them get the network built up and forget the free games. I already am getting more than I have time to play
I am very confused as to what this article is trying to accuse Sony of?
It talks about how previously you only had to "purchase" a free PS+ game, but not download it, and could re-download it in the future, but then says that they are offering old games along side the current months games.
So what exactly have they CHANGED? They are offering more games? Because that's a good thing.
Also, Sony only just recently introduced a feature in the PSN store where you can select "Add to Library" which means that the game is listed as yours, but you can choose to download it at a later time.
It is a good thing. People are just assuming the headline refers to a bad change. It's actually pretty funny, watching trolls expose themselves by jumping at the chance to bash Sony over this "negative" news.
Yeah, it's a bit of a head scratcher. I just re-subbed last week and was mildly irritated when I clicked the link. After reading the story I had to re-read it since this sounds like an awesome change and not the kick to the stones I expected.
"That was until recently. The Japanese PS+ Store has seen some changes silently implemented – with old games you might have missed the first time reappearing for download alongside the current month's new set of games. Is this Sony silently putting games out onto the PS+ service again to bolster their portfolio and give gamers another chance at playing games they might have missed? Interestingly, the games in question aren't limited to Sony 1st party titles. Titles reappearing under the current month’s line-up include Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Gravity Daze (Gravity Rush in some regions), Shin Sangoku Musou Next (Dynasty Warriors Next in some regions), Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, Time Travelers, and Steins;Gate. At first I was under the impression that the current month’s download line-up and download history had been combined into one section, but upon closer inspection many of the titles I've downloaded from the PS+ service in the past are not displaying alongside the aforementioned games (but do appear when checking my total download history). In other words, it appears these games are being put back out into the wild, giving new PS+ members (or those who simply failed to register the games the first time) a second chance at registering them."
they are recycling games that have been on PS+ in the past. Thats what they accuse sony of .
Imo it is not such a bad thing , i only started using PS+ a year a go precisely. I wouldn't mind some of the games that i have missed hehe
What has appeared to change is Sony is now putting out games as "current month" games again, in essence giving new subscribers (or old subscribers who failed to register the game previously) a second chance at registering them. It's a change from the "get it while it's hot" philosophy PS+ has operated on until now.
Just my speculation, but I think poor uptake of PS+ in Japan might be partly behind it. I have no figures on hand, but I've certainly noticed that the JPN store is far more liberal with PS+ freebie codes than the UK one (I've used 6 months of the service for free as a result). That suggests to me that the service isn't doing all that hot over there.
If I had to guess I reckon Sony didn't make a fuss over it because they aren't planning on doing this as a regular thing and don't want to change people's expectations. But who knows?
I'm just pissed that they slowly killed one of the best features from PS+, the early Betas.. Everything these days just happens to be a "closed beta", or go to website X to get a code... WTF!?!
I miss the days where it was originally stated that EVERY PS+ member will always have access to the latest Betas without jumping through any hoops...
Psh, games seem to remain in beta for a few months after release nowadays anyways, just look at the launch date as a early access and your dream has come true again, besides if its free that bugs you there is always timed trials.
weird title. sony are actually changing it for the better than! i missed alot of games because i ddint put them in my download list. hope i can get another chance.
100% YES They did. They are giving less games at this time than previously. I will support this site now as a reader for reporting this. Thanks and good work.
It is a positive step but one I find a little strange too. When it was offered as monthly only, grab it while you can, it enforced a kind of monthly login to grab them. By offering them permanently to subscribers it negates that a little so you can grab from a growing library of free titles.
Now that is a productive thing for the gamer but it seems New gamers can still only grab the latest months games, or (we don't know yet) only games that released since their subscription started, whenever month that may be.
If they intend to freely give away the game to so many people already, why hamper the newcomers to the market? Why not go the whole hog and just keep all games that hit the offer free for life? The number of people who are missing the offer with a new subscription will be fairly small to those already subscribed and got them, and the positive marketing for Sony would be huge to suggest that their console offers so many growing library of free games, as opposed to 1 or 2 free games a month on Xbox One/360.
Why are Sony and Microsoft not pushing ahead with game developers to bring older games to their platforms (not remastered versions obviously) and making them completely free, as they are giving them away as free for an entire month to millions of people so why not leave them free, and allow people a huge range of good (and some very bad) games they can play for free, while allowing future sequels, remasters and AAA titles the buzz based off the back of this?
I do believe this may be coming eventually. We have seen both Microsoft and Sony offer free games each month, now we have hints of this with Sony Japan. Then we have Microsoft giving away unlimited free access for an entire weekend for a game like Forza 5, and then EA Access offering older titles for free as part of their subscription?
Could a few years down the line, be a future where PSN+ and LIVE subscriptions double, but in exchange for that doubling we see a LOT of older (and a few brand new) games free to download and play? And before the argument about subscriptions going up and consumers refusing to pay..... bare in mind that a Spotify subscription in the UK is £120 a year for the premium, which is approximately THREE times the RRP of the Xbox Live subscription, and all we get with that is music. I for one would be happy to consider a £100 ($150) a year subscription like Spotify if I was guaranteed a LOT of older AAA games available to download and play whenever I want with no time limits. I am talking any (or all) games that are at least 2 years old, which seems old games but not when you consider Battlefield 3, COD:Black Ops 2, Forza 4, and so many others would fall under that 2 year age range and could all be made FREE under a bigger subscription offer.
2 years might be a bit far fetched, i wouldnt be surprised to see launch titles and hits to be free after a couple years or so but companies that thrive on old games might put up a huge fight in this perspective. Think Elder scrolls and GTA where they expect people to buy there games for five years then get the next one.
I think the reason they cannot offer the games all of the time is due to negotiations with the content providers. They tell them the game will only be available for X amount of time. To make the game permanently available, the asking price from the Dev would be MUCH higher.
People didn't know apparently? If that's not the reason it's popular than I'm not quite sure. To me , it's similar to you, not a big deal and something obvious we all already should know given we are paying for this service and seeing the trailers for the free games every week. We would have to be dumb or inexperienced with the PS3's late years to not see that it has reduced in amount of free games.
That being said, there's less free games to give. More games need to release before X1 and PS4 will be able to give out tons and tons of games for free each month in my opinion.
What? I'm not surprised. Typical troll, trolling for what looks like negative headlines, so he can make an anti-Sony comment, without having read the article which reveals the supposed secret to be Sony making more games available on PS+.
I doubt this is true but who knows.
Serious speculation here...
although I'd like to have a chance to grab NGS+ sinced I missed it.
Maybe there's sequels coming out.
I think Sony has dropped the ball on several fronts, PSN included. They may not have done what the title of this article states, but I cannot stand several things since going over to PS4. Like the store for example... It is full of advertising and a convoluted mess of everything they offer. At least for the PS4. I wish if you were a paid member, they would take out the ads, for an ad free experience. It Pisses me off. And, make the ui fully customizable so we are not being inundated again with more ads and fluff. We should be able to take Music Unlimited, and all that other crap-load noone uses off the ui bar. Also, too many damn Vita games that they try to pawn off as a free game for ps plus. Just sayin. I love my ps3, my PS4 is soon to be getting the axe.