Myopic Publishers "outcry" "PlayStation Network Bandwidth Fee"

"In a "letter" to Publishers, Sony has stated that it will charge said Publishers with a .16¢ USD "Bandwidth Fee" per 1024MB of data that is downloaded for all of said publishers content distributed through Sony's Playstation Network. Although the details of this "letter" has not been fully disclosed, it has been reported by MTV Multiplayer's, Steven Totilo, that one source said, "It's a new thing we have to budget. It's not cool. It sucks." On the other hand several vital factors are remiss."

[dadeisvenm]

It's a positive story of an angle people haven't thought of (very few at least) yet people miss the point because they fail to read it. If you're going to comment, comment with context and read the story first.

[SupaPlaya]

I only see your comment.

[dadeisvenm]

I Guess I'm getting all huffy. preemptive strike.

[SupaPlaya]

So this is a "read before you comment" warning. Cool.

I'm sometimes guilty of this as well. Not because I don't want to read the articles, but because I don't want to support garbage flamebait titles for hits.

[dadeisvenm]

A lot of articles have been posted get front page recognition because they were salacious rather then substantiative.

[theKiller]

for just 0.16 cent per Giga Byte!!!!! wow some people just searching for something to complain about, if any body needs to complain they should at least do it for XBL 50 USD fee annually and RROD!!!!

[Pennywise]

If devs cant afford 16cents per demo, than they have more problems I can go into.

If you create a GOOD game, and make a GREAT demo... 16 cents per customer for advertisement is cheap. They should chalk it over to their advertising budget to get these demos out.

Why should Sony have to foot the bill?

[dadeisvenm]

seeing how its EA, Ubisoft, Konami, Capcom, and the like that are paying for what is essentially and "marketing fee", then Developers have nothing to do with it.

[dadeisvenm]

The fee apparently pertains to ALL content on PSN. Themes, Videos, and Yes... Patches and Add ons.

MOST importantly is that Publishers have the CHOICE or either distributing patches and updates on there own like Konami and Midway by providing it in-game.

By doing this PSN is freed up of "old content". There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON as to why demos of old games should be on PSN. The only person who would benefit from old demos are re-salers like Gamestop since the game demos games that are likely OUT of circulation.

So what is likely to happen?

* Publishers will reduce traffic on PSN by hosting its own content.

* PSN will have a more concentrated presence by only having content like demos, videos, and pay-to-play add-ons and free content will be distributed in-game and well as patches.

* Sony will be able to retain some "infrastructure cost" losses due to Publishers posting content they can easily house and (in the case of Sports titles and Ad supported titles) are likely receiving Ad revenue from anyway.

[madreaper]

This could put a dent in the more expensive and more popular titles though. Think about it. The publisher has to consider costs for media advertisements(TV, Web, Print, Billboards, etc.), paying the developer their cut, paying to actually produce the physical medium or to host any internal infrastructure for the game(if needed) as well as support for both B2B(business to business: retailers for example) and B2C (business to consumers).
In harsh economic times publishers and developers are watching these things.
So if a larger titles costs more now because of this they may either cut more corners in the finances which in turn affect quality or worse yet allocate more money to the big projects and not taking risks with lesser known or new titles.

[dadeisvenm]

From a Marketing stand point the larger the game the larger the revenue potential. For instance Mario Galaxy, Halo, and Gran Turismo and huge because of the revenue because their publishers PIMP them out to every possible revenue stream.

Example. Halo was promoted through Burger King, Mountain Dew, and some clothing manufacturers.

Mario was and still is promoted in Mc Donald Happy Meals, Soft Drinks, etc

Gran Turismo and a car commercial with gameplay.

These games sell themselves and merchandise. They really don't need demos nor much of any marketing push.

The same can be said for Half-Life, Doom or GTA. In GTAs case Microsoft was willing to pay the publishers for exclusive content.

Sony is unwilling (at least publicly) to do the same. It appears Sony is at a standoff with Publisher because:
* they have the most in house developers
* more sales (considering the PS2 is still selling at a above 100 dollar price)
* Better brand loyalty

Off topic... The PS2 confused the heck out of publishers because of the DVD capability built in. They based sales projections of some titles based the PS2 user base which simply dwarfs the competition. But did people have them to play games or watch movies? There in lies the paradox.

Have said this, today... the publisher is now in the position to negotiate exclusivity and licensing. It's getting very PC-ish in the console arena and rather than let publishers get a free ride at Sony's expense Sony is nipping it in the bud and getting their small slice of the sales revenue "pie" (yes. pie. cake sucks.) and at the same time they are giving a fair shake to publishers in offering distribution alternatives.

* Cheaper to publish download only games on.
* An almost pirate free platform. (Publish on PS3 and you get more legit sales per copy. Xbox 360 will likely yield lose in revenue)
* Semi-open architecture which encourages various revenue retention schemes with truly FREE DLC.
* Open to "design your own experience" distribution schemes.

Its a win win... when you consider the alternative.

[madreaper]

That answers for the big guys but still does not solve the issue for the smaller developers I mentioned.