If you thought that the PlayStation 4’s recently announced Share Play feature sounded too good to be true, then you were absolutely correct, as it can only be used for 60 minutes at a time. The details first emerged as part of a French interview yesterday, but unable to track down an official confirmation, we held off on posting the report. Now a Sony representative has revealed the limitation in a GameSpot article.
We suppose that the restriction was always likely, seeing as without it, you could theoretically play through an entire game and never have to purchase it. In truth, that will still be possible, as there doesn’t appear to be a block on how many sessions you can create – it’s just obviously going to get a teensy bit irritating having to set things up every hour. Nevertheless, if you’re just looking to play a couple of rounds of FIFA with a buddy or help out on a boss, it should still work fine.
For those out of the loop, this is essentially the fruition of one of the forward-thinking initiatives that the platform holder announced when its next-gen console was unveiled last year. In addition to allowing you to create pass the controller sessions with a friend potentially on the other side of the world, it will also enable you to engage in local multiplayer matches, as if you’re sitting on the same couch. It’s neat for sure, but how much has that restriction tempered your anticipation?
[source gamespot.com]
Comments 31
So it's essentially just enough to stop people from doing marathon sessions of entire games, right? I suppose that's okay for the most part, but the whole limitation does seem a bit rough around the edges.
I won't be able to use it much anyway with my massive 1Mbps upload speed
I'll be literally bemused if people start whining about the limit. Its still a superb feature & there's no extra charge for the feature (aside from PS+) People have to do the same thing with 'free' calls to landlines whereby they have to hang up & call again to refresh the hour. They don't complain.
EDIT: I think part of the reason a limit is in place is to appease publishers/developers too. Im sure they wouldn't like the idea of potential sales going down the drain due to people doing a marathon sessions via this Share Play & completing their games that way.
@ShogunRok Yeah, that seems to be the case. If the restriction wasn't there, you could arrange with a friend that you'll be leaving your PS4 on all day or whatever, invite them to play your game, and leave it running and they'd have access to the whole thing for free. This way, they've put a 'hurdle' in.
The limitation I think is fair. They want people to buy the games, not get them for free, with that being said, 60 minutes to accomplish what they were trying to aim at with this feature is more than enough time. It's also a good way to get people to jump on board the game. After you play about 5 minutes helping someone out with a boss or having them give you a shot at it, you may be like "that was awesome, I'll pick that game up tomorrow or this weekend". But yea, 60 minutes is more than enough time for what Sony set out to accomplish with this feature and it wasn't to pass the game down for others to play for hours on end.
Yea this feature was never advertised to be like Steams or MS game sharing idea so I agree with @Demi_God - it does its intended job.
You can still play and complete a whole game without buying it. Just borrow the disc. I don't get the limit. They advertised it as playing on a couch across the world with a friend. It's not the same though is it. Play for an hour then lose your co op progress with a friend across the world.
Also you won't be getting the trophies when playing someone else's game. That alone will put some people off the idea of trying to complete shared games. The whole hour reset and start again doesn't bother me. I think I'll only be using the local co-op feature as I purchase most games and feel it will be great to actually get to play the local co-op feature for a change.
@MadchesterManc Oh, they are. One guy on G+ has said he feels Sony have pulled a 'bait and switch', which is utterly ridiculous.
As I said in my reply to him, some people just had unrealistic expectations.
Of course you were never going to be able to play through a whole game owned by someone else - that would just be madness. They want to sell more copies of games, not less.
You can use this to help someone who's stuck on part of a game, or you can use it to try playing a game you're not sure about buying - both of which are great.
Seems to me the only people disappointed by this limitation are those whose eyes lit up with the thought of yet more "free games". If you want to play the whole game, borrow the disc when your friend has finished with it, or do something really original, like... y'know... buy it.
Sony liars
lol just having fun thinking some fool may complain
@MoleZandor From what I've read, your progress will be saved locally, allowing you to carry on where you left off if you ever buy the game.
@N711 How are they liars? They told you you would be able to do this, and they will deliver as promised. They did not say it would be unrestricted, and anyone who put a bit of thought into this will have realised that there would be some limits.
@Paranoimia was just kidding XD some trolls are just ridiculous
I knew there was going to be a catch but really this isn't to bad unless there is more we don't know about.
So why not just give a 60 minute full trial for all games on PSN?
I'm totally fine with that.
@Paranoimia I fully understand not allowing online multiplayer over this. But local co op, even if it does save and you buy the game you cannot continue playing it with your friend. Unless the timing rules not applied if you both own the game, which would be excellent and it should definitely be suggested to Sony if they haven't done this already.
still a cool feature! I read somewhere that if you buy the game, your progress still carries over - although I don't know if that allows for multiple sessions.
I think this is an excellent feature, being able to try out a game or help a friend. I'm looking forwards to the update, hopefully it'll be in the next few months.
This was kind of already possible in a way if someone borrowed your vita...
@SanderEvers The game is already on the network, you download it and start the trial. It doesn't involve any extra servers. The are numerous trials already on the PS3.
This is more then fair and quite honestly fully expected.
The limitation makes since. I see no problem.
1hr seems perfectly fair to me! Better than nothing.
I think this is very fair & expected.
I don't see Sony playing any word games in this, they stated time limit, it's good all set. I wouldn't be surprised if some games don't support this, this may be up to the developer.
I think it's a clever way to get people involved in titles. It's a helpful advertising tool.
I don't care that there is a 60 min time limit. It does what its intended to do, help your mates out in a bit of a pinch.
@hadlee73 I fail to see the difference. They're both try before you buy, effectively demos were you get to try out all the game functions for 60 minutes.
Sounds fair enough. . Bravo sony!
@hadlee73 there is no difference and you know it.
Hopefully DriveClub can get split screen soon.......
@hadlee73 now now... no need for the name calling! Share Play is good in your opinion because at least the publisher gets one purchase. Of course if the game had a good trial they'd get more sales but lets not let facts stand in the way (as the title of the article indicates) of rumours of a system no one knows anything about. But, given PSN's flakey service and the fact it's difficult to often even party chat on PSN I don't hold out much hope for this service.
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