PS Plus and PlayStation Now subscriptions are great deals when it comes to video game acquisition. PlayStation Plus serves up two free PlayStation 4 games a month as long as you stay subscribed to the service, while PS Now has come on leaps and bounds since it launched a few years back. Being able to download or stream titles from three different generations of Sony systems is a bit of a joy, but this new business model has some publishers worried.
Devolver Digital, the publisher behind indie classics such as Hotline Miami, The Messenger, Minit, and Ruiner, is concerned that the number of games being offered at such a low price could lead to titles getting buried almost immediately. In an interview with GameSpot, co-founder Graeme Struthers said: "You do wonder if it's going to lead to a situation where there is so much content that you kind of fall off the edge. That's the one that keeps us up at night. That and Donald Trump, and Boris Johnson."
It's a worry that has been echoing quietly throughout the industry for some time now. It may seem like excellent value to consumers, but how much exposure and revenue are those smaller developers actually seeing when their latest title is dumped on a service alongside bigger games during the same day?
What do you think? Are you worried in the same way that Devolver Digital is? Pour one out for the devs in the comments below.
[source gamespot.com]
Comments 34
I definitely feel like games become "worthless" as soon as they appear on PS Plus. I have so many unplayed Plus games in my library - because I haven't paid for them I don't have a sense that I "need" to play them, and I usually end up playing games I've actually bought instead. PS Plus also puts me off buying games which are on sale sometimes, because I am wary that they will just appear on Plus in a few months anyway. I do have a bit of sympathy with indie devs due to the sheer amount of content available for next to nothing.
One could argue that if your game can stand on its own, it'll attract attention from games media and stand out as large as 'bigger games'. DD is, and should be, worried because they don't develop AAA games, that's just where they stack up in the marketplace.
Think about it this way, here are the highest Metacritic scores for those games:
Hotline Miami (2012) - 85%
The Messenger (2018) - 86%
Ruiner (2017) - 75%
Minit (2018) - 81%
The games that sell well and have critical and mainstream success won't be relegated to PSN+. If your game is being shopped as a PSN+ game, that's an issue with the game.
You only need to look at the comments in the Outer Worlds review, how many were saying "I'll just play it on Games Pass" games are starting to lose their value and are becoming more disposable and that's a worry.
The mobile market became such a dumping ground that is was considered suicide to release a game that didn't cost free. Now some will get the attitude that "I won't play game x till I can get it on my 7.99 a month subscription".
Really they shouldn't be putting their games on these services day one anyway, something I said to Sony on a PS Now survey recently cos the last thing they need to be doing is what MS have done with Game Pass. Their exclusives have quickly come and gone cos there's no incentive to market their games all that much when it's more appealing to them to market Game Pass instead.
At the end of the day people need to be wary about the impact both a sales and service culture will bring to gaming in the long term, especially in the AAA space.
@Incognito_D I bought Detroit Become Human in April for around £27, same time as God of War.
A month or so later it was available for free on Plus.
It sucks but that's how the wind blows sometimes.
It's been a while since I downloaded a Plus game. Have been lucky getting for example Until Dawn and Rayman Legends for free.
Considering they're in Ninty's pocket right now, I'm not really bothered about what they have to say.
I do not buy Indies when "bigger games" are released at the same time now either. The Indie can have all the exposure in the world.
You do not always have a big game you want to play, or just want something simple and different. And you search for an Indie.
@viciousarcanum How are they in "Ninty's" pocket?
PC Game Pass gets Indies every week. From hello neighbor to Dead Cells and Banner Saga trilogy. And Apple Arcade has both Cats Quest 2 and Tangle Tower (that are insanely priced on Switch)
All Nintendo does is dump them in a Direct every other month. Nobody will say no to free marketing.
I know this isn't the point of the article but PS plus games aren't free. they, among other services, cost a monthly/yearly fee...
The devaluation of indie games through deep sales and subscription services has been an issue on PC for years, and it's only likely to get worse as services begin to compete more.
@viciousarcanum I know, right? They're so deep in Nintendo's pocket that one of their last big releases, Metal Wolf Chaos XD, didn't even come to the Switch!
...wait.
Seems to be he's worried about being overlooked because too many games for cheap prices. Which is understandable. But that's not a Sony issue, that's a crowded market space issue. I don't think there's much of a solution besides marketing and make sure you produce a quality game.
I love the games they publish so i guess i am concerned if they are. I dont like subs. I like supporting developers with my money. Prime example. I dont know when i will get around to Concrete Genie but i loved the premise and passion enough to buy a copy at full retail to support something. Same for Stardew Valley. Ive hears sub systemz help devs. But in DDs case they are kind of unique. They represent the devz that were forgotten or neglected by big pubs. It would be a shame to lose they guys n gals who were willing to push the indie revolution to the front lines
@boogieman117. That isnt true. Some games debut as a plus game to immense success. Where would Rocket League be?. Or Housemarque if not for Resogun for free? Many games find success tthrough Plus
The fact he randomly mentioned BoJo and Trump in an article about games makes me inclined to ignore him. It's not a case of agreeing or disagreeing with them, it's just irrelevant.
Then again, that's a guaranteed way to score brownie points with the gaming media these days, so I can kind of understand it.
They are about 8 years too late to be worried. Since we started receiving included indie games w/ PS+ way back when I haven't' paid for an indie since.
Well except for those 95% off sales on the Switch eShop, which probably isn't helping him sleep at night either.
It is a concern and also for funding. I mean, I didn’t buy Gears 5, I won’t ‘buy’ the Outer Worlds. I have Apple Arcade and right now the service is easy to navigate because of the number of games but if that gets swamped it will be hard to notice games.
I think Sony could help by actually organizing the PS Store a lot better. It's really a cluster that's not sorted or designed very well and it would be nice to have the options to search by developer/studio/publisher, release date, and game types. It's a pain to go sifting through pages and pages of games looking for something I might like outside the AAA games.
I do pick up some fun indie games when they go on sale--now to find the time to play them!
@rockman29
Well put. I think all parties will be fine and change is inevitable. This is the future.
Personally, i'm only interested in AAA games but i know there are people interested in indies so it should balance itself out.
Well, nothing from PS+ is free, that's the biggest danger right now. I've always said PSNow and Gamepass are anti-consumer because they are. Netflix for games doesn't work for consumers, there is no value on our end with these services, and it takes less than 5 minutes to realize it.
Aside from the Trump comment (stop believing the made up liberal media, that's another issue altogether) what he speaks is the truth. Gaming is about to get worse if people continue subbing to services, you haven't got a clue...
@Paranoimia why are you more of a fan of Joe Biden and Jeremy Corbyn?
The devaluation of gaming continues. Unfortunately making short pixelated games is easy these days, anyone with enough time and cerebral capacity can get something up and running. Harsh for small indies and I'm a huge fan of hotline miami. But it is easy to make a game these days.
Mobile gaming, Microtransactions and gamepass has altered the industry in a negative way. As @AdamNovice says why pay £50 a game when you can pay £8 for a months subscription. I used to spend £500 plus on gaming each year on my own, which I never had an issue with. Between my whole family we have spent less than £300 this year on gaming due to psplus, game pass and free games off epic. I don't know how that makes economical sense.
@themcnoisy As I said, it's not a case of agreeing or disagreeing with them, it's just an irrelevant comment, needlessly made.
But since you asked, I don't generally follow US politics, and I wouldn't vote for Corbyn if my life depended on it.
@Paranoimia 'and I wouldn't vote for Corbyn if my life depended on it.'
You should value your life more. He's a politician in a party ran by its membership - which is too far left at the minute to be taken seriously in the 21st century and a real danger to the current bank led circuitry economics we are all accustomed too. Corbyn would be a weak pm for a number of reasons, not least his lack of leadership and bulldozer motivations - although I would ask you to reconsider never voting for anyone as the majority of the media has smear campaign against him and its mostly unfair imo.
I have no problem with Boris or Trump BTW - more so the failed institutions which have allowed eccentric Populists to thrive, the purpose of governments has been circumvented with lobbyists more important than the people they are meant to represent and furthermore the polarised positions each party takes. That said Boris is actually a great speaker with a real ability to make things happen, it's just I hope he's doing it for the right reasons (he's not).
Anyway I digress but agree, there was no real reason to add the politics into the comment.
@ralphdibny true BUT when you think about it, your paying £50 a year and potentially getting 24 games if you download all the PS+ games now think how much those would cost if you actually brought them
now lets assume that they are all full price games at £50 a pop that's £600 worth of games (maybe less if there are indy titles on it but it's just a basic number i'm using here) your paying £50 for and yes that is a yearly cost but think about it £100 over 2 years for £1200 worth of games and so on and so on
and PSNow is a similar thing, yeah your paying per month but you get access to hundreds of games so your saving a lot of money and i think that's one of the main issues some developers, especially indy ones are having because that's potentially a huge lose of income that they need
as for me as a consumer streaming services mean the end of actual game ownership and the lose of any control over the game we play, services like PSNow and Game Pass are great for companies like MS and Sony and they might seem good for the customer but it isn't, all it's doing is taking every bit of control from us and giving it to a large corporation who cares about nothing but money, if a game doesn't make the numbers then they will remove it, the used game market will die off because there won't be any used games, you wont be able to lend or trade with friends and family and once the service shuts down, either completely or just on a specific system then that system is worthless not to mention legacy, think of all those games that will vanish once the service shuts down once this becomes the norm
long story short i hate the idea of a game streaming service and i hope it goes and dies at some point
@FullbringIchigo Lol fair enough. Streaming service for film and TV has meant the decline of physical media. That being said, lots of shows and films that would never see a physical release in certain regions also get a new lease of life if they come to streaming (which does happen).
I don't doubt the discount that ps plus gives you but it is normally for games I wouldn't buy anyway, so they're worth a punt if they're included in the sub. Its just erroneous to refer to them as free which alot of people do.
There's lots of TV shows that aren't coming to blu ray (remaining Netflix marvel, the Orville, remaining legion, the gifted, cloak and dagger, runaways) which is annoying because I want to complete my collections! Likewise it sort of annoys me when a game I want to own comes to psplus because I feel less inclined to buy it!
I think these services are great for gamers personally but yeah, there's certainly a question mark over whether they'll potentially "devalue" games as a whole.
There are always challenges for developers and publishers though and the industry is only gonna be getting more competitive over the next few years.
Boris Johnson the guy trying to implement what the people asked is keeping you up at night sounds stupid Devolver! if day one games become like this then worry otherwise not an issue imo.
I hope Sony stays away from what MS is doing that model games will be cheaply made soon on that service it is not sustainable.
I still don't understand the idea that these services are anti-consumer.
Hear me out:
We love these monthly releases for PS+ and Games With Gold. Yes, the game is only available to claim for a month and then a new set is released. But, as long as you keep your premium account, you can play the game to your hearts content without buying the game. You would still have to buy the game to keep it without a subscription.
How is PS Now and Game Pass any different? Yes, unlike Gold and Plus, you can't play a game once it leaves the service; but the same logic applies - you still have to buy the game to keep it.
I don't see how that model is anti-consumer if the writing is on the wall that one has to actually buy a game to keep it forever outside of the service.
For me, I love Game Pass Ultimate - I have it until March 2021 thanks to the promotional offers and the way the system converted the remainder of my Games with Gold subscription to an Ultimate Subscription for up to 3 years.
I love that I got to play Gears 5 early because the Ultimate version was available to subscribers. I love that I can play The Outer Worlds today. I love that I can play Ori and the Will of the Wisps when it comes out. I love that, when I get a Scarlett, I will be able to play the new Halo out of the box. I love that there are games available that were on my backlog that I now don't have to buy.
The amount of available games I can play is staggering for the price - it's almost too much for the time I do have. That doesn't even include the fact I still get Games with Gold benefits of monthly game claims (I say "claims" because I don't actually download the games, just claim them to keep them for a later time).
I am not meaning this as an advertisement for Game Pass Ultimate (though I will say Sony REALLY needs to look at what Microsoft is doing there, PSNow+, anyone?) - my point is that I don't see where me as a consumer is getting screwed out of the games I want to play. Yes, if the service is ever gone, I would need to actually buy the games. But, by that time, I can buy them on the grey market for a reduced price.
Seriously, please explain where me, as a consumer, is getting screwed. I am generally curious about this criticism.
Regarding indie developers, I don't see where games are devalued. I am sure there is financial gain to be had by allowing these games to be available on the services - I am sure the money these companies get for subscriptions does go towards some kind of kickback to companies for the games. If anything the services a good advertisement.
Is the fear that people just won't buy the games in hopes that they become available on the services instead?! I know a few people have commented here that they will just wait for the "inevitable PS+ release". So I can see that as a small worry in terms of sales.
In this instant gratification world, those individuals will only be a fraction of the sales for games. Most games available on Game Pass and PS Now (and Gold and Plus) are older titles - except for Microsoft doing Day 1 release for games from developers under it's umbrella (which didn't seem to hurt sales at all in Gears 5 case). Those games have already run out of their original "value" - the ship has sailed.
I think, there is fear of the unknown. It's natural. But, in the end, physical sales will still be available for a long time. People will still buy indie titles that aren't available on services, and everything will be all right.
@Nyne11Tyme You are correct, but I think it's safe to say that those 2 particular games were exceptions to the rule for different reasons.
Rocket League was launched on the PS4 on 7July 2015 as a PSN+ game, see links below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_League
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Instant_Game_Collection_games_(North_America)
RL got great reviews from launch and has been an indie darling ever since, even be used to force Sony's hand to start breaking down the walls to prevent cross-play.
Resogun was another game released straight to PSN+, only this happened to be the same date as the launch of the PS4 in NA (15 November 2013):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resogun
I'll say that Resogun got it's popularity by being a solid game at a great time in the PS4's life cycle (super early).
Again, I'll agree with you that RL and Resogun found lots of success as PSN+ games, but many many games do not get that sort of 'bump' when released as a PSN+ game.
While I don't really think its going to be that big a deal I can kind of see where he's coming from. Just in this comment section I see people dismissing indie games outright and I think out of all the available store fronts I've seen, Sony seems to have the least focus on indie games now, which is kind of weird because I hear the Vita was basically a holy Grail.
As long as subscriptions offer older games I see them as a Plus for consumers. When they go day one new games, that has to hurt the production value of a game with a forced much lower budget.
@boogieman117 Did The Last of Us, Bloodborne, The Arkham Series and Bioshock, for example, sell poorly? You really don't know what you're talking about.
The industry will implode on itself. Once sony, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft,2k games, WB games, rockstar games, nintendo, Activision, CD project red, Sega, Capcom, Bethesda, Atlus, konami, and dozens more decide they wanna go the subscription route talk to me about a good value. ... subscription services are only good when it's a handful. Currently it's ok. But more and more companies are wanting to start their own that 5 or 10 bucks a month wont seem very consumer friendly will it when you have 5 or more different subscriptions play the online only road map ass games....
@vhsodre Those games you mentioned all released as great AAA games and didn't need the crutch that is PSN+. You're missing my point here - AAA games will have the marketing push and the quality to 'stand on it's own' in the marketplace - DD and other AA studios sometimes need PSN+ to get themselves that exposure, for better or worse.
@boogieman117 I misunderstood you, sorry. You've got a point.
Actually, I curious if the Plus actually benefits games and how the whole deal to add a new game to the Plus line up works.
@vhsodre The way I understand it is like this - Sony offers a developer 'X' amount of money to put their game on PSN+. If the dev agrees, knowing that for a full month, their game has 'subscription access for the life of the subscription', they get the money.
Take the Nov 2019 games for example - Nioh is a 2 1/2 year old game that did really well at launch. 88% on Metacritic and sol over 2.5 million copies. Why Nioh is getting put on PSN+ is probably for a bump for the Nioh 2 beta on 1 Nov or March 2020 release date. Outlast 2 took advantage of Outlast 1's crazy success after being released on PSN+, albeit being received more poorly on Metacritic. Again, a 2 1/2 year old game being given a bump for the marketplace to return to. The article I sourced is actually ammo for my theory on games going to PSN+.
"According to Morin, trading what it could have made in sales revenue for a flat fee was, "definitely one of the most difficult decisions we had to make".... Psyonix would reap huge rewards by launching Rocket League in the same way almost 18 months later, but here again Red Barrels had laid the groundwork.
"Our plan was to start a franchise, and we knew we needed as many people as possible to be aware of that franchise," Morin says. "We also knew we had DLC in the pipeline, so it would increase the number of potential buyers for the DLC.
"It was a gamble... We didn't have a marketing budget, so it was our way to do marketing without having to spend money."
"Looking back, there is little doubt that it was the right move... Some of that was simply fortunate timing, Morin admits, but other aspects were a carefully calculated risk - a risk that paid off handsomely."
Sources:
Nioh Metacritic - https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/nioh
Nioh Sales - https://www.destructoid.com/koei-tecmo-is-still-encouraged-by-nioh-s-sales-two-years-after-launch-it-just-hit-2-5-million-worldwide-541667.phtml
Nioh 2 beta - https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/15/20866868/nioh-2-open-beta-dates-ps4-release-dates-2020
Outlast 2 Metacritic - https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/outlast-2
Outlast 2 15 million sold - https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-05-14-from-zero-to-15-million-the-story-of-outlast
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