Last week MTV Multiplayer blog alerted us to a disturbing change in the Playstation 3 landscape, and if you're Sony devotee, you should be livid.
As of October 1, 2008, Sony began imposing a "Playstation Network Bandwidth Fee" on all downloadable content. This fee bills game publishers every time a user downloads games, demos, trailers, movies — everything — from the Playstation Network.
Charges run 16 cents per GB of content transferred — whether the content is free or paid, but free content is charged only for the first 60 days of availability on the network.
This appears to be Sony's way of covering massive corporate losses while allowing the network to remain free to users. By contrast, Microsoft charges Xbox Live users $50 a year to connect.
And it's a novel way to go about it. If someone wants to make money on the Playstation Network, why not add a little somethin'-somethin' to help keep the company in business and the service free?
But a bandwidth fee is exactly the wrong way to go about it, and if you own a Playstation 3, you should be mad as hell, because with this ill-conceived move by Sony has all but guaranteed that you'll be sorry you don't own an Xbox 360.
Here's why: A one GB demo downloaded one million times will result in a $160,000 bill from Sony. Sony is very hush-hush when it comes to exactly how many times any of their Playstation Network content is downloaded, but it's safe to assume that, with more than 20 million PSN users worldwide, there's a good chance that most of the big demos and trailers will get at least that much attention.
And publishers are already feeling the pinch of these fees. According to a source quoted in MTV Multiplayer's blog: "“It definitely makes us think about how we view the distribution of content related to our games when it is free for us to do it on the web, on Xbox Live, or any other way — including broadcast — than on Sony’s platform."
This isn't some secretly coded, deeply veiled, idle threat. This is an outright admission that publishers are actually weighing whether they want use PSN instead of some other service — like Xbox Live, which doesn't penalize publishers for putting up popular content.
In other words, Sony has effectively made putting anything on the Playstation Network a no-win situation for publishers.
Put up a big, glorious demo to promote your title? Fine, but it'll cost you a fortune every time someone downloads it. Gimp a demo and shrink the file size? Fine, unless it gets downloaded four million times.
And what value is it to a publisher to put up a beautiful 1080p demo of its amazing game if it can only afford to make it 10 seconds long? Or, worse yet, charge users for the demo?
And that's only if you're a big company that isn't working on a shoestring budget. If you're Q-Games or Southpeak, why offer a demo at all?
But who really gets it in the teeth are rhythm-game fans. With music licensing fees and other associated administrative and development costs of publishing add-on songs for games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the profit margin on these songs is very fine. Add in a new fee and you can bet that you'll be seeing that the price of these songs.
By imposing this "bandwidth fee" Sony has effectively turned the PS3 into an exclusive-only console, because if given a choice between two consoles to buy a game — one of which offers you better expansion content for better prices — customers will choose that console.
The only time they will chose otherwise is if they have no other choice but to buy a game for the PS3. And the PS3 doesn’t have enough exclusive titles to keep it afloat in the next year.
And if you're a publisher, Sony has, in one fell swoop, effectively guaranteed that you'll be making your demos, trailers and hefty add-on content exclusive to Xbox Live.
Honestly, Sony would have been better off charging a small amount to consumers, because although it would hear a lot of whining, at least it wouldn't be gimping future content of its online store.
I don't know if Sony will be smart enough to back off of this plan or change the fees so they don't penalize good publishers with good demos. But until it does, I can almost hear the cackling from Redmond.
Comments
and since when was something free?
your post is so dumb.
after 60 days the demo offered will not be popular to download anyways. if ppl are going to download a demo, then its going to be around the time of actual release not 2 months after.
AND this will NOT affect music game download since those songs are not a GB in size
you obviously dont know what your talking about and you spread a lie about rhythm games to make sony seem like an evil company.
your a lame journalist.
Hmmm, seems to be managing just fine though doesn't it. Someone has to pay for the service, I'm glad Sony was cleaver enough to see a way in which gamers can gain a free service.
"And the PS3 doesn’t have enough exclusive titles to keep it afloat in the next year."
What the??...
And how much "somethin, somethin" did MS kick u to do the flame bait article? The music licence games are laughin to the bank. A average song for rockband is 30 mb at $2 a pop. $.16 is peanuts for that and the average tamer didn't have to pay for option of being able to download a song and pay for the option to play games with his friends. You fail. LAME. Better get a real job unless this is your way of applying to MS like a few "journalists" before you. FAIL
Good point Fry... Not enough exclusives!?! Do you even follow gaming?!? You are an epic FAIL!!!
Congrats on getting me to click this link.
1)Im not paying for this, and neither will any other PSN user. Your misleading EVERYONE by implying that they will pay for this.
2) Guess what? XBL gold users already foot the bill for this kind of crap. I paid 75 dollars CDN for the last 3 years for XBL gold, for what? P2P connections that use my box as a server? Im paying for all those demo's everyone's downloading. At least on the PSN Activision is paying for it, not me. Its nice not to pay for someone else's advertising isnt it?
3)You do realise that only AAA games that release demo's have even an outside shot of hitting that 1 million download mark right? Ask any advertising department for any game company they will be THRILLED to pay only 160k to have get their ad into 1 million homes and have those people essentially stare at it for 20min.
4)Most PSN download titles dont even have demo's. Most 1080p videos are only 300mb or less already. I fail to see your point here.
5)Please dont write anymore of this. This is made to be inflamatory at best. I own both consoles, I would be happy as a pig in crap if microsoft told the publishers that they will have to be paying for the demo's that I download instead of me.
you do know of the sh!tload of sony exclusives coming out this year, right? every REAL videogame site agree on this subject
xbox has halo expansion aaaand thats about it
like someone said already, your a horrible game journalist
you pathetic old b!tch who has to put a rumble controller by your cl!t to get off since no man wants to touch that nasty thing
This is the worst POST EVER... the person who wrote this, is a complete RET-ARD...
This is the worst thing ive ever read ever since fuc-king retardgamershow... that fuc-king negro site was the worst, but this reaches a new low.
the fee has been around for 5 months, this article reeks of fanboy.
"with this ill-conceived move by Sony has all but guaranteed that you'll be sorry you don't own an Xbox 360"
sounds like it was written by Aaron Greenberg.
bryce the demos are being charged FOR the first 60 days not after 60 days is up. I assume sony is going to just add up all the content not charge on an individual case. So rhythm games would be affected if this is case.
women shouldn't write about games. go make mea sammich, bitch.
@Bulimicrainbow: Since PSN claimed their service was absolutely free. No additional costs.
What all of you Sony Fanboy morons need to realize is that YOU will have to pay for this. Do you think a publisher won't pass on the cost to YOU? Your free demos won't be fee much longer and those PSN titles will more than likely increase in price.
Grow up children, I think the writer of this article has a point tbh but you're all brainwashed fanboys who need to stop drinking sony's coolaid. I suspect if sony don't remove this new download fee then psn will only fall further behind xbox live.
If I were you I'd aim your annoyance at sony not this site and so you know I've never payed for xbox live but get the full benefits of demos and vids etc as has always been the case, it only costs to play games online which I never do anyway.
oh no they might raise the price up... 16 cents
(GASP!)
For the hard of thinking, it's not that downloads have to be 1gb in size before the charge applies, it's for every gb of bandwidth used to download a particular item. A 300mb file downloaded a million times = $$$ in Sony's pocket, and if content providers fear a loss of cash then say goodbye to demo's and videos that, if popular, could cost a pretty penny. Not so bad for big companies, but little guys will really feel it.
Making games costs huge money as it is without Sony stinging content makers for stuff that was previously free.
Also, at no point did the writer try to imply we would be paying Sony. Gotta love the personal attacks, you stay classy guys and keep giving other gamers a bad name! Sony fanboys are the worst, so insecure. Get a 360 too and become human, enjoy both.
did you just say PS3 has no games for 09?
LMFAO
XD
you must have surely mistaken X360 for PS3.
X360 line up is drier than a desert in middle of Africa in 09.
oops i was wrong on the 60 day thing but im still right about the rhythm downloads
they dont add up the totals of every download, they only add each individual download for a fee which is why music downloads will not be affected
the file size itself has to be a gig
the article did lie and is obviously biased against the ps3 with the comments of no exclusives
there are more exclusives for the ps3 this year than 360. if she knew video games then she would know that.
this article is trash that is basing itself off MTV's interview with a developer.
talk about copying and pasting.
this has been going on for 5 months now with the fee
heres a question...has anyone noticed significant change in lack of content for the past half year
i have a great idea
lets all make an article
"Microsoft charges you for developer ads and demos online; makes you feel sorry you dont have a playstation 3"
god this journalist sucks
Edie Sellers lol even the name is sold out! What a huge Joke.
To be frank, this has to be the most senseless article to emerge from the recent wave of needless Anti-PS3 articles. You Pay for Xbox Live, But PSN is free. That alone ends the argument. Sony is trying to Save you money but yet you still complain? i dont know what you want the PS3 to do for you. I expect another senseless article bashing the PS3 "For not making your pancakes in the morning"
Im pretty sure most demos or even Full PSN titles will not exceed 1GB so your senseless essay was all in vain.
A very shallow and "ill conceived" article that fails on all levels from start to finish. A pure example of figures that are helping destroy the gaming industry by pretending to know what they are talking about (but dont have a clue), thereby constructing articles that are reminiscent on pre-puberty stages of development.
What a shame.
I will just say one thing that will end the discussion : Metal Gear Solid 4 > 360
Sigh,
another Xbox 360 fangirl concerning herself with Sony. that seems to be the thing to do these days.
why don't you 360 fanpeople go play games? oh, that's right, there aren't any coming out, not for a long time on your console.
you are concerning yourself with Sony, when you could be concerning yourself with:
-Microsoft losing software sales to Sony
-Xbox Live subscription fees
-Microsoft's lack of games in 2009
-The still outrageous price of Xbox 360 accessories
-Size limits on XBLA games
-The still ongoing 360 hardware problems
-What MS will do when Sony cuts ps3 price
There, I've now given you some valid issues to write about, that are actual current issues affecting gamers, and not some hypothetical worst case the sky is falling propaganda.
You are welcome.
Isn't Edie a boy name??
WOW, I actualy care a tiny bit, OH NO, NOT 16cents per gig. LOL, who cares, you say we should wish we had 360's but what you dont understand is WHY we got PS3's you think it was just for free-online? NO, because that'd be not smart, in part it was for great games to play online for free, which is indeed STILL FREE... And like Rakim69 said... MGS4, thats the only reason I need to own a PS3, if you've played the series you know what I mean. Plus, I don't give a **** about that little cost even if it is true, cause I'm buying GOW3, Uncharted2,GT5, FFXIII vs., InFamous , Heavy rain, and nobody who only owns a 360 is getting any of those games so what do I care? and I got Killzone2,LBP,Resistance1 and 2, and Ratchet 'n' Clank. So if I have plenty of amazing games on a game console that is RELIABLE then I have nothing to worry about , and theirs a new R&C coming out this year, YAY. But thanks for the info on a less angry note.
WOW, my last post couldn't be submitted , I said I was " angry " how's that swearing? whatever, Hey you live in Seattle, that explains the stupid liberal thinking, similar to that of most people in Seattle excluding myself.
Sony isn't putting a gun to a publisher's head to put out a demo. If they decide to put a demo out they have the money to pay for bandwidth fees. Despite your rant, demos are still appearing every week and no publisher/developer has complained about the fee yet so it isn't as big a deal as you make it.
I mean cmon will I download the same demo a million times?? I'd rather prefer to pay 16cents the 50 bucks every yr. for a network just to play games on and download a few demos.......in that sense PS3 works out to be cheaper as you dont have to buy any addons....and if the pricecut for the PS3 comes, xbox360 will not know what to do. Now about the exclusives, ummmmmmmmm i dont see many xbox360 exclusives coming out this yr. and even if they did come who do you think the people would turn to?? more popular exclusives on PS3 that live up to the name.
y take things so out of proportion? Sounds like a fan-boy rant to me......... Is sony charging YOUR credit card for every download? i dont think so.... And it's not like PSN has user generated games like XBLM, so why would the normal player even care?
and oh yea, of course XBL will be ahead for 2 reasons: 1. IT CAME OUT A WHILE B4 PSN!!!!!!! (nobody ever realizes this tho...) B. they can make it better because they can put MORE money into it than sony; its like there making money or something
...running out of things to bash the pS3 on aren't we?
yeah xbox live doesnt penalize the devs it penalizes the customer ... come on ... people have already spent 200 bucks on live since the release of the 360. I'd have rather spent that on games.
plus what do you even know about gaming ..
Sony Defense Force really scrambling on this one I see
Some people REALLY like to play a demo before they buy the game. If a publisher will not/cannot put their demo on PSN because of a 16 cent per Gig fee due to budget restraints, gamers lose. How hard is that to understand? Just because YOU'RE not paying for it doesn't mean it WON'T affect you.
__________________________________________
One previous comment was, "What MS will do when Sony cuts ps3 price?"
My answer, "NOTHING!"
I'm not going to be immature like some of these other fella's and call you names, there resolves nothing.
But seriously.... what was that? It's been a while since I've read an article that grabbed 99% of what they said right out of the air. I can see the point you're trying to make here, but it's ridiculous! Epic fail.
Why would anyone waste their hard earned money on that crappy 360? Talk about throwing your money away. It will be in the shop half the time too. I think I'll pass thank you. Go PS3.
oh shut up marc, ur talking pants, its like wat she sed its 16 cents per gb and tbh there arnt a lot of demo etc. on psn that exceeds that amount, and even so its only 16 cent per, these are multi million/billion dollar companies,(some publishers have already said this). it wont at all affect there profit/revenue. so in which way wil xbox live even more surpass psn.
ah!too many things in few days.GDC is near.lack of games for xbox360... then restart microsoft's viral propagand against Sony.and now...this time we have another biased journalist..A woman that maybe doesn't play games,doesn't know that PSN is free and doesn't know anything about gaming industry.Please you like many other incompetent journalists if you don't understand anything about videogames and/or gaming industry,please stop write these stupid things.
Got your facts wrong, the 360 is the one with no exclusives to keep it afloat. I'm not a fan person, but i can tell you are. Based on the tone and accusations of your article, it's evident. This wasn't made to warn people or just let them know, this article is a total attack on the PS3. It's so convenient how you left out Microsoft and how much they're making. Are you happy now? It's people like you and the articles you write that fuels this stupid "console war."
I agree with Edie. This is very bad for developers. It does not matter if you like your PS3 more than the Xbox 360. The developers are getting this fee passed on to them and in turn have no other choice but to pass this fee on to us in one form or another... Oh and by the way Edie is a female name... Eddie is a male name.
I dont think you people even read the article. She is saying the PUBLISHER gets charged, not you. So for a big game, say something like killzone 2 if it had a demo on PSN it would have over 1 million downloads and it will cost the publisher extra money to do it.
Duck. You are right 100%. Maybe game developers will have you pre-order a game if you want to play the demo early.. Oh wait they did that with Killzone 2.
As of October 1, 2008, Sony began imposing a "Playstation Network Bandwidth Fee" on all downloadable content.
I havent seen anyone complaining but you and guess what PSN still has new demos. This 16 cent a gig thing hasnt stopped publishers from releasing demo's on PSN. And guess what, I highly doubt its gonna be a huge loss for PS3 owners.
And the PS3 doesn’t have enough exclusive titles to keep it afloat in the next year.
signs of another ill-informed journalist that knows nothing about the gaming industry, because if she did, she would of realized that for the past 3 months, everybody has been screaming about how Sony's insane 09 lineup and saying "What games are coming out for 360?" I dont want to list the entire exclusive ps3 09' line up because its long and you all know what it is. Microsoft lineup consists of one certain game: Halo ODST? Hope you have fun with that. Other than that there is absolutely no other exclusives for 09. When I say exclusives, I mean good ones. Not Halo Wars , which just showed how people blindly bought the game because it had the word Halo in it and ended up trading it back in to gamestop because of how bad it was. If people knew it was a rts, a really simple rts and not a fps, I doubt people would of bought it. And I'm being literal, there is no more games for 360 this entire year.
Back on topic- If people are still talking about this issue, let me end it for you. PSN = free.
just shutup bitch
Article is not an attack to the ps3. It makes sense!
Sony will be charging developers for what EVER content they upload to their network by the bandwidth!
This means, if 500 people download Resident Evil 5's multiplayer which cost 16cent per GB space. Let's say 2GB: 16x16 is 2 dollars 25cents. Downloaded by 500 people, 500x256 cost 1280 dollars 00cent (1280.00).
*I farking hate maths*
The fact is, everyone was praising Sony for allowing developers to upload their content with unlimited space, while the Xbox Live had a space limit for their Arcade.
So now, we are back to square 1 for Sony:/
This is truly messed up, so if Sony charges the developers for their content; would they charge for their previous uploaded items? their recently downloaded transaction? overall? will it be temporary or permanent?
I really feel sorry for Sony man O_o.
First in 2006, they had less gain for their ps3 because less people got it. 2007 they were hit by multiple lawsuits, 2008 we are craving for a price cut. And now 2009, we are STILL craving for a price cut.
They lost too much money, just to keep the PSN free, they had to hit on the developers. The developers will be keeping the PSN free.
I've never seen so many ps3 fanboys rant on someone who is stating a fact. Just cause psn is free doesn't mean it's better. If your giving out free food and I'm charging for mine then it's likely that mine is better or bigger. That's the same I can say about xbox live. Psn sucks compared to live. stop being cheap and complaining about 50 bucks a year. I bet most of u just own a ps3. I own all 3 and I can tell the differences between them. And another thing, y do y'all think that just because Sony has all these exclusives for 09 that's microsoft is in trouble. They have MONEY and don't think that they'll be silent this year. Remember 08??? Same scenario with little big planet which i love and resistance 2 and that price cut, but what happened. Fable 2 and gears 2 blew em outta the water and xbox outsold ps3 2 to 1 in holiday 08. Don't sleep on MS!!! And trust me, not all need a wireless adapter or blu ray anyway. That's why it's better off as an add on. And I can say that the PS3 comes with no component cables or hdmi or headset, xbox brings it. So that add on is just in case. I'm not a hater I just hate fanboys who defend consoles just cause they have that one console.
Seriously? Really?
A demo is an ADVERTISEMENT! The user should not be paying for a "sample" that has a single purpose of selling the finished product.
A PS3 owner should be mad? What upsets me is the mentality that would inspire a suggestion that the customer should have to pay extra for the opportunity to enjoy an advertisement. This is an unfortunate and flawed line of reasoning set in motion by the precedence set through Live fees.
It will be a sad day when the consumer is at the mercy of the company instead of the other way around--- the latter being the way it SHOULD be!
Oh just shut up 360 fanatics.
People complain about this small fee and yet they don't talk sh!t about the royalties developers have to pay where Microsoft is coming from!
Oh wow! 16 cents! Sony did that so they don't have to charge PS3 owners for online!
Seriously, these attacks are getting old.
Get over it guys, how many movie trailers do you need to see on the psn that arent gonna be on tv, demos for games are usually worthless anyways and as far as purchased content goes, 16 cents a gb is nothing when they sell retarded games for 10 bucks a piece that only need 4 gbs of memory, you're not paying for it. quit bitching.
Here's an argument that most Sony fanboys spew out when somebody writes that XBL is better than PSN: "Ya, but teh 360 came out one year before the PS3, that's why XBL is better." Or when you tell them that almost all mulitplatform games run better on the 360 than the PS3: "Ya, but that's because teh multiplatform games are made for teh 360 and then ported to the PS3."
My response to these arguments has always been: "So... what's your point?" The fact that the 360 came out a year before PS3 and has most multiplatform games developed with it in mind are reasons why the 360 is better, and yet you fanboys use it as an excuse for the PS3 is not being good enough. And then you fanboys defend PSN by saying it's free while at the same time you bash 360 owners by saying they're too poor to afford a PS3. Obviously, they're not too poor, because they are willing to pay 50 bucks a year for the online base. Sony failed to identify the affect of the economic crisis on the market and that is why Xbox 360 continues to sell more consoles than the PS3 in the U.S., month after month. You can call me narrowminded by saying I only concentrate on the 360 sales in the US, but what you need to understand is that the United States is the largest consumer of video games and video game consoles in the world. Leading in the United States is like owning Boardwalk and Parkplace with hotels on it. This bandwidth fee is obviously going to have a significant effect on the publishers, and it shows Sony's weaknesses because of this recession. There is no other reason why this is happening other than the decline of Sony's market share. Hopefully, teh MS won't become the Sith Empire and start making even less reliable products than they do now.
Given the amount of content on PSN... both free and otherwise, I find this article very hard to believe. And I'm definitely not upset to be a PS3 owner given that I'm more impressed with the content on PSN than Live.
Answer to Sony=Ads on PSN.
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