Topic: The Value of PSN+

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/110/1102752p1.html

This article inspired me to create this thread. PSN+ obviously will be more valuable to different gamers. IGN is going to keep up with the value of these guys over the year and Im going to do the same here. As Im curious after my 12 months and 3 free months go buy how much money its value is to me.

12 Months + 3 Free Months Service = $49.99 (All USD as Im in NA)
That is initial payment that I have to at least acquire in content that I dont already have purchased to at least get my money out of the service.

Month 1, Week 1

• Rally Cross PsOne Classic $5.99
  Age of Zombie PSP Mini $4.99
  Magic Orbz DLC x3 at $2.99 a piece= $8.97
  Smash Cars DLC $2.99
  Wipeout HD $19.99

Total= $42.93

There is indeed many price drops and other DLC available now on the service that I didnt acquire as I dont have the game bought or care to buy and there are big discounts 50% off many PSN games. Avatars and Themes Im not including in the total as they cant be bought without the service as they are exclusive to members.

So my inital purcase of $49.99 USD gained me $42.93 USD in content week one and Ive got a full 15 months left of service. I need to acquire $7.06 USD more in content to get my money out of it. Im very pleased with my subscription so far!

@Terra i know i saw the article yesterday before this thread was made and was surprised myself

@SLapshot yes i feel like giving it a go, but i want to know when the whole 3 months extra thing will expire because im a last minute purchase type of guy since i have money sometimes and i dont others, and atm aftter KIllzone 2 and Assassins Creed to (both for only 25 dollars each) i dont have the 50 bucks lol

Also, I am a bit peeved that i bought wipeout HD already full price before, and was not completely happy with the game (i am underwhelemed with so many "big" titles with good scores) , and the fact that this allows u to "rent" it free is annoying since i already paid for it and now wish i could have rented it since its not a game i would care losing ater the rental

The intro period for the three free months is from now until August 3rd for anyone deciding to take the plunge.

I'll be staying on PSN- as I don't feel it is worth it since I live in US instead of EU and by the look of things, EU is gonna have great promotions in the future while the US will probably get lowest rated content on PSN as free giveaways(not really, but I wouldn't put it past them).

@sykotek.... well if next month/week still not sure as how often the PSN+ bar on PSN will update I get my $7.06 USD out of the download, then everything in the next 14 months will in fact be FREE for me. I cant see any fault in that system at all. Though the people who already have Wipeout and maybe most of the future game for download will have different stories. Rumor is next months game is Zen Pinball wich is INCREDIBLE. Im not a big pinball fanatic but the game is amazing. The tables (DLC Tables expecially) are so creative and the physics work very well making the game immensely fun and ive been playing it off and on for months.

We havent even started getting Betas, Exclusive Demos, etc. The exclusive Avatars and the new Theme are all cool.

HULU is in fact coming to PSN as well as X360 and BOTH will only be available for subscribers.

I'm not going to bother counting exact pennies...I'm a rounding man.

Wipout HD: $20
Rally Cross (it was crap, but I did download it and try it, so it still counts): $6
Age of Zombies: $5
Magic Orbz: 20% off for $2 savings
All three Magic Orbz DLC packs: $9
Mahjong Tales: 20% off for $2 savings
Mahjong Tales DLC: $5
Gauntlet 2: 50% off for $2.50 savings
Rampage: 50% off for $2.50 savings
Rampart: 50% off for $2.50 savings
Smash Cars DLC: $3

So on my first night of my $50 15-month PS+ membership, I accumulated savings of $59.50. Not bad at all, if I do say so myself! Should be great fun to continue adding it up going forward.

@Slappy: PS+ is supposed to update monthly. But we're also supposed to get TWO Minis, and nobody seems to know what happened to Fieldrunners, so I guess we'll have to see what happens.

@slapshot82: Relax buddy, I've been reading your posts and I know you dig Sony, I'm not attacking your love for that company, that's okay. Understand that I'm only playfully jabbing at the PSN+ service and the main point of my post was to give an answer for those who asked when the promo period was over. =]

Hulu Plus will be an extra pay for service, meaning those that pay for PSN+ will need to pay an extra $18 for every 3 months in addition to the PSN+ subscription price in order to use it. There has been no confirmation on whether it will cost extra to Xbox Live Gold members, but its entirely likely.

PSN+ DLC is only worth it if you have the games already and even then, that depends on one's tastes. I've been reading and many people are unhappy thus far with the selection. Has it been made clear whether the discounts are permanent or temporary? It'd be cheap of them to do so, but I wonder if they'll start repeating their offers if they're temporary. The method with which they'll choose what to discount is a mystery to me. My evil guess is that they'll take the lowest rated content on PSN and offer it for plus members, but that's just because I picture the PSN staff for the US branch as non-gamers and absolutely evil, haha. =]

Be prepared if PSN+ disappoints. Consider that Qore was their testbed, members got free games, but then they got lazy and started repeating the same "free" offerings for months straight! Eventually the only new "free" content turned out to be exclusive themes, so subscribers didn't really end up getting their money's worth.

Lastly, I know it doesn't matter to most people, but I hear from the PS Blog that none of the PSN+ content can't be gamer shared. I also wouldn't expect them to put up free games every week for download, it'll probably be every month like Qore. Discounts may be on a per week basis though.

@sykotek... lol, trust me I know you were joking and I do like Sony but in no way love them. Trust me they have there many faults and they could have easily have ran with E3 but Nintendo stomped them all over the place (and then us with the price of 3DS possibly and the cost of games going up )

PSN+ Memebers are suppose to recieve Qore with the subscription as well wich is like what $24.99. I downloaded a few when they were Free and they were aight. I mainly just like checking out Veronica and all here crazy outfits. Chick is kinda hot so hey Im down with some Free Qore

Hulu.... Im not paying any extra for, Im perfectly happy with my Netflix.

Gamesharing cant be done with PSN+ and thats a great thing IMO. Your getting too much to be able to give it away to 4 other people.

I for one dont think they will repeat downloads for a long time. Im sure at some point in the far future they might, but there are lots of PSN games. Im sure we will see some Pixeljunk games make there way for downloads as well as I expect Crash Commando to be a early download and its phenominal just for starters. Some of the online only PSN games that had very little people playing would benefit big time from a PSN+ Download such as The Punisher and CellFactor. I think Section 8 will drop quickly as well. There will always be gamers who arent happy with any service. Its just the nature of being a gamer and human I guess. As I said before if the service isnt for you then its just not for you. The whole purpose of this thread is to see the value of it after 15 months in full. Stuffgamer has already gotten nearly $10 out of it. That is week one and that is pretty cool in my book.

I have a question, that I really should know, but don't.

If I sign up for PS+, am I still able to buy games on the PSN that I will have access to after I stop using PS+?

In other words, is Sony keeping PS+ and PSN as separate entities?

@WaltzElf: As far as I understand, anything you "buy" will be accessible, anything "free" will be accessible only if you continue to pay Sony.

Does anyone know if you keep the trophies from the games you lose if you cancel your subscription?

@WaltzElf: If I understand you correctly, you're asking if you can purchase downloads of games you previously had access to under PS+ after your subscription expires? I would expect so...doesn't make any sense otherwise.

EDIT: Oh, wait...re-reading your post, I think you actually meant can you buy games unrelated to PS+ while you're subscribed? Yes, of course you can. PS+ is an add-on service that detracts nothing from what has previously been available on PSN, and that includes your ability to purchase PSN content.

@Luigi-La-Bouncy: Of course! Sony doesn't take away Trophies for any reason. Your question is pretty much like asking if you lose the Trophies for any retail games you rent.

About my comment before last, I stated that I thought they'll be updating PSN+ on a per month basis, but didn't notice that Fieldrunners mini or Qore was missing from this update, so I did some digging and saw someone mention on PS Blog that they'll continue adding content next week. Of course, that still doesn't mean PSN+ will be regularly updated on week to week basis, but since they were missing promised content at launch, they'll add it next week apparently. Hopefully for those who subscribe they'll give you a significant update every week instead of spreading out a handful of PSN+ offers over the course of a month as common practice... I wouldn't hold my breath though. =]

Before Stuffgamer1 says it like he called another user in slapshot82's Sony fan thread, I can be definitely be Mr. Negativity, I would like to be proven wrong though.

Hmm, maybe I should change my name to Mr. PSNegativity™. Clever syko, very clever...

Don't worry, sykotek...compared to Swerd, you're the most optimistic guy in the world!

@syko.... me and you are very much the same man. I'm not a optimist when it comes to things i have to pay for. There is a big difference than someone who criticises and someone who trolls. You my friend aren't a troll

@waltz... anything you pay for, even if is a massive discount through psn+ is yours to keep as i checked into that myself.

I do want to add that the normal psn user had some big discounts still this week. I doubt we see this sales tend to stop.

I wrote a big rant on sony's BS service in Ireland.
Deleted it and now replaced with this comment.

It's been said too many times.

When you think about it, it's worth it only if you like a majority of the games on PSN. Right now, there are only 2-3 games i really want on it, so it wouldn't make sense for people like me to go get the membership. However, if you want about 15 or more, you might actually save a lot of money (look at Stuffgamers chart). So really, it all depends on if you like the games on psn or not.

I play my PS3 quite a bit, so I looked into the PS+, but it just doesn't like its for me. I mean, getting random games and discounts on stuff on the PSN is kind of tempting, but my main gripe is with the fact that you are pretty much just "renting" the items. I am the type that likes to have a collection, so it would be a bummer to have all the games I have from PS+ totally disappear the day I cancel the service. It's not a bad idea at all for many people, just not for me.