GADG3Tx87 t1_jbl9vr9 wrote on March 9, 2023 at 9:13 PM

Reply to comment by Captain_Howard in Why is Xbox better for Multiplayer Gaming? by Traditional_Ad9002

Actually that's false I'm afraid. Free to play games have always been free to play on PlayStation without the PS+ requirements. And party chat has also always been free. Cloud saves are not you are correct there.

It was in fact Microsoft who were charging people and required Xbox Live Gold to play free to play games online, access party chat and even access your own netflix account. They were called out for this two years ago because Sony wasn't doing that and it got changed as a result.

Source. https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/21/22395433/microsoft-xbox-live-gold-free-multiplayer-games-party-chat

Captain_Howard t1_jbma5np wrote on March 10, 2023 at 1:29 AM

Oh, I thought it was the other way around @_@. My bad

GADG3Tx87 t1_jbn4wjt wrote on March 10, 2023 at 5:57 AM

Yeah it's been that way since the PS3. and it's just as well because during the time of the PS3 their online infrastructure was awful. They did have PS+ towards the end of PS3 but it was optional and not required for online play. It was a system to get two games free every month from a selection. Something that Microsoft eventually copied as a perk into XBLG. They would have had some nerve charging for online access with how unstable it was. They didn't start charging for online play until it improved at the begining if the PS4 generation. However party chat and F2P game access always remained free.

The cloud save thing though is charged for and hopefully they might match Microsoft in that regard and offer it outside of the subscription model. They removed the ability to backup saves to USB on PS5. A stupid and bizarre decision that they have been called out on.

During my time on Xbox I wasn't happy that I was being charged £50 per year for XBLG to access my own netflix account. As you read that has now stopped and rightly so. I thought MS had a nerve charging you for access to something they have no affiliation with that you are already paying for.

n1keym1key t1_jboerxb wrote on March 10, 2023 at 2:33 PM

PS3 was the last time I ever played a PS game online.

I only signed in to PSN on PS4 a handful of times when I first it, then it was put away in the loft until the jailbreaks came around. After that I had no need for PSN anymore :)

Xbox Live has always been a superior service, mainly due to the fact that MS have been doing it longer and well, ya know, they are a company that's been into networking and the internet for a LOOOONG time.

If Sony ever launch a sub service that actually competes with Gamepass then i might be tempted to crack open the PS5 and sign up.