PlayStation Plus Won’t Be Required To Play Certain Free-To-Play Games On PS4
Although PlayStation Plus will be required to play most PlayStation 4 games online, some free-to-play games such as PlanetSide 2 and DC Universe Online will not require a subscription, Sony confirmed to Polygon in a statement during E3 last week.
The news comes straight from the mouth of Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. In the statement, Yoshida told the site that the decision to gate a free-to-play game behind PlayStation Plus is “up to the publisher.”
Additionally, Yoshida also confirmed two other free-to-play titles that won’t require a subscription: Warframe from Digital Extremes, and Blacklight: Retribution from Zombie Studios.
Sony garnered a lot of favor with gamers when they confirmed during their E3 press conference that the PlayStation 4 would not require an internet connection, nor would it impose any restrictions on used or traded games. However, the company was on the receiving end of some heat when it was confirmed that PlayStation Plus would be required for multiplayer on the console.
Speaking to VideoGamer, Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Fergal Gara said that it was “time” for Sony to start charging for multiplayer but that gamers shouldn’t expect to be locked out of very much beyond that if they choose to not subscribe.
“A PlayStation Plus subscriber for PlayStation 4 comes away with a hell of a lot,” Gara said. “First of all, the subscription applies across all three platforms [PS4, PS3 & PS Vita], so if you have the three platforms then you have an instant game collection on all three. So that’s hugely powerful in its own right.”
“If you choose not to subscribe we are still gating relatively little in many senses, so access to online catch-up TV and online movie services sit outside of the gate, for example,” Gara added. “The social features of PS4 and PS4 games sit out of the subscription service. Things like auto-updates on PS4 sit outside of PlayStation Plus, so we’re trying to be as balanced and as fair as we possibly can.”
What do you think? Are you still disappointed that Sony is locking (most of) its multiplayer behind PlayStation Plus?
