R.I.P. Qore

[TheAnalogKid]

Yeah, I noticed that.. It seems like an obvious next step. It really hasn’t turned out to be a competitive advantage and they are leaving money on the table.

How do you know they wouldnt be worse off if they came out of the gate with that expensive machine, shitty online AND they charged you a monthly fee? I'm thinking the opposite of you...their free online was an advantage, but not as big of one as they had hoped.

[Badger3920]

Something interesting said today by Kaz



Hmmm putting an emphasis on PSN subs. I would bet anything they go the MS route and charge for online next gen. Too much money there not to.

Yeah I think that conclusion was reached years ago. Sucks for us as consumers, but oh well. I guess that's one more reason for casuals to give the Wii U a hard look

[Bane]

Yeah I think that conclusion was reached years ago. Sucks for us as consumers, but oh well. I guess that's one more reason for casuals to give the Wii U a hard look

That's assuming they don't charge for the Nintendo Network.

[Badger3920]

That's assuming they don't charge for the Nintendo Network.

Definitely. However, I think that's a pretty safe assumption (although stranger things have happened). Nintendo has been running a gen or so behind MS/Sony in the online features department. They don't really care, just a few updates here and there. I think they simply try to turn a pure profit on hardware and 1st party titles, and 3rd party licensing fees for games and accessories. Their method seems to center around just making gaming as easy as possible, so mom can buy one and fire it up in no time after seeing it on Oprah.

[rm082e]

How do you know they wouldnt be worse off if they came out of the gate with that expensive machine, shitty online AND they charged you a monthly fee? I'm thinking the opposite of you...their free online was an advantage, but not as big of one as they had hoped.

If they had launched with it, it would have been really bad. But once they got their shit together, it's still not a big advantage for them. Multiplayer 360 games still outsell PS3 games by a significant margin, so it did not turn the tide of consumer opinion. Maybe if they had figured out a way to include Party Chat at the OS level it might have helped foster more good will, but they didn't. Next gen will be a different story.

[Badger3920]

If they had launched with it, it would have been really bad. But once they got their shit together, it's still not a big advantage for them. Multiplayer 360 games still outsell PS3 games by a significant margin, so it did not turn the tide of consumer opinion. Maybe if they had figured out a way to include Party Chat at the OS level it might have helped foster more good will, but they didn't. Next gen will be a different story.

Hard to ensure we're comparing apples to apples. Getting out into the core market a year ahead of your competition, and getting people to subscribe to your service tends to 'lock people in', especially with the 'well, my other friends are on live and play on the 360'

That had a huge effect and similar phrases decorate the pages of probably a third of the threads in smackdown. MS did a great job getting out there first, with a service that was initially far more robust and fluid.

It's an exercise in pure speculation to ask what would have happened had other key variables been removed; launches been aligned, price of consoles the same, services roughly the same in capability, except one was free. If we had a scenario at least somewhat like that hypothetical, then we'd be in a position to discuss whether or not 'free' vs 'paid' matters enough to provide tangible benefits.

But we don't, so rushing to that conclusion means that we'll be tripping over some pretty important and ignored variables.