Monday, 29 September 2008

Sony Considering Subscription Fees for MAG?

Report of a PlayStation Underground survey suggests Sony may want to make MAG pay-to-play.
Sony's MAG was one of the bigger surprises at E3 last July -- both figuratively and literally, considering it's aiming to pit 256 players against each other in gigantic online matches. But according to reports of a new survey sent to PlayStation Underground members, it may not be cheap to participate: The Bitbag reports (via Kotaku) that the survey (sent with the subject header "Short survey, Big new game") asks a number of questions about potential fees for MAG, including a yearly subscription, monthly subscription, or one-time fees for new features.
According to Bitbag's story, the survey asked "at least 15 questions related to payment plans for the game." Possible options may be either a yearly fee, a monthly fee, or individual one-time fees for "content downloads." Even more interesting, the survey also suggests the possibility that Sony may partner with Electronic Arts or Activision Blizzard for hosting services.
An important note: While Bitbag posted an image of the email itself (a portion of which is shown above), they didn't capture any images of the survey. Still, a reader in the comments section confirmed the survey did indeed ask subscription questions, and posted a link to his blog that shows two images claimed to be from this survey (shown below). This person also says that prices asked about ranged from $45-$125 for yearly fees, and $3-$12 for one-time purchases of content.
As you surely already know, none of this means MAG will require subscription fees whenever it comes out -- but it does at least suggest Sony is seriously considering the possibility, and is trying to gauge how these plans would go over with gamers.

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