Much like the PlayStation Vita – and, let’s be honest, most PlayStation 3 games, too – you’ll be able to download every PlayStation 4 title from the PlayStation Store on launch day. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida confirmed the tidbit during an interview with The Guardian, noting that “every game will be available as a digital download, and some will also be available as a disc”.
Elsewhere in the interview, the executive talked a little more about the new business models that the platform holder hopes to embrace with its next generation console. "The Witness will be a digital release and because of the flexibility of the digital distribution scheme, we can have more small games that might be free or available for a couple of dollars, or different services like free-to-play or subscription models," he said.
Yoshida also insinuated that the company may be considering offering different tiers of its current subscription service, PlayStation Plus. "We can look at different models – like a cable TV company," he explained. "We could have gold, silver or platinum levels of membership. We can do subscription services when we have more content, especially now that we have the Gaikai technology available. With one subscription you have access to thousands of games – that’s our dream."
Would you pay more to access an entire library of PlayStation content on demand? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source guardian.co.uk, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 17
Also assuming the servers don't crash on launch day.
I'd happily do this as long as I can swap out the standard hard drive with something better first. I'm even willing to invest in a 500+gb SSD as long as the I/O supports it.
@nathanuc1988
They haven't confirmed HDD sizes yet have they?
Given the super slim PS3's come with 500GB it's a fair bet that at least that size would be supported by PS4.
I don't plan on getting a PS4 for awhile now but this is pretty cool. I have come to love digital thanks to the PS3.
i don't wanna think about how big the filesize on some of those games will be D:
"And some will also be available on disc." Is a more telling statement. Sony would love seling digital only at full retail price without the added cost of boxes, manuals and shipping. And no sharing, used games, or rentals. Say goodbye to Black Friday sales.
And his cable tv comment makes me think nobody rides for free this time around. Anything online will cost ya.
And yes, storage is a bigger deal than bandwidth. Anybody see those Wii U sizes unveiled in 2012? Why did Sony bring out a 12GB at the end of the PS3s life? Im sure they arent going to abadon the idea of BYOHDD.
No, I would rather just pay for each individual game and own it, but with Sony's big video store, might movies and tv shows go perfectly with their supscription ideas.
I plan to do the same thing with PS4 as I did with a PS3 and only download multiplayer games. Its really convenient to always have multiplayer ready for parties and friends, but when I'm I don't mind getting up and finding a disc. I also feel like I'll need as much extra space as I can get as I've more than filled my 320 GB hard drive with my 100+ PS plus games .
I don't really do digital, but, this sounds great for the people who are into it. I just hope their subscription service doesn't turn into XBL, because free online play was one of the things people loved about the PS3.
@rjejr I totally agree with you that the cable TV comment scares me. I like how I can play my PS3 online without being charged. I never bought a 360 because that isn't possible. If you can't play online for free for PS4, I won't get it. I'm not paying a subscription for something I do do for free on my Wii U and my PC.
Let's hope there is still a free option to play online. As for the digital thing, I prefer to buy my games physically. I don't like how he says all launch games are available digital, but only some are physical. That would be a bad precedent set.
Guys, I don't know if this was asked before. Ok yeah, it sounds cool to see they will offer scalable subscription plans for us, but will the online still be free on PS4?
I hope online is still free for everyone too. But potentially they could make it the bronze tier of PS+. The bronze tier of PS+ could be just the cloud saves and automatic updates and online gaming. It could be cheaper than PS+ is now, something like $15 a year. The silver tier could basically be what we have become accustomed to with PS+. And the gold tier could be what adds on the access to a library of games to stream (select ps1-ps3 titles)
I don't know if I would pay more than I do now for the gold tier or not. I'd rather pay a few dollars each time I wanted to rent a game. I don't really want to pay an extra monthly fee like netflix for old games because I have most of the ps3 games I want already and I'll mostly be playing new stuff by then. I wouldn't get my money's worth paying a fee. However, if they simply roll the service into the current price, I think they would attract a lot of new subscribers.
I wonder how many of these Premium features will be available in Australia. If It's anything like Xbox Live, It's about 5% of it. I really hate how everyone making streaming content a major feature, 9 times out of 10 it's only available in america.
Also from my perspective I don't care about digital downloads, takes me rougly 12 hours to download a 3GB game on PS3; and that was a bloody demo.
Funny thing is, when it launches, PSN will get hacked again
I only want the option of DLing games, as opposed to being forced. However, DLing PS3 games to a Vita would be excellent and bypass stupid remote play.
@Pichuka97 I highly doubt that.
@KALofKRYPTON I don't believe they have, but honestly, 500gb isn't really going to be enough. Even the 640gb drive in my PS3 has been full for about a year. It's annoying constantly trying to find things to delete in order to install new games.
The only reason I'd settle with a (likely) 512gb SSD is because of the performance benefits. If the hdd I/O sucks like the PS3's, I'll just buy a 1tb 7200 drive (if they even support upgrades at all...)
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