Earlier this week, Sony leaked December's PlayStation Plus offerings on its very own digital storefront. Quite the cock-up, but we imagine that the general reaction to the supposed selection of PlayStation 4 titles wouldn't have been quite so negative had a hallowed AAA blockbuster of yesteryear been present. Y'know, something like Knack, for example.
Snark aside, the bottom line here is that many gamers see indie titles as lesser products when compared to their big budget brethren. That's obviously true to some extent when you take factors like price into consideration, but you simply can't judge a book by its cover - or in this case, you can't judge a game by its pixels. Anyway, the point we're trying to make is that the reaction to the leaked titles was as venomous as you might expect, with countless Plus subscribers taking the fight to social media in order to flaunt their disgust with Sony's premium service.
Of course, at that point, no one knew for sure whether the leak was actually accurate - but flash forward a couple of days and here we are, with both Invisible, Inc. and Stories: The Path of Destinies confirmed for December's line up. Cue the most online outrage that we've seen since August's Plus selection was revealed - and yeah, that was pretty bad to begin with.
As we've come to expect, the official December PlayStation Plus video over on PlayStation's YouTube channel is in the process of taking one heck of a beating. At the time of writing, the clip has almost 119,000 views and 1,889 likes compared to a whopping 13,720 dislikes. Jeez.
Is December's line up really that bad? Does it deserve such brutality? Is it time for Sony to rethink its premium subscription service? Remember to engage caps lock in the comments section below.
Comments 54
I'll never understand the hatred it gets every month.. I quite like PS+ as a service, You get free games, bigger discounts in the sales, discounts on games that arent on sale, what more do you want from a serivce that costs at its base level of a fiver a month?
Most people are far to over entitled and want want want everything for free including the big AAAs. Ive never expected to get big blockbuster games every month like everyone else seems to, in saying that we're now presumably halfway through the generation, so there is no reason some of the 1st year games cant be added, maybe they will next year.
If we only get say 3 months with what everyone describes as good games a year. I'd rather not have them in the busy holiday season. I've got so much to play right now it's already overwhelming
I get the dissatisfaction in a sense, but I wish people wouldn't be so quick to judge... I haven't played Invisible Inc, but it looks cool, and Stories is really, really good. Just try it out - you might like some of these games more than you think.
The line-up, once again, seems fine. It's not the most exciting, but there's certainly been much worse.
The backlash is largely a result of people's skewed perception of indie titles, and how they represent a lesser product than games from a big publisher. The outrage is staggering in its stupidity. If you're not interested in these games, then fine, you're perfectly well within your rights to look at these games and say, "They're not for me".
But if you're against them on the basis that they're indie games then it's absurd. Every time I see comments about how it's just more indie rubbish, I cringe. Indie isn't a genre, it's a method of distribution. There's indie shooters, platformers, puzzle games, etc. and many of them are way more interesting than games released by EA, Ubisoft or Activision. It's just a dumb argument that raises my ire.
Imagine if we did the same with music.
"You heard the new Bjork album?"
"Nah. I only listen to music released by a major label, mate."
Absolute hogwash.
There's a big difference between simply not liking the games on offer and full-on complaining about it. Reactions like this are silly. For your £40 12 months of Plus, you're given AT LEAST 24 games to play, more if you have a PS3 and Vita as well. There's no way everybody is going to love every single one. I didn't play all of them because not all of them interested me enough, but I'm not going to stamp my feet just because a game they've offered on a silver platter doesn't suit my tastes.
If you're not up for Invisible Inc and Stories - both of which are supposed to be pretty good, by the way - then that's fine, but don't whine about it. These games are just extras, they're not something Sony HAS to provide. Get over it and go play something you'll enjoy - that's surely more fun than moaning incessantly on the internet.
The service 3-4 years ago was a real jewel in Sonys crown, the games by and large are not the games subscribers have been expecting over the last couple of years - like Knack, Second son, killzone etc etc. Just one of those games in the line up and everyone's happy.
As a note, I'm delighted as Xmas has too many big games and I want to take them in with no distractions, so smaller indie games are a bonus. But Sony has really dropped the ball with IGC when it comes to the majority of customers.
I feel sorry for the developers, their putting their life's work on the service and yet people call it out as trash before even playing it. I have no idea why people take offence at indie games, maybe they find them too hipster. This year we've had Resident Evil, Transformers, lords of the fallen and NBA 2k17. So it's obvious that some are not satisfied with just a AAA game every now and then, they want them all the time.
People are f*cking idiots. If you don't see value in it, stop paying for it. If you want to play online, you need to pay for the service, as you always had to do with XB Live. The monthly games should be irrelevant if you are getting your value from the multiplayer. You had it good during the PS3 era for free. Bi*ches.
I don't think the line up is anywhere near as bad as August's, personally. At least they didn't try and flog us a game they'd already given away before.
It just reeks of entitlement. If people really want to play Knack they can pay the £5 it goes down to in almost every sale, or in any branch of CEX. I'd rather take Invisible Inc. any day.
In truth, I'm past beyond worrying about PS+ offers, since my backlog is already too big and there are so many games I'm yet to play/buy. And, really, I bet most people complaing about these "free" games also have a big backlog with the recurrent sales and all that. So I really see no point. These games are a nice bonus, but I reckon most people have more than enough to play with the PS4 going strong on its third year.
To please everyone they should offer different levels of Ps Plus. One with games and one with just the multiplayer element and a significant reduction in cost.
I'm actually okay with PS4's PS Plus lineup. But it's the PS3 and PS Vita lineup that hurts me. I mean, they could have given us atleast one third/first party title for both platform but instead we got more indies. Why couldn't they have taken notes from the previous December lineup that included SSX, FC3, Freedom Wars, and Rocketbirds?
I get irritated with the way "entitled" gets bandied about. Yes, a lot of the reaction is childish, but at this stage I think it tells more of a story of frustration than anything else.
I think Invisible Inc looks interesting, but this will be the first ps plus ps4 instant game collection title I have picked up in months. I do not expect to like every title, nor do I expect a AAA game each month, but I do want to see some variation. I think Sony need to take note of the growing frustration and address it, even if it is just to be transparent on how they identify the games to offer up. That might at least justify the choices to the playerbase.
The only system that I seem to remember getting a decent title recently was the vita.
@kyleforrester87 "Yes! Yes! Let the anger flow through you!"
I get frustarted as I'm one of the few who have owned plus since day came out. When the service was optional the games were so so so much better. I actually didn't buy games for months as the Plus Titles covered me most the time. The titles now I just don't get the buzz and half time forget to even get them now.
I was spoilt really Red Dead, LBP, Burnout Paradise, Hitman, Sleeping Dogs. Just few of games we had off top my head, don't think I'll ever get something like that now
A yearly PS+ subscription costs £40, that's less than a newly released AAA game.
I find it hard to believe that the majority of gamers hating on PS+ don't receive £40 worth of value a year, especially if you add in PS+ discounts.
I'm certain Sony could just drop all the free games, keep the same price & it would hardly make a difference to subscriber numbers. They'd probably make more money in the long run.
PS+ is a great service.
yes, at the end of PS3 we got the likes of Uncharted 3 on PS+.... but now many many more people have it and the AAA developers simply can't afford to give away that many copies, or more likely correctly sony execs will not put out that much cash to the developer to pay for the expected # of downloads.
AAA games are expensive and they deserve their profits, so I don't fault them at all.
@xX_RiscazZ_Xx
Lets put it in perspective.
A vast percentage of these Indies have very VERY similar gameplay.
To the point that some play and look the same as others.
Im not saying thats always bad but imagine if 5 months straight the lineup was very similar, nigh on exactly the same, shooters.
Or sports titles and so on.
This isnt to say I dislike Indies, or that there arent some real gems in there, Helldivers was a game I sunk hours into, incredible fun.
But the crux of it often comes down to the actual gameplay I believe, not solely the fact its "Indy".
Of course there are those that are just idiots, complaining regardless, but I for one havent seen that much variance when it comes to Indy games, and when offered month in month out, it gets boring.
The same can be said for any type of release.
So 7% of people who watched a Youtube video clicked a dislike button? I doubt Sony are too bothered, to be honest; allowing people to up or down vote on videos and forums always leads to a toxic atmosphere.
I'm not saying what we get on PS+ is good or bad, but it is easy to magnify a relatively small number of people's vitriol and get a skewed perspective.
It's very much a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. They did give us Yakuza 5 recently and idiots still pissed and moaned. That said I have been a critic of the service myself because while I don't think we need an AAA every month, the PS4 has been out long enough now that we should be seeing more. Also, I think a massive opportunity has been missed here. Gravity Rush 2 comes out in January, what better way to get some advertising in for that than to make the Remaster part of this month's PS Plus lineup and make a deal about it?
It does need to be mentioned that PS Plus almost always offers great deals, so I don't completely hate the service, I've actually scored some pretty big savings thanks to it. At the end of the day a major part of the problem is if you want to play online you have to pay for Plus and that's ridiculous. I don't care what excuses anybody wants to make, one thing that benefitted Sony last-gen was online was free, that never should've changed and while I'm sure there would still be some anger, it would definitely be a lot less if online play was still free and Plus was just a side service.
The biggest irony in all this is Sony's tagline, "For The Players".
Again, Id wager many complaints come in region of variety.
Id like to see more actual sports titles up there, because in 12 months weve had 1, NBA 2K16.
Now, many people may say "maybe its due to lower demand", which I feel is nonsense.
There is an apparant low demand for the types of games being added yet they are being added regardless.
As Ive said before, Indies are not exempt from the same criticisms as any other game, and should be treated the same way on both sides of the coin.
I dont understand the need to go onto internet forums and throw out your teddies but I can see some legitimate arguments amongst all the garbage.
@dris83 I agree.
I truly believe the largest frustration is lack of variety.
And on the other side of the coin its "you dont like indies, stop expecting aaa all the time, stop being so entitled".
Utter rubbish.
They put VVVVVV on there this should be only responded to with anger.
Add up the free games, the discounts,the occasional free theme, the fact that one ps+ subscription covers vita, ps3 and ps4...£40per year is nothing but huge value for money...77pence per week if you live in uk, there is absolutely nothing to complain about
"the bottom line here is that many gamers see indie titles as lesser products when compared to their big budget brethren. You can't judge a game by its pixels."
For me its rarely about 'pixels' at all. In some cases, an Indie game can offer a lot more native pixels than a AAA game as these have no issue hitting 1080p whilst a game like Star Wars:BF for example runs at 900p. Its true that visually though SW:BF is leagues ahead of most (if not all) indie games. Most indie games are also very much more simplistic in their mechanics and overall game-play too and rarely do these last more than a few hours worth of gaming (more a daily game than a monthly one LOL). They may have some 'leaderboard' tie in to artificially increase replayability or a simple 'hook' that keeps people returning if its an online game. Its not often though that you get an indie SP game that will last a day, let alone a month and rarely do you get as much to do either. Killzone:SF for example has a decent SP component that would outlast the majority of Indie SP games as well as offering potentially many hundreds of hours to see you through that and many more months of gaming. Its certainly not just about pixels. In a lot of cases you can download the indie games and be finished with them in a weekend.
I guess its not helped by the fact that Games with Gold has been offering a AAA game quite consistently of late and with it being Christmas too, the hope of 'something special' from Sony.
Realistically though, I know the RRP value of just 1 'Indie' game per month would equate to a lot more than the cost of PS+. I know that Sony though can't be paying the developers/publishers anywhere near that price. I am sure a lot of 'indie' developers are happy with a guaranteed lump sum and the 'exposure'. Its not as if these games cost millions to make either so it wouldn't cost Sony a lot to pay to cover development costs, additional overheads etc so these developers are already in 'profit'. Chances are the exposure could lead to more sales down the line and a greater awareness of them for any future projects so its a win-win for Sony (lower cost to them) and Indie developers (higher profile and guaranteed income).
Whilst I may not be happy with this selection (or many of the other monthly offerings), I certainly am not about to cancel my PS+ in disgust. I can count the hours I have spent on IGC games on 1 hand (on one finger LOL) in the last year. Since I bought my PS4 and was forced to buy PS+ for FULL access to all my games, I can count the hours easily on one hand and don't have enough digits for the hours spent on GwG games in the same period BUT that doesn't mean to say I would cancel or don't appreciate the fact that Sony and MS offer a lot more 'value' to their online service - just that these games rarely appeal or offer any longevity to me.
I also know that whilst I may not get that much from PS+, I also know that others get a LOT. Not only do they enjoy the PS4 games, they also enjoy the PS3 and Vita games too. They also buy a lot digitally and so benefit from the extra savings. That £40 (RRP) a year can pay for itself in less than a month for some. I benefit from the 'hundreds' (if not more) hours of online fun that PS+ allows me to do. I was 'happy' (or should that be content, OK, etc) to pay for Gold on my Xbox 360 (didn't bother with it on my original Xbox) many years before Sony introduced PS+ and MS offered GwG. PS+ to me is no different - except that PS+ has the potential to offer a game I may want which Gold at the time didn't. I know the PS3 had free online gaming and I benefited from that - It made owning both last gen consoles cheaper. Lets be honest here though, the cost of PS+ (or Gold), the price of just one AAA game (or less in some cases) enables you to play over half the content of most AAA games which can offer more hours than the SP component alone.
I know I am dissatisfied with PS+ IGC titles in general but to me these are such a small reason to buy PS+ and if ever there is a game I want, its a bonus!
@dris83
I completely agree, fanboys on all sides, especially some on this website, need to stop using 'entitled' it's a pathetic go-to defense to try and brush off any criticism of wonderful and perfect Sony. I agree with the people who say some take their frustration too far but for most people that's simply all it is, frustration with a service that while it certainly has its good points also has a lot of bad points. It's not unreasonable at this point to say games like Killzone, Knack, Assassin's Creed IV, inFamous or LittleBigPlanet 4, all games that are cheap, should have been on PS Plus by now. Factor in that it's required to play online, on a network that has had far too many consistency issues and the 'entitlement' argument goes out the window. There is some valid criticism of PS Plus and to just brush it off like this community, including the writers, do and not discuss ways Sony could try to improve the service doesn't help anybody and just makes some people look like corporate shills.
@dogsuk
Great idea.
It wouldn't be as bad if the service we're actually paying to use worked better, i.e. not down a third of the time. Instead we're just compensated with rather poor offerings. I will give Invisible Inc. a go though.
@Gamer83 Pretty much that.
Christmas isn't for another 25 days, give 1 game people have heard of - personally I think it's less about indies, more about little hyped games, people would be fine with Yooka-Laylee I'm sure and that's an indie, No Man's Sky is technically an indie - and then give out games no one has heard of in January and February when we're all busy playing our gift games.
It's all about managing expecatations, and people always have oversized expectations this time of year. January, February and March don't matter, December does.
Sony should just come out and announce no new big budget games, rename PS+ to "PS Indies Online" and be done with it.
@gmxs
Well said! I can't stand this want everything for free mentality.
I have actually discovered and enjoyed games that I would never thought of trying out. Everyone's taste is different and yes sometimes PS+ is disappointing but you can't please everyone.
@rjejr
Hype and a big name definitely helps. Part of the problem is the indie game scene is actually no different than the 'AAA' market in that lately there doesn't seem to be a ton of variety and the bad games, again just like the blockbuster titles, out number the good games at least 8-1.
Yah they deserve the hate
[CAPS LOCK ENGAGED] YES IT IS AWFUL, AND UNACCEPTABLE
It happens sometime that those indie game are good, but honestly, i was ok with it, but now i'm getting tired of those retro, crappy game... my library is full of them, but i probably never play them... Come on, Sony as old game tat would be perfect, Knack, The Order or any old AAA game, like i farcry 4 ??? If indy games are that good, well just give an indie game and one of those ''blockbuster game'' and everyone will be happy ! i'm a strong ps plus defender, but i begin to understand the frustration that many gamers have ! especially here in Canada, with a f**** 79.99$ per year for the Ps plus...
Good job they didn't offer No Man's Sky on Ps Plus this month, imagine the moaning and complaints for that!
So hard to understand the amount of hate/time/discussion that goes into ps+ every single month, can anyone honestly come up with something in their lives that represents such great value for money?... I cant think of anything or any service i pay for that matches ps+ in terms of what i pay and what i get for my money, why is this so difficult for people to figure out?
The word "entitled" has lost all meaning. It would be entitlement if the service was free and people complained. It's not free, though, and people don't have to shut up and be happy about whatever Sony does with a service that they've made practically mandatory by chaining online multiplayer to.
With that said, Invisible Inc. looks interesting, so I'm not really disappointed. VVVVVV is also a solid little title. I actually don't want more AAA Western games.
My subscription is expiring in a couple of days, and I'm not going to renew it for these games. Invisibles is slightly interesting, but I might just get it from a sale later.
Let's face it: Plus is now for paid online, and the games are an afterthought.
@teknium_ Basically everything I buy is better value than Plus these days. Buy a retail game? Better value. Netflix? Better value. My lunch today? Better value.
People are going to be disappointed no matter what. If they put one AAA title, they'd ask why there isn't 2. If you really hate the game offerings, cancel PS+.
@Mahe ps+ is 11pence per day,value for money paid is what im getting at
The reason why people are upset is cause they really want Knack.
@dogsuk PS+ Plus? How about PS+ Pro?
@Fight_Teza_Fight I certainly don't get my money back from PS+ of we are looking at it from a purely financial PoV. I can't remember the last game I downloaded from the IGC - I think it was Gauntlet for the nostalgia. I don't buy digitally so the sale discounts are immaterial. I would rather pay an extra £5-10 for a disc but most often its £5-10 cheaper - even with sale prices. Therefore the cost of PS+ is more than the 'extra' savings - its not like sales are only available for PS+ subscribers! That 'extra' 10% is nice I am sure but its not often more than a few £'s worth compared to the non-subscriber price and virtually all games I want are cheaper physically anyway.
Entitlement and Expectation are 2 very different things. As a PS+ subscriber, I am entitled to download (at least) 2 games every month, as well as entitled to 'extra' discounts on selected titles in the PS Store. It also entitles me to play many of my games online too - that is what we pay for and the way PS+ is sold.
There is nothing to say though that these games have to be of a certain retail value, category - like AAA, Indie or Arcade (budget titles from AAA developers) or even from a variety of genres either. In theory, Sony could offer 24 virtually identical 2D retro platformers for the year for PS4 owners. Its still fulfilling the description of PS+ and in terms of 'value' the RRP of these would no doubt equate to more than the cost of PS+. Someone maybe ok with that, if they like 2D platformers, and defend the selection maybe even criticise those complaining and call them 'entitled' too. The point though is that they have a different expectation - they expect more variety, something that may actually appeal to them once in a while. It maybe that they don't mind the odd 2D platformer but getting them over and over again builds up frustration and the more this frustration builds, the more resentful and angry people get.
Some people really don't enjoy 'indies' and whilst they could tolerate 1 every month, the fact its the only option every month, it does leave them increasingly frustrated and annoyed. From our perspective, we see these older AAA games at the same cost or less than the indies so its not always about RRP value either. Of course the cost to Sony may be very different but we see games like Killzone being sold for £10 and are being offered yet another £15 indie but would still prefer the 'cheaper', older AAA because it offers so much more from a gaming perspective. Killzone, AC4 & BF4 were all launch titles and cost less than the games offered yet all offer so much more 'game'. Its not unreasonable to have expected these (and similar) to be offered and for those that were accustomed to a certain standard with their PS3's are also likely to have a higher expectation.
It was a pretty disappointing month for me as well, but considering I play on all platforms it's definitely a better showing than Nintendo has had with well... Anything as of late.
I'd rather they either focused on one higher quality game a month or just took the games out and cut the price.
@roe we need a better choice, I have played on one or two of the games this year. Xbox definitely have the better choice. Which is a massive shame as I love both of my ps4s
Being a subscriber of both Plus and Live, i will say that recently the selections have been a little better on Live, but part of that is due to the fact that you actually get 4 games a month once you count in BC 360 games, so there's some nostalgia to catch up on. That being said, I would still sub to both even if there were NO games, it's just the cost of gaming online with friends on console, the games are a bonus!
I believe it's a solid service for the price. Personally, I save more in discounts buying games than I pay in subscription fees. I play my brother from out of state as well so it's win win for me.
I think both games seem very interesting. I normally can't stand the PS+ games but this month I'm pleased.
@gmxs THIS_GUY_GETS_IT.JPG
@Gamer83 8-1 might be a good ratio for retail, I would think w/ indies it's more like 30 - 1. Probably about 30,000 - 1 on mobile. But I have liked a lot of indie games. Guacamelee was really good. Shantae. Shovel Knight is a stand out. Awesomenauts. Sword & Soldiers 1 (2 was an awful mess). Back when Popcap was independent Peggle and PvZ were great, and as I predicted EA ruined them for me. But mostly when I think Indie I think 8-bit retro stuff, not new and original. But there are good indie games out there, Sony just relies on them a bit too heavily this gen, last gen was much more balanced, seemed like every month w/ we got 3 games, AAA, indie or PS1, Mini. Variety is good.
GWG has been drop kicking PS+ for months now. Here's hoping the Xbox one continues to be the top seller for months to come because sorny's really been dropping the ball as of late.
There's a couple of games I've not bought that I thought would come to ps plus (shadow of mordor, alien isolation) but I've also played resogun and transistor which I think are 2 of the best games to grace ps plus. Bloodborne would be nice though!!
It's simple reward expectation.December is a month associated with gifts and treats. Fans may have expected to be given a big treat as a reward during the month. Being given two indie games, whilst still good games, was always going to be disappointing.
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