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daddy_zach
Aug 29, 2006, 01:52 PM
I know this has to have been asked befoe i just cant seem to find it any where. But it would help alot if you guys could let me know for sure what the price will cost monthly for the U.S and maby the link to the site that you found this info. Thanks alot guys.

Dingo
Aug 29, 2006, 01:57 PM
Rumors say 10 dollars, but we'll all have to wait and see.

EspioKaos
Aug 29, 2006, 01:57 PM
SEGA of America has yet to release information on the monthly fee for PSU.

daddy_zach
Aug 29, 2006, 02:00 PM
OK cool now i know why i couldent find it any where. I guess im not insane after all. lol Thanks for letting me know guys.

DizzyDi
Aug 29, 2006, 03:31 PM
Its supposed to be something like 9 dollars for the first month, and 7 dollars for everymonth afterwards.

Phoenix_Black
Aug 29, 2006, 10:34 PM
Any idea if this applies for XBox Live? I hope not. That might be a bad thing, for me...

Phaze37
Aug 30, 2006, 01:06 AM
Xbox live will likely have the same fee as the PS2 and PC versions. It's not known if you'll need a Gold account or if you can use the free XBL Silver account to play PSU online.

Arias
Aug 30, 2006, 03:47 AM
As long as its a bit less than PSO, I'm fine

Xenofobia
Aug 30, 2006, 05:12 AM
I think it will cost more then PSO. Like the rest of MMORPGs out there.

solidsolo
Aug 30, 2006, 07:41 AM
yes it'll cost more. Most other MMO's (except for very small few) are in the $10-$13 range. Expect PSU to be the same. Also, there's no way it'll be $9 the first month and cheaper the following months.. from a business viewpoint, that wouldn't be very profitable and wouldn't make much sense.

SephYuyX
Aug 30, 2006, 07:59 AM
Netcash cards are ¥1000(9$), ¥3000(25$), ¥5000(42$), and ¥10000(85$)

So I would assume a months fee would be 9~10$, a three month payment would be 25$, a five month paymet would be 40$ and a ten month payment would be about 80$

Somewhere around those numbers.

Edit:SP.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SephirothYuyX on 2006-08-30 06:00 ]</font>

Ruby-chan
Aug 31, 2006, 05:23 AM
On 2006-08-30 05:41, solidsolo wrote:
yes it'll cost more. Most other MMO's (except for very small few) are in the $10-$13 range. Expect PSU to be the same. Also, there's no way it'll be $9 the first month and cheaper the following months.. from a business viewpoint, that wouldn't be very profitable and wouldn't make much sense.



Ok.. let's just get this out here in the open... The, "PSO is an MMO" was a load of marketing bull. And although PSU is not PSO, I seriously doubt they've changed their online mode enough to make it an MMO. I'm sorry, but in a world where Diablo 2 and Guild Wars are free online I don't see how you could sell PSU online for the same price as World of Warcraft with a straight face. I'm sorry, I love the game, but it's just utter maddness.

I seriously have to wonder how many half-brained monthly fees for similar games Sega has to come up with before they realize it's a dumb idea.

ShadowDragon28
Aug 31, 2006, 05:36 AM
I am praying that in the US the Gaurdians License thingy is $8.00 or less.

I'd prefer no fee at all, but then the amount of very very immature "wet-behind-the-ears" newbies would be higher if online was totally free. And it does help to keep server maintanance up.

If the GL is higher than $8.00 per mo, $10-13 ~that's just a slight tad much IMO.
Especially for people that pay bills and still need to eat sometimes...

Kyunji
Aug 31, 2006, 05:52 AM
On 2006-08-31 03:23, Ruby-chan wrote:


On 2006-08-30 05:41, solidsolo wrote:
yes it'll cost more. Most other MMO's (except for very small few) are in the $10-$13 range. Expect PSU to be the same. Also, there's no way it'll be $9 the first month and cheaper the following months.. from a business viewpoint, that wouldn't be very profitable and wouldn't make much sense.



Ok.. let's just get this out here in the open... The, "PSO is an MMO" was a load of marketing bull. And although PSU is not PSO, I seriously doubt they've changed their online mode enough to make it an MMO. I'm sorry, but in a world where Diablo 2 and Guild Wars are free online I don't see how you could sell PSU online for the same price as World of Warcraft with a straight face. I'm sorry, I love the game, but it's just utter maddness.

I seriously have to wonder how many half-brained monthly fees for similar games Sega has to come up with before they realize it's a dumb idea.



I object.

The amount of controverst over the subject of whether or not Phantasy Star Universe is a massively multiplayer online game or not has been ridiculous. The general agreement, however, seems to be that it is not. Still, the online portion of the game is going to be the most significant source of income for SEGA, as Story and Extra modes can only provide so much entertainment, while Online mode offers chracter interaction, more quests, and, overall, a more dynamic world. It costs quite a bit of money to run a decent server farm to keep such a game up and going, as I'm certain you know, and making access to this portion of the game completely free would be virtual suicide for SEGA. Fifty dollars from each person who bought the game would not be enough to keep the game profitable for SEGA in the long term. If, each month, they recieve ten dollars from those who wish to play online, then it makes it that much easier to pay for the cost of the servers.

Besides, if SEGA makes enough money off of this game, they'll probably develop a sequel.

Undubbed
Aug 31, 2006, 07:18 AM
Yeah, I'm a little on ropes when it's coming to the worth of the monthly fee. I already have a hard time comprehending why they charge for PSO today when it plays in the same vain as Guild Wars and Diablo 2 which are both free. Plus it's also about the updating the game. From what I hear, Sega didn't update PSO very much. I never found a reason to go beyond the 2 month free service in XBOX PSO.

FFXI gets new stuff added and tweaked all the time. I really hope Sega does the same. But the fact that the console versions won't have HDD support is making me worry that it'll be the excact same game from now to 5 years from now. I hope not.

RoboKy
Aug 31, 2006, 02:23 PM
Guild wars, I mean build wars you can beat fairly quickly. There's no new content until the next expansion unless you count a new color for the dragon sword, greens, or that one new area which was released about half a year after the game was released. Diablo 2 I don't really know about, except it looks like Lineage I. I think theres a link and translation of the PSU blog on the mainpage of this site saying they're coming out with new areas events and missions gradually.

Nekomimi
Aug 31, 2006, 02:40 PM
Guild Wars makes money constantly by releasing their expansions and keeping bandwidth usage LOW through instancing. Diablo 2 is an older game and not many people play anymore, PLUS, most people don't seem to realize that unless you're playing the hardcore online only modes in D2, you're hosting your OWN game, meaning Blizzard isn't paying for anything but Battle.net which is nothing more than a glorified chatroom. THAT'S why those games are 'free' to play online. Because in one case you're giving them more money every 4 months and their bandwidth isn't high, and in the other you're not even playing on their servers.

PSU, on the other hand, hosts all online games on Sega's servers, and you had better believe that the amount of people playing is going to eat some bandwidth. I'm tired of seeing people compare PSU/PSO to D2 and GW, because IT'S NOT THE SAME THING AT ALL. If PSU costs less than $10 a month, and I see no reason why it should, you better get down on your goddamn knees and thank Sega for eating some of the cost, because believe me, they will be.

Ruby-chan
Aug 31, 2006, 03:50 PM
Um, sorry, but judging by past experience, there won't be enough to validate the fee. The updates have been non existent for each iteration for six years. And as it has been stated before, given that there won't be hard drive support for the PS2 version it almost guarantees there won't be updates this time either. You know why? Because Sega /isn't/ in the MMO bussiness.

Unfortunately you may not like the Guild Wars analogy but it is extremly apt to the way Sega has handled the PSO games. A games list / chat room in the form of a lobby, and updates released as expansions, errr, new versions of the game. (PSO, PSO Ver 2. PSO Ep 1+2, Blue Burst, do I need to go on?)

Sega can very easily cut their costs by simply releasing a dedicate server program and let end users support their own bloody servers. I mean, dear lord it works for... Neverwinter Nights, Dungeons Seige, Half Life 2, Quake, etc., etc., etc. I mean, if Dark Messiah of Might and Magic had a chat room intergrated into its server browser would you then say, "Oh, sure, that's cool, I'll give them $10 a month now." No. No you wouldn't. It's just not a winning strategy to charge for the kind of game Sega has been putting out. Perhaps the situation in Japan is different, but here in the US, when you stack the game up against the pletora of online games we've had here, the answer is a resounding no.

Nekomimi
Aug 31, 2006, 04:01 PM
On 2006-08-31 13:50, Ruby-chan wrote:
Um, sorry, but judging by past experience, there won't be enough to validate the fee. The updates have been non existent for each iteration for six years. And as it has been stated before, given that there won't be hard drive support for the PS2 version it almost guarantees there won't be updates this time either. You know why? Because Sega /isn't/ in the MMO bussiness.

Unfortunately you may not like the Guild Wars analogy but it is extremly apt to the way Sega has handled the PSO games. A games list / chat room in the form of a lobby, and updates released as expansions, errr, new versions of the game. (PSO, PSO Ver 2. PSO Ep 1+2, Blue Burst, do I need to go on?)

Sega can very easily cut their costs by simply releasing a dedicate server program and let end users support their own bloody servers. I mean, dear lord it works for... Neverwinter Nights, Dungeons Seige, Half Life 2, Quake, etc., etc., etc. I mean, if Dark Messiah of Might and Magic had a chat room intergrated into its server browser would you then say, "Oh, sure, that's cool, I'll give them $10 a month now." No. No you wouldn't. It's just not a winning strategy to charge for the kind of game Sega has been putting out. Perhaps the situation in Japan is different, but here in the US, when you stack the game up against the pletora of online games we've had here, the answer is a resounding no.



Don't buy it then. Your idea that there has to be updates to justify charging us to upkeep the servers is insane. Secondly, despite the fact that Sega has already announced the first set of online content missions, you're making assumptions that PSU is going to be handled the same as PSO was.

And no, PSU can NOT be compared to Guild Wars, because while GW will release a minor update every 4-6 months and charge full price for it, PSU updates are included in the cost of the montly fee. GW works out to be around $10/mo anyway, if you're buying the expansions.

watashiwa
Aug 31, 2006, 04:05 PM
On 2006-08-31 14:01, Nekomimi wrote:
And no, PSU can NOT be compared to Guild Wars, because while GW will release a minor update every 4-6 months and charge full price for it, PSU updates are included in the cost of the montly fee. GW works out to be around $10/mo anyway, if you're buying the expansions.



orly?

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/729/729671p1.html

Nekomimi
Aug 31, 2006, 04:08 PM
oshi I got own'd

Oh well. All arguments aside, I feel that GW is a sub-par game and not worth paying for in any case. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

Cross
Aug 31, 2006, 04:13 PM
On 2006-08-31 14:01, Nekomimi wrote:
GW will release a minor update every 4-6 months and charge full price for it,

See this is the problem right here. What it is, you see, and it's a bit of a funny thing, actually - You don't know what you're talking about.

I mean, there are some other things you got wrong - man, do you ever get a lot of stuff wrong - but this is the most egregious example, as long as we're counting just the one post.

AlucardTepes
Aug 31, 2006, 04:16 PM
I understand a monthly fee of around 10-15 US. It takes money to run servers efficiently, patch them, and update them through time. Look at what PSU is going to contain, think about its complexity as far as graphics, individual accounts, sound, amount of maps, etc. This is a multiplayer online RPG, while not technically an "MMO" like FFXI or WoW, it still has servers that must be maintained. And yes, like any business, SEGA needs to profit from it.

Now, my personal financial strategy. $10-15 a month is not impossible to come up with. PSU also has a time commitment, so I know going in, that I will be playing less of other games. When I'm not playing an online RPG, I usually find myself spending $50 a month on new games anyway. When I reduce that to possibly $50 every 2-3 months for a new game, since so much time will be put into PSU, I actually save money.

When looking at it from SEGA and a gamer's standpoint, I can understand a monthly fee. If the fee was around $25, then alright, PSU probably wouldn't be worth playing and I can find more bang for my buck elsewhere.

Those are my thoughts.

Nekomimi
Aug 31, 2006, 04:17 PM
I'm sorry but 2 new character classes and some other junk isn't worth paying the full $30 again.

Nekomimi
Aug 31, 2006, 04:19 PM
In any case, even if the fee WAS $20, even if you only played online for 20 hours ALL MONTH (and I know no one plays that little), you're only paying a buck an hour. That's better than any arcade you'll find.

Sev
Aug 31, 2006, 04:21 PM
The fee for PSU won't be over $15 a month, and to me that's all that matters. It's as simple as not paying for it if you think it's too much. If that $15 is going to go toward feeding you or your family, the choice is simple... Don't play Online. You still have hours of content in the Offline Story Mode and Extra Mode. Right there you get your $50 worth. And please note, I'm not saying that PSU will be $15 a month. I'm just using that as an example, since that's the highest fee I've payed.

The announcement of an expansion this early doesn't really mean anything to me. Although I think it's a good bit of news. If you're worried about a lack of content to justify your monthly fee, then there's no need to worry now. If they're already planning an expansion that only means they plan to keep the content coming.

Cross
Aug 31, 2006, 04:26 PM
If doubling the amount of content in a game is, to you, classified as "some other junk" or "minor updates", I'd really like to hear exactly what sort of magical wonderland of improbability you think Phantasy Star Universe is going to produce.

Kers
Aug 31, 2006, 04:31 PM
Oh man, I hope this isn't like Sony's idea of expansions. Adventure packs, short term expansions, even having players pay more per month to use features from their website was all over EQ2...really turned me off.

I'm assuming Sega wouldn't do those things. I'm looking at the PSU homepage and it offers features Like Startguide, Stratguide, and Community. I'm guessing these are free or atleast paid through the monthly subscription. It would calm my nerves, arfter seeing that expansion already announced.

PadTheMad
Aug 31, 2006, 04:35 PM
I've been a bit dubious of paying monthly subscriptions in the past but now I've just become accustomed to it, trying not to play more than one at a time. Just as long as the servers are up and running to a decent degree I'll be a happy chappy.

Are Sega actually using their own servers for the 360 version or are they letting Microsoft handling all the dirty work? If they are using their own then they justify the monthly subscription, however if they're part of Xbox Live then that's a bit of a joke charging for it. However if the 360 version does in fact have a charge then you can forget about me getting that - I'll stick with the PC thankyou very much.

Kers
Aug 31, 2006, 04:38 PM
Old topic. It's like, 100% that Sega will support their own servers. There is no reason the 360 PSU fee wouldn't be the same. XBL Gold fee would probably be required for use of the additional features Gold offers. I'm shure there is plenty of this talk you can check out with a forum search.

Sev
Aug 31, 2006, 04:40 PM
On 2006-08-31 14:26, Cross wrote:
If doubling the amount of content in a game is, to you, classified as "some other junk" or "minor updates", I'd really like to hear exactly what sort of magical wonderland of improbability you think Phantasy Star Universe is going to produce.



I wouldn't really know anything about the expansion, I only put about 3 hours into the game before I logged off on my first day. After that, I just never logged back on. The game didn't do it for me, especially after coming from games like FFXI and WoW, it seemed really shallow and with only 20 levels to max... I just didn't wanna bother.

Really... The amount of updates you get from a pay 2 play game are normally larger then what you get from a non pay 2 play game. Sega already announced it's plans of keeping the content coming for Network Mode so right there it should have more then enough. And this Expansion also says that it will have Offline content as well. Wouldn't that make it more like an Episode 1&2 type deal? I don't think they're going to release an Expansion with a small amount of updated data...

And... How long have they been working on this game? Is it really surprising that after all of the delays they had an Expansion in the works?

Kers
Aug 31, 2006, 04:52 PM
"PSOW: We are really curious about the future of Phantasy Star. Where do you see Phantasy Star Universe and the Phantasy Star franchise going from this point? Will we see full sequels down the road, or perhaps episodes similar to PSO?

Takao Miyoshi: We are definitely looking into making a sequel. I am thinking of this as a very long project, so things like episodes or sequels will be considered in the future. Nothing has been finalized yet."

So yes, this expansion was already in the works and isn't considered another episode or sequel. The thing I'm worried about is will this expansion's content be equal to a PSO episode type deal? It would be an awful lot to release on the launch day.

Sev - "I don't think they're going to release an Expansion with a small amount of updated data..." I'd sacrifice a goat to that.

Sev
Aug 31, 2006, 04:57 PM
On 2006-08-31 14:52, Kers wrote:
Sev - "I don't think they're going to release an Expansion with a small amount of updated data..." I'd sacrifice a goat to that.



I'm trying to figure out whether that's a good thing or a bad thing... I think... I think I'll just leave that alone.

I really do think they'd have a good bit of content in that Expansion. I'd hope they have new areas, enemies, and more cosmetic options at LEAST.

linkzone
Aug 31, 2006, 05:01 PM
I really could care less how much it costs. I have nothing better to do with my money at this point in my life. The military pays for my house, food, and I get a clothing allowance yearly. So Dont matter if its free or 50 bucks. I love this game so Ill pay to play.

Kers
Aug 31, 2006, 05:01 PM
On 2006-08-31 14:57, Sev wrote:


On 2006-08-31 14:52, Kers wrote:
Sev - "I don't think they're going to release an Expansion with a small amount of updated data..." I'd sacrifice a goat to that.



I'm trying to figure out whether that's a good thing or a bad thing... I think... I think I'll just leave that alone.

I really do think they'd have a good bit of content in that Expansion. I'd hope they have new areas, enemies, and more cosmetic options at LEAST.


lol, it's a good thing, I'm just saying I'd pay for my belief and wish that Sega treates the expansions with a good amount of content for their price.

I'm with you on what I'd want to see in the expansions. A fine detail I want to point out - I'd be disappointed if the new areas were made with existing uh..what's the term.. oh well... map content if you will. I like to see expansions that have "new" new areas, if that clears it up.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Kers on 2006-08-31 15:05 ]</font>

Sev
Aug 31, 2006, 05:08 PM
On 2006-08-31 15:01, Kers wrote:

lol, it's a good thing, I'm just saying I'd pay for my belief and wish that Sega treates the expansions with a good amount of content for their price.

I'm with you on what I'd want to see in the expansions. A fine detail I want to point out - I'd be disappointed if the new areas were made with existing uh..what's the term.. oh well... map content if you will. I like to see expansions that have "new" new areas, if that clears it up.



Yeah, I get what you mean. For me, I don't think I have a preference. As long as it's not something that I've completely seen before. But if they put in new monster data, then why not new level data? That's just the way I'm trying to look at it.

More then anything though, I want more clother, more hairstyles, and more accessories. This is what I want the most.

Kers
Aug 31, 2006, 05:35 PM
On 2006-08-31 15:08, Sev wrote:

More then anything though, I want more clother, more hairstyles, and more accessories. This is what I want the most.



Since you've mentioned that, what do you think about having the majority of the expansion exclusive to players who have completed the previous online story missions?

I'd enjoy having some sort of apparel content you mentioned be exclusive to players who have reached the expansion's story missions.

It would be kind of representing more customization for the higher levels.


BTW, I'm under the impression clothing can only be bought in stores. That would eliminate rare clothing and such, right?

P.S. I don't think this is hijacking, I wouldn't mind more speculation on the US PSU monthly cost. Just discussing the current topic.

Ruby-chan
Aug 31, 2006, 05:40 PM
On 2006-08-31 14:19, Nekomimi wrote:
In any case, even if the fee WAS $20, even if you only played online for 20 hours ALL MONTH (and I know no one plays that little), you're only paying a buck an hour. That's better than any arcade you'll find.



Wow.. are you sure you're not a plant?

Kurosawa
Sep 1, 2006, 01:24 AM
If they charge anything near WOW or FFXI money for this, it's a rip-off. To be honest, since it's running on seperate servers from the JP version, there will be next to no updates and it'll get hacked. The online portion of the game will be fun at first, then it'll become just like the previous versions. ST just doesn't give a damn. Charging for ST's horrible service is a joke. The game should be free.

I think I'll end up sticking with FF XI. I hear people blast SE's service on it, and I think of how spoiled they are since I've experienced ST's incredible incompetence for years on DC and GC.

It's a shame really. I was really looking forward to this.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Kurosawa on 2006-08-31 23:27 ]</font>