Onlive Monthly Charge Making a Come Back - AggroGamer

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Onlive Monthly Charge Making a Come Back

by David 'Hades' Becker [ Friday, 3rd of December 2010 - 06:06 AM ]

Onlive Monthly Charge Making a Come Back

I swear the monthly charge thing for Onlive is flip flopping more than Ross Perot's candidacy for President in the 90's. First they are going to charge a monthly fee just so you can buy or rent games. Then they take away the monthly fee and leave it open for anyone that wants to buy or rent games. Now they are offering a monthly fee again. At least this time it isn't just to have access to the games you have already purchased or rented.

Looks like anyone that has picked up their MicroConsole or uses the PC/Mac app will have the ability to pay $9.99/month to have full access to select games. Currently in a beta of sorts, that list comprises of:

Prince of Persia
NBA 2K10
Tomb Raider: Underworld
F.E.A.R. 2
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
Unreal Tournament 3
Vin Diesel Wheelman
LEGO Batman
Defense Grid Gold
Saw
World of Goo

This list is supposed to grow to over 40 titles by the official launch on January 15^th 2011, but last I checked the entire list of games they offer is around 40. So what is the point of offering a monthly fee for unlimited play as well as the option to outright purchase the title? If it was more like Netflix Instant Streaming I could understand the need to have both à la carte purchasing as well as monthly fee.

To me, it would seem to be a no brainer to pay $9.99 a month to play all of the games they offer instead of paying $3.99 to $14.99 for limited access or pay full price for unlimited access. Unless they are going to be rolling out a huge assortment that will not be in the PlayPack, what would be the point in buying a full game from them? I could play and beat it in under a month for only $9.99. If I wanted to beat it again, I'd still have that option for a fraction of the full price.

This just seems like a stepping stone into getting rid of PlayPasses and rentals on their service. In fact I will not be surprised if one or the other is phased out shortly after the monthly pass goes live.

11 comments

Anon Commenter [ Thursday, 9th of December 2010 - 12:09 PM ]

The title misrepresents the entire article.

Anon Commenter [ Saturday, 4th of December 2010 - 10:45 PM ]

anyways why not go flame these guys that have obviously not really done any homework other then bringing an OnLive cockmeat sammmich to school with them. "As this currently gives players access to 40 games", right now..? http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/217438/onlive-announces-flat-rate-plan/

Anon Commenter [ Saturday, 4th of December 2010 - 10:01 PM ]

playpack* sry for the typo in a sea of good text. my mistake :(

Anon Commenter [ Saturday, 4th of December 2010 - 11:57 AM ]

I do not feel this is a misinformed article at all. It is a personal opinion of what seems to be facts taking place over at Onlive. They were going to charge a subscription fee just to have access to the ability to rent / purchase games. That is gone. Replaced by a monthly charge to have access to older games and indie (Playback). Options to rent or purchase new games not over the minimum life span before the game goes into Playback content (Playpass). These were all touched on in the article and saying anything otherwise is what is misinforming. I did read the entire article and what I gained from it was the authors personal opinion on offering both of these options Playpass / Playback. And the monetary waste they may entail resulting from the payment option you decide to go through with. I myself am inclined to agree with the author as not having a physical copy or digital (Steam) of the game I just bought, is a tab bit unsettling to me. Between connection issues that may arise or just the company having a short life cycle. It is my opinion that the Playback is the most worthwhile investment to be vested in. Maybe Anon's should do their research a bit more and reserve an authors opinion, instead of concluding it as a company released statement and injecting your opinionated facts into them, resulting in an overabundance of texts that do nothing but emphasize the authors statements. And divulge nothing more then what has already been written or that can be obtained from the company's website. Author did not state anything that isn't factual nor misrepresenting of Onlive.

Hades [ Saturday, 4th of December 2010 - 09:58 AM ]

And it looks like people don't fully read articles and just go off the title here. The point here is that you can buy PlayPass for what ever price AS WELL AS the PlayPack if you want. But why even do that? If I can have unlimited access in only a few months time, why shell out $60 right away for something you won't truly own. This was not a slam on Onlive at all but it seems a HUGE possibility that they are going to switch back to subscription only. That was the point here while mixing in the fact that you can do both if you so want. It just doesn't make sense to as you can't access the game you paid $60 for if there is a connection issue on your end or theirs. With a monthly subscription you can at least ask for a credit if it is on their end. Also, just for the Anon poster that had the "courage" to attack me personally behind the anonymity safety of the internet: Der...hey look Onlive gunna lets us Pay full price for games now or money every daddy moon to play games to. YAY! I sure hope they ain't gunna git rid of one or other. I'd poop myself if I couldn't. I like Eggs! That sum it up?

Anon Commenter [ Saturday, 4th of December 2010 - 06:44 AM ]

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they just didn't research the info about PlayPacks and just wrote a crappy article out of their own misinformation, as opposed to just trying to make OnLive look bad. Still though, do some research next time. The PlayPack is $10/month for games 6 MONTHS AND OLDER OR INDIE TITLES, whereas PlayPass is where you rent or purchase MOSTLY NEW GAMES. Once a PlayPass game is old enough, it usually goes to PlayPack, but if you've purchased it, you can still play it without a subscription.

Anon Commenter [ Saturday, 4th of December 2010 - 04:22 AM ]

Now a days even mentally challenged ppl can write internet articles...

Anon Commenter [ Friday, 3rd of December 2010 - 10:48 PM ]

The other anon down below my post was right. I think the writer who made this article should really revise the info in this post... considering it's all false.

Anon Commenter [ Friday, 3rd of December 2010 - 10:42 PM ]

Playback package = $10 for titles 1+years older depending on title. Playpasses = buy/rent what you want You can do one, both, or neither. Do your research. "Some games will only be in the PlayPass or PlayPack plan, some will be in both, and over time, you’ll see PlayPass games added to the PlayPack library as they get older." Starting to get it? Onlive has been giving users what they ask for, and yet so many people try to spin it to make it sound bad.

Anon Commenter [ Friday, 3rd of December 2010 - 10:26 PM ]

Anon Commenter [ Friday, 3rd of December 2010 - 10:19 PM ]

You completely misunderstand what is going on. Playpasses and rentals will always be there. They have stated that this is just an option. You can either pay the 10 dollars to get unlimited playing of older titles, or just buy and rent what you want. This is just slander to try and make it seem like they are pushing a monthly fee again. The whole point of this type of offering is so that publishers are actually getting money for older titles continuously instead of used games being bought where publishers get no money whatsoever.

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