Much talked about, not really examined deeply, Sony has come through with their promise to reduce the price of Station Pass. Starting today, players can gain access to the entire Sony Online Entertainment library for $19.99 USD. In addition, players who purchase longer term plans will find that the prices have come down on 3, 6, and 9 month subscription packages.
You can find the whole list of details here. I’ll remind you again that certain games must be owned for the subscription to become active. For example, you must purchase the client to Star Wars Galaxies before you can play the subscription as part of the package. Star Wars Galaxies will only be part of the package until October 15th, in preparation for the game shutting down.
Back in January I asked a pretty simple question: Since Sony has had so much success with the Station Pass, an offer where players can pay the fee of two MMOs to gain access to eight (previously nine) MMOs, why don’t we see more packages where developers or publishers bundle together MMOs to increase subscriber numbers and population?
Put Your Money is my response to people who have been asking me just that: Put my money where my mouth is. If I’m soooo smart, then maybe I should come up with some deals. And deals I have come up with. I give to you, my ideal picks for what individual Turbine, Mythic, Cryptic (above), NCsoft, and Funcom. My goal was to hit a price with reasonable savings, while at the same time reasonable cost, with regards to number of games and their individual subscription price (as not all games have the same price). I did not include any upcoming games.
Whatever you think about Sony, you can’t deny the deal they have going for their titles. For the price of only two MMOs per month, you can access virtually any Sony game you own. Everquest, Everquest 2, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Planetside, Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard, Free Realms, and that console Everquest game. That’s 8 games for the price of two!
Going over Sony’s station pass got me thinking: Why don’t other developers have a similar deal? I would love to see an NCsoft Station Pass, that could bundle Aion, City of X, Lineage, Lineage 2 in one package. Or possibly a Turbine deal, a package of Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, and Asheron’s Call. How about a Funcom pack, with Age of Conan and Anarchy Online in one deal?
Now, some will say that developers will be losing money on this, but I wholeheartedly disagree. In fact, Sony’s Station Pass has shown to be a way to coerce people into spending more than they normally would on subscriptions. To believe that even a fraction of the players who have the Station Pass would spend the over hundred dollars a month on each game’s subscription separately is absurd to say the least. Having such a pass could also breath life into the older titles on the list.
Jagex has an offering similar to this. Although not an MMO, players can subscribe to Runescape and FunOrb for a discount. When Stellar Dawn is launched, it is expected that players will be able to opt for an additional discount.
This may all be wishful thinking, but I would certainly pay for a Turbine Station pass.
MMO Fallout 