Jun

6

The Qore Audience

Filed Under Video Games 

Yesterday saw the launch of a new online “interactive video magazine” for PS3 owners called Qore. It’s been met with polarizing yays and nays on the web, and most people are citing the same reasons for their stance on either side. At the heart of the controversy is the pricing scheme: $2.99 per episode and $24.99 for an annual subscription (13 episodes).

But is there really any reason to complain at all considering what the service both is and isn’t?

PROS:

  • Exclusive HD video content showcasing upcoming games for the PS3
  • Exclusive access to demos, download content, and betas
  • A pretty girl hosting the show

Now, the CONS:

  • Exclusive HD video content showcasing upcoming games for the PS3
  • Exclusive access to demos, download content, and betas

The issue at hand is that people are under the impression that, because of this new bit of monthly content, they won’t be getting any demos for the high profile games coming out or other DLC that would normally come to the standard PlayStation Store. Others are also commenting that it’s the start of a slippery slope that will see Sony renege on its promise to deliver free access to their premium online features, a selling point counter to Microsoft’s gold tiered subscription service for Xbox Live.

Those that were anxious to get their hands on Qore cited access to things like closed betas and to it being a replacement for the old Official Playstation Magazine which had long ago stopped including demo discs. The old magazines cost about twice as much as Qore when they were out, and they didn’t ship with HD footage for pages.

A big thing that people are forgetting is that Qore is managed by Future Inc., not Sony. Sony is gleefully saying “Sure! If you’ve got awesome content to post on our store and we can get a cut of it, we’re all for it.” Sony themselves, at least so it appears, won’t be denying access to certain demos in favor of putting them into Qore instead as Sony isn’t deciding and managing what goes into the monthly episodes. What could theoretically happen, though, is that future Inc. could secure exclusive demos that would then not get supplied directly to Sony to be put into the store. Think along the lines of Konami’s Metal Gear Online experiment- it was a private beta that could not be accessed by the usual PSN Store means (as such it was fraught with issues) and was handled by Konami itself.

As for Qore being Sony’s way of making people pay for the previously free experience, Qore, so far, hasn’t held anything back from seasoned users that they would not normally get. Not counting Qore itself, yesterday’s PSN Store update included two downloadable games, a new theme (it’s a retro TV theme and it’s awesome), a number of game and movie trailers (including the high profile Resident Evil 5), 2 Rock Band bundles and numerous demos. It’s inarguably the store’s biggest update of the last few weeks, and factoring Qore into the equation means it’s one of the bigger updates the store has ever had period.

With Qore content is going to have to be strong to get people to plunk money down on it. Looking at the PSN Store description this morning for the download, it was was, well, lacking heavily in the description department. Sony/Future Inc. are really going to have to tell us what’s inside each episode (like a magazine’s cover) and also allow us to leaf through it a bit, so to speak (a 2 minute video trailer for the ep showcasing what the 1-2 hour video/interactive content has will go a long way). As it stands it’s just a generic description of what Qore is, not what it has.

And bundling Calling All Cars for free is not the greatest incentive to put down for the annual subscription.

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