Starhawk has been out for a while, but it's only now coming to PSN. Okay, look, I don't think anyone gives a shit about Starhawk anymore. Sorry Starhawk. What's interesting about this is that Sony is showcasing a lot of versatility in its pricing, the type that you'd hope the rest of the industry picks up on.
You have three options going in. If you want the full game, that's $39.99. Nothing special about that. But then you have a split between the single player and the multiplayer. The SP is free for anyone that is a member of Playstation Plus. If you're not a member of Playstation Plus, you can buy just the multiplayer portion of the game for $20 – and that's likely what most people will be interested in, right?
I think other games would do well to adopt a similar pricing idea: full game, single player, and single player. Especially when it comes to multiplayer-centric games like Battlefield and Call of Duty, which I think plenty of people buy solely for either the single player or multiplayer. Also it would save us from games that add multiplayer just because, but the mode isn't actually good. Why should I pay for that then?
It would probably entice people who wouldn't drop the full amount for a game when they're only interested in a smaller aspect of it, and it would make the games competitive against used game sales. You'd be getting exactly what you want at a better price: why buy used? You wouldn't need a special program like Playstation Plus to make this work, though its unlikely that it or Xbox Live will be disappearing anytime soon.
If you actually DO give a shit about Starhawk: whoops, I'm sorry…here, read about the new modes and patches.
