Qore: Will People Pay for PS Podcasts?

On Thursday, Sony released the first instalment of Qore magazine on the Playstation Store. They described it as a “highly interactive, monthly original program that covers the world inside PlayStation.” However, people wanting to watch these video podcasts had better fork over some more dough to Sony. The download fee is $2.99 per episode or $24.99 for a one year (13 episodes) subscription. Qore is supposedly interactive, allowing users to change the viewing camera angle or to have picture-in-picture. Sony has also said it will feature interactive ads. Supposedly the program will offer Playstation news and behind the scenes looks at future titles.

Perhaps if Qore had been released 10-15 years ago, people might have paid for it. The internet didn’t really reach mass appeal until at least 1998. Before then, gamers relied on magazines for their gaming news. Today most people have become used to accessing the same content for free that Qore is now asking a monthly fee for. I can hop onto IGN, or PSU, or Gametrailers, or even the developers own website to access this content. Some of the other blog comments I’ve seen on the program are already equating with paying Sony to advertise their games. Personally, I think Sony should have gone the free, ad backed route with this like every other gaming website out there. For $2.99 an episode, the program still isn’t ad free as Sony has indicated it will contain “interactive advertisements”. I think with all likelyhood, Qore won’t survive past one year.