Well at least Sony gets it. That's one thing that annoyed the piss out of me with live. They were always like no you'd have to have gold. In fact did a single F2P game ever come out on the 360? I know some where going to but never seemed to materialize.
While direct competition in real time wont be possible [without PS Plus] for instance in the case of DriveClub, asynchronous online gameplay and receiving data from other players will still be free of charge.
So, the pawn system in Dragon's Dogma or the "online components" of Dark/Demon Souls (I've never played them so I might be using the wrong analogy/terms here) are available to use without the PS+ paywall?
It really sounds like the 50$/year is to keep the servers up, for using the sharing button and keeping all of the online components going....not gouging customers.
I'm seriously impressed with Sony's PR and Marketing. Completely transparent have have answers to questions.
This is clear as mud and makes no sense. So if I PAY $60 for a game, I can't play it online without also paying for PS+. But if it's a free game that I pay nothing for, I can play it online for free.
Stupid.
I just want to play Destiny online. Throwing in a gimped version of a racing game I don't care about doesn't sweeten the deal.