PLANTS VS ZOMBIES - FORCED SUBSCRIPTION?

[Snowkings720]

PLANTS v ZOMBIES PROBLEM

I purchased Plants v Zombies Garden Warfare for PS4 and have played with my kids just fine for a couple of months. When trying to play now I am told I need to purchase Playstation Plus for a monthly fee before I can continue to play any more? Am i missing something here - that just let's us play the game offline as before or am I being forced into purchasing a monthly subscription which I don't want (and which I was not informed of when buying the game on disc). Appreciate any help here. Transcript of my chat with the support team below which seems to suggest that the game is designed to force you into paying which makes me pretty angry.

Email for any EA response which would be appreciated on: [edit: email address removed]

Charlie

ShubhamThanks for contacting EA Customer Experience, my name is Shubham. How may I assist you today?

youHi. I am playing plants v zombies garden warfare or rather trying to....

you...having played for several weeks just fine we are now being asked to login to playstation plus

ShubhamHello.

youwe can't get past this - and don't want to play online - just as before offline with the kids - what can we do?

ShubhamI apologize for the inconvenience you are facing with your issue, before I start assisting you, may I have your name please?

youcharlie

ShubhamNice to meet you Charlie.

ShubhamSo charlie when ever you are trying to launch the game it is asking for psn plus login even you want to play offline.

youyes. that is right.

youhave rebooted ps4, tried different user, taken disc out and reloaded etc

ShubhamAlright see Charlie what happen is that even if you are trying to play offline but some content in the game required the access of internet even if you don't want to play online still you have to just login in playstation plus.

youyes but for last 2 months I have not had to do that - so what is different now? also it requires us to pay extra which we don't want to do having paid for game already

ShubhamIt is not any kind of technical issue but it how developer of console and game have been designed this way.

ShubhamI truly understand that but as you know that if you are trying to access any content it was asking you to pay.

ShubhamMay I know in which content or in situation you were asked to pay?

youI don't want to access any other content. i just want to play the game.

youI can't even start the game

ShubhamI would suggest you to please purchase the playstation plus suscription and you will e able to play easily you have to just login in that and everything will be fine.

youSo you are saying that the only way to play the game I paid for and have played fine for 2 months is to now pay a monthly fee? That seems like I have been sold something unfairly. how do I get a refund?

ShubhamSee the subscription you are paying is to the play station. And for the refund may I know when you have purchased the game.

youWe bought it in December for Xmas

ShubhamAlright can you please share the order number.

youwhere do I get that from?

ShubhamOh I am sorry I forgot to ask you have purchased the game from PlayStation market right?

youno - a disc

ShubhamIn that case you have to contact from where you have purchased the disc.

ShubhamI apologize to you for the inconvenience.

youI am really angry at this - I am not told that I am going to be forced into paying a monthly fee. This is EA's fault and can you give me the email address for complaints so I can write in....

ShubhamSee you require play station plus as game require to login in the ea server for once even if you are playing offline so that your data can be saved on server so in case of any loss we can help you in retrieving it.

youplease give me the email address

ShubhamI would suggest you to post your issue on forum so that our studio team can look into this issue and I have added this in your case details so you it will be also forwarded to them from my end.

Shubhamhttp://answers.ea.com/t5/Plants-vs-Zombies-2/bd-p/PvZ2

You can follow this link to post this.

youwhat is the name / address of the people I can complain to? I would like to have a person to write to - not just posting on forum

ShubhamAlright.

ShubhamIf you want to forward this and please share it I will forward this issue to my higher support on priority basis so that your issue can be resolve faster.

youhow do I forward this? yes please get me a way of speaking to someone - my email is [edit: email address removed] - how do I get this to someone who can help?

ShubhamSee I have added all the points in your case and now I will forward this to the concerned team.

ShubhamBy the time I would suggest you to also post this ion forum with your email address written on it to fasten the process.

[EA_Darko · Accepted solution]

@rylandg007  As Andy said above, in order to play Garden Warfare a PS+ subscription is required on Playstation 4 because the game is multiplayer only. For multiplayer games on PS4 a PS+ subscription is generally required. 

[EA_Andy]

Hey @Snowkings720

For Garden Warfare a PS+ subscription is required on Playstation 4 because the game is multiplayer only. For multiplayer games on PS4 a PS+ subscription is generally required.

There isn't a way around this - I'm not sure how you would have been playing previously without this, unless it was on PS3 which doesn't require PS+.

- Andy -

[rylandg007]

New to the PS4 world and attemptingn to figure some of this out since my children are feeling constantly frustrated and I dont know how to fix this. My children played Garden Warfare 2 for a few days during the free trial that was offered after we purchased the game. There were multiple players (both kids at my house). We dont want to play online with players outside of our home but we are not able to play it at all unless we purchase the PS+ subscription which I am unwilling to do because of their age. I feel like as a parent, if I want my children to be able to play a game I purchased for them, I have to pay more money and also open up the PS4 to PS+ capabilities which I dont want them to have due to safety issues because of their age. I am not very happy with my purchase. I know a lot of it has to do with being a newbie and no experience yet in the PS world...but it has been quite a rude awakening and introduction.

[EA_Darko · Accepted solution]

@rylandg007  As Andy said above, in order to play Garden Warfare a PS+ subscription is required on Playstation 4 because the game is multiplayer only. For multiplayer games on PS4 a PS+ subscription is generally required. 

[Voor1000]

Well, u do not have to pay that expensive plus, a EA pass is all u need, like 30 dollars a year, that u ate facing even if u have EA pass, is a system failure, some kind of reset of data i think, one my ps4 i play everyday, on my kids it says buy plus!

[vi_ler_sidst]

that is very sad.  [or: a case of "extreme greediness from a SW-giant!"]

EA has got billions of money-income - as a SW-giant - that is a fact.  Just look at the company's income from the Fifa-games.

And, then to demand more money, from customers - having bought the "semi-game" is nothing but very bad politic ... not even Microsoft comes close (and MS really really have tried with different flavours of this kind, down the alley of time!).

You are saying this is a multiplayer game ... well ... this is not the exact truth.  It has got the potential - but we just plays it "in single-player mode" (as the tread-initiator does) - so "f..." the multiplayer-s... - it should let us play single-player.

I stand with the exact same problem.  Having bought what I thought was a game!
And, on top of that, we have just bought the PS-Now subscription - and we don't have too many money - and now we are supposed to add another subscription to the Giant EA ...
Well K.M.A.

It really comes down to these 3 simple words, to EA - shame on them!
And, for Sony: Well Sony doesn't differ much! (greediness is also in the genes of Sony ... 1 subscription is not enough!)