Last week, SOE announced a change to PlanetSide 2 Premium subscriptions, revealing that by Feburary, the 500SC per month bonus given to members would be scrapped in favour of a new system, where every member would be given the opportunity to select an item worth up to 2000SC. Reactions were mixed, so CEO John Smedley took to Reddit to clarify a few things, particularly why SOE decided to go down this route.

“The goals of our plan are very simple,” Said Smedley. “Let players buy anything they want up to 2000 SC. It’s fair to say that there aren’t a lot of high priced items in the Planetside 2 shop, but that’s kind of a good thing too. It’s just when you look at it from the perspective of someone who’s plan is changing they are right to ask ‘why is this good for me?’.”

One of the concerns raised in the forums when this was first announced was the impact this would have on Player Studio items, and Smedley admits that SOE didn’t think that through and is reevaluating that aspect.

“Why did we make this change?” Smedley continued. “There were a few reasons really. First and foremost we wanted to let players get some of the larger items on the marketplace. People complain the other way on this all the time – they complain that the 500SC isn’t enough for them to buy enough stuff. So we thought this would be a positive change.

Another reason for this new system being implemented was the issue of Station Cash just accruing in people’s wallets, not being spent. “There are a lot of people who play and have SC in their wallets and don’t spend it ever.. this accrues over time and it’s a problem. Before the jaded among you cry out that this is really the most important reason – please don’t judge just yet. It’s actually not but I don’t want to hide the fact that it’s a part of it.”

SOE also wants to end the disparity between its console titles, where Station Cash cannot be used, and its PC titles, where it can be. “We can’t do the same kind of promotions as easily on the PS3 and PS4. We’re a lot more limited because we can’t use Station Cash on there. So when we have a 3x sale on SC we have to do something different for our console titles. It’s a pain in the neck to deal with this.”

Then Smedley dropped the bombshell that there would soon be a $14.99 subscription that would cover all SOE titles, from Everquest Next to PlanetSide 2. “That’s a benefit most companies simply can’t offer because they don’t have our portfolio of games. The goal would be to let you pick an item in each game you play.”

What do you lovely people think of SOE shaking things up?