So posting this as a fyi for people. Not sure how many people have seen it. Basically auto-updates and social features are not behind the paywall anymore (which I actually didn't expect cause I thought Sony wanted more people to pay). I may actually buy a console this generation.

"If you choose not to subscribe we are still gating relatively little in many senses, so access to online catch-up TV and online movie services sit outside of the gate, for example. The social features of PS4 and PS4 games sit out of the subscription service... things like auto-updates on PS4 sit outside of PlayStation Plus, so we're trying to be as balanced and as fair as we possibly can. If you choose to pay the subscription, yes, you get one important element of modern-day gameplay, but you also get fantastic value in games, including the PlayStation Plus Edition of DriveClub."

Full article: http://www.videogamer.com/news/sony_details_ps4_playstation_plus_changes.html

As an almost 2 year subscriber to PS+, my PS3/Vita library is several times in magnitude larger than what would be if I wasn't thanks to the free games every month. If Sony keeps that up on the PS4 and also beefs up on the online multiplayer on the back end like they have said they will as part of this change, I see absolutely no problem continuing to pay $50/$60 a year for the service.

well that's a little better than current. Right now on PS3 auto-updates and cloud saves are part of PS+. They are saying auto-updates at least for the PS4 won't be behind the PS+ subscription.

I just bought into PS+ last week. It's pretty great. XCom and Uncharted 3 along with some smaller PSN games to check out. The downloads took forever but hey, that's fine for a cost of free.

I actually look forward to PS+ on ps4, the amount of free and discounted content that will come out will be awesome. I'll be more than happy to broaden my horizon's on video games due to this service.

Social features weren't behind a paywall before that I know of.

They still aren't.

I'm aware, original post said "...social features are not behind a paywall anymore..."

Sony would be wise to make sure people get all the updates in a timely and seamless manner. Keeping every system up to date also helps make sure piracy stays low.

Auto-updating is always something that should have never been placed behind a paywall, so I'm fine with them removing it from Plus. As it is, it has more than enough to justify the continued $50 a year.