Playstation Network Going Paid?

psn subscription fees

One of the major selling points of PS3 is their free online play, something that Xbox Live users must continually pay through subscriptions to be a part of. We’ve heard in recent times that Sony is exploring ways to charge for a premium service which has many fans concerned.

Peter Dille of Sony told IGN that the company is “actively thinking” about charging for it’s PSN service as well as offering fewer titles for download only.

“It’s been our philosophy not to charge for [PSN] from launch up until now, but Kaz recently went on the record as saying that’s something we’re looking at… I can confirm that as well. That’s something that we’re actively thinking about.

“What’s the best way to approach that if we were to do that? You know, no announcements at this point in time, but it’s something we’re thinking about”.

Full disclosure: I am a member of the Xbox Live Nation. However, it is common knowledge that Microsoft provides a superior online experience for its users through XBL and that the only advantage the Playstation Network has had on Xbox has been it’s lack of a monthly fee.

For Sony to justify charging for its service, the company would need to provide improvements and more services to its community. Although Sony has pledged to continue improving its service and “close the gap” between the PSN and XBL. The company has also decided to offer less full games for download only.

“We have an advantage with PlayStation 3 from an optical media perspective because a Blu-ray disc contains 50 gigs… Maybe [digital distribution] will come at some time, but today to download 50 gigs of data before you play a game, you could probably go buy a car, bring it home, put your family into it, drive to the store buy and bring the game home by the time you [could download it].

“We’re also working very hard to make sure we do this thoughtfully so that retail has a part to participate in the ecosystem with us. But, the notion of getting all your games digitally, I just don’t see it happening.”

I understand why Sony going to full digital distribution for all its games is a very lofty and possibly impossible goal for the time-being. But the company has to think of other ways to take the online service to the level it needs to reach prior to any announcement about a fee for its services. In business, it is always easier to lower prices than to raise them. It will be a hard sell to leave the realm of FREE. An increase in price must coincide with an increase worth.

Would you be willing to pay for PSN service? What improvements would you like to see? How much would you be willing to pay? Is this the right move?

Will it be hard to teach old gamers new prices?

Source: VG247

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Tags: PS3, PSN, PSP, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Curtis

If they start charging to play online then Ill sell my PS3 to gamestop as well. I didn't spend $500 for a Phat ps3 to have to pay to play.

I have a Xbox gold sub which I don't mind because Its a great online service. I wont pay Sony for bad online.

Steven Pendlebury

The unfortunate truth is that, although Microsoft charges for their service, we accepted that as a price of entry when then console was launched. Now it is so firmly entrenched in the XBOX-user's mindset as a requirement that people just accept and pay for.
Unfortunately for Sony, their service was free when the iron was hot and the getting was good, so to speak. They missed their window of gamers being eager to jump online via their service. To begin a paid service four years after launch not only smacks of horribly short-sighted management, but also too little, too late.

If Sony does go ahead and charge for a premium over-arching PSN, however, their first priority has to be an all-encompassing communication bridge that sits over the entire network, like XBL. They've been side-stepping that issue since the console's launch, and even though it's real late in coming, now would be the time to deliver it.

PaulSileo

Bleh. I like having the PSN free.

VinTheDean

Relax people. Sony has already said that what is currently free now will remain free (Online, access to Store, Netflix, Home, etc). What this subscription fee might is for stuff like PSN Games, access demos or beta's, or even Movie or TV Show Rental access.

!_!

i thinks thers going to be 2 service,

1. being the free service which us PSN user have
2. a second service where we pay but it has to be worth it,

Matt

Really the only way this could effect me is if it effects the PSP or Playstation Store, and I doubt they'd charge you just to access the library of content you need to browse in order to purchase one of the games. Though if they did then I guess I just wouldn't download games anymore.

Rory Young

Just worried about what features they would have to justify charging people. Cross game chat would be awesome, but not worth paying much monthly.

Jeff Schille

I believe they've gone on-record saying that they would never charge users to play games online. So they are always going to have that over Microsoft. Seems like I also heard some rumors about their subscription service giving you complete access to the PSOne library. Sony is a huge company with a lot of media that could be leveraged in a subscription service. I think, if they really wanted to, they could put together a pretty compelling package.

Rob_Keyes

They've gone on record about not having a points system like Xbox Achievements... then came the Trophy system. Money speaks more truth than temporary words from executives.

Compelling package or not, the issues is whether or not the PS3 online play element will remain free. It needs to in my opinion.