The rumors are running rampant – PSN no longer free. Or premium offerings for a special fee. And so on and so forth. This bit from PSXExtreme:
We see the same question at least a few times per month from readers: “will Sony start charging for the Network?” We always have the same answer: “no, but they may charge for some sort of premium service that is optional.” This seemed almost inevitable from the very first moment we learned the PSN was to be free; once they were in a good position (which is now), Sony would likely provide users with an optional primo service that delivers extra content for a small fee. And now, according to this slide from Sony’s Media/Investor Conference, it seems clear the time has come: right at the bottom of the PSN features on that slide, it says “New revenue stream from subscription.” Now, this could mean any number of things, but we certainly don’t believe you’ll suddenly have to pay to play online. That will always remain free if we take Sony’s words at face value; this new addition will be something special for members and if they want to pay for it, that’s their choice.
I may pay a premium for extra content, but the price has to be right, and certainly there has to be value for my hard earned dollar. I did pony up for a Qore subscription, but have since let it expire because it frankly was just not worth the money. If there would have been a free downloadable PSN game each month, along with Remote Play (or downloadable play) on the PSP, then I would have said it was a good deal.
It will be interesting to see what Sony plans to offer for this new subscription revenue stream.
PSN is barely tolerable at the free price. For EA games, it was easier to find specific people to play on the PS2 than it is on the PS3.
With a charge would be absurd. Download speeds for demos and updates are ridiculous and the Friends list is pretty useless.
I don’t disagree – the download speeds suck. In general I do not do monthly fees for video game related stuff, be it magazines, WoW, or something like Qore. When I subscribed to Qore, that was an exception – I thought maybe it would be much better than it turned out.
If Sony is going to go with some sort of premium service, it better include some sort of access to games, even if they expire each month, more content, etc. Otherwise it is really a non starter for me.