Sony to charge for the PSN?

[Powershifter]

In a recent IGN article, Peter Dille talks about the possibility of charging for the PSN. He says:

"It's been our philosophy not to charge for it 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."

I've read rumors that playing online will still be free, but there will be an option to upgrade to a premium service, which won't be free. Again, that's just a rumor. All we really know is what Dille said in the above interview.

What do you think?

[TheJollyRajah]

I'm all for it if there's voice messages and cross-game chat.

[Mod5.0]

I won't be seeing you online if they start charging.

[Syroc]

As far as I understand they are considering to charge for additional services, ie. cross-game chat etc.. The current basic stuff will remain free.

[Leather-Monkey]

What!?! They should be paying us! We're the ones making awesome LBP levels!

[Whalio Cappuccino]

Seems like a great idea. If it'll help make the service better then I'm all for it. I think Xbox 360 has a much better online experience but it's only because they pay for it. So yeah, it would help the PS3 services too.

[Chump]

Based on a response to a subscriber, Playstation The Official Magazine, told the guy that these were just rumors.... umm. Who should we listen to?

And if it do happen, what about two types of online gaming services, the one where we pay(better and all the Microsoft fuss...) and the one where players don't have to pay like right now(acceptable connections and we aren't dead from an Okay internet aren't we?)

[Powershifter]

Based on a response to a subscriber, Playstation The Official Magazine, told the guy that these were just rumors.... umm. Who should we listen to?

Well, considering Peter Dille is Sony's marketing and PSN chief, I'd say he's our best source

[Outlaw-Jack•]

I say we listen to the banana:


Ladies and gentlemen... the banana has spoken.

Ok ok, in all honesty if they wanna make a premium membership work they should've advertised it at E3 or somethin' since I don't think that most people will take "paying for online" to heart. But still, would be interesting. Oh, and I've heard that it may be actually happening, thanks to 3 resources (Game Informer, GamePro and UGO... methinks).

[Chump]

Well, considering Peter Dille is Sony's marketing and PSN chief, I'd say he's our best source

You got a point... ok now I guess we just have to wait or is there an official petition against the paying PSN?

[Outlaw-Jack•]

^^^ No, there'll be an official "chain-mail" trend going on.

[Ragfell]

I know sony's continually losing money on the ps3, however, their original intention was for free online, and we get a decent service for most games. now, IW isn't doing a good job, but...that's besides the point. its better now, though.

I don't think they will...cuz next will be a ripoff of avatar, which are rip-offs of miis.

[toon_army_azza]

should keep a free service, and offer a premimum service with more features

[rseah]

NOOOOOO!!!!!

yeah i think if they kept if free but made it so you had to pay for additional features that would be fine

[robotiod]

I think a subscription service is stupid. Look if i was at sony i would be saying this.

Chief executive of playstations office*
Me in black
Executive person guy in blue

"Make them pay, make them pay, they will all pay for what they have done HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!"
"Erm what are you talking about sir"
*Cough* eerrr yeah i was playing God of war
"Oh well did you know sir that the playstation store has sold more stuff than XBOX live every week for like ever, thats because...."
Ha Ha Ha NOOOB !!!!!"
"What you talking about"
"I just ripped of medusa's head, Oh OH OH man thats disgusting
"Well anyways if we improve our online to the ability of xbox live and offer it for free more software will sell so i think"
"OH S*** WTF that crazyness I just got blew up by a giant talking tarantula named steven Oh my god
"Hmmm no wonder nothing ever gets done at sony"

[Powershifter]

"Well anyways if we improve our online to the ability of xbox live and offer it for free more software will sell so i think"

I think Dille's main point was that he thinks the PSN is already on par with XBox Live - he said that people maybe not realize that because they're used to a certain format with Live since it's been out a lot longer. I don't know if I agree or disagree since I've never had Xbox Live.. but here's the conversation anyway:

IGN: So let's talk about PSN. From my point of view, you have a lot of catching up to do compared to Xbox Live, especially with regard to community features. Will you address some of these shortcomings, and might there ever be a point where you'll charge for the service, as Microsoft does?

Peter Dille: If I may, I'm going to answer a question with a question. We have made tremendous improvements and enhancements to the service, from my perspective. We feel like we have closed the gap. So what are some of the social aspects that you like that you're not getting on PSN?

IGN: Well, everything's more hidden, for starters. If I tune into Xbox Live, I've got my friends list right there and the community is popping up all around me as I'm doing things. It seems that I actually have to go out and seek that functionality on the XMB. It's just not as well integrated.

Peter Dille: Okay, but it's not that we don't have it -- you just like the UI of the other service better?

IGN: Well, it's just there -- I don't have to look for it.

Peter Dille: Sure, sure. So I think different people are used to different things. The fact of the matter is, their service was out first and people grew accustomed to the way they were doing it. So when I hear people say that we don't have what we have, I sometimes just want to check expectations because I think a lot of what you're talking about is on our service but we're doing it a different way. We're talking to our consumer all the time about what they want from our service and how we can do things better.

I think we've been incredibly responsive to that and, again, let's go back in the way-back machine to what the PlayStation Network looked like when we launched and what it looks like today -- you wouldn't recognize it. We've made amazing enhancements and improvements to the PlayStation Network both from a functionality perspective, from a UI perspective, revamping the PlayStation Store, adding features like Facebook and Netflix. Home has made incredible changes over that time frame. Up and down the list there's been, from my perspective, tremendous improvements. We're not done yet and frankly we'll never be done. We're going to continue to iterate on the service. Try to address consumers' wants and needs. And try to also surprise and delight consumers with things they didn't think they needed because that's always been what makes PlayStation a little bit different -- that we try to be a little bit visionary.

That's where something like Home comes in. Community has existed in gaming platforms, but it's been largely text-based and two-dimensional. Home is a three-dimensional community and environment that isn't possible on the other platforms and wasn't imagined by anyone other than the folks at Sony. It's grown up in the last couple years, but quite frankly it's still in beta. And we'll take that beta moniker off of it when we think all the functionality that we imagined when we launched the service is there and to the point where we want it to be. But it's still very much something that's evolving as we go.

Maybe a longer answer to a shorter question, but I think there is just tremendous improvements to the PlayStation Network, which leads me to your last question: will we charge for it or why don't we charge for it? It's been our philosophy not to charge for it 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.

[RockSauron]

Every time I hear this rumor, I keep hearing that the current PSN model would stay free, a better PSN more on par with Xbox Live would be payed for.

If Sony decided to make you have to pay for the current PSN model... well, I'm assuming they have more sense then that.

If Sony does what they say would happen, and make a subscription with better features but keep everything that is free free- that would be cool. Plus, since if the P2P is the same level as Xbox live, then the free service would be MILES better then the Xbox Silver thingie. Thus, that'd kinda take care of what seems to be the only thing that Xbox has to PS3 nowdays :/.

[Doopz]

What? noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i dropped my potato.
I hope it's just extra stuff you pay for cause paying to play online is a bad idea...

[mistervista]

Well if they ever start charging for it that's me done with online for good. I'll go back to playing offline single player games like I always have in the past.

I'll be doing that soon anyway when FF13 comes out.

[FreeFlyzz]

It's an optional PSN Premium Subscription people. Sony wouldn't charge PSN, that would be a bad marketing move. They will lose their fans.