Survey Reveals Sony is Considering Premium PSN Subscriptions

[PS3 News]

Just under a month ago it was reported that Sony was planning a paid PSN subscription service for 2010, and today Kotaku (linked above) has revealed a survey indicating a premium PlayStation Network may indeed be on the way.

To quote: "A survey sent from IPSOS Online Research indicates that Sony is considering premium subscription plans for the PlayStation Network, detailing potential prices and premium services, including full hour game trials, free access to PSOne Classics, and cross-game voice chat.

Reader Brenna sent us PDF files containing the Sony survey, which begins with the following bit of text:

Sony is considering offering a premium PlayStation Network subscription in the future. The subscription offering would provide new premium features you could choose to pay for and are in addition to the features currently available for free such as access to online multiplayer gaming (current features would remain free).

Following the introduction is a series of definitions of terms such as Token Wagering - a set number of tokens given to subscribers per month that can be used to be on games and exchanged for PSN content - and Cloud Storage Space for Games, which would allow players to save their game online rather than on their hard disk, protecting their data.

Other notable services listed as potential premiums include loyalty reward programs, automatic updates, member-exclusive Facebook Connectivity, an online music service and music video service, Hulu TV catch-ups, member-only game content, discounts, demo-sharing (sharing exclusive member-only demos from your full games with friends), and Netflix without a disc.

By far the most attractive premiums are full title trials, which give the user one hour access to full PlayStation 3 games, and free access to PSOne Classics, PSP minis, and premium themes.

The list also indicates that some eagerly awaited features could be subscriber only, such as cross-game voice chat. Having waited so long for the feature, I doubt fans would be particularly happy to have to pay for it.

The chart below details four potential plans, with three costing $69.99 a year or $9.99 a month - more than an Xbox Live Gold subscription, and one running $4.99 a month and $29.99 a year."


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[azam90]

That's a terrible idea Sony.. don't do this !

[Mantagtj]

This is why i had a ps3 instead of 360 do not do it $$ony, what did i say about money grabbing the other day... merry xmas $$ony...

[Caveman007]

It says nothing about online play being charged on this list in fact the article says all current things will remain free. Which I'm sure will be online play. If that is the case then this is awesome not bad If you payed a year fee even of 70 dollars you still save money because that lets you play all the psn games and ps1 games you want. And last time I counted there were more than seven games that cost ten dollars or more so in the end you save.

Theres so much on this list thats worth it. And like the article says its not mandatory you dont have to buy it which most likely means online gameplay will stay free. Also I dont think sony will risk losing there fan base by making you pay which would happen. And with all of the features they listed people will pay, maybe not 70 dollars but if reasonable people will pay. So in the end sony will make enough money from this so they wont even need to charge for online.

[adrianc1982]

Yeah I would pay for something like this, having access to psone games, they have a really good library, didnt catch about the psn games like pixel junk shooter but with the psone classics thats a really good deal considering they are $5 and $10. What I really dont like is the cross-chat having to be a paid feature since this is basic for online play and it really sucks if they charge for this feature in particular.

But yeah this suscription can be great if you can grab for example qore for "free" and the psone classics, Im all in and if the psn games are there too hell, double count me in. Also the 1 hour trials sounds really nice, demos arent really cutting it because some are really really short.

[Bertogil]

I sold my 360 to get a ps3 so i didnt have to pay for online, what is this about!?

[Neo Cyrus]

I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened. Did you guys honestly think Sony could resist?

Boo-urns.

[grudge1981]

Originally Posted by Neo Cyrus I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened. Did you guys honestly think Sony could resist? Boo-urns.

This doesn't sound like a bad idea if you read the article, online gaming is still free, but you get access to the ps1 classics and other downloadables at a monthly fee instead of buying them individually...

[broy4686]

Make cross game chat free, and I have no problem with this.

[Chris9092]

Originally Posted by Bertogil I sold my 360 to get a ps3 so i didnt have to pay for online, what is this about!?

Nothing, online play will still be free, everything you currently have will still be free. This is merely a subscription that would potentially provide you with free games, betas, and all that stuff.

If all that stuff about free games is true I'll probably end up getting this, but I still feel that cross game chat should be free.