The concept of a paid premium subscription service has been around for a while now, and the more reliable rumors have hinted at such a service being optional for PlayStation Network users.
However, there have also been whispers that it might be required – like Xbox Live – despite Sony's insistent claims that it will "never charge to pay online." Well, rather than continue to worry and argue, maybe we should all wait until E3 next month, when VG247 claims we'll finally have the official unveiling of a premium service. At an annual cost of "less than £50," those who wish to spring for the elite membership plan will receive one free PSN game each month along with "a host of new features." In the past, we've heard that early access to hot demos and even preferential treatment when it comes to betas could be included. But perhaps the best news is that VG247's source says there is "nothing in the premium PSN service that will gimp regular PSN users;" i.e, if you don't wish to pay, nothing will really change for you. You'll still be able to log onto the Store, play online, download stuff, etc. Oh, and one last thing- the long-awaited cross-game voice chat is coming and it won't be restricted to premium users.
Look, we've all seen the arguments a million times so instead of talking about what you won't do in the Comments below, how's about talking about what you will do? What are you willing to pay for? What would Sony have to provide to make your premium membership worth the cost of, say, $69.99/year?
The one PSN game a month is pretty nice. If all the other stuff is as good or better I'll be signing up.
I would sign up too, but only if those monthly games are good games, not the cheap "minis" games.
I think it's rather clever for Sony to do so. The games were classics, it just cost them to update the coding and upload to PSN. They are just sitting there, mind as well release them for free download and rack up $70 a year. I hope they get the funding to broaden PSN even more.
@Godsman
Don't forget Home. It's free to use but you pay for the stuff. I don't want to admit how much virtual crap I have bought for my avatars in Home, I don't want to know how much my wife has spent on hers.
People rag on Home all the time, but I think it's very smart. Judging by the avatars I see, a lot of people are spending real $$ on numerous virtual items. Let's say that you have a basic template for an item – a black T-Shirt. You charge 0.49-0.99 for every purchase and every time a game launches you copy and past a game logo or character onto the template and hey presto a new shirt! That'll be 0.99 please…it's like money for old rope.
Home is part of PSN, PSN is making money. Sony's investment in PSN is monstrous, I doubt it's as much as was spent developing the PS3 architecture, but it's clearly a big investment. I don't know whether the revenue has covered their start up costs yet, but I'm pretty sure that it operates at a profit now.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 5/17/2010 10:57:15 AM
Higlander
Lol, admit now ………it can't be that bad
Last edited by TEG3SH on 5/17/2010 2:35:14 PM
Also imagine if they added PS2 BC and then started putting games on the PSN to buy. That could be one feature they want/need money to keep it supported.
if they add the BC, its probably on the next tier bundle because for early adopters, we already have that so it wont be able to lure us in. well, maybe unless we have multple ps3s with different models.
@Johnld: It won't be a bonus for early adopters but I bet a majority of PS3 owners don't have BC. I don't know the facts on that but I'd bet most PS3 sales didn't happen until Sony canned all that.
want i want is better download servers because most of the time my connection is good but sometimes psn is downloading as good as it could
like 500KB/s instead of 1MB/s
One PSN game a month? OK, where do I sign? Does that include PS1 classics and PSP Minis?
Seriously, there are several things I would be interested in – such as cloud storage for game saves – and would definitely sign up for.
Once again though I bet we'll see dozens of fearful posts here with a dose or two of scare mongering and posturing. Before we go down that road, please read the article people. Especially this bit,
<<<
But perhaps the best news is that VG247's source says there is "nothing in the premium PSN service that will gimp regular PSN users;" i.e, if you don't wish to pay, nothing will really change for you. You'll still be able to log onto the Store, play online, download stuff, etc.
>>>
Last edited by TheHighlander on 5/17/2010 10:45:58 AM
Yeah, it's quite sad that people don't read the articles and come to a conclusion of never signing on PSN again because they have to "pay". Actually the PSN Premium paid by the other gamers, will ultimately improve with their funding and benefit those guys that won't pay. It's nothing but good news.
Last edited by godsman on 5/17/2010 10:52:01 AM
Indeed, even if it doesn't bring new services to existing PSN users, a premium service will make the PSN more viable for Sony. Giving PSN a nice solid financial foundation helps ensure that the basic services become even more solid than they are now.
I'm most interested in the cloud storage… I lost my data from YLOD a year back. *tear*
Then this whole "complimentary PSN game" thing comes along? Sign me up bro!
i want cloud storage too and maybe a more efficient way to back up files. doing a back up takes up too much time and i'm also running out of space on my external hard drives. i wonder if its possible to back up your data while being able to access videos/music on my external drive so that my ps3 wont be useless while i'm doing a back up.
IF you get a free PSN game out of choice that may be interesting, otherwise no, I shall still be stubborn, games already cost more than they should in the first place, i think its a bit sad that tHE PS3 has lost one of their key features just like PS2 backwards compatibility.
How has it lost a key feature?
""nothing in the premium PSN service that will gimp regular PSN users;" i.e, if you don't wish to pay, nothing will really change for you."
Does this statement not state that nothing for non-paying people is changing?
That in and of itself says that we are not loosing anything but rather we are gaining something OPTIONAL.
my apoligies, missed the part about online still being free.
Very curious to how they are going to make this package appealing for people to actually spend money on.
They are talking about giving a free game to subscribers a month. Even if it is a mini at $4.99 that is $59.88 worth of free games a year. Then on top of that whatever extras they are putting into it seems like a pretty decent incentive at least to me.
I will need to see how this actually pans out but I am down with the idea so far. Looks very promising as of now.
I'd still rather buy my PSN games a la carte.
I can't imagine what they'd have to offer to get me to pay a monthly/yearly fee, but it would have to be phenomenal.
NOTHING they could offer would make me pay $70 a year. Unless they offered a free $60 game of my choice every year.
-Arvis
So if they offer a free game a month and even if that free game is $4.99 which comes to $59.88 a year would not have any sway? So basically for $10 a year you get whatever extras besides a free game a month your way would not be appealing?
Those free $5 games would just clutter up my hard-drive and they wouldn't get played more than a couple days. And considering they're NOT really free because I'm paying $70 a year, then I fail to see the added value.
-Arvis
…plus they would probably be the cruddy games that aren't selling well on their own.
ive been wanting to pay for psn for a while now i need the voice messages and cross game chat with friends playing diefferent games… only to convince them to play with me…. its just needed for online play to flurish…. its fine the way it is now… but i paid 600 + for this mammoth and i want the premium psn!
What will I do? Hmmm…
I'll just wait and see. Sony doesn't comment on rumors, and I don't make judgments or plans based on them.
And what the hell is up with the still-alive rumor of PSN becoming pay-to-use? The guys at Sony themselves said that they will never charge for PSN. You'd think the rumor would die out, but nooooo.
Agreed, but I think the recent removal of the Other OS has got folks a little worried. Sony already went back on their word about continuing to support the other OS feature then a few months later they drop it so people are starting to think the same could happen to the PSN remaing free.
Personally I think its just the 360 fanboys stirring up trouble.
The basic PSN will always be free still.
im game, but i need more specific details, i like the one game a month, depending on which type of games, if it includes all games, im buying, the beta's for games, love it, maybe they should add free dlc for certain games
Really, Sony would be nuts to take away the free aspects of PSN and make it mandatory like LIVE. An optional Premium services seems like a better idea going forward. They've said what's free now will remain free to many times to walk back on that now.
I wouldn't mind. As long as what they offer really is worth the price.
The money would help sony no doubt.
as for the games; they best be good ones.
please, please, if you are going to charge a fee, please upgrade the internet to an actual internet. doesn't the latest cell phones have that? it would be cool if you could stream the latest video on your console. that would prabably get xbox's attention. what say you?
Who is that??!
Yowza!
What?
"please upgrade the internet to an actual internet" ???
I think you're getting the PS3 confused with another video game console that doesn't alllow web browsing.
I stream video to my console all the time.
I agree with improving the web browser. Not only do some sites not display correctly or work properly but it is also repsonsible for 100% of my PS3's freezes.
Fix that and give my PS2 backwards compatibility and Sony has a premium customer right here. Hot pic btw.
I believe Flash 10 is restricted to PCs and will be until Flash 11 is released.
Anyone see the new Kevin Butler commercial with Jack Tretton yet?! It's hilarious!
What Sony has to add what I'm willing to pay for?
PS2 BC.
That's not something that can be a feature of a premium PSN service. PS2 emulation has to be done on the PS3 by the PS3, and it's easy, or they'd have done it already. Short of retrofitting PS2 hardware to your PS3 it ain't gonna happen. Unless of course Sony has solved the problems in emulating the Graphics Synthesizer on the PS2, and has a secret project waiting in the wings.
I meant it to be an extra you can download (as in emulation software) which has a code in it that renders it useless if your subscription runs out.
Oh yikes! Don't give them any ideas faraga.
Thanks for clearing that up Highlander.
if thats the case I guess I would settle for downloading ps2 games from the psn as long as they were at a reasonable price.
Speaking of which, I wonder when we get ps2 and Saturn games on the psn. I thought Ben had an article stating that this might happen?
You couldn't download (and play) PS2 games unless there was a working emulator.
I would love to be able to change my main PSN account with all the trophies I've earned. And the rest sounds interesting.
I dunno. Something sounds fishy about a free game. But if they charge $20 more than XBL, I'm not sure what extras they could throw in that would go above and beyond that service. I mean, when you think about it, XBL charges $50 to do ANYTHING online. If all these aspects of PSN remain free (like if cross game chat does come and is free), I'm not sure they can think of $70 worth of extras to add to a subscription on top of what is free. If they do give more and better features than XBL, the "top notch" service, then I would think about subscribing to it no question. But I have a hard time believing they can add an extra $20 of stuff XBL doesnt have which charges $50.
Dude, the premium – paid for – service will be something new and additional to the existing free PSN services. It's not comparable to XBL.
I doubt the 360 would have a single thing that I would remotly be interested in that the PS3 has exclusively or the PS3 already has in the store. Besides, the PSN is layed out so much better than XBL anyway.
in retrospect i didnt realize it was 70/yr… that i would do
Cloud storage would be brilliant, locked save games are a pain for backups and being able to continue my game on another ps3 and still get trophies would be very welcome.
Im sure sony will offer enough for a fair price and ill probably pay.
The rumor that its going to be revealed at E3 doesnt come as a surprise, id actually assumed that anyway
Cloud storage would be great. But if you were to decide not to pay the premium anymore, would that mean after your premium subscription goes out that all those saves would be gone/erased? That would suck…
Well, I'd bet that they'd allow you a one time option to move your game saves back to your PS3 if your subscription lapses – assuming that cloud storage of game saves came as part of a premium service and not as a free option.