Paid subscription coming to PlayStation Network [Update]

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7:00 AM on 11.19.2009, Jim Sterling

95 comments

Paid subscription coming to PlayStation Network [Update] photo

#PS3 #PSN #Sony

According to Sony, the PS3 will soon generate review from "paid subscriptions" on the PlayStation Network. This news comes courtesy of a recent Media/Investor conference, where a subscription service was revealed during a slide presentation.

The slide outlines the five key advantages of the PlayStation 3 and mentions that the PSN is due to gain a "new revenue stream from subscription."

Whether this means MMO-style content is coming to the PlayStation Network, or whether it means the PSN itself will soon offer its own "gold" style service, remains unclear. We do know that Sony is working on The Agency for PC and PS3, but that would be revenue gained by Sony as a publisher, and not the PSN itself. It may simply be saying, "Hey publishers, you can make money by putting an MMO on the PS3," but that would hardly be a "new" revenue stream.

It may very well be benign, but who knows? The wording does not make this a clear-cut case. Either way, we know that more paid content is on the way, so you better just not put your wallet back in your pocket. Ever.

[Update: Online play is confirmed as remaining free. Subscription model for premium content planned. More through here.]

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next 50 comments

94 comments | showing # 1 to 50

reindall

I'm quite sure it won't be something as idiotic as charging money for the ability to play online.

helmehytte

think this will just anger current PSN users, know I will. Since the "free" system we have today still haven't had a chance against Xbox Live this will probably wont better the odds.

Jon B

One word. Abbreviation if you're picky.

Lol.

wanderingpixel

As someone who subscribes to online I seriously hope that is not the case. XBL is the best online console service, but paying for it sucks.

TopKatt

I wonder if there would be any legal implications if Sony decided to charge for using the PSN? The argument could be made that the PS3 is sold as having free online multiplayer and that may well have been a deciding factor in some peoples decision to purchase the Sony console.

Discarded Couch Sandwich

Maybe it's the rumored subscription for MAG, out early next year. If so I'll be quietly missing that game.

If not, I may be be not-so-quietly missing a lot more content. Hope it doesn't come to that.

killatia

Seriously why get rid of one of the advantage you have over your competition? that's stupid.

Black Nexus

New revenue stream from subscription?sounds like a new service.

Regardless I hope there not stupid enough to charge for psn, it being free is the reason it got half the support it has.

Xzyliac

I'll say it again: Don't see the big deal with paying for online gaming services.

*shield*

Victor Stillwater

This scares me. I bought the PS3 because it had free online goodness. I hope they don't take that selling point away.

zoemgs2

Sony, you just can't seem to get your shit strait. I already pay for live, I guess I will just have to stop using ps3 if this happens.

dfielder

There is no big deal, you're getting ripped off if you're PAYING a yearly fee to play games online. It's amazing that microsoft is able to convince all its XBL members to pay 50 dollars a year for online. With that said I will definitely not be paying any fee for online games on my PS3. *hugs PC* good ol steam.....

Defaultsound

Nawoooo D: I won't pay! never

threat->I'll go back to PC gaming D:

Stupid Dufus

TopKatt:
I don't think there'd be legal standing. Look at old SDTVs. Many were probably sold and advertised as being able to pick up over-the-air signals, but that recently changed here in the U.S. by the introduction of digital broadcasts, which necessitated purchase of something else. PS3 sounds similar to me, if indeed Sony decides to charge a fee of some sort for PSN.

DV2FOX

I wont pay to play online on PSN..Never,this is becomin 360...and we DO NOT WANT

BattyAdroit

Why don't we find out what it is exactly, first?

hermes

Paying for online would suck, big time... But that line alone means nothing. It could be a new optional subscription based service, like we already have Qore.

DEG

Qore?

Yehat

@Xzyliac

It's not a big 'breaking the bank' deal but it's a charge for a service that has been a free standard of gaming since the 90s. But that is the way I, PC gamer, sees it mind you.

For consoles online gaming isn't that new but unified services are something that just came in last gen (Seganet was the earliest I can think of). So the console's online system is starting to reach where PCs were in the late 90s when they shed things like Pay2Play TenNet & Dwango for the free and infinitely more competent Battlenet, WON, Quakenet and such.

This is because online gaming has become much more important to consoles this generation (as it became for PC gamers in the mid/late 90s) rather than a novelty. So the feeling is if it's so important it should be 'included with the package' rather than a surcharge or a subscription.

Of course the key difference between the two is one is an open system which is ripe for competition and one is a closed system where your only option is "what the company says is your option".

Backspace529

I do not understand the big deal here. You know it costs money for Sony and MS to provide you with the online services, right? They aren't a fucking charity! I still don't understand why every video game player thinks they are entitled to whatever they want. If you cant pay $7 a month for XBL or $50 for a whole fucking year, you need to find a new hobby... or a fucking job.

Jesus, whiny little kids. Ugh.

Xzyliac

@Yehat
Right and that's how I feel about it. PC online is a free thing because it's PC. That's a whole different world and ballpark. We're talking consoles and I think consoles are different. You're on MSoft/Sony/Nintendo's clock using their resources. It's not like the free-for-all on PCs.

I also completely agree with BattyAdroit. People need to chill out. I honestly believe this is where you can justify calling gamers spoiled.

artha14

Gaming online shouldnbe free. Not a special thing.

Joe Mcguffog

My point exactly, I'm willing to bet Sony and Microsoft lose out money on their services, It looks to me that Sony have finally dried up their PS2 cash cow and actually need to start acting like a business instead of just throwing money at everything and hope it will win

Jon B

@Backspace
As a PC gamer, I pay nothing in the way me subscription fees, and a lot me people are used to that, and people don't see why consoles should be different, reasoning aside. It's still costing people at the end of the day. Hell, that 40 quid could easily be spent on a new game instead.

That said, I barely notice I'm paying for LIVE and I hardly use it.

Ikey Heyman

great, I don't want this to be 360 lite. I want a PS3 because its online service is free. dammit.

shawn is boring

They brag all the time about PSN being free so I doubt they'll start charging for PSN. I'd bet money this is just some vague mention of some subscription MMO or a new video series like Qore or whatever the hell it's called.

Sexualchocolate

"I'm quite sure it won't be something as idiotic as charging money for the ability to play online."

This.

Also, I, and many others bought the PS3 on the basis that our purchase price (high as it was) included online play capabilities. It would be a sales-of-goods act issue to remove a feature that I paid for at my time of purchase. My solicitor would be writing to them if they wanted me to pay again for something I've already bought. (Luckily i have a solicitor friend, even if he does play Xbox - yuk)

It's like saying, as of today you need to pay a little extra to watch Blu-rays. Or saying "thanks for buying this car, however the seats or radio are no longer free and require a subscription"

Saying that i can see this being an MMO/MAG subscription service, and if it's run by Sony as a "pay �30 a year for all the MAG and MMO you can get your thumbs through" deal, I'll pay. No problem.

What I wouldn't pay is Microshafts idea of pay your LIVE subscription to get access to major part of most games released these days, then pay even more for each MMO on top of that.

No Microshaft, bad global corporation, bad!

Jon B

*of.
Phone T9 dictionaries are fickle beings.

Backspace529

@Jon B
I'm a PC gamer too. I don't discriminate :)

But PC is a different platform. You cant expect it to be the same. PC isn't just one consolidated network, like XBL or the Sony network. Its spread out all over the world, and you cant expect every server you play on PC to charge you. Thats just silly. So for PC its free. For consoles its not.

Online gaming on a console is an EXTRA feature. Remember your PS3 and Xbox still work when they aren't connected to the internet. You can still play the games you buy without the internet.

Wedge

I doubt Sony has plans to roll out a XBL pay to play style online service after all this time when they just use Gamespy for the backend matchmaking like Nintendo does. Now as for MMO's and "content" subscriptions that's pretty likely.

Jon B

@Sexualchocolate
I can pretty much assume that you won't be charged to say online. Pretty sure the online model is a lot more open and requires a lot less traffic through Sony. Could be wrong though.
And considering up until recently I was paying over �100 a year for one certain game, �40 for the likes of MAG sounds pretty good. Hell, Activision want to add subs into CoD, although I'm pretty sure there's a difference between 256 players and 18, heh.

Sexualchocolate

@ backspace, socom would like a word with you about the whole "you can still play offline comment"

The free online has spawned a number of online only games, something 360 has to avoid incase you don.t pay for live.

CALkulon

It'll be MMO/MAG subscription. Which I'm fine with, so long as they don't expect people to suddenly start paying full price for a game and then more for the online content i.e. I'd happily pay a discount price for MAG and then a monthly sub but not �40/�50 for the game and then �10 a month immediately. Even offering 1/2/3 months free first would get around that.

whormongr

I was wondering when this would happen, with the agency, DC heroes, MAG and a few others I was wondering if there was going to be some sort of charge and no one has said anything one way or the other on it- so long as that is the only thing that they are charging for that is fine, I wouldn't be very happy if they charge for the netflix and other online capability- I would just go back to playon and stream over the local network

Sexualchocolate

@jon b indeed mate. I think hell would freeze over before sony charged you play online in general and compared to the cost of wow it will still be good mmo value.

It would certainly be cuntish to charge for online when all that is actually used is matchmaking for p2p systems.

Ehem, ehem. Ms ehem.

Onlineatron

I figure it will be like an 'IGN Insider' thing.

Extra content, videos, betas etc.

As long as the don't start with 'you can get this demo first' crap I'll be ok with it.

sqlrob

dfielder: "It's amazing that microsoft is able to convince all its XBL members to pay 50 dollars a year for online"

All XBL members? That's funny, I don't pay $50 a year. I don't pay anything. I don't use online, so I don't pay.

Xzyliac

@Jon B
See and that's what I don't get. Okay it cost almost the same as a new game for a year of XBL. That's not bad at all. It's essentially buying a new game or in pessimistic terms sacrificing a new game. Is that the end of the fucking world?

Brlito

CHEAP/ENTITLED/YOUNG/UNEMPLOYED NERDS: It says nothing on there about paying to play online.

Notice how it says "game" on there without a plural "S"?

I might mean they'll give you a PSN game or something for your subscription, which could be some sort of "read X comics a month" or (like that disaster Qore) it could just be something entirely different.

Sexualchocolate

@Calkulon

"suddenly start paying full price for a game and then more for the online content"

Again i'll bring up Socom, online only, no subscription fee, half the price of a "normal" game. (�20 at launch, on offer on PS Store currently, think it's about �15!)

As a 99% online player I'm more than happy to get half price games without 5 hour campaigns that I don't care to play. - That was a dig at MW2, but the campaign was fantastic, so i retract said dig.

Backspace529

@Sexualchocolate

If you're playing SOCOM... you should get a new hobby anyways. lol.

reindall

@sqlrob - so you're not an XBL member... which means everything in that sentence is correct :-p (well, almost, as there are deals that allow paying less than $50)

reindall

Actually I'm also wrong, as it only means you aren't an XBL Gold member, you still can be an XBL Silver member.

Chronic Logic

Good ol' $ony. Creating new and exciting ways to make money.

REMEMBER FOLKS! A "$" sign is a badge of honor that is only awarded to those who go beyond the call of duty to make money. Few have received such an award. So the next time you see the "$" embedded on someone's name, it shows how much that person cares to his dedication to making money.

Which reminds me, how much money has Micro$oft made from Xbox Live subscriptions each year?

Black Nexus

@Xzylisc
Think about what your saying, sacrifice a game for what? To us a feature on a game (you already paid for) on an internet connection you own( and again pay for) there's no logic behind that.

Sexualchocolate

@Backspace - oooooh, harsh. Socom rocks the shit my friend. for those of us that enjoy a more realistic, competitive online shooter experience. Rather than a frag happy respawn fest. (read: not the XBL crowd)

Although to be honest my interest in Socom has dropped recently, to the point where I removed the 5Gb install to free up space.

But put out another online only Socom for �20 and I will buy it, no questions asked.

Backspace529

@Black Nexus

You forget the whole, "you are using their servers, and it costs money to maintain those servers, and that's why they charge" thing. What you're saying is the equivalent of someone stealing YOUR wireless bandwidth, and then the thief's saying that they are entitled to YOUR internet.

ScottyG

Definitely not surprised at this. The popularity of XBL despite being a paid service was bound to catch on eventually. Let's just hope Sony is smart enough to not start charging for anything that's currently free.

Sexualchocolate

@Black Nexus - Don't bother my friend, Gold XBL fanboys are impossible to persuade that they deserve another game rather than the online features included in the games they've already paid for.

They WANT to pay for laggy L4D2, they WANT it so bad.

Carlton Banks

The poor tards that pay for XBL PRAY it's a pay for online play model, but sadly, it isn't. That Q2 non gaming SDK looks nice though :)

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