Sony 'looking into' subscription-based PSN services for new revenue stream

Whoa, hey. Slow your roll, sir. We know seeing the terms "PSN" and "subscription" in the same headline might have set off a few red flags for you, but let's look at this logically. Earlier today, Sony released the presentation report from its media and investor conference, one portion of which focused on the future profitability of its gaming platform. One element of the company's strategy is turning a larger profit on PlayStation Network -- and yes, according to the report, Sony's planning to obtain a "new revenue stream from subscription."

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean the currently free online service will start charging its users at some point during this next year. It's far more likely that the line in the report was referring to new subscription-based features, such as the PSP rental service or one of SOE'supcoming MMOs.

We contacted Sony about the reference to PSN subscriptions, and a representative responded, saying, "We have not made any formal announcements on a subscription based service. We're looking into a variety of options." It sounds like the company has yet to set any subscription plans in stone -- or perhaps Sony's just now gauging the community's reaction to the concept of a pay-to-play PSN. If that's the case, the comments on this post could likely provide an adequate barometer for how this news would be received. But that's just our hunch ...

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/19/sony-looking-into-subscription-based-psn-services-for-new-revenue-stream/

Your thoughts?

You're late to the party. :P

Well I hope Lemmings are happy. They have shown the industry how big of tools gamers can be, and how they will bend over backwards for their company no matter what. You can't even blame Sony if they do make a fee. Seeing the millions of dollars MS is sucking up for doing little to nothing is probably tempting.

It's starts out with just premium content. Next thing you know, it'll be like Xbox Live subscription model.

Well I hope Lemmings are happy. They have shown the industry how big of tools gamers can be, and how they will bend over backwards for their company no matter what. You can't even blame Sony if they do make a fee. Seeing the millions of dollars MS is sucking up for doing little to nothing is probably tempting.

BPoole96

I think that most of the PSN community will protest it if Sony goes over to a subscription-based service. They'd really be shooting their own foot and biting the hand that feeds them at the same time. If PSN goes over to a subscription service, the number of PSN users would be reduced drastically, which would in turn mean there would be less incentive for companies to make games online-enabled on the PS3, which would result in a lot of otherwise multiplat games ended up exclusive to the 360 (or possibly multiplat on the 360/PC). Less games means less people buying the system, which means more people buying 360s (or possibly Wiis, I suppose) in the end.jalexbrown

[QUOTE="stereointegrity"]qore.....what else would they charge for? video service for unlimited use? it still has free play and not much else on psn is something u pay for so all i see it being is qore of some sort...MortalDecay

[QUOTE="MortalDecay"][QUOTE="stereointegrity"]qore.....what else would they charge for? video service for unlimited use? it still has free play and not much else on psn is something u pay for so all i see it being is qore of some sort...stereointegrity

Well I hope Lemmings are happy. They have shown the industry how big of tools gamers can be, and how they will bend over backwards for their company no matter what. You can't even blame Sony if they do make a fee. Seeing the millions of dollars MS is sucking up for doing little to nothing is probably tempting.

BPoole96

sucks to be you! :P

I'm skeptical on this but if it's cheap and offers me alot then, it's fine but a big reason for me buying a PS3 was for free online :|

ill just keep the free service. i wont be a fool like the people who pay for live

Well I hope Lemmings are happy. They have shown the industry how big of tools gamers can be, and how they will bend over backwards for their company no matter what. You can't even blame Sony if they do make a fee. Seeing the millions of dollars MS is sucking up for doing little to nothing is probably tempting.

BPoole96

[QUOTE="BPoole96"]

Well I hope Lemmings are happy. They have shown the industry how big of tools gamers can be, and how they will bend over backwards for their company no matter what. You can't even blame Sony if they do make a fee. Seeing the millions of dollars MS is sucking up for doing little to nothing is probably tempting.

LEGEND_C4A

sucks to be you! :P

If you have a 360 than it sucks to have been you for the past 4-5 years

[QUOTE="jalexbrown"]I think that most of the PSN community will protest it if Sony goes over to a subscription-based service. They'd really be shooting their own foot and biting the hand that feeds them at the same time. If PSN goes over to a subscription service, the number of PSN users would be reduced drastically, which would in turn mean there would be less incentive for companies to make games online-enabled on the PS3, which would result in a lot of otherwise multiplat games ended up exclusive to the 360 (or possibly multiplat on the 360/PC). Less games means less people buying the system, which means more people buying 360s (or possibly Wiis, I suppose) in the end.MortalDecay

Well I hope Lemmings are happy. They have shown the industry how big of tools gamers can be, and how they will bend over backwards for their company no matter what. You can't even blame Sony if they do make a fee. Seeing the millions of dollars MS is sucking up for doing little to nothing is probably tempting.

BPoole96

What exactly is their other choice? There really isn't anything they can do if they still want to play online. Boycotts haven't really worked good this gen, the only thing they can do is just refuse to pay, and MS couldn't care less if one person refuses to pay for XBL.:|

That ship has sailed for Sony. You cant make a free product cost money, its a golden rule which if broken will destroy the userbase. Its why MS charged from the getgo they built up the reputation from the outset that Xbox live was worth paying for, and Sony built up their infastrucure that its just as good, but we dont have to charge cause we really care about customers, which is complete BS, but hey its worked for them.

[QUOTE="BPoole96"]

Well I hope Lemmings are happy. They have shown the industry how big of tools gamers can be, and how they will bend over backwards for their company no matter what. You can't even blame Sony if they do make a fee. Seeing the millions of dollars MS is sucking up for doing little to nothing is probably tempting.

StealthMonkey4

What exactly is their other choice? There really isn't anything they can do if they still want to play online. Boycotts haven't really worked good this gen, the only thing they can do is just refuse to pay, and MS couldn't care less if one person refuses to pay for XBL.:|

They continue to support MS for it. Most of them will so "Oh, its only $3-4 a month, not bad". They have other platforms to choose from. PSN and PC both offer a very similar experience as XBL does and they are both free (except a handful of games on PC). Maybe not if one person refused to pay for XBL, but if a spark went off in their head and said "Why exactly am I paying this money? I already pay for my internet connection." Than maybe they would see the light and not let MS own their souls

As long as its free I'll stick to it. Microsoft is ruining the industry with their influence.

ill just keep the free service. i wont be a fool like the people who pay for live

ultraking

As long as its free I'll stick to it. Microsoft is ruining the industry with their influence.

RadecSupreme

Totally, and the company who charges 600bucks for a console is the beacon of hope for customers.....................

That ship has sailed for Sony. You cant make a free product cost money, its a golden rule which if broken will destroy the userbase. Its why MS charged from the getgo they built up the reputation from the outset that Xbox live was worth paying for, and Sony built up their infastrucure that its just as good, but we dont have to charge cause we really care about customers, which is complete BS, but hey its worked for them.

Fizzman

I wonder if things like Cross Game Chat will be a part of this subscription based thing... I'm wondering what can come out of the service... different colors for gamercards? Ability to change names (I would pay to have this done)? Premium content like free movies?

I'm not sure how popular Qore and Pulse are. I think the problem is that by having PSN free to play, there wont be much motivation to pay for extra content, whatever that may be.

As long as its free I'll stick to it. Microsoft is ruining the industry with their influence.

RadecSupreme

Alpha what i mean is that if Sony charges for anything that is free right now, they arent gonna get anyone to bite. Sure you will have the crazies, but the majority will say no.

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

As long as its free I'll stick to it. Microsoft is ruining the industry with their influence.

Fizzman

Totally, and the company who charges 600bucks for a console is the beacon of hope for customers.....................

[QUOTE="Fizzman"]

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

As long as its free I'll stick to it. Microsoft is ruining the industry with their influence.

RadecSupreme

Totally, and the company who charges 600bucks for a console is the beacon of hope for customers.....................

360 released at 400.00. nice try though, Xbox live Gold subscriptions can be found for as low as 35 bucks, and more often then not its only 40 bucks for a year. Sony was the one who charged 600.00 cause people would buy a PS3 even if it had no games. Its not moot Sony did not take the customers views into discussion when making the PS3, and only thought of how they could trojan horse Blu-Ray into the market.

[QUOTE="StealthMonkey4"]

[QUOTE="BPoole96"]

Well I hope Lemmings are happy. They have shown the industry how big of tools gamers can be, and how they will bend over backwards for their company no matter what. You can't even blame Sony if they do make a fee. Seeing the millions of dollars MS is sucking up for doing little to nothing is probably tempting.

BPoole96

What exactly is their other choice? There really isn't anything they can do if they still want to play online. Boycotts haven't really worked good this gen, the only thing they can do is just refuse to pay, and MS couldn't care less if one person refuses to pay for XBL.:|

They continue to support MS for it. Most of them will so "Oh, its only $3-4 a month, not bad". They have other platforms to choose from. PSN and PC both offer a very similar experience as XBL does and they are both free (except a handful of games on PC). Maybe not if one person refused to pay for XBL, but if a spark went off in their head and said "Why exactly am I paying this money? I already pay for my internet connection." Than maybe they would see the light and not let MS own their souls

While people may not like paying for XBL, they probably will still pay it anyways because they like playing online. They're not going to abandon their console of choice and become a PS3/PC only gamer. Them doing that affects MS in pretty much no way whatsoever; one customer lost is nothing to giant MS. Unless someone can get a group of TONS of people to boycott paying for XBL, then MS will do nothing and XBL will always be $50 a year. The same thing for MW2, PC gamers didn't like how MW2 had no dedicated servers but they really liked MW2 so they bought it anyways.

God-****ing-Damnit >_>

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

As long as its free I'll stick to it. Microsoft is ruining the industry with their influence.

Fizzman

Totally, and the company who charges 600bucks for a console is the beacon of hope for customers.....................

Yes Sony is totally ruining the industry by charging $600 for a console that costs $800 to make, I can't believe those rip-off artists...:roll:

[QUOTE="Fizzman"]

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

As long as its free I'll stick to it. Microsoft is ruining the industry with their influence.

StealthMonkey4

Totally, and the company who charges 600bucks for a console is the beacon of hope for customers.....................

Yes Sony is totally ruining the industry by charging $600 for a console that costs $800 to make, I can't believe those rip-off artists...:roll:

You think the consumer cares about how much it cost Sony to make the PS3? Its a rip off, and Sony knew it, but when you had execs saying people will buy the PS3 even if it has no games, it becomes pretty clear they dont care. Dont push Blu-Ray and make an affordable family console, and they'd be in the position Nintendo is in, but nope Sony loves pushing new formats no matter what. Sony was not being altruistic in any sense by charging 600 for the PS3 even though it costs 800 to make. They just knew that 800 bucks for a PS3 is guaranteed bankruptcy, and charging 600 was bad too, but hey it only cost them 60% of their marketshare.

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

[QUOTE="Fizzman"]

Totally, and the company who charges 600bucks for a console is the beacon of hope for customers.....................

Fizzman

360 released at 400.00. nice try though, Xbox live Gold subscriptions can be found for as low as 35 bucks, and more often then not its only 40 bucks for a year. Sony was the one who charged 600.00 cause people would buy a PS3 even if it had no games. Its not moot Sony did not take the customers views into discussion when making the PS3, and only thought of how they could trojan horse Blu-Ray into the market.

There were 2 models for the PS3 just as there were 2 models for the 360. PS3 had a 500 dollar model which was a 20GB and a 600 dollar model. Xbox 360 had a 500 and 400. Since you mention the highest costing one of the PS3 then I might as well mention the highest costing on of the 360. :P

[QUOTE="Fizzman"]

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]They were loosing money of it so your point is quite moot. And xbox 360 released at 500 which is only 100 dollars less. Look at the prices now how they have dropped and Live has not dropped in price.

RadecSupreme

360 released at 400.00. nice try though, Xbox live Gold subscriptions can be found for as low as 35 bucks, and more often then not its only 40 bucks for a year. Sony was the one who charged 600.00 cause people would buy a PS3 even if it had no games. Its not moot Sony did not take the customers views into discussion when making the PS3, and only thought of how they could trojan horse Blu-Ray into the market.

There were 2 models for the PS3 just as there were 2 models for the 360. PS3 had a 500 dollar model which was a 20GB and a 600 dollar model. Xbox 360 had a 500 and 400. Since you mention the highest costing one of the PS3 then I might as well mention the highest costing on of the 360. :P

No there wasnt it was 400.00 and 300 for the 360. I bought the 360 pro at launch, and i paid 400.00 bucks for it.

[QUOTE="Fizzman"]

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

As long as its free I'll stick to it. Microsoft is ruining the industry with their influence.

StealthMonkey4

Totally, and the company who charges 600bucks for a console is the beacon of hope for customers.....................

Yes Sony is totally ruining the industry by charging $600 for a console that costs $800 to make, I can't believe those rip-off artists...:roll:

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

[QUOTE="Fizzman"]

360 released at 400.00. nice try though, Xbox live Gold subscriptions can be found for as low as 35 bucks, and more often then not its only 40 bucks for a year. Sony was the one who charged 600.00 cause people would buy a PS3 even if it had no games. Its not moot Sony did not take the customers views into discussion when making the PS3, and only thought of how they could trojan horse Blu-Ray into the market.

Fizzman

There were 2 models for the PS3 just as there were 2 models for the 360. PS3 had a 500 dollar model which was a 20GB and a 600 dollar model. Xbox 360 had a 500 and 400. Since you mention the highest costing one of the PS3 then I might as well mention the highest costing on of the 360. :P

No there wasnt it was 400.00 and 300 for the 360. I bought the 360 pro at launch, and i paid 400.00 bucks for it.

I hope they do charge, it only allows them to make the service better. I think that game budgets are high enough, and the platform holders should do something to ease the burden of publishers/developers, which in turn, allows them to take more risks = more creative games/less milking and sequels. I dont agree with paying to play online per se, but i do agree with charging to use premium features like cross game chat, voice chat, leaderboards, exclusive DLC, early demos, netflix, etc. Basic playing online should be free IMO. i only pay for live for the other features, and i rarely play online on either system (because im a noob :P ) . I hope sony does go through with it so they can make it better than it currently is.navyguy21

$60 dollars isn't enough to rape the customers with that they want to charge for PSN. I hope PSN stays free and pay is only for extra sevices like Cross game and party chat. I don't play online much but will never play online if Sony starts charging. I mean aren't all these companies already making enough money as is from the poor customers. I'm not paying for Sony's mistakes. I love my PS3 but I'm not blinded that Sony is just another corp. like Microsoft and Nintendo that care less about the customer unless we protest and don't relent to their prices for what they provide.

[QUOTE="StealthMonkey4"]

[QUOTE="Fizzman"]

Totally, and the company who charges 600bucks for a console is the beacon of hope for customers.....................

navyguy21

Yes Sony is totally ruining the industry by charging $600 for a console that costs $800 to make, I can't believe those rip-off artists...:roll:

Why not? 4 USBs is awesome for my controller chargers (that actually come with the PS3 when you buy).

[QUOTE="navyguy21"]

[QUOTE="StealthMonkey4"]

Yes Sony is totally ruining the industry by charging $600 for a console that costs $800 to make, I can't believe those rip-off artists...:roll:

RadecSupreme

Why not? 4 USBs is awesome for my controller chargers (that actually come with the PS3 when you buy).

Yeah and when my PS3 battery dies i gotta buy a new one, as opposed to 15bucks for a replacement battery. 60bucks or 15bucks. What if i dont need four controllers to charge, and i could have saved 10bucks on only two USB ports?

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

[QUOTE="navyguy21"] to be fair, whose fault is it that it costs 800 to make?? IMO, they shouldntve put all the stuff in the PS3 that was in there. 4USBs?? Memory card readers?? Bluray?? Seriously, i know someone will try to name games that are bigger than DVD, but realize that this is cause and effect. Without bluray, those devs wouldve found a way to make it work like they always do. (and do so with the superior PC)

Fizzman

Why not? 4 USBs is awesome for my controller chargers (that actually come with the PS3 when you buy).

Yeah and when my PS3 battery dies i gotta buy a new one, as opposed to 15bucks for a replacement battery. 60bucks or 15bucks. What if i dont need four controllers to charge, and i could have saved 10bucks on only two USB ports?

If I'm not mistaken, can't you replace the batteries?:?

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

[QUOTE="navyguy21"] to be fair, whose fault is it that it costs 800 to make?? IMO, they shouldntve put all the stuff in the PS3 that was in there. 4USBs?? Memory card readers?? Bluray?? Seriously, i know someone will try to name games that are bigger than DVD, but realize that this is cause and effect. Without bluray, those devs wouldve found a way to make it work like they always do. (and do so with the superior PC)

Fizzman

Why not? 4 USBs is awesome for my controller chargers (that actually come with the PS3 when you buy).

Yeah and when my PS3 battery dies i gotta buy a new one, as opposed to 15bucks for a replacement battery. 60bucks or 15bucks. What if i dont need four controllers to charge, and i could have saved 10bucks on only two USB ports?

That is why they had a cheaper priced one........... PS3 battery dies? Really? My cousin has a launch console and his PS3 controller can still last 1 week without charging. Anyways, everything eventually dies so whats your point? By the time the battery dies, the xbox 360 controll would be broken.

[QUOTE="Fizzman"]

[QUOTE="RadecSupreme"]

Why not? 4 USBs is awesome for my controller chargers (that actually come with the PS3 when you buy).

StealthMonkey4

Yeah and when my PS3 battery dies i gotta buy a new one, as opposed to 15bucks for a replacement battery. 60bucks or 15bucks. What if i dont need four controllers to charge, and i could have saved 10bucks on only two USB ports?

If I'm not mistaken, can't you replace the batteries?:?

On the PS3, care to explain how? call Sony, and wait two weeks, and you can bet your A** they are gonna charge for it.

[QUOTE="navyguy21"]I hope they do charge, it only allows them to make the service better. I think that game budgets are high enough, and the platform holders should do something to ease the burden of publishers/developers, which in turn, allows them to take more risks = more creative games/less milking and sequels. I dont agree with paying to play online per se, but i do agree with charging to use premium features like cross game chat, voice chat, leaderboards, exclusive DLC, early demos, netflix, etc. Basic playing online should be free IMO. i only pay for live for the other features, and i rarely play online on either system (because im a noob :P ) . I hope sony does go through with it so they can make it better than it currently is.3rdbass

$60 dollars isn't enough to rape the customers with that they want to charge for PSN. I hope PSN stays free and pay is only for extra sevices like Cross game and party chat. I don't play online much but will never play online if Sony starts charging. I mean aren't all these companies already making enough money as is from the poor customers. I'm not paying for Sony's mistakes. I love my PS3 but I'm not blinded that Sony is just another corp. like Microsoft and Nintendo that care less about the customer unless we protest and don't relent to their prices for what they provide.