One of the major selling points of PS3 is their free online play, something that Xbox Live users must continually pay through subscriptions to be a part of. We’ve heard in recent times that Sony is exploring ways to charge for a premium service which has many fans concerned.
Peter Dille of Sony told IGN that the company is “actively thinking” about charging for it’s PSN service as well as offering fewer titles for download only.
Full disclosure: I am a member of the Xbox Live Nation. However, it is common knowledge that Microsoft provides a superior online experience for its users through XBL and that the only advantage the Playstation Network has had on Xbox has been it’s lack of a monthly fee.
“It’s been our philosophy not to charge for [PSN] 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”.
For Sony to justify charging for its service, the company would need to provide improvements and more services to its community. Although Sony has pledged to continue improving its service and “close the gap” between the PSN and XBL. The company has also decided to offer less full games for download only.
I understand why Sony going to full digital distribution for all its games is a very lofty and possibly impossible goal for the time-being. But the company has to think of other ways to take the online service to the level it needs to reach prior to any announcement about a fee for its services. In business, it is always easier to lower prices than to raise them. It will be a hard sell to leave the realm of FREE. An increase in price must coincide with an increase worth.
“We have an advantage with PlayStation 3 from an optical media perspective because a Blu-ray disc contains 50 gigs… Maybe [digital distribution] will come at some time, but today to download 50 gigs of data before you play a game, you could probably go buy a car, bring it home, put your family into it, drive to the store buy and bring the game home by the time you [could download it].
“We’re also working very hard to make sure we do this thoughtfully so that retail has a part to participate in the ecosystem with us. But, the notion of getting all your games digitally, I just don’t see it happening.”
Would you be willing to pay for PSN service? What improvements would you like to see? How much would you be willing to pay? Is this the right move?
Will it be hard to teach old gamers new prices?
Source: VG247
