A survey has leaked Sony's considered details for premium PlayStation Network subscription.
According to the IPSOS Online Research survey (sent to Kotaku), Sony's premium subscription plans would include access to full hour game trials, free access to PSOne Classics, and cross-game voice chat.
"Sony is considering offering a premium PlayStation Network subscription in the future," the survey says. "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)."
Premium users would also have access to Cloud Storage Space for Games, which would allow players to save their game online rather than on their hard disk, 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.
The chart on this page details four potential plans; three costing $69.99 a year or $9.99 a month and one running $4.99 a month and $29.99 a year.
The idea is clearly to add features on top of current PSN functionality and not, as some feared, about putting a price on online play. Fair play to Sony, we say.
The idea is clearly to add features on top of current PSN functionality and not, as some feared, about putting a price on online play. Fair play to Sony, we say.
I think the words you where looking for there were 'Desperately hoped'
sounds fair, as long as it doesn't end up with "you can only play the full version of this game is you sign up for a years subscription to PSN, otherwise you lose all the side missions/these tracks/can't get platinum/what ever"...
Otherwise it sounds reasonable, for once not sounding like a rip off (like so many of these things seem to).
While people have been campaigning for MS to make Xbox Live free, which we know is never going to happen. Sony have been struggling to find a way to make PSN a financially sustainable entity, they are moving towards a similar system as Xbox Live. Looks complicated to me though, but you can't provide large scale complex networks like PSN and Xbox Live without inbound revenue streams.
I've always maintained that the Ł40 a year price I pay for Xbox Live acceptable with the features they have offered. Sony are ultimately forced to take this route as I am sure running PSN is a drain on resources that cannot last forever especially as they are struggling to make a profit as a business in general.
Some of those features sound really good. Free access to PSone classics is a good deal along with Hulu. I'd like to see something similar on XBL, like Ł60 a year with a Sky sub included and half price XBLA games.
Can anyone say Xbox live Gold and Silver????? Sorry fanboys but FREE online gaming is NOT going to be around for long as the Dev's are the ones having to pay a premium for the servers, so if a game don't sell well then where they goin to get the money to pay the Server fees?
Hence the Sub for xbox Live the money is put back in to live and new features for xbox!! This is why I don't mine paying for online services on any platform as 9 time out of 10 you get your moneys worth!!
Also worth noting if you look at the list of features theres not one package that has access to everything so to get the full package for PSN you'd have to sub to 2 different packaged at the same time so you could pay Ł100 a year...........so F*ck you sony look at xbox live and take note, you have silver thats got x amount of things available and then gold that has everything on offer!!!!!!!!!
The only thing that concerns me is that "automatic downloads and updates" is one of the premium features there.
Now if that just means we need to manually download game patches then fair enough. Or maybe it means that we'll have to look for DLC in the PS Store rather than be able to access it directly from the game. But if it means no more updates for free accounts then people will go nuts - myself included.
I can see them adding a charge for online play! as 95% wouldn't pay for any of there subscriptions otherwise! basically having a xbox live silver account is a waste of time because you cannot play online, chat or message friends and don't get any demo's etc!
as the Dev's are the ones having to pay a premium for the servers, so if a game don't sell well then where they goin to get the money to pay the Server fees?
That's only because of the way online works on the consoles. On the PC 3rd party companies and Clans are normally the people running the servers and the developers don't really need to provide any themselves. The closed system consoles use is the problem here, they want too much control over things which ruins the overall experience for the users.
If they released some dedicated server software on the PC for console online game then people could run their own servers at home and there would be no cost issues for the developer, also games will have a lot longer tails as there will always be a couple of server running for hardcore player of that game.
I got rid of my xbox 360 mainly because of the charges to play online, i didn't use it enough to warrant it, and i dont think it is worth the money either, yes xbox live is a lot better than psn, but most of the features of xbox live are no use to me what so ever, i played online occasionally, downloaded updates and the odd demo or full price game, the rest i get free via pc laptop.
i think both have to look at the price of there downloadables as i think most stuff is still to expensive, charging for stuff like themes, wallpaper etc is bullcrap, after all its promo stuff/advertising. retro games are completely skank, we shouldnt have to pay more than 50p for old master system/megadrive/nes/snes/c64 games, after all this is just income to the companies, they made there profit on them years ago and a hell of a lot more people would buy them.
i possibly would buy a low cost subscription if it was benefit enough,
but i dont like the idea of paying for updates, i think that bit needs to be clarified
I can see them adding a charge for online play! as 95% wouldn't pay for any of there subscriptions otherwise! basically having a xbox live silver account is a waste of time because you cannot play online, chat or message friends and don't get any demo's etc!
I think you're wrong. A lot of PS3 owners who mostly play games online will be interested in cross-game chat and will probably pay for it. The fact that you could get some nice extras thrown in is a bonus.
Me? I'll be happy to continue paying nowt as I rarely play games online - usually just looking at leaderboards for racing games, etc.
Remember guys that this is only a survey, so none of this may actually come true!
Though personally option 2 which includes the likes of "Free access to PSOne Classics, PSP Minis, and PS3/PSP Themes" and "Discounts on Store Content" interest me the most
The one where you pay a lot, you get the lot - OR it's customisable so you pay the highest premium and choose x number of options from such a list.
And a second cheap one that has perhaps a similar deal of customisable options - but only limited to what THAT service offers. That would work better than this crap.
Besides, what are 'Trophy Alerts'? perhaps friend alerts or something, Cross-Game Chat, or party chat - should really be a feature available to ALL on PSN if you ask me.
For extra features I WOULD be willing to pay for this kind of thing. If online gaming remained free to those with a 'basic' account (and some of the other features) then I wouldn't mind too much paying a little more to get a little more.
Looks like a total rip off to me...If & when hits UK change the $ for Ł's.
Option 1 various cr@p and a extended warranty for $70 a year or $120 if you pay monthly (could be $360 after three years) .
Option 2 More various cr@p and free ps1 games (I find most old games hurt my eyes after I get past the rose tinted glasses bit) again for $70 or $120 (monthly) a year .
Option 3 Just various cr@p for $30.
Option 4 less than the first two & token wagering for $70 or $120 a year .
i'd definitely pay Ł50 a year (which is what $69.99 works at around) for option 2 without a doubt, whens this happening? hopefully sooner rather than later.
The problem is that PSN being free is its best USP. Get rid of that and you have a level playing field against xbox live. An xbox is cheaper to buy and offers the same current levels of performance as the ps3, and xbox live is a better platform overall. At least gaming online seems to still be free. If that changed I'd probably go back to the xbox full time.
I think they should just add cross-game voice chat (i wouldn't use it, but i can see why it's wanted) then concentrate on the PS4. if they make the PS4 Ł200 or less, then I wouldn't mind paying the Live rate for PSN. however, i do think there should be a different system- option 1, Ł15 a year, which gets you just online play and the store. option 2 costs Ł40 a year, and gets you the full version. Also, I think that they should team up with apple, and have Apple's OS, Safari and itunes compatibility on the PS4. I wouldn't know how to calculate profit/loss if sony did do this, however, I'm sure that there's an accountant or some other mathematician that reads this, so if that's you, my next sentence is directed at you. Could you run the numbers for this (I haven't the foggiest of where to start) and see how it would turn out for sony and apple? I think, as they are the 2 best electronics manufacturers in the world (In terms of quality), if they merged into 1 electro-giant, they could make a fortune from high-end electronics. I don't think anyone could disagree with that, could they? Also, if anyone from sony is watching, I seriously advise you to bring out the PS4 ASAP (i.e before MS/Nintendo), as you lost a fortune in sales by letting the Xbox become the 'household name'. the Xbox was cheaper, simpler and sooner, which is what most non-serious gamers want. next Xbox in 2012? get the PS4 out Q1 2011. for Ł190, with twice the capabilities of the PS3, same blu-ray player, and with full apple software and support. impossible? not as long as you get off your flat backsides and get to work! Back to you, anonymous members of the public.
F*ck off Sony, I bet online play services would be no different if you payed or not so that=sh*t in my book. I've stopped playing games online on my PS3 as PSN is so s**te, XBL will never be beaten.
So long as this is what Sony sticks to, I like it.
So what we get right now remains free, and if we want more we can pay for it. What we get for free works very well, but I do like the idea of PSone classics.
Sony always said online would be free, which it is and looks like it will stay free. But if you want more than you get atm, then pay for it. Seems fair.
This was inevitable. Something like this was going to happen sooner or later.
Also, I think it's a good thing (mainly for Xbox Live, admittedly). Charges for PSN, Xbox addresses their Live service and makes some improves, PSN does the same. Everyone's a winner as far as I'm concerned.
And free PS1 games? F**king awesome. If they made XBLA games free to Gold members I'd be like a pig in sh*t.
Great idea free access to ps1 classix. Well I hope the classix are better than what we get on the store right now. I.E Winne the Pooh etc.. Cross game chat - ok but I cant see all my mates having it (their not as hardcore a gamer as me ) Cloud game saves - great idea if I do say so myself! Only downside on that is I put the idea on the Sony forum and no one thought it would happen, so I bought a storage drive. THe good thing about the cloud storage (if its the same idea) is that you can access your game saves remotely. So you could go round your mates house, log into your account and load a game save etc etc...
To the person who questioned if the survey was real... there's no reason why it shouldn't be. There's plenty of websites out there you can sign up to and get paid to take part in surveys like this.
It will no doubt have had a confidentiality clause at the beginning which has been ignored by whoever took the screenshot.
Talking of the screenshot... I clicked to see a bigger version and the banner ad at the top of the new window was for Xbox Live, how ironic.
Anyway, back on topic. I wonder how things like this would work in reality. Cross game chat for instance, what if you have it and the other person doesn't? You may as well not have it unless you know others are going to pay for it too.
Also, is it just me being fussy or should it not say that the access to the classics etc is 'free', it's not free... you'll be paying for it as part of the subscription!
It is still a bit annoying. I have been enjoying free updates from Sony including drastic changes to how the console works, and looking back these things would have been 'premium' had Sony introduced this sooner. Fair play indeed for keeping all the current functionality free, but now thinking about offering a subscription for everything new in the future AT ALL (or so it seems anyway) is stupid in my opinion. Or maybe i'm just annoyed cos I have no money.
I'm all for this as the features are a choice unlike Xbox. They aim to keep the online free like it should be but give you a option of paying a small fee for additional services. I do own a Xbox 360 and a PS3 but refuse to pay for online no matter the cost(I already pay for broadband as it is). Microsoft won't change this as a lot are quite happy to pay them so I don't blame them. Although I wish Microsoft had free online. I hope this works out for Sony and they keep the online free because I like this approach to making money better. Give people a choice and not force it on them.
I can see them adding a charge for online play! as 95% wouldn't pay for any of there subscriptions otherwise! basically having a xbox live silver account is a waste of time because you cannot play online, chat or message friends and don't get any demo's etc!
I never engage in these Fanboy shenanegans, But have you even used a Silver XBL acount? You can chat with people, You can message people and you can Download and play demos.
Infact the only advantage a Gold Sub really has is online multiplayer.....the others are just things like LastFM and such.
So go home and beat up your floating punchbag that has a photo of Tyson on it....which you secretly kiss with the light out as pratice for real life situations......like when you kiss real men.
free access to psone games etc? Its not free though, your/we would be paying monthly for it, should really choose their wording better! I dont know if im happy with this, i know in a post a little while back i said i would happily pay a few bucks a year for the psn to function better, but Ł50? half the stuff i probably wont use, probably through forgetness or whatever! i don't know i just dont agree with being chraged for alot of whats on the list!
To be honest if im paying monthly for a service, i wana choose what those service/services is/are! for instance if out of all thats there to offer in those Packages(being the key word here), what if i only want to use cross game chat and nothing more? what about that? or even one or two more things to add? can i do that/will i be able to do that? if your gona go down the subcription road and be better than xboxlive, then personally i feel that allowing us to customize what we use and pay for will do that and make you "sony" the dominant! think about it!
To the person who questioned if the survey was real... there's no reason why it shouldn't be. There's plenty of websites out there you can sign up to and get paid to take part in surveys like this.
It will no doubt have had a confidentiality clause at the beginning which has been ignored by whoever took the screenshot.
Talking of the screenshot... I clicked to see a bigger version and the banner ad at the top of the new window was for Xbox Live, how ironic.
Anyway, back on topic. I wonder how things like this would work in reality. Cross game chat for instance, what if you have it and the other person doesn't? You may as well not have it unless you know others are going to pay for it too.
Also, is it just me being fussy or should it not say that the access to the classics etc is 'free', it's not free... you'll be paying for it as part of the subscription!
It might be real but why is there an customer access row that's not included in any of the options? I think survey is real but there's a lot more to it than just the 4 options carefully selected in the screen capture. It probably wouldn't be as juicy a story if it wasn't taken out of context and the whole survey was included.
people who think they will eventually include online play in the subscription are wrong. That would mean their online HOME social community would die out as it is meant to be free. HOME is a major project for Sony whether you like it or not and would decrease its use if they charged for online play. They will contine to persuade people to buy it for its unique features such as free psone games, possibly dicounts, cross game chat, music downloads, 1 hour trial(which cost Ł6 to hire a game) etc. and if you dont want it you can still play your mates online. better value than XBLA. Great idea. They need to make money somehow. Well done Sony. Glad I made the switch
Sounds pretty good to me. I always knew the online aspect would remain free. A few of the features sound a little pointless, like storing your saves online rather than on your PS3. If you could store your game install data online, that would be even better.
It looks good as opposed to Xbox Live! Only thing is... if I was to pay I would want to have access to beta games and access to PS one back catalog! It's sucky that they're trying to make you choose between the two!
A few of the features sound a little pointless, like storing your saves online rather than on your PS3. If you could store your game install data online, that would be even better.
How is it pointless? Imagine you pop over to your mates and take advantage of this cloud system and pop your game in and show them something later in the game, or swap saves. Not to mention the fact that your saves will be backed up should your PS3 YLOD for instance.
If you're bothered about installs you should be asking Sony to put faster drives in the next iteration of PS3 or even PS4.
A few of the features sound a little pointless, like storing your saves online rather than on your PS3. If you could store your game install data online, that would be even better.
How is it pointless? Imagine you pop over to your mates and take advantage of this cloud system and pop your game in and show them something later in the game, or swap saves. Not to mention the fact that your saves will be backed up should your PS3 YLOD for instance.
If you're bothered about installs you should be asking Sony to put faster drives in the next iteration of PS3 or even PS4.
I don't think the online saves thing is a bad thing. I just had to buy a PS3 Slim when my 60GB launch model died out of the blue a couple of days ago and I couldn't get access to my game saves.
Can you people not read, the ps/one classics are not meant by games they mean themes it even says themes who in their right mind would give away free games...idiots
Yeah, as long as the current features (multiplayer especially) stays free I don't mind. Actually some of that stuff sounds pretty cool, cloud storage, access to PSOne games for one subscription.
The free multiplayer is one of their biggest weapons against xbox live, I really don't think they'd start charging for that.
Games today rely on the marketability of online play. Value from games like modern warfare comes from it's online play. So paying extra on top of a full price game makes no sense to me. If it's an online game, then when you buy it, your paying to get online.
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