To many PSN users, talk of “subscription fees” is a dreadful thing to dicuss; take a recent near-miss from a Sony investor slide mentioning a “new revenue stream from subscription” for example. The issue just won’t die, however, and an interview [thanks CVG] with the VP of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc’s Strategy Planning Department Masayuki Chatani revealed that the company is considering many different ways to monetize PSN.
“Servers and the like have running costs, and we would face difficulties if our business depended solely on the sell-and-forget model. After we sell the hardware, though, we continue to sell products such as content and services,” said Chatani. “We expect to see considerable growth in digital content, such as game download services, avatar items and the like.”
“We can also accept payment in a growing number of ways. In addition to single-payment packaged software, there are also schemes like monthly fees or per-item charges,” he added. ”I think this variety of payment methods will bring about a diverse range of playing methods, too.”
While Chatani seems to be talking in theoretical terms here, there are many possible elements the plan could include, like games supported by micro-payments, the upcoming subscription MMO titles from Sony Online Entertainment and virtual items for customization; it does not appear that he’s talking about attaching fees to services that have heretofore been free, at least not yet.
3 Comments
December 14, 2009
Or, or try this. Actually put more games on PSN that people want like PS2 and PS3 games. Try that first. No subscriptions unless it's for something like Qore. If Sony goes back on it's promise now they'll lose the little bit of loyal fans they have left.
December 15, 2009
Online play will still remain free so i wouldn't worry about that lol i don't know why people posting comments on every blog saying after reading Sony will have a pay to play system like microsoft . There are more ways for Sony to make money and still making online play free. Sony will bring new features to the PSN like in game chat , video and game on demand , MMO, viewing TV movies and shows , streaming live games and shows all these ideas are maybe what Sony will have us to pay for if that the case PSN WILL be far better then XBL.
December 15, 2009
I believe Sony realizes that charging for online gaming would be disastrous – it’s something decided a while ago and to go back on it now would create huge negative backlash. If we’re lucky, PSN might include games from systems like Saturn and Dreamcast in the next year.