As part of a larger in-depth interview with Eric Lempel, IndustryGamers asked the director of PlayStation Network operations at SCEA about the possibility of Sony launching a games-on-demand service for the PS3. One of the surprise announcements during E3 from Microsoft was a complete games-on-demand service that will enable Xbox Live users to download full Xbox 360 titles. We think it would be great if Sony offered something similar for PS3 games, but Lempel said there's no plan for it... at least not yet.
"It's not something we have planned, just because the size of the games is massive," he remarked. "With Blu-ray we can put up to 50 gigs on a dual-layer disc, while [Xbox 360] is still on a 9-gig media. So technically it's possible, but I think the issue would be, 'Do you want to download 40 gigs and keep that on your hard drive?'"
Nevertheless, Sony has been continually evolving and upgrading the PlayStation Network while listening to consumer feedback. If it's something enough users want, we have a feeling that Sony will oblige. Lempel acknowledged that it's something Sony will definitely be keeping an eye on. "I think there's great opportunity there in the future, and it's something we'll always look at," he said, "but for the time being it's not a direction we're going in."
