Rumor: Survey hints at premium PSN subscriptions

by David Hinkle on Dec 18th 2009 6:29PM

Kotaku reports that a survey from IPSOS Online Research has been sent out, gauging interest (again) in premium subscriptions to PSN. One of PSN's most-touted features has been its low price of free, so if Sony's thinking about asking for membership fees, it had better offer some extra goods, right?

Well, the survey hints at such goodies as hour-long trials for full PS3 titles, access to PSOne Classics and cross-game voice chat; the latter being a feature that PS3 gamers have been waiting on for decades but, if this survey is to be believed, would be exclusive to premium members. The survey also discusses the addition of Cloud Storage -- online space that allows users to store saved data, instead of housing it on their hard drive -- and Tokens. These Tokens would be a kind of added currency, which can then be used to redeem goods on PSN. But that's not it! It gets even crazier. The survey also adds member-exclusive programs into the mix, such as streaming Netflix without a disk and special Hulu support, as well as free access to Minis and premium themes.

The survey also details a few different subscription models, including a $69.99 yearly plan and several options for monthly fees. Hit up Kotaku for some supposed screen grabs from the survey detailing the subscription plans.

Source

Tags: cross-game-voice-chat, psn, psone, psone-classics, subscription

Reader Comments (194)

Interesting...

I'd subscribe to this if it comes with all the goodies (minus cross game chat which still should be free imo)

But I like the idea of PSone games and dynamic themes and maybe even add Qore to that list.

But I will never agree to pay for a subscription if they add anything we already get for free to the premium PSN.

before anyone starts bitching, this premium service will only be for extra content, all the things we can do on psn as of today will remain free such as play online game.

I too would subscribe to this, but cross game chat has to be free. My friends are poor and wouldn't pay for the upgrade so even if I got the cross game chat, I would have no one to talk to.

Yeah it's pretty much what I expected. This is fine because I dont need any of this. So I could care less if this premium thing actually happens, I'm happy enough with what we're getting in the free version.

wtf is that User To User Challenges they mentioned on Kotaku? Will it make SF4 LESS LAGGY? lol

I agree that a Premium service would help to improve PSN, however Cross Gaming Chat should be free for everyone.

This is one of the feature more requested by gamers so if SONY decides that this feature will be only available for the premium service well it will piss off a lot of people including myself.

So SONY so far you have been doing a wonderful job reducing the console price, making good and enjoyable ads, let's not screw it this time with this.

No.

No.

Just...

No.

I feel that way about the price. Paying a year's worth, 70 dollars almost made me choke.

really? I mean, i'm not really interested in any of that, but under 6$ a month isn't asking a lot. and If they throw Qore into the mess...

god you sound like the live people

If you got money to throw, fine but that is still a big price to me. Considering you get a majority of what it improves on for free, 70 dollars for some sweet extras is a lot.

wtf?

It's a lot better than what you get with Live :x

Like.. access to FREE GAMES?

No means, Sony stop asking.

What exactly is so terrible about a PSN subscription service that gives you access to the whole PSOne classics catalog, the Minis catalog, and a bunch of video access services like netflix and hulu?

Granted, cross game voice chat NEEDS to be free. Afterall, what good would it be to the one person who pays for it in a social group?
But so long as what we have right now stays free, I really don't see the problem

oh come on people. I felt the same way at first, but if they aren't going to charge you anything for what you're already getting, what do you have to complain about? What they're offering here could actually save people a lot of money if they use a lot of the PSN features. Free access to PSOne classics and Minis? If you play a handful of PSOne games in a YEAR, it will pay for itself! The hour long preview of full PS3 games intrigues me. All in all, it sounds a lot better than I expected.

If they aren't taking anything away from you, why would you complain?

Make cross game chat free and get rid of member only in game content (or at least offer the chance to buy it), the rest I don't mind going Gold/Premium.

Cross game chat is like a phone line. XBL charges with the fees to use it. It's pretty reasonable why psn is charging as well.

"Cross-game Voice Chat" is not like a phone-line. The only thing Sony would have to do is establish a peer-to-peer connection between members. It's the same way the current chat feature works.

It's still bandwidth usage. Granted, it's not a lot compared to streaming video or downloads, but it's still bandwidth usage.

I would like to pay a month for it, and download all the PS1 games onto a few memory sticks... lol If that was possible

This isn't Bangbros.

I'm a We Live Together guy myself.

ugh, i wish i didn't know what you guys were talking about.

BangBros.? *looks it up* Ooooh!

I don't condone this kind of behavior.

Me neither, what I don't get is why people are excited thast its lists free psone games and discounts, it makes no sense to me. "Hey, if you give me some money right now, this won't cost you as much"

yeah it's basically just paying in advance

It depends on how much you use it. It comes out to be less than 6 bucks a month. If you play one PSOne game per month, it pays for itself, which would make the rest of the features a pretty damn good deal.

If they leave whats there free, then I welcome this. I'd pay $70 a year for that. You might not, but you don't lose anything you have now, so it's all good. I'd love to have a premium account :D

I would gladly pay $70 for a year as well.

But....

if they want even more money from me, they will find a way to deliver rental games digitally similar to Gamefly, without Gamefly's shitty service. Heck, they can charge me twice as much as Gamefly a month. If they cut out the middleman, they could make a fortune.

rentals game will not benefit Sony. Games can be beaten in 6 hours. They will lose money because of the cost of Blu-ray discs

I took the survey there are a lot of different configurations and prices. I don't think they mentioned in the article but there is online storage feature for you game saves to make them portable.

The prices also range from $20-$70

"rentals game will not benefit Sony. Games can be beaten in 6 hours. They will lose money because of the cost of Blu-ray discs"

This is why devs should stop making 6 hour games and charging $60 for them. No, tacking on a multiplayer mode that is only slightly different from what I've already played a million times does not justify the cost. IMO, a 6 hour game shouldn't be more than about 20 bucks, and a multiplayer game the same. That's $40 total. Anybody a PC gamer here who remembers the half-Life days? Half-Life was a 20 hour game, and it wasn't full price for long. AND it came with a multiplayer mode.

Funny thing is, Hollywood and Blockbuster charge like 8 bucks or whatever probably because the games are more expensive now! I hate the current model for games. Killzone 2 was great, but it literally took me less than 7 hours the first playthrough. Just saying "but we have a multiplayer mode for replayability! With LEVEL UPS!!" doesn't justify it.

Sony, Sony, Sony. Listen to me. DO NOT fall down the same ugly path Microsoft has been on for years. Paying for online is what you would do for a MMO, not console gaming. Please, you guys have such a fantastic vision for yourselves right now. Don't jack it up.

Agreed.

You could add a rental feature, like you were saying. Although it would probably take awhile for it to get to PSN, Sony would benefit so much from it inn the long-run.

I don't know, but they said in the past PSN would always be free. It was one of the reasons bought my Playstation. if I have to start paying to play online I'll just stop buying Sony games. I don't like being lied to.

They cut the price on their system to something relatively reasonable.

Sales have gone up.

I personally think they'll be OK, but a rental feature for games wouldn't be such a bad idea...

You people dont read...If you read the Kotaku article it clearly states that all services that are free now WILL REMAIN FREE!! Including ONLINE GAMING...FREE!!!!

You don't have to buy any of this stuff if you don't find it worth the price...that why they call it PREMIUM content.

Personally I like a lot of these ideas, especially the HULU, Cloud saving, and PS1 Classics...Of course I would hope Sony would just keep the free stuff coming...deep inside I knew it would end one day. The gravy train can only run for so long until it starts costing them REAL money. They gotta make it up some how. I'm down, if the price and features are right...if not..I still have FREE ONLINE GAMING! (Sidebar: Cross game chat HAS to be FREE to really work...dont be evil Sony)

The Cross-game voice chat was one of the features promised at the very beginning. That should be cover by the cost of the system when we bought into it.

@QAguy

Well you can still access Hulu on your PS3 via the browser, but it does require you use a proxy or a computer program if I remember right. Netflix already has a free disc-based option, so switching because of that (at least for me) wouldn't be worth it.

I agree that voice chat should be free too.

I wouldn't mind paying $30-$40 a year (or $3.50-$4 a month) for free PSN/PS1 games from time to time, early demo access, early beta access, cloud storage, online music service (if it included last.fm and pandora support for in-game music), and discounts on store items. Perhaps they could also throw in special members-only servers to download things from since some people get slow speeds.

@Sonicspike41

I agree with everything you said plus add HULU and I'm in 100%...in all honesty I would pay $40 a year JUST for full on HD HULU service built into the XMB...but I would love it if I got that plus a music service (LAST.FM or PANDORA) Cloud Storage, PS1 Classics, Beta Access, and discounted DLC!! F**K yeah I'd pay that! $69 is a bit high and may be pushing it. No more than $49.99...please.

Playon on your PC == Hulu on your PS3, 360, Wii, and a bunch of other DNLA hardware.

All of the features they have now will still be free. Playing games online will be free. Sony isn't lying to you. Give it a rest.

Sounds alright, except the cross-game voice chat should be for everyone.

Exactly. How would you chat with a friend who didn't have a Premium account?

@sonicspike41

I'm guessing you have never used XBL and you didn't use PSN from day 1 cause PSN is just barely catching up to what XBL did from the start.

I have both a 360 and PSN and I would still rather pay for XBL than use the free PSN.

"I'm guessing you have never used XBL and you didn't use PSN from day 1 cause PSN is just barely catching up to what XBL did from the start.

I have both a 360 and PSN and I would still rather pay for XBL than use the free PSN. "

What has changed on XBL in that time period? Not much right? While Sony has constantly been improving there service, Microsoft has been wiping their asses with your $5 bills.

Uhh, LIVE has added lots of stuff. NXE, twitter, facebook, last.fm, games on demand, the list goes on and on. I own both systems but to say LIVE hasn't added much since its debut on 360 is being disingenuous.

PSN is horrible, I would never pay for it. And cross-game voice chat being a paid feature? That's a low blow. That should've been added ages ago - if this rumor is true, that begs the question, has Sony been sitting on this coveted feature for months in hopes to use it as a lure to get folks to pay for PSN? Disgusting.

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Rumor: Survey hints at premium PSN subscriptions

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