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)

The reason this would be a better value than LIVE is because YOU CAN ALWAYS PLAY ONLINE FOR FREE, and this brings UNLIMITED ACCESS to PSone/minis, early beta access etc.

LIVE has nothing like that, you pay for what? playing online.
PSN premium is just alot of added stuff, and i think unlimited PSone game access would definitely push me to paying for it.
You guys try and justify paying $50/year to play online on XBL and call bullshit on something that (possibly) benefits you alot more? ("possibly" because you may not want PSone games, minis and whatever)

As some people still haven't worked out yet "WHAT'S FREE NOW WILL ALWAYS BE FREE"

and remember that $70 wasn't the only option, there was also a $30 one.

When did people forget how to think around here?
they see "PSN" and "Premium" in the same sentence and go APESHIT

wow someone who makes sense

"$70 wasn't the only option, there was also a $30 one."

And both have you paying for cross-game chat.

/chuckle

Oh wow Otis, what crawled up your ass?

What I was saying was that your paying 70 dollars for services that are not worth 70 dollars. But hey, your the internet cool guy here, so I must be wrong.

So then the laggy ass servers are still going to remain? I love this awesome free service that the PS3 calls online, and yes... I do own and play on a PS3 and ONLY on a PS3.

sucks for you, their servers are fine for me.

Apart from my initial reaction at the price tags...I think I would consider this. Probably on a monthly basis, but still, free access to PS1 games is nothing to sneeze at.

Paying for some or all services is probably going to happen in some form or fashion regardless of support or opposition from the user base. It's inevitable; companies are ultimately in business to make money. It always comes down to that, and Sony is about as "big business" as it gets in the corporate world. Anyone who had ideas that they were "different" with regard to their true relationship with their consumers from say, a Microsoft or a Nintendo, had been deluding themselves.

That said, hopefully unlike Microsoft they will keep the ability to play games online free of charge. That's why their online presence has grown as far as it has, because let's face it; right now Microsoft still has the most feature-rich and smooth online service. Sony's been closing the gap nicely in that department, but eventually it was going to come at a cost to the consumer. If they open up the floodgates to the entire PS1 (and the rumored PS2 and possibly Dreamcast and/or Saturn) library for download and ownership and use the Cloud storage option to solve the issue of hard drive limitations for gamers who use them a lot, then it just might be worth it for those of us who've been asking for such features.

I personally would prefer all of it to remain free (who wouldn't?), but I'm sitting tight for now until all of the rumors and speculation filter down and leave just the facts. Until then my ears and my mind are open to what Sony may have to offer with a "premium" service. I just hope it's going to be worth it.

Don't jump to conclusions yet though. Sony has been working off of a free model for a few years now just fine. Of course they are out to make money, but I think offering extras for a fee might be their way of keeping current features free while making [more?] money. Look at Home. Home is free, but the premium paid items made them 1million the first month. If they can keep a service like this free and still make a lot of yen for additional features, they might keep it that way.

It's all about the business model, and how much they are bringing in. You are right in that they are in it to make money, but every company (except Exxon/Mobil and most cell providers) has to have limits to keep the customer base.

Cross-chat gaming (hell, even just plain private party chat) is a must and should be available to everyone, for free. It's not like it costs that much extra overhead for that feature to be offered, right? Charging for basic functionality for team-oriented play reeks of Microsoft greed.

The only thing that should count towards a paid PSN subscription is maybe videos of Christina, Veronica, and that other Asian reporter girl, frolicking naked in the wilderness...b/c, well, that's extra.

Great, and lemme guess, this shit is going to be region locked, just like the comics too?

So guys like me, westerners who live in a non-western country get screwed. Can't buy the comics, have to go to great lengths to actually even just BUY something off the PSN because they won't accept our credit cards, we can just add one more thing to it.

Additionally, I'm getting sick of all this shit I need to subscribe to. Blizzard wants me to manage a battle-net subscription, Games for friggin windows live, Steam, Netflix, X-box live and whatever MMO I'm subscribed to. It's getting harder and harder to track all this shit, what I'm paying for, what I'm not paying for.

I really don't need another service clamoring for more money.

Honestly, Fuck You Sony.

you dont have to pay for it chill

If you're paying for an MMO, what are you doing paying for pretty much anything else?

Automatic Beta access and 1 full free PS3 title download a month would be good....
X-game voice chat should be free (if necessary make it time limited for free, and unlimited under premium service)

Also.... an install to disc option irrespective free or premium should be done by Sony.

The issue for me is if you're going to charge a set rate in EU.... don't keep it the same relative price as the US but disallow certain headline features (Netflix and HULU) just because it's the EU... or other Non-US locations

I don't understand people like you. 1 full free PS3 title per month? For $70 per year? Look, I'm not saying that wouldn't be nice, but give me a break, your expectations are incredibly ridiculous. Maybe 1 per year... which would make all of the other features cost $10/yr.

See what I don't understand is the different $70 dollar options.

...Don't you think that if one would be playing the most, they would want all the benefits and not cut out on some of the other features??

And I agree with everyone else about cross-game chat being free. Sony would be cutting out so many people that won't be getting this premium subscription.

But, with all the services Sony has planned to offer, like a 3 year warranty, ps1 games, themes, beta's, netflix addon, hulu, a music service. It might be actually decent. But they should throw in Qore as well.

I think there should be a premium service with all the features and if it gets cut down to 60 or 55 bucks, then we'll talk Sony.

I would have no problem with adding an option for subscription benefits. I probably wouldn't sign up, but I don't see any problem with presenting the option.

I'm not surprised Sony want to start charging a fee, but if its for things like cross game chat, hulu returning (use to work in the browser now it dooesn't), net flix on the xmb (should be free) f that. But if its featured packed adding things like games (ps3 & psp) & movies rental, free minis & themes maybe add in Qore and betas I might be interested. then again kind of hard to make the fee work it'll do more harm than good IMO!

dont want the PSN to turn into xbox live gold member get all the features while silver member dont ..... I understand a fee is needed for somethings but this hmmmm if they do it, it better be a kickass service and not affect the services psn offers now.

All that extra content sounds good. But $69.99 sounds like a rip for what you're getting. Cross Game Chat should be free, access to PSOne classics should also be free. They need to leave those free and replace them with something that will be worth the $69.99 yearly subscription.

Although the Cloud Storage might be the reason for its price?, it also depends on how much storage you're given and how safe it is if you end up losing your account for whatever reason.

Ive been reading all these comments and your missing out on one thing.. what about future updates? will they only be for the premium subscribers?

if so, fuck the whole idea of the premium subscription

Just add cross game chat and we'l be good for a while. free psn games? come on, its not free if you have to pay a subscription for it..

If they start this shit they can fuck off if they think im buying anymore games on playstation.. im just gonna start pirating everything on my pc...

Cloud storage is the only thing really interesting me here, I think some of the other things should have been made free already, like cross game voice chat.

I'll see what the final model is like and then I'll think about subbing.

I have no issue with it as long as they don't start charging for what is currently free. Although I never really understood the fascination with cross game chat, it's pretty apparent that everyone else clamors for it, so that should probably be a free service too. Everything else looks good.

The only thing that doens't look right is that there are multiple top tier plans. There shouldn't be these mix and match features. If they are going to charge different amounts for different sets of services, do what makes sense: charge a tier 1 service, then tier 2 comes with everything tier 1 has and more for a middle price, and ditto for tier 3. There's no one subscription in there that has all of the features they've listed that I am interested in, which breaks the deal for me. If I'm paying monthly or yearly, I'd want beta access to games, hour previews of full length games, PSOne access, and cloud storage. Not some of them.

I wouldnt mind paying for such services. I like the idea of the PSone classics and HULU but dont really care about the cross game chat. I prefer PS3 over 360 since they have some of the better games (uncharted 2 anyone?) and also runs quieter. my 360 has been collecting dust and fired it up last night and man was it loud.

I really don't think now is the time for this... stuff. Sony is riding a wave of good favor right now with this years console sales and great exclusives. I think this kind of thing would stifle their progress. It will not sit well among the hardcore, breeding more negativity than enthusiasm.

I'm not saying they shouldn't try something like this, However, at the very least they should wait till they can match XBOX LIVE nearly feature for feature before they even think about a premium service fee.

Sounds good, just hope it's not too expensive though

you're nit picking.

"I paid $600 at launch for a system that promised Free online gaming. in-game xmb, cross-game voice chat, and video I think...it promised so much at the begining and delivered nothing."

Out of the four features you've listed, you're not even sure if they promised one of them, They've had one since launch, and they've patched one in post-launch - that leaves 1/3 that they haven't implemented. But you get upranked for saying they've "delivered nothing." I don't understand why people like you can totally get away with saying stupid shit like that. Look at how stupid your comment looks when you write it out more literally: "They promised 3 things and only gave us two -- they've delivered nothing!!!"

Go ahead and sell your system dude, that'll totally show Sony. PSN could use people with a few more brain cells that than anyway.

GOD FUCKING DAMN COMMENT SYSTEM

I quit

PS Joystiq - it's really annoying that the last page only says "View previous 50 comments" and doesn't give you the page number links when there are more than 2 pages.

actually the quote was...

I paid $600 at launch for a system that promised Free online gaming. in-game xmb, cross-game voice chat, and video I think...it promised so much at the begining and delivered nothing.

AT THE BEGINNING is the key phrase in there.

if you had a PS3 at launch you had ZERO online features when you were playing a game. there was no in-game XMB. there was no cross game chat, there was no in-game texting, there are no universal invites, there is no universal session joining options.

All of the things I just mentioned are things XBL had at the time when the PS3 launched. Sony said, "PSN will offer everything that XBL offers, but for free"

Sony still doesn't have the invites and session joining that XBL exhibits(but I don't care, I've accepted that that is something that needs to be implemented early on), and now it appears we may have to PAY for cross game chat. a featured that was touted as being free when the system launched 3 years ago.

suck it.

No. In this case, if that's really what you meant, the misinterpretation was not my fault, because gramatically, "at the beginning" refers only to the time that they made these promises, not when they were implemented. So which is it, the comment didn't make any sense, or the comment was grammatically incorrect in such a way that it inferred something you did not indend?

So no, I will suck nothing.

As for my opinion on the matter. I agree that PSN has a few things about it that lag behind XBL... But regardless of what they promised and when, you got to play games online for free, and you still get to play games online for free. To me, that is worth more than cross game chat. That's such an overhyped feature. Call your fucking friend on the phone. Use yoir generic USB keyboard to type out a quick message. Start up a ventrillo. There are plenty of alternatives. The only time game related chat is important is when you're in the same game!!!! I'm not saying it's useless, I just do not see why there have been so many widespread compaints about such an insignificant feature. I would hold universal game invites FAR higher than cross game chat. You buy game systems to play games. Games in which it's importabt to talk to each other generally support in-game chat. Someone explain to me why cross game chat is such an incredible feature, and why it is such a huge lacking thing on PS3? I've never been in a situation where I wanted to talk to a friend for ANY reason, and though, DAMMIT, if only I had cross game chat... Then I would be able to talk to my friend. No. I pick up my phone and call him. Want to talk to two people? There'a a nifty free feature that's been around for years called three way calling. It's pretty neat. Someone please fill me in how this is such a gaping hole in PSN, why talking to a friend through a game system who isn't even playing the same game is necessary to gaming, and how this is all so much better than picking up the phones that we all pay so much for already.

BangBros? *looks it up* Oooh!

Reply fail. Never mind.

Don't you hate that

Yes, very much so.

the only part of this I'm scared of is the "Exclusive Member Content" who's to say that some developer might decide to make all but one of their multiplayer maps "Exclusive"

or worse, having to subscribe to play the last half of a single player game.
looks like it could be a good way to kill the secondary market if that's how it works. (just include a 1 month sub with any new game. )

You'll just have to get another job to afford it.

Hi yo!

They run fine on my 360 so we can rule it out that my connection is poor. 50/25 dl/up

I love people saying that everything we've had until now will remain free. Of course it will remain free! Hellooo!!! it's already there. But the question that should be asked is: Will future features still be free? or we'll just get crippled features and premium member get all?. They're already playing with the voice chat functionality which was supposed to be free, so it means they can decide to make any future feature that otherwise would be free into a paid one. But surely you people don't know what the word "precedent" means or do you?

All I know is that if they try to 'sweeten' the deal with the subscription by adding in Cross Game Chat as a 'premium' feature I'm going to go apeshit.

It is good that they may be considering one hour trials of PS3 games, which might mean they are going to roll out an official Games on Demand service instead of having three from two years ago.

I just said it would be a nice to have :) Although it could well be time restricted, you might even go so far as saying a game rental. So let me rephrase that.... 1 full PS3 title rental free per month.... better?

This is ludicrous. I can't believe Sony would do this to their loyal customers. This sounds like something Apple would do. Sony, HOW COULD YOU???

Hm, these features actually sound good enough to justify a subscription fee... the cloud storage especially sounds interesting.

I balked initially at the thought of paying for a 'premium' PSN subscription, but if Sony offered all of that additional content/access, I would strongly consider...

Previous 50 Comments

Rumor: Survey hints at premium PSN subscriptions

Reader Comments (194)

Posted: Dec 18th 2009 11:10PM Helghast102 said

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