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News

  PSN Revenues Hit October High, As Sony Mulls 'Premium' Subscriptions
by Leigh Alexander
6 comments
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November 19, 2009
 
PSN Revenues Hit October High, As Sony Mulls 'Premium' Subscriptions
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On the PlayStation 3's third birthday yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment America is announcing that last month saw the highest revenues on record for the PlayStation Network.

PSN Store downloads were up over 60 percent year-over-year in October, announced Sony, leading to over 650 million items of content downloaded to date. PSN users worldwide have registered over 31 million accounts, the company adds.

The October boom in PlayStation Network downloads owes a great deal to PS3 sales during that month; Sony says the console sales grew nearly 70 percent year over year in October, accelerating on the back of the new slim redesign and price reduction.

Responding to a new investor presentation [PDF link] which referenced paid subscription possibilities for PlayStation Network, Sony executive Kaz Hirai said the company is considering a subscription plan in addition to the current free model for PSN.

"SCE will further increase sales by offering users new entertainment through the combination of hardware, software, peripheral and PlayStation Network," Hirai said in a statement given to outlets including consumer weblog VG247.

Hirai explained: "Especially in the online area, we are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services."
 
   
 
Comments

Anwar Wilkerson
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As long as it will still be free to play online against others. If any type of Xbox360 type of subscription thing is announced I won't be using the PSN.

Also If were talking about a Netflix sort of subscription (games on demand, movies on demand, etc.) then that would be great.

Adam Flutie
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I think Sony is making the right move here. Offer free with some actual features and ability to play online and get use to it, then make some premium services to fill in the gap for those that want additional features and services.

Edward Vertigo
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I agree with Anwar; as long as I can play online without having to pay a subscription, then that's fine. Like Qore, for example... for a yearly fee, you get access to neat things, but folks like me can ignore it and still play online multiplayer games.

Amir Sharar
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I wonder if the premium services include party modes or clan setups. Features that advanced users and serious online competitors will appreciate. Seems quite clear that the current features and abilities will remain free.

Roberto Alfonso
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If they have dedicated servers, they will eventually start billing for them.

Christopher Plummer
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If they start billing us they better have dedicated servers.

I also hope that they don't try to make clan or party stuff or anything having to do with multiplayer subscription based. It would be so annoying to have acces to that stuff and then not be able to use it with your friends because they don't pay a subscription.

I would pay a subscription to have value-added features for the PSN store though.

- rent games
- monthly fee for access to multiple movies instead of a la carte
- online storage that I can access from any PSN connected device



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