PSN Premium rumoured for E3

PS3 Rumour | Free or fee; make the choice.

Those cats at VG247 have thrown the interwebs a bone in the form of a rather interesting PlayStation 3 rumour; PSN Premium.

Referring to a very well trusted source, Sony apparently plan to announce an additional premium service to the already free PlayStation 3 networking platform, PSN. This announcement, along with a major presentation of Move, would make up the bulk of their E3 press conference.

According to the rumour mill, PSN Premium would be an annual subscription service priced at under 50 pounds, or by direct conversion under approximately AU$80. Subscribers would be rewarded with a number of bonuses, such as one free PSN release per month, as well as a music platform similar to Spotify, allowing music to be streamed in the background of any title.

Further subscription details are scarce, but the source of this rumour noted that the premium service would in no way invade features of the currently free PSN platform, including the rumoured cross-game voice chat feature that will supposedly be available for everyone.

Whether or not Sony will take the plunge into a subscription model will have to remain a rumour for now, but with E3 just around the corner we can expect confirmation on this rumour soon enough.

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24 Comments

Buttmouth

3 years ago

do not want! beginning of the end!

that price is absurd.

fupoisme

3 years ago

I never play online on my PS3 so this really wouldn't affect me. They wouldn't start charging for features that are already free either.

Mr Waffle

3 years ago

Well, regardless of what it does, hopefully it wakes microsoft up and shakes them into actually supplying more bang for your buck with Live...

Zhou

3 years ago

at that price I might as well go get gold membership on xbox.

LooneyVoltage

3 years ago

Some of the ideas of those rumors does sound good. 12 PSN games for $80 does sound all right - if they are good games or not, well thats another story.

And with the whole $80 price point, thats about the same price as the RRP for 12 months of Live but my guess there is going to be places out there selling it for cheap. Im very thankful for the PALGN peeps helping me out getting 12 months of live for something like $45 with the Xbox live deals thread so i would say that hopefully some websites will do the same for the PSNP.

ManeKast

3 years ago

Want!

I have spent about $400+ on XBL since the 360 launch. Worth it? Yep. Music in background on any title? Worth it. I know the 360 does this already. Few free PSN titles, content, local search filter (essential, please Sony).

ANDYBALLINA

3 years ago

I don't know, sure the extra features good be cool and getting a free game would be sweet. But I like the fact that PSN is free online and would rather have it free, than have the extra features.

Fetidchimp

3 years ago

they would need a bigger carrot to get people to pay for it when the main ingredients are still free

pom013

3 years ago

One free psn release and control over in game music? Meh, definatly need a bigger carrot. I never purchase from the PSN anyway (except the occasional DLC but only when it really, really enhances the game) and when i want custom music I'll just put my ipod in. I really hope they dont mess with the current PSN though.

G3ck0

3 years ago

One free release is awesome. If it's 80 a year, and PSN games are around 15, you are getting more value than you are paying. But then maybe they will only let you choose out of two crappy games a month or something.

mipac

3 years ago

The current PSN serves me well enough. However, if they can throw in enough features to justify $80 a year, I would definetely be interested.

Cyph

3 years ago

Although I am not interested in a paid PSN service (just like why I'm not interested in MS paid Live service, and hence why I'm shelving my 360), the premise that the new service adds to the existing features of the founding free model rather than taking away from the latter is certainly the right decision. Kudos to Sony for giving consumers an option that does not subtract from their current offerings.

Gamesta

3 years ago

No thank you.I have always said I would refuse to pay for XBL if I had a 360 and I'm not gonna change my mind just because something similar to XBL comes to the PS3.

LeonJ

3 years ago

I wouldn't pay for X amount of pre-paid games a year. Sony certainly would restrict the selection (it's impossible to make it any choice because they are all priced differently with different developers). Music in the background streaming? Hrm.

I already pay for Live and that's enough (only reason I do is because I'm an original Live man from day dot and have an established friends list). Live is a bit of rip but it's certainly a superior solution and hence why M$ gets away with it.

They would have to offer a lot more to tempt me. Hopefully E3 will shed more light.

dloiscute

3 years ago

Live is a rip. And so is this.

grim-one

3 years ago

So I'm assuming the game isn't an open choice - e.g. "July this year you can download PJ:Racer for free" - and my games generally already have music in the background... What am I getting for the price of a new game? Nothing, that's what. Sorry Sony but I'll take my chances and just spend the $80 on my choice of PSN or retail games.... or not if nothing good is released

Karai Pantsu

3 years ago

Streaming music over a title? How about just playing it off the HDD or network, where you'd actually have access to tunes you like without worrying about eating download usage.

Seriously, that's a weak offer at best - they need to take that back to the drawing board and offer potential users something that is worth the dosh.

bowie

3 years ago

Twelve games for $80, $6.67 per game is potentially quite good. I'm a bit picky so picking "from a choice of â€œtwo to fourâ€ every month" might not be enough.

Streaming music doesn't appeal to me. I already own music that I like. But if this means all games will support custom soundtracks, that news would make me happy.

Will have wait and see what the actual price is and what is included before I can make an informed decision. Hurry up E3 we need answers,

BurnZ

3 years ago

$80?

That makes me sad in the pants.

Cyph

3 years ago

So the issue is the price (which I agree)? What if you were able to choose which game to download from the full list?

sobriquet835

3 years ago

The only good thing about this is that it doesn't impede existing features. I'll be mega pissed if it ever takes away from the existing free features, for me that's one of the main advantages of PS3 over 360.

john_solids

3 years ago

im curious to know if how you will have to pay for this service/
i wonder if it would be buy a psn premium card and away you go. (potentially meaning you could find deals going around to find it for cheaper)
OR
you need to purchase it through the psn store, so buying a psn card from the store or using your credit card online, meaning that there is alot less chance for finding deals to get it cheaper.

but with the current information im not yet interested, im playing games alot less now, if they through in a few video store downloads (users choice from all) and...... ok and i dont know what else i can even think of to make it worth while for me to get so i think i will just stick to the free stuff.

barrett

3 years ago

Sounds like a good compromise,still get psn for free if you want vs Live where you get nothing for free.

DeathFalcon

3 years ago

It actually sounds pretty cool, I have been using Spotify for a while now and absolutely love it!

The only drawback would be if they limited the service to just the PS3 as its more of a "Play what I want while I game medium" and there really isn't enough multitasking and control to warrant a large media library. But if they provided a computer gateway I could see that part of the service as pretty worthwhile.

The better idea would be to separate the services, similar to what Microsoft does with the Zune pass. And for there to be multiple gateways to the content such as Web, PC, PS3, PMP, PSP and Mobile.

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