Switch Lights

The lights are on

GameInformer

What's Happening

shmahadle commented on shmahadle's post about re: Next Generation FIFA To Appear At Xbox Reveal.
UncleBoots commented on Mike Futter's post about Illustrator Creates Advertisements For Fictional Pokémon Locales .
Kevin commented on Matt Miller's post about What Xbox Franchises Should Return On The Next Xbox?.
B00ME commented on Chris Mrkvicka's post about re: What Xbox Franchises Should Return On The Next Xbox?.
Jeremy Sturgill commented on Mike Futter's post about Rhode Island To Dispense With Amalur Property Soon.
Jeremy Sturgill commented on Mike Futter's post about Illustrator Creates Advertisements For Fictional Pokémon Locales .
aamiryoyo commented on Jeff Cork's post about Pokémon X And Y Coming To 3DS Worldwide In October.
killerguy855 commented on Ozz0912's post about re: A Day Before Microsoft's Party, Sony Teases PS4 Design.
Raiden commented on Mike Futter's post about Activision Asks Black Ops II Players To Vote On New Personalization Packs.
RAM CAT commented on Kyle Hilliard's post about Deathstroke Playable In Batman: Arkham Origins.
Phlarb commented on Matt Miller's post about What Xbox Franchises Should Return On The Next Xbox?.
Zebastian von Kane commented on Mike Futter's post about Your Xbox Reveal Headquarters.
Zebastian von Kane commented on Mike Futter's post about All Of Our Xbox Retrospective Coverage In One Place.
OptikilIlusion commented on Mike Futter's post about Rhode Island To Dispense With Amalur Property Soon.
kystra commented on Mike Futter's post about All Of Our Xbox Retrospective Coverage In One Place.

Sony Calls Subscription-Based Model 'Our Dream'

News

by Jeff Cork on February 25, 2013 at 01:10 PM

13,493 Views

73 2

Back in July 2012, Sony announced that it had acquired streaming-content service Gaikai. Shuhei Yoshida, Sony president of worldwide studios, provided a bit of insight about what that partnership could offer in the future, including the potential of a subscription model.

Yoshida said in an interview with the Guardian that the prevalence of digitally distributed content allows Sony to examine how they get games into players' hands. "So hypothetically we can look at different models – like a cable TV company," he said. "We could have gold, silver or platinum levels of membership, something like that. We can do subscription services when we have more content – especially now that we have the Gaikai technology available. With one subscription you have access to thousands of games – that's our dream.

It sounds a lot like a refined and expanded version of the PlayStation Plus service that's currently available. Considering that PlayStation Plus didn't release until about four years after the PS3's launch, there's plenty of time for Sony to figure out the specifics, if the company even decides to explore this model further.

We also interviewed Yoshida at the PS4 event about PS4 and Vita interoperability, the new camera, and more. Check out that interview here.

[Via: Edge Online]

Email the author Jeff Cork, or follow on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Game Informer.

Filed under: News, PS4, playstation 4, digital

Comments

sort by date:

by Robertman2 Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:17 PM

Hmm interesting...
by massvideogamer Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:19 PM

Just so long as we can play games online fully without paying anything, then I'm fine with this
by Ag3nt Shadow Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:20 PM

Sub fees == fail. Wii U has free online. Sony has free online now. I don't pay to play games online on my PC. I will never pay. Plain and simple. If this becomes part of Sony's business model then I won't buy a PS4. I would have only bought one for the exclusives anyway since I do most of my gaming on PC.
by Darth_Kazah Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:21 PM

One of the Ps3s bonuses was no subscription fee for online play. Here's to hoping that'll continue, and not in a cheap-out way.
by megaded1975 Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:23 PM

Count me in if the content is there and it runs close to flawless and dont cost me a ton a year.
by Zonified Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:26 PM

For the PS4 I'm expecting for Sony to keep the basic online for free, similar to what there is now. But I also expect them to have a subscription in some form that gives you access to all of those neat sharing features they showed. If they just include it with PS+ then I'll most certainly pay for it. I guess we'll just have to wait for more information.
by Still_Insane22 Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:27 PM

No. Companies already nickel-and-dime us with "special online privileges", don't make me pay for online, Sony. Besides, Sony's free online is what made PSN so attractive to me in the first place. I'd like to see a model that's like the benefits of an Xbox Gold membership, but free, and then have Playstation Plus and make Plus more attractive to have.
by Matt The Hedgehog Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:27 PM

Please don't be like Xbox Live!!! PLEASE BE FREE!!!!!
by Epicopenworld Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:29 PM

And this is the first step in them saying they will have a xbox live type sub.....all the Playstation fanboys told me I was crazy when predicted this
by Blake Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:30 PM

If the subscription allowed me to play all the new games when they release at a flat cost for a year or so, I'd be down with it. It'd be like Onlive, but not a failure.
by vertigobleak Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:36 PM

Gotta make that money $$$...but just so long as they dont require a paid subscription to play online multiplayer I don't see a problem. I think paying a monthly fee should open up that cloud library of older games they keep going on about, or discounts and early access to future games.
by stealthfinto Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:40 PM

dream for them, nightmare for gamers
Mod

by Rain Queen Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:41 PM

The idea of an expanded Playstation Plus that gives users unlimited access to a huge range of Sony games for a monthly fee sounds like a great idea for people who game a lot, or for people who want to try a lot of games without a $60-each commitment.

On the other hand, I hope they still keep a "free" option available for consumers, and hopefully they don't lock out free players from online play and other features. They don't say anything about taking away online play, but it's still important that Sony knows how passionate their fanbase is about that.

I also hope they don't take away physical media entirely, for people who don't have reliable or consistent broadband, and for people who like to take games on the go (unless they offered the option to access your account on another person's console, which every console developer seems incredibly reticent to do for some bizarre reason. Steam lets you do it; get with the times, people).
by sealsaa Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:43 PM

God no. Please don't model it after Live, OR the cable company models for that matter *shivers*. Just add all of these new features to Plus instead of restructuring the model with "gold" "silver" and "platinum" memberships.
by Zen_Shot Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:45 PM

Looks like "Pay Per Play" is on the way. Dang!
by Ricky Cosmano Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:48 PM

I'm a Nintendo/Steam person when it comes to online gaming, but Sony isn't stupid, this subscription thing will only be for the added features and bonuses of Plus. Any normal online interactions and multiplayer gaming will still be free. I think the main thing is the upkeep of servers dedicated for streaming games is what the sub will be for.
by NarratedByMorganFreeman Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:58 PM

A lot of people seem to be missing the point of this article. They're not talking about having you pay for online multiplayer here like XBoxlive. They may end up doing that but that's not what they're addressing here. Here they're talking about having like an online gamefly type of service, or a netflix for games.
by RyanW456 Monday, February 25, 2013 at 01:59 PM

You people act like it's a crime to be charged for all the features provided. Let's see, for xbox live, I get all games online, free demos, discounts, netflix (yes need a sub for that but still) hulu(same), Zune or whatever, and live streaming tv as long as you already have that. Even as someone who hates sub fees, I believe we're getting plenty of bang for our buck. Newsflash: stuff isn't free and never will be.
by M3o5nster Monday, February 25, 2013 at 02:25 PM

Leave the subscriptions to Micro$oft... Just give us free PSN and paid PSN plus. Don't mess up a good thing.
by Jason Monday, February 25, 2013 at 02:25 PM

So they want to have a streaming version of Gamefly. Nice I could be down for that depending on bandwidth issues that might arise. I see gaming evolving into this cloud based genre before we know it anyways so why not be 1 step ahead. Bravo Sony Bravo