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UPDATE: Sony Plans Paid Subscriptions & 3D Gaming For PS3
UPDATE: Sony's Kaz Hirai stresses that multiplayer gaming will remain free even if premium subscriptions are offered.
ORIGINAL STORY: Sony recently laid out its future plans in an investor meeting, and in between all the numbers and business talk were a couple interesting nuggets:
- Sony is considering offering a premium online subscription option to go with its current free service. "We are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model," said Sony's Kaz Hirai, "offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services."
- Sony wants to kick off 3D gaming and technology via the PS3 and 3D Sony TVs in 2010. 3D gaming on the PlayStation 3 will be enabled via a firmware upgrade to all PS3s.
- Sony plans to expand the PlayStation Network to allow multiple Sony devices to communicate among each other and download content via a single PSN ID. This includes cameras, TVs, Sony's Kindle-esque e-book readers, laptops, and more.
- The company expects its games division to be profitable by March 2011.
- Thanks to the PS3 Slim, the console has increased its sales by 70 percent when compared to last October.
Free online gaming and services have been a key difference between PSN and Xbox Live, so if Sony moves to paid online subscriptions, would you pay for it? Also, who knows if Sony would peel off parts of its currently free online services and fold them into the premium subscription. Would Netflix? Would gaming? What about paying for MMOs on the system? What would and wouldn't you pay for?
On the topic of games in Avatar-esque 3D, are you interested or is it just a gimmick?
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