Tretton: Premium PSN Would Be Compelling & Justified
Rumors involving an optional paid subscription for PSN have been floating around since late last year. Last week, new domains were found involving the title “PlayStation Plus” and while most users haven’t had enough reason to complain, some are already voicing their concerns. Thankfully, according to a recent interview, if Sony implements a Premium service then it will be justified.
Jack Tretton, CEO of SCEA, speaking with Geoff Keighley of GTTV, has gone on the record and stated that Sony will only integrate a Premium PSN service if it is warranted. During an interview with Tretton he stated the following:
“As far as a subscription service is concerned, we’re very proud of of the offering we have for consumers for free. There is no question if we think we can come up with a compelling experience that will warrant an investment from consumers that’s something that we’d consider, but that its not anything that we have … to announce.”
When pressed if they were going to take away from the free experience we enjoy today, Jack Tretton then added:
“No I think that’s the key. We already feel we brought a lot of value to the consumer… but until we feel we have something, like PlayStation Move, that justifies an investment, we aren’t going to come out with half cocked technology or product offerings.”
While it hasn’t been confirmed whether or not there will be a Premium PSN service in the future, it’s good to know that if there will be one, it will be justified. It’s a safe bet that the service will be announced at E3 2010, and hopefully it will include some great features such as the rumored Cross-Game Voice Chat.
10 Responses to “Tretton: Premium PSN Would Be Compelling & Justified”
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March 20th, 2010 at 4:14 PM
I really hope PSN stays free. If not, which is gonna be a shame, then I hope the services offered to the free users will not be reduced/downgraded.
March 20th, 2010 at 4:15 PM
Even Kazuo Hirai has said when talking about the “Premium Service” is that what is free now will remain free. Sony is only wanting to leverage the PSN as a vehicle to offer Streaming content to those who don’t own a PS3. They want to stream movies to the new 3D HDTv’s with new built-in features of the Bravia’s XMB, they want to stream music to network enabled Walkman MP3 players and they want to offer “Premium” services like early access to DLC from the PSN Store, inclusion into closed Betas and a special phone number to Customer Service or even an extended warranty. All these things have been floated. Also the “Cross-Game-Chat” that has been so contentious in the forums could be part of the “Premium Service” just like XBL Gold, some will whine about that but I will be glad because I don’t believe personally that the feature is a need to have, because when in the middle of a squad rush on the M-Comm for the win I don’t need to talk to a friend about getting a burger at Mickey D’s…
March 20th, 2010 at 4:38 PM
^^ what he said.
Mr. SPD55, you read my mind.
March 20th, 2010 at 6:08 PM
Sony already has a great FREE service with the PSN. If they add a premium service, I can’t help but think of how great that will be.
I, for one, am looking forward to a premium service.
March 20th, 2010 at 6:22 PM
agree with nuclear
March 20th, 2010 at 7:29 PM
If it’s as badass as i think it’s gonna be then I’ll gladly try it out for a year, but I hope they have cheaper short term packages for my first run through.
March 21st, 2010 at 12:22 AM
I would buy the service in a heartbeat. After getting the email from them a few months ago, the features, even if they were just examples, were enough to want to spend $50 or more on it.
March 21st, 2010 at 2:03 AM
Yeah, I’d try it out, too. I think a lot of good things could come from a premium service.
March 21st, 2010 at 4:55 PM
stop talking about it and do it already
the features list floated around earlier are enough to get people onboard
hopefully they aren’t just going to talk about it for 3 years and nothing happens with it
Sony has been telling me every 2-3 months since I got my 60 gig in ‘06 that they’d update the browser ( that’s how often I phone or e-mail about it ) and nothing has happened – and features promised for playstation home in 2008 have disappeared from the map so they have a past record of being all talk and no action
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:58 PM
[...] Sony to offer “a compelling experience that will warrant an investment from consumers” (PSLS). There is no doubt that the PSN network is scarce on features to give players incentive to upgrade [...]