Now that we’ve entered a post-E3 world, detailed information regarding the PlayStation 4 will slow down a bit. That didn’t stop Fergal Gara, Managing Director at SCEE UK and Ireland, however, as he revealed to VideoGamer that automatic updates and the PS4’s social features (likely talking about uploading) will be available to everyone, instead of being stuck behind the PlayStation Plus paywall.
On top of those, “access to online catch-up TV and online movie services sit outside of the gate,” but Fergal did say of PlayStation Plus: “If you choose to pay the subscription, yes, you get one important element of modern day gameplay, but you also get fantastic value in games, including the PlayStation Plus Edition of DriveClub.”
Looking at Gaikai though, which is scheduled to launch early 2014 in the United States, they “haven’t decided” whether PlayStation Plus members will get access to it for free, or if there will be an additional fee on top of the $50 annually:
The Gaikai developments are exciting. The Remote Play feature which we’re particularly excited about not just benefits PS4, but PS Vita – that uses some Gaikai technology.
But secondly, the full cloud gaming service comes a bit later – we announced that 2014 will start to see that introduced for PS3 titles in the US, and we’ll start to see a gradual increase in consoles, titles, devices and countries involved as we go forward, so there is a plan there to bring the PlayStation experience to more devices out of the cloud using the Gaikai that will broaden over time.
Will that be part of PlayStation Plus? I genuinely don’t know. Will that require some other, different charging mechanism? Perhaps. We just haven’t sat down to answer that question yet.
Would you be okay with spending even more on top of the PlayStation Plus fee to access Gaikai? Let us know in the comments below.
