Sony to Reveal Premium PSN+ Service at E3 for $9.99 a Month

[PS4 News]

Today JoyStiq (linked above) reports that Sony is planning to officially reveal the rumored Premium PSN+ service at E3 2010 for $9.99 a month, which VG247 hinted at last week.

According to SCEE President Andrew House, this information appears to be accurate based on his recent response, to quote:

"I can assure you that the current PSN as you know it will remain a free service. It is something that our competitors don't offer and something that shows our loyalty to the PlayStation Community.

However, Kaz Hirai stated a few months ago that we were looking at a premium service to sit alongside the current free service and that objective has not changed. You'll learn more about it very soon."

From JoyStiq, to quote: "Joystiq has been informed that PSN+ subscribers will also have the ability to enable an auto-patching feature, which will detect, download and install updates for recently played PS3 titles on the system.

As PSN+ subscribers, gamers will also receive protection for their consoles with the recently announced PlayStation Protection Plan, as well as exclusive access to the long-awaited cross-game voice chat. Additional features are said to be in the works following the launch of PSN+, including the previously rumored cloud-based saving system.

Pricing and a release for the PSN+ service is unknown, though one source speculates PSN+ may cost $9.99 per month. When contacted, a Sony representative said the company does not "comment on rumors or speculation."

More PlayStation 3 News...

[51N15T3R]

As long as they don't remove anything we already have then that's fine with me. I don't know if 9.99 a month is worth it though, guess we'll find out at E3.

X-game chat should not be a premium feature, but something tells me Sony will only allow PSN+ members to x-game chat with other PSN+ members. This E3 sounds pretty exciting for PS3 owners.

[ProSkillz21]

Wait slow down, what do they mean download patches? Patches already get downloaded and installed if a new one was released for a game as soon as you start the game.

Do they mean that the patches will line up in the download list? Cause if that's the case you are gonna have people stopping the downloads and going online to play the game unpatched.

Now at least you get signed out of PSN if you don't download the patch.

[spark32]

$9.99 a month? Thats more expensive than XBL. If they're going to do it like that, then just do what XBL does.. pay to use everything, and make it cheaper.

[carbs77]

Do they mean that the patches will line up in the download list? Cause if that's the case you are gonna have people stopping the downloads and going online to play the game unpatched.

It sounds to me like they will auto download in the background rather than making you wait when you want to start the game and downloading them at that point.

Not a bad idea for people like me who don't get much time to play but have to wait 30mins for a game to update before I can a chance to play it. At least it might download while the kids are playing and when I come to play my games they will already be patched...Thats if I understand it correctly.

Not sure if I'd pay for it though.

[red8316]

Wait slow down, what do they mean download patches? Patches already get downloaded and installed if a new one was released for a game as soon as you start the game.

Do they mean that the patches will line up in the download list? Cause if that's the case you are gonna have people stopping the downloads and going online to play the game unpatched.

Now at least you get signed out of PSN if you don't download the patch.

As I can gather, the patched would automatically download and install in the background when signed into psn. You library is actively monitored and updated with patches as they become available.

I'm lazy, but I wouldn't pay $9.99 for that, the games auto update when you play them signed into psn anyway. I don't think I would ever pay $9.99 for premium psn, I don't see the allure. The current version works well enough for me. Unless of course paying for premium psn is OPTIONAL like their firmware updates, count me in.

[Kiriller]

Waste of money, sony is really going down the wrong path. What a shame, the reason why i went with ps3 is because they were not like the xbox snobs. But i guess times have changed, new budgets are out and the new ceos just want new yachts and corporate jets.

[livpool]

Waste of money, sony is really going down the wrong path. What a shame, the reason why i went with ps3 is because they were not like the xbox snobs. But i guess times have changed, new budgets are out and the new ceos just want new yachts and corporate jets.

well their not actually taking anything away from PSN free, their just giving users the option to pay if they want more features, those that sony probably couldnt afford within their budget by giving it away for free. its still the same deal as before this subscription, no loss.

[adrianc1982]

lets see what the premium service brings and what the actual price is. Why all the hate on something we dont know anything about? Lets give them a chance and if the price or features are not worth it they will sink on their own without us having this hate-chat.

Maybe the paid feature brings something like play anything on the psn store as long as your service is active, that sounds pretty attractive to me since it will only cost me $10 and can download anything and play. If I already played everything I want then I will no longer pay until something cool arrives that sounds pretty amazing and they are not actually selling me the games they are renting me the games for a small price.

If the service is like a buffett then count me in, if I can watch qore, play all the ps1 games I love and have features like crosschat Id be stupid not to pay for it, it would even save me a bunch on new games that are not really good.

Or I can play other stuff and wait for price discounts on new games. A Gamefly digital service sounds uber cool and they will start also adding titles faster to get more subscriptions maybe even ps2 titles imagine that, a huge library at $10 a month.

Then again, lets just wait for the actual anouncement.

[Assignator98]

it's an all win for us