I expect the premium package will be worth it, cross chat should not be premium, but i expect access to PSN titles and movies, Im all for it

As long as the premium has good add-on ill be all over this like a fat 4th grader on cup cakes.

movie or even game rentals that would be sweet still free to play on line is good i don't think they will change that and ubiquitious thay are not following ms thay are improving the psn witch is a good thing if u don't like it don't use it it free that is the best part of it you are not loosing any money

Guys.... Don't be at all surprised if cross game chat becomes premium, some demos come sooner for Member$, and so on. As long as they don't touch free online though, I couldn't care less. That's all I really need.

I love the way these moron bots are trying to spin this. See we can still play online and do everything we are doing now for free! They are adding optional products which users don't have to buy. Keep paying that live fee for your laggy ass p2p gaming.

Don't do what Microsoft did and seperate Silver memebrs from Gold mebers keep it where everyone can play with or againest eachother.

For $100 a year, i'd do it.

I can never complain as long as playing ONLINE is free. That's all I ask.

thank god there keeping online free

lol bots cant read, psn will remain free as always, im suspecting they will offer a monthly subscription so you can download unlimited games, which would be cool, but not for me.. i already have gamefly.
again bots learn to read or go back to 1st grade so you could learn this crucial teaching.

if the current psn will be their "silver" with no more changes and their premium will have x-game chat , parties and additional features . i wonder what their pricing will be. hopefully cheaper than xbox live to drive the price down

How did this get through? Qore expansions and other stuff is premium content. PSN isn't going to turn into xbl anytime soon

My avatar says it all.

I suppose I can't complain so long as they keep online play free. It's annoying that we're going to have to start waiting a little longer to get demos though.

I hope they don't start charging for stuff we would normally get in a fw update. That would be truly shockin.

Sony in the profit zone. Half a billion.

Here we go If sony adds any kind a paid PSN services they will be going against everything they have said from the Beginning. Even if PSn online play is free, Sony said they will never Charge for PSN... but I'd pay for free netflix streaming but not what else they can throw in to make it worth wild

I might have to downgrade for sh1tty costly p2p xbox live

ohhh wait
PSN will be remain free AND have servers
thats just paying Premium for premium stuff
and I can choose!

Kk thanks Sony!

Online commerce for digital distribution so to better compete with Itunes, so I'm pretty sure this new merger will be based on the PSN but have a subscription based for other means like the connect store and such.. the PSN however will and shall remain free as confirmed by Kaz himself, so online play, PS Home and all the other perks of PS3's gaming network.. it'll be free.

The PS3 has always had Facebook, Twitter, and everything else the internet has to offer. It's called a Web Browser, but I can understand why you've never heard of it. We get it for free, along with our online gaming. It's your choice to give money to a company that abandoned it's past console once they had their shiny, new, badly constructed console ready. It's your choice to pay an additional fee for online gaming. It's my choice to own a PS3 and NEVER give money to Microsoft if I can help it. In my estimation this makes me smarter than you. This article confirms that PS3's online gaming, and every other current service, will remain free. That's all that matters. Have fun with your 360.

If they offer some cool stuff that you can pay for and want to, awesome, sign me up.

If they offer something you have to pay for that I have no interest in but I can still do what I can do now, for free. Awesome, at least there's an option for other stuff but the basic function of an online gaming community remains free and accessible to everyone with a PS3.

they would hold demos from the psn users since most ppl try the demo b4 buyng the game, i have buy lots of games after tryng the demo , last game was the startrek demo, i like the demo then i buy the game

mussst profit at all cost

We all knew it would happen

And it will become more and more premium people, eventually they are just going to drop all pretences and pretty much anything worthwhile on PSN will only be available to "premium account holders"

so hmmm not sure if i understand this correctly but let me get this straight

the psn as we know now is going to be free plus the online gaming will be free etc etc

so i'll still be able to buy a ps1 game or a psn game

if so what exactly would i be getting if i subscribe i mean for the contents like themes id already be having to pay for in the first place

So they smelled blood when they saw how much users wanted cross-game chat?

That's pretty dirty, they had a chance to really outdo Live, but I guess that's not what they want.

online will be free but im sure they mean a subscription for other services that have nothing to do with gaming online,like movies and wotever type of media.

I have a feeling there gonna charge around $29.99 a yr for it. Look at Qore Either way it will most likely be worth it.

Yea Sony know had to make their fans happy free PSN Online for life that is what real gamers want out of a console not being force to paid for Online support that to me seems wrong.

this seems pretty fair. if everythin i have now will still b free then its all good. theyre gonna have to offer sumtin pretty sweet for me to wanna play tho. knowin sony they wont let us down or screw us.

Cross game chat is counted as a 'System Update' and not a 'PSN Update'although it adds extra features to the PSN.

It's more of a hardware thing.

Can't wait for the Motion Controllers though.

More likely a music store like Itunes.

I still maintain, if I can play online, the only sub I would be remotely interested it is a rental sub for the video store.

They're just pissed that PS3 has been b¡tch slapping the xbox 360 in monthly sales.

as long as they kept the service free and if sony do this why it dumb and what about 10 years old playing online how they gonna play and what about the economy think about that sony

- A music service (Sony iTunes) which was already hinted at...
- A possible 'renting' of PSN games / PSP games?!

The first is more likely than the second, but Sony could do something outside the box.

PS3 have more to offer then xbot live does with free Online you can play with your friends its not right that you already paid for internet services why would anyone want to paid for xbot live.

the question is for what services are you going to charge?? interesting, but as of now not worth it in any platform.

I hope there will different packages or a pick and mix package.

your in for a rude awakening if you think your gonna get all you can download for 100 a year.

Im all for both ms and sony making money, and if sony keeps online play free more power to them, but when the details are announced I expect some unhappy people to pop up. it was innevitable.

I wonder what "premium" means? Does that mean that people who pay get access to content before people who don't? Does that mean that people who don't pay never get access to some content? I'd really like to know more about what it means.

let it be worth it's price.

Wonder if they will make you play for cross-game chat?

Damn copycats.

Follow the leader Sony.

if it's worth the money, i'ii gladly pay.

This whole news this week is to get feedback from the playstation community to see where would they go from here. So i think this whole news is sony way of finding out what you guys would pay for and wouldn't pay for.

Lol... so what happens if they make online gaming part of this premium content? Does that mean that everyone here will be ok with it? :/

Lets face it. Compared to Xbox LIVE, Playstation Network has a very small income, and the PS3 has done quite a bit of damage to their gaming division. It's just a fact. It's not bad to say that in the least.

I saw this sort of thing coming, even if it doesn't relate to online gaming.

You knew this was coming.....

Sony claimed online play for the PSN it first came out I can understand charging for games and DLC, and Qore. But charging for cross game chat I can't see it fans would be in an uproar, I know people who want it and don't want it for the Ps3. I don't mind it sometimes on the Xbox i'll stay on dashboard and chat while my friends play a game. But a premium theme I am thinking would be NetFlix if and when it arrives, and I think there was a story on here last week saying an App store might appear to on the PSN. As long as Sony does not seperate those with the premium and those without it like Microsoft. They did the segragation with Silver and Gold and that is just stupid. I just hope when this new thing arrives for the PS3 its not cluttered as Xbox Live you really have to search for things like demos and movies and no stupid pop up bpxes that take up half a screen.

Blue-ray players, televisions with hard drives and network connections, audio players etc...

Sony is expanding PSN beyond it's gaming roots to become a Premium content provider across most of it's product platforms.

Alot of 360 fanboys thinking XBL is better then PSN, notthing about it is better, all they got is Cross Party Chat. Guess they can't handle the truth about PSN being the same as XBL but free.

I see Sony keeping it free but if you pay, then you get more out of it, but other then that. Sony needs to keep it free to rub in Microsoft face.

Anything you can do, We Can Do Better And For Free< New saying for Sony.

1)Exclusive look on demos and preview before current members.

2)Free DLC for cross platform game (example you have killzone2 on PS3 and you have the new killzone game on psp then unlock special costume X when you are premium.

3)Specials deals on other Sony products (movies, musics)

4) and yes, unfortunately expect to pay to play for the new 1st party games. Expect Sony to annonce that games like MAG the DC RPG and others, will require servers maintenance, so they will need to charge for that. But expect 3rd party to remain free.
Sony's answer will probably be that 3rd party are free to charge if they want but it's not PSN fault (see FF11)

Current free service on PSN remain free but what about the new features introduced by future firmware update that have to do with PSN?

Most new features added to X360 Live haven't been free. Sony would try to do the same thing. It's an effective strategy to get PS3 gamers to subscribe to the premium service by not giving any new features for free. Similar to Games Downloadable Contents. You only get what is out of the box but additional contents will not be free.

If you look at the history on PSN updates, more and more new features haven't been free.

it was only a matter of time before sony began to charge for psn premium content. hello people i bet it costs alot of money to run the psn service so its only logical that they start to charge.. before you know it they are also gonna start to charge to play online just watch . i give till the middle or end of next year.

and by the way live is better than psn not by alot but is... and before you call me a fanboy i own a ps3 also and i play them almost equally..

Premium Service means the most retarded community on the world.. yes, thats a premium service which you can only get on the PSN!

Don't touch my free demo game. Anyway, apparently they will add content, not make actual content payable. It might be TV like EU.

See this is why i see Sony PSN surpassing LIVE soon. I mean Their service has free online play and it still manages to rack in major cash WHY cause their subscribers only dilemma is what add-on to buy next and unlike with live they dont have to worry about splitting their dollar between paying for the online service and that much wanted add-on.

ok. here it is:

XBL is better than PSN even though is not free, if you don't agree then you've never had an Xbox or are a foolish fan-boy.

now as for this development, it points out to Cross Party Chat, since MAG and BF are coming out soon. Also online TV seems to be the culprit since the bandwidth is going to be an issue and those servers need to paid for somehow, maybe that's one of the reasons why I can't access European TV anymore, seems region locked now.

but I agreed with most of you, If they keep gaming and make Cross Party Chat free, then I just don't give a f^(%#.

This is not confirmed. This is speculation. This should have been flagged for being misleading.

it would be sweet if they add an unlimited download subscription. like pay $50 a year or whatever and be able to download whatever you want off PSN.

I think a lot of you guys are being over generous with Sony.Anyway,here's how I think it may go. Yes, the free will remain free,however,we'll probably be bombarded with endless commercials in lieu of any payment. And if you think that's unlikely,well what about WOHD ? There I was enjoying my fave game, then one day I loaded it up and WTF - adverts on the loading screen!! Needless to say I don't play it any more. What next? Pay for BBC iplayer! I think Sony need new revenue streams to support Playstation brand and make it profitable! As with MS, Sony realise the potential of a paid online service. Problem is I already pay for live which currently, is superior to PSN in my opinion. Therefore,I hope Sony doesn't force me to choose!

Their is really no point to making PSN cost, in less some people are so dumb that they wouldn't even take 1mil dollars for free.

This worlds gets dumber each year.

Now that Jim Ryan is gone just need to remove Herman Hulst from his position! And maybe give Shuhei the position he deserved.

This gen hasn't been the best for games, last gen consoles are still out there and now there's been talk of the PS6 and Xbox Two for a year or so. Many games this gen will be ported to next gen and the cycle will continue. The re-release of the Neo Geo AES+, games on cartridge for £70 ($95), gaming is going back in time. Gaming has gone pricing mad with the high cost of games, consoles and controllers. The men and women at the top are clueless.

It’s always interesting to hear behind-the-scenes stories like this, especially involving veterans like Shuhei Yoshida and leadership figures like Jim Ryan. That said, there are usually multiple sides to decisions at that level. It could be less about not “listening” and more about differences in long-term vision for PlayStation. Yoshida played a huge role in shaping the brand, so whatever the reason, his impact is undeniable.

If true, and I'm inclined to believe it is, it goes to show that Sony lost their way when they became more western/didn't respect the PlayStation origin story. Andrew House and Jack Tretton did great work, but they also didn't try to fundamentally change the PlayStation DNA. Ryan oversaw the death of Japan Studio and a live service direction.

I already figured this, good lord imagine if Shuhei took over instead, would've been a platinum era 😩

I miss the first three generations of PlayStation. The way they turned PS3 around, we knew they meant business. We were all worried for a bit there around launch. Eventually from 2008 they started shifting slowly. But since Yoshida was fired, it's never been the same. Still enjoy my PS5 daily. I got a backlog dating back to PS2 lol So I'm fine but new games aren't as appealing anymore.

It seems like we were thrown on to the worst timeline possible where everything is too expensive and the wrong people were put in positions that makes the world a shitty place. We could have had Shu as the head of PS but we got the shitty alternative. Same goes for everyone in power around the world. Doesn’t matter the company or country the majority of us got the shitty picks and the world is declining like never before. I do think PS can come out of this because of their studios, talent and IP but they need someone more in touch with gamers leading things like Shu was. They’re still the best place for console gaming imo but it could be much better than it is especially without the massive live service failures. The rest of the world I have a lot less hope for right now. Hopefully the pendulum swings back towards the good ole days but I’m preparing for the worst.

There goes illuminati distraction story

So now there's certifiable proof that Ryan was in fact "fired", as opposed to when it was first announced that he "retired", in order to save face.

There's another guy who recently "retired" as CEO of another large gaming company, after doing a dismantling job as lead for well over a decade.

seems legit, the business man, fires the one who has ideas to move the business forward.

Jim Ryan is the reason why we are entering year 6 since the PS5 launch and many of us don't feel like the PS5 has gotten started as yet.

I hope going forward, we will see a return to form.