The EU boss says they heard ”a voice that thirsted” among users. This ”more involved consumer” now has the option to ‘get more’.
”No, I don’t think so,” said SCEE boss House, asked by VG247 if this new premium service for the PlayStation Network will divide the customer base.
”I think that people are sort of used to models emerging particularly on the network whereby you pay for the degree of allegiance or involvement that you want. We’re offering this as an option.” Sony unveiled PlayStationPlus at their E3 press event.
Multiplayer gaming will remain a free service for PlayStation Network, which continues to separate it from Microsoft’s Xbox Live. For a 3 month subscription to PlayStationPlus it will cost $17.99 or €14.99. A full-year is $49.99 and €49.99 in the US and EU respectively.
”I think it was in response to having heard from consumers great happiness about the variety of online services that we have been launching – about what’s available on the network overall. But there was also a voice that thirsted for more,” he said.
”They wanted more – to be part of a club that gets more and gets more on the network. So for that more involved consumer that wants to be more involved on the network, we made PlayStationPlus available, and said, “There’s a price point associated.”
This new PlayStationPlus premium service starts up June 22nd and includes goodies like free PSN titles now and then, access to Qore (in the US) as well as early demo or even beta participation. Expect some PlayStation Store discounts too to go with it all.