Paid PSN Coming in 2010

Next year, Sony will offer a paid, premium version of its online services for the Playstation 3 and PSP. The company revealed its plans in a strategy presentation (PDF) but didn’t elaborate on what services a premium PSN would offer. Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai confirmed the plans, but in a statement to CVG, suggested that none of the things you already get for free will go behind a paywall. “Especially in the on-line area, we are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services,” he said.

Along with 3D gaming, this is one of the ways Sony’s hoping to turn a profit in the Playstation division (and for the company as a whole) next year. The presentation notes that PSN has 33 million subscribers, with 5.4 million people signing in daily and 1.4 million people visiting the Playstation Store every day. Digital sales through the Playstation store have tripled over the last year, and users collectively download 25 petabytes of data every month. I’d expect Sony’s premium PSN to capitalize on the interest in video, perhaps with some sort of subscription pass or access to online video channels, but the company is wisely avoiding a backlash by not pulling the plug on multiplayer. [via Gamespot]