Kaz Hirai considering PSN Charge?


Recommended Posts

From Digital Spy

Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) boss Kaz Hirai has revealed that the firm is considering a subscription model for the PlayStation Network.

Under the plans, online gaming would most likely remain free, but other unspecified premium services would start carrying a charge to access.

In a statement issued to CVG, Hirai said: "SCE will further increase sales by offering users new entertainment through the combination of hardware, software, peripheral and PlayStation Network.

"Especially in the online area, we are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services."

Hirai decided to speak publicly on the plans following the leak of a Sony slide presentation outlining the firm's aim to generate a "new revenue stream from subscription".

The presentation further revealed SCE plans to position the PS3 as a 3D-ready console as part of an overall strategy to introduce the technology into Sony consumer electronics during 2010.

Towards the aim, all current PS3 consoles will be upgraded to 3D via a firmware update at some point in the future.

I'm quite surprised at that - I though Microsoft would come down to meet Sony rather than the other way round :(

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/847690-kaz-hirai-considering-psn-charge/
Share on other sites

in addition to the current free services.

Probably more things like Qore, the EU is still waiting on their version of that which was promised. I vision a monthly rental model for video coming as well, people prefer to pay $10-15 a month and get unlimited rentals, than pay $3-5 a pop for each rental. With PSN confirmed to be coming to TVs/Mobile Devices video subscription rental would make sense.

Nothing to be surprised about, online gaming is remaining free. That's the often argued and sought after point between what MS may or may not do in the future.

I think at one point it was rumoured they were considering offering a subscription to the PSN store, if you paid so much each month for a set amount of time you'd get x amount of content each month. Obviously the idea being whatever you get all in is valued at slightly more than your subscription, but you have to commit to the subscription for the duration.

Sony to launch online content distribution service in 2010

Sony has confirmed that the planned content distribution service for its network-connected devices will be launched next year.

The online service is expected to offer films, music, books and other content to its range of network-capable TVs, Blu-ray players, ebooks and other devices in a bid to add value to its products, reports Reuters.

Additionally, Sony executive VP Kazuo Hirai told reporters in Japan he is confident sales of the PlayStation 3 will hit the company's official target of 13 million units in the fiscal year ending March 2010.

Sony has recently said that it hopes to return its PlayStation business to profitability for the fiscal year ending March 2011.

Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony...in-2010-article

Books/Films/Music/Ebooks? That's begging for a subscription.

Edited by Audioboxer

That's a good point, just reminded me of a headline I saw earlier... (scurries off to find link)

Sony iTunes in 2010

Could be like an "all you can eat" access for a set fee every month. I think Virgin Broadband is doing something similar in the UK.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • The proportion (or number of iterations) has nothing to with this aspect of Copyright I am describing. In short, it doesn't matter how many times the manager tells you to change something or how. Your work product is always YOURS until and unless you then assign that to the person representing the client/company, usually for financial compensation -- either in salary or as a subcontract work for hire payment. if iterations determined copyright, then businesses would have learned to just keep making changes until they could claim they owned the copyright, without having to compensate the artist for their work. And that would be BAD. The only place where the amount of changes does have a role is in how much does a human modify a previous public domain work (from any source) before it is considered fair use or their own work, etc. For example, if a human makes substantial changes to a public domain (re: AI, by definition) work, then they can then claim that derivative work as their own...but NEVER the original version, of course. That's why anyone can make a movie about Dracula, for example, as long as it is based on the public domain novel, but not if they take new ideas from copyrighted movies made afterwards. As one of the people who personally advised the US Copyright Office on their recent ruling on these very issues, be assured that I specifically used the terminology precisely -- though I made it simple enough for laymen to understand it. If I made this confusing by doing so, I apologize. But, to be clear regarding your assumption that I would agree to your second statement that I quoted above -- the answer is NO. If AI does the work, no matter how much "direction" you give it, it cannot be copyrighted. All AI generated content is in the Public Domain and therefore the copyright cannot be assigned to ANYONE, even you -- until and unless substantial modifications are made to it BY A HUMAN BEING (yourself or a contracted artist/writer/etc.) and then that copyright on the derivative work is legally (in writing) transferred to you. This is a critical distinction. And it is important that people, especially AI sloppers, understand this. For example, YouTube is not paying AI slop generators for the copyright, etc. of their AI slop. What YouTube is doing is sharing AD REVENUE for permission to publish your AI slop. Copyright/ownership/rights never come into it. Importantly, that means that anyone can copy any AI slopware on YouTube, etc. and rehost it anywhere they want, even back on YouTube, and there is nothing legal that YouTube can do about it with regards to copyright protections, ownership, DMCA, etc. Anyone is legally free to use any AI slopware in any way they want. When this ruling was pending, I warned Disney legal of all of this before they did their OpenAI deal -- that it would literally dilute their entire IP portfolio forever. They ignored that warning for the PR and stock bump. But that is why, when the ruling came down last year, Disney quickly extricated themselves from that OpenAI deal, even eating the initial upfront fees -- followed closely by OpenAI ending their entire AI video generating business model. They adjusted their PR release dates to make this less obvious to shareholders, of course. Phew. I hope that this clears up the key distinctions for you and anyone reading. If you have any additional questions or even hypotheticals about AI and Copyright, please feel free to ask.
    • Each of the devices displayed on this page now has a little volume meter next to it to show if there is audio actively playing. About time.
    • Owing to the nature of Windows feature enablement updates, it was distributed over Windows Update services as a complete system upgrade rather than as an ordinary cumulative update
    • Microsoft confirms Windows 11 26H2, urges IT admins to prepare for release by Usama Jawad Windows 11 typically follows an annual update cycle, but Microsoft recently broke that tradition a bit by releasing a "26H1" version in the first half of this year as a "scoped" build for select new silicon PCs only. This version was not available for customers using 24H2 and 25H2 builds, as Microsoft is busy preparing version 26H2 for them, confirmed officially for the first time. In a Windows IT Pro blog, Microsoft has urged IT admins to prepare for the upcoming release of Windows 11 version 26H2. The company has confirmed that this will be a small enablement package (eKB) that will simply light up certain disabled features that are already present in the operating system's code base. This means that the "refined" Windows update and deployment experience will be simpler and quicker, with minimal disruptions, as the feature update will simply toggle a few flags rather than performing a complete replacement. Microsoft has explained that this is all possible because the standard Windows 11 releases share the same servicing branch and hence, the same source code. However, this also means that Windows 11 26H1 users won't be able to upgrade to 26H2 as that is a different branch, but this is something we have known for a while now. Similar to previous annual feature updates, Windows 11 26H2 will offer the following support cycles: 24 months of support for Home, Pro, Pro EDU, and Pro for Workstations editions 36 months of support for Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise, and Enterprise Multi-session editions Microsoft has not confirmed a concrete release date for Windows 11 26H2, but noted that it is "coming soon". If we go by the ongoing release cadence, we can expect it to begin rolling out in early October 2026. As such, IT admins have been encouraged to begin validating Windows Insider releases in the Experimental Channel, plan rollout rings, and strategize the utilization of their existing deployment tools.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Collaborator
      ryansurfer98 went up a rank
      Collaborator
    • Week One Done
      Eurosoft10 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Eurosoft10 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Year In
      Skeet Campbell earned a badge
      One Year In
    • One Month Later
      Sharbel earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      569
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      188
    3. 3
      Michael Scrip
      79
    4. 4
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      74
    5. 5
      neufuse
      72
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!