And by clarified, you mean muddied even more
irai told CVG: "SCE will further increase sales by offering users new entertainment through the combination of hardware, software, peripheral and PlayStation Network. 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."
Sounds like a slippery slope to me..
This is a big deal imo.
I'd always thought from the beginning, that either Live would go free or PSN would go pay. I didn't think they could coexist. I actually figured Live would have to go free early on. Well, they did coexist for a long time, but it looks like that may be ending, with PSN actually going pay in some fashion.
It's not surprising, if you think about how profitable Live is for MS. Leaked documents in the past have shown a 50-60% Live Gold subscription rate, meaning with 33m consoles shipped, at the very very least 10m, and probably 15m, are paying $50 a year for Live. That is 750 million per year in revenue.
To put it another way, since MS typically ships around 10m consoles per year, it's $75 per console. That's a pretty staggering figure, and probably helps explain why MS gaming division made 300m last quarter while Sony gaming division lost 600m. Although, Sony may make up some of the difference by charging publishers bandwidth fees.
Edit: eh, perhaps I'm overstating things a bit, since I didn't clearly read that Kaz stated it would be in addition to the current free services. Still, even a tiered service would be...interesting. Wonder what they'll charge for? Maybe the same stuff as Qore, like early access to demos?