| Reasonable said: Obviously lying. Even is MS did know something high level that info wouldn't be passed down to every low paid dude maning a helpdesk phone. With Plus Sony have already shown the approach they're taking, at least for the foreseeable future, which is to keep the online gaming free and use more of a loyalty customer approach with something like Plus vs Live. With 360 so dominant in the more online centric US I doubt Sony will change tack anytime soon, either. They need differences to 360 desperately in US. I'd also note they've indicated PSN will be profitable early this year, which would indicate that Plus coupled no doubt with Home transactions, etc. and PSN game sales will tip the scales for PSN costs - again, that would imply Sony are unlikely to charge for online anytime soon. At most, I could see Sony maybe trying for a premium online package, with say cross-game chat plus some other stuff, but keeping current online support free. |
That's basically what PSN Plus already is.
They could add cross game chat and whatever few "exclusive" features are left in XBL as well, but that still wouldn't command $50 a year from those who just want basic online play.
I'm pretty much convinced that most PSN users would be perfectly fine with the free service if that was literally the ONLY feature free accounts were granted.
It's these same users who have a problem with XBL Gold accounts because either they aren't regular users, or just don't use most of the features that are thrown into package in an attempt to make the paid service a better value.
If you rarely play XBL online, it hardly makes any sense to pay even the current $5 a month on a pre-paid year of service.
If you're not downloading all the "free" content on PSN Plus, then there's literally no reason to subscribe to that service. Somehow, I don't think many people would consider cross game chat a reason either.
