The day Sony announces cross-game chat I will fully admit that their service is better. Even though I think the xbox live interface is much easier to use and more organized than PSN ... I would be willing to switch if I got cross game chat and free online.

As it stands, I have no problem paying for the service at $40 (nobody pays full price, the charge is not that bad really) and receiving a well integrated chat function.

On the rare occasion that I do play PSN games online with friends we usually have our Xbox's on as well so we can have party chat.

If Sony decides to offer cross game chat and a fee to play online, however, I will stick with Xbox which still offers a easier and more intuitive interface. I really don't understand why Sony has not put some effort into their presentation. The XMB of a launch PS3 and the XMB of today are identical where as Xbox upgraded to the much better NXE and, soon to come, another interface update that supports kinect.

I think Sony should charge for online, but they need to give cross game chat and a new easier to use interface in order to make up for it. In addition, they need to find a niche in regards to online outside of being the poor man's choice for gaming (I can save $40 a year! ... which is nothing considering that the average strategy guide nowadays costs around $40 for a collectors version ... and for that 40 dollars in savings you lose chat and a better interface amoung other benefits).

This. Not even their online division is profitable. They're going to have no other choice but to start charging for online play before they would have to wind up shutting down PSN.

I'd pay for online, just because I want to support Sony (and it might make the online a little more stable.

I don't think they will start charging for online, though. Just colloquially, I know a lot of people who made the switch because they were tired of paying for XBL with adverts.

Also, I think Sony have used too much of a marketing push for 'free' online play to make the switch any time soon. They also 'acquire' exclusives like Dust 514 because of their free online, which is a slight bonus.

Interesting looking back at this thread but yes I agree it was smart for them to charge for online now. Seems many predicted correctly.  Although many of the comments are funny as well lol

Certainly.

Playstation owners have had an entire generation to get used to the idea of maybe having to pay for these services. Not much loss there.

This is actually the second model that Sony has taken from MS.
The first was funding holiday retailer sales (which everyone argued with me was not the case. MS were indeed paying for holiday price drops) Sony came out with a statement saying "the people have spoken, and they don't want permanent pricedrops, but big temporary ones at holiday"
Meanwhile, they hadn't done that yet. No, they copied directly from what MS was doing.
I'm just happy they haven't copied any other policies.

Yeah i honestly think this was a given that it would be charged for this generation.  I know a lot of people refused to believe it but PS+ will improve a lot this gen because of this decision.

I wonder how many people stealth edit their posts? Lol

I will pay for PS+, not to play online but for the games Sony offers.

Normally I only play online when I'm trying to get the platinum trophy of a game and there are online trophies.

But from now on, I won't accept PSN "normal" issues. Since I'm paying for it now.

MS just showed how much sense it made. It really doesn't appear to be such a big deal to gamers. I mean, to me it is, if I weren't already a subscriber for the next 2 years I'd have a problem...but I hope you're right about that quality level thing.