Here's a quote from there conference call today:

We are building the PSN platform and revenue is increasing.  For the past fiscal year our target was to do about ¥50 billion worth of sales over PSN and we were slightly behind that schedule.  In terms of profitability on the network side I think we need to do a little bit more or better to become profitable here

http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2010/05/13/sony-conference-call/

Only they, themselves are to blame because their servers are handled by a third party group.

I guess this is the reason why Microsoft charges for Xbox Live. Its good to at least get an indication of how much a network like this costs to run.

A lot of people expect the PSN to start charging after E3  but of course we'll have to see.

Well they may charge people who use greater than X number of hours per month online gaming + give extra features or they may put a 'free' online voucher in with their games and charge 2nd hand buyers who want to play online. They did this with Socom on the PSP I believe. At this point I cannot see them charging everyone who wants to use PSN but I can see them charging people if they want more features than are currently offered.

Sure, and that's what sony has basically stated, squilliam. Also, the PSN is finally getting good enough that it is worth charging for, even if it is just the premium features for now.

I really like this, bercause more revenue coming in means more and better services which means a better experience for sony fanboys.

I can't see many people buying a PSN Premium package though if they keep online multiplayer for free (which they've said they will). The reason IMO, why Live does so well is because they charge to play online. Do you really think people would pay for Live if multiplayer was free?

Like others have said if they charge and they want it to actually make money then they need to charge for online gaming. This will certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons but Microsoft have made it easy for them to do this and now they have found their feet again they may even weather the storm.

I cannot see them doing it though and see them trying to do it via other services. Maybe they will make the Web client and other multimedia features premium and leave online gaming. Basically whatever they do it is going to hurt but subsidising the online features means that the profits they could be making are just being pumped backed into the network not really a good plan.

Also if Sony do this this it may even mean that Microsoft would take the opportunity to charge more.

Sure, but Live is only doing so well because of the 360's success.  Also adding to Live's success is that the 360 is mainly a product in North America, basically the area with the most disposable income, so they choose the fattest market while Sony/Ninty are content to get other areas as well

well i sure like my PSN free... but if they decide to charge for on-line play they better do it by charging 10$ to 20$ per year and that money must be available to be used in home or in the store for avatars, themes and for some DLC... that way they are forcing people to pay for PSN but people will not have the felling that they are paying for what should be free... like pre payed mobile phones or something... you pay to have access to the network but you can use the money for phone calls...