Always speculation, I will wait for Sony to Say something before i give it any thought. I have heard nothing of the sort. But as long as i can play online for free, i really don't care.

I'm probably in the minority but I'm glad to see Sony charging for the PSN. Sony can't keep losing money forever and the PSN is a logical place for them to generate more revenue. Hopefully their premium service will have a decent value.

I highly doubt the PSN for PS4 will be pay to play. Considering MS is the only one charging for online gaming (minus some MMO's on PC) and still other game companies see a profit, MS is the exception not the rule. In fact, all the things that Sony has put in place for the PS3 has started to pay off, as they have been beating the 360 every week since the launch of the Slim. So I would imagine that they will keep with the play for free model, with premium content on PSN for a subscription.

I love how some forget that the PSN makes money as well. And not just from costumers' purchases, but from the game companies. Whenever they want to put out a demo or game on the PSN, Sony charges them for the bandwith to do so. So it's all being paid for. In fact, I believe that PSN has more dedicated servers than Live.

Sony plans to be profitable starting in 2010, and I definitely believe they can do it.

I would pay, but id still gripe about it. I gripe about having to pay for xbox live. They seriously need to switch to a full micro transaction model. Paying for _basic_ services which should have come straight out of the box is annoying. People who claim Live got it right are _wrong_. Meh.

This is a worst news for PS fans to hear...oh noes...

It's so bad nobody is actually reading it in context (well, bar a few calmer souls).  Seems like a lot of people only read 'fees' and started running around in a panic.

@Reasonable

welcome to the interwebs :)

Hopefully PSN is improved significantly with regular updates and lots of new features to be included to make it on par with the benchmark of console online services- XBox Live.
You may be forced to pay for a premium PSN service this could be used to offset the costs of PS3 console price cuts.
PSN as it is at the moment being a free online service would not be worth paying for in its current state and PS3 gamers would be outraged at paying a subscription fee.

I normally have zero problems with fees...I pay them all over the place.  But as far as I'm concern, ANY subscription based models on PSN is doubletalk.  M$ has a tiered system, and you don't need gold to become a member, but there are something exclusive to gold membership.  Splitting hair about WHAT exacty those features are is pure nonsense...you either have a subscription based model, or you don't.  It's nothing more than Sony trying to attack the strengh of M$, and in failing to succeed at it, has now tried to save some face on their great need to make some profits.  Let's look at Home...probably the longest beta test ever....and counting.

I think that's a little harsh.  Live started with a tiered system, PSN started free - I see no reason why either service shouldn't change their model, fees or whatever.

Sony are clearly going to introduce more content that has a price tag, while defining the core PSN as a free service, online, demos, etc.  Home itself serves as a good anaolgy ironically enough - you can get it for free, use a fair bit of it for free, but some stuff has a price tag and there are those that are willing to pay.

By the same token MS has introduced Avatars, Facebook integration, etc. Netflix in US and Sky in UK.

Both services will change and I think you're applying a double standard acusing Sony of somehow being unfair and MS not.  From what I read both already generate revenue streams, just in somewhat different ways, and I'm sure both will continue to evolve in what they offer, and that some of that will be free and some will cost.

Right now, the major difference for me is that Live Silver is a very light offering, with Gold providing a huge amount more.  So far PSN would seem to be angled the other way, with most stuff available free, with a smaller amount being charged for - and just from a business perspective Sony must be thinking of changing that balance to generate more income, particularly with Live showing what people are willing to pay for.

As for length of Home Beta - that's nothing compared to Google Betas!