Think PlayStation Network is free? Think again.
Oh, it may be free for you and I, sure; publishers, however, are the ones left picking up the bill.
In an article posted over at MTV Multiplayer, we get the actual scoop on who’s footing the cost. It seems that in October of 2008, Sony put a 16cent per gigabyte fee on publishers for every piece of free and paid content downloaded on PlayStation Network. For a single 1GB demo downloaded a million times, a publisher would have to pony up an extra $160,000 to Sony. Needless to say, publishers are considerably less than thrilled.
A number of publishers, speaking with MTV on condition of anonymity, have expressed their feelings on the situation:
“It definitely makes us think about how we view the distribution of content related to our games when it is free for us to do it on the web, on Xbox Live, or any other way — including broadcast — than on Sony’s platform,” one publishing source said. “It’s a new thing we have to budget. It’s not cool. It sucks.”
“Sucks” is certainly one way of putting it. What this will lead to is publishers re-thinking what content (if any) ends up on PlayStation Network in the future. I see a rebellion on the horizon. Best batten down your hatches, Sony – you’re not in much position to be alienating your partners when you’re currently picking up the rear in the sales race.
My prediction? PlayStation Network goes paid inside of 18 months. Place your bets now.
I agree. The problem is that Sony is already tainting developers. Sony is a stubborn company. It makes me wonder if they will be in another console war.
Wow, just wow. That’s like telling developers not to give DLC to the console. I wonder if this is why DLC seems to be going only to the PC and 360 (Fallout 3, Tomb Raider, etc) instead of the SDF claim that it’s because “M$” is throwing mountains of money at these companies to secure it.
hurm. i sold my wii and ps3 along time ago because there was f all to play on the trash bins but still, hurm. Sure bandwidth isn’t free, some ones gotta pay some where, but that just seems to be a little shooting ones self in the foot imo.
If Sony charging developers for bandwidth keeps the service free for me, I’m ok with it. I would not be so into PSN if I had to pay for it. Yeah it sucks for developers to spend more money, but they keep bringing great content to PSN and people are downloading it. I think it’s worth it.
Saw this story on 1up earlier. It really seems as though Sony didn’t plan their online very well, and are now trying to make up for it. Free sounds good in the beginning, but we all know someone has to pay for it eventually. MS just chose us, the consumer, to do so. Sony chose developers, and chose them way late in the game too. this will not end well for someone. My vote is for Sony. I have to agree, it’s only a matter of time before PSN is a pay service.