With many changes coming to Playstation with the reveal of PS4, many gamers have been wondering if Sony will choose to continue to allow free access to their online gaming service Playstation network. Sony has not yet said anything that gives us a clear answer but there are several reasons why making Playstation Network a paid for service would be a very bad idea.
The most obvious one is that they will lose their edge over Microsoft’s Xbox Live. The main reason I brought a Playstation instead of an Xbox is because I didn’t have to pay for online gaming. Many Xbox fans argue that the reason PSN is free is because it is rubbish and you “get what you pay for”, this is not true at all and I am not saying that just because I am a Playstation user. I think that both Xbox Live and Playstation Network have their strengths and weaknesses so in all fairness there is no valid argument for either side.
In short, if Sony start to charge for PSN then they will lose users and money. Although PSN subscription costs may make up the difference there is no guarantee that the money will make up the difference because for all Sony know, Playstation users could switch to Xbox because they’ll have to pay for Xbox Live anyway so it won’t make much difference and chances are Xbox Live would end up being cheaper anyway so there is no need for Playstation users to stick around.
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