European Sony Executive Confirms Premium PSN Service

Rumors about Sony and its intentions to launch a new PlayStation Network premium service, which will only be available for those who are ready to pay a monthly subscription, have been around since late in 2009 but now an executive from the company itself has lent them some credibility, pretty much guaranteeing that something will be announced next month at the E3 presentation by Sony.

Answering questions asked by users of the official forums of the company, Andrew House, who is the president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said that “I can assure you that the current PSN as you know it will remain a free service. It is something that our competitors don’t offer and something that shows our loyalty to the PlayStation Community. However, Kaz Hirai stated a few months ago that we were looking at a premium service to sit alongside the current free service and that objective has not changed. You’ll learn more about it very soon.”

House did not offer any clue about what gamers who own a PlayStation 3 might get if they pay the subscription to the new Sony service. Some have mentioned the publisher is planning to dig deep in its catalog of PlayStation 2 titles and deliver them for free to those who are willing to pay, thereby satisfying those gamers who are asking for full backward compatibility for the PS3.

There are also rumors that the Japanese giant will be offering exclusive content and early access to demos and beta stages to those who will get the new subscription service.

Ever since the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 were launched and the fact that they are fighting for second place in the race of the current generation of gaming consoles, Sony has touted the fact that multiplayer and social elements are free with the PlayStation Network, whereas those who game on the Microsoft platform need to pay for a Gold Xbox Live subscription. It will be hard for the company to now justify the launch of a premium service for its device.