Sony's Eric Lempel: We're Not Charging Money with PSN

Everyone owning a PS3 is most likely happy about its Internet service, PlayStation Network. One plus is that Sony (surprisingly) doesn't charge for the service. Microsoft on the other hand (in typical MS manner) does. Recently however, Eric Lempel, director of PlayStation Network operations told Geoff Keighley on the latest edition of Gametrailers' Bonus Round that they may consider charging, as some improvements to the service are in order.

First off, Lempel talked about how similar PSN and XBL are, pointing out that with Sony's service, PS3 users have a huge advantage: it's charge-free: "Microsoft had a year jump on us for the launch and essentially we're offering a lot of the same stuff. I don't think there's a big difference in exactly what we're offering when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of what's actually there for the consumer� We're not charging money for our service. That's a key differentiating factor."

And although the service will indeed see some changes in the future, no changes are in order at the moment: "Right now that's our model. In time anything can change but right now we're happy with it," said Lempel.

Later on in the interview, Lempel revealed that Sony was working to replicate a number of Xbox Live's most successful features including cross-game invites, as NextGeneration reports. They're also trying to implement the ability to access the cross-media bar in-game, as well as an achievements system:

"I like how their marketplace is integrated directly into their user interface�.Talking across games is fantastic. That definitely builds momentum for games and actually migrate users to other games and keeps you in touch with your gaming community. We're working on an achievements system... I can't say if it's definitely tied to a gamerscore or something like Xbox does but that is an important feature".

He also assures fans that Sony's talking about something big, and not some crummy firmware upgrade: "We're continuing to build on this. We're definitely going to have all of those features at some point. We know that they (consumers) want it and we're building to get there� It's not in the next firmware update but it's something we're working on."

Lempel also stated that the notion of a unified PS community hadn't been forgotten and that efforts were being made to that effect. Summing it up, the man is confident with his words and states: "There's a lot more coming." We hope it's games for the PS3, but if they want to keep working hard on other things, that's alright too, I guess.