14 DAY TRIAL // Trying to inject some new life into the PlayStation handheld, Sony is apparently thinking about introducing a rental-like service for the device.
Customers would be able to join a service, pay a fee, and download a fixed number of games that can be played for the period of the subscription. Once that period ends, the games will be disabled and the customer will be required to pay a fee again to be able to renew his/her subscription and choose new games to play around with on his/her PlayStation Portable.
All of the above comes via a survey that has been discovered by Joystiq. The question featured refers to a service that “will enable you to download a fixed number of games during your subscription period.”
The survey also says that “At launch there will be an extensive catalogue of games to choose from, with more being added to the service each month.” At the moment, Sony is apparently still in the brainstorming phase, as it seeks to see what gamers would think of such a service, while determining more concrete elements, like the price that could be slapped on the rental service, the duration of the various subscription plans and the number of videogames that might be added on release.
Sony really needs to do something about the PlayStation Portable, which is lagging behind its rival, the Nintendo DS, when it comes to sales. The most recent talk has been about a PlayStation Portable Go!, a system that would be released during fall, without a UMD drive and with the possibility of getting all the content a player would ever need via digital distribution. If the device is real, then more information about it will surely arrive at the E3 trade show.