After Sony’s recent dismal financial results, E3 is going to be an important battleground for the console maker and new reports are suggesting that they’re planning to revamp the premium subscription service Playstation Plus.
According to multiple sources, their keynote speech will be used to outline what they have planned for Playstation Plus, with the company hoping it will convince more users to sign up to the premium subscription service.
Some of the changes muted will see Sony giving away more top tier games for free, also looking to implement the service for their new handheld console the PS Vita.
Sony is expected to offer free Vita exclusive titles, DLC and cloud services – that will mean you won’t have to use your PS3 or PC to back up save games and other content.
At the moment the Playstation Network is free to play games, but Sony made it a two-tier service by allowing users to subscribe to a premium version for £11.99 a month or £39.99 for the year.
Membership for the service grants you full game trials, automatic game and system updates, cloud game saving, discounts and early access to exclusive content. Since the service has launched Sony has given away around £200 of free content a year.
Sony has obviously not commented on the rumours, but Playstation Plus content manager Ross McGrath waxed lyrical about the future of the service via his Twitter account.
“By the way, if you don’t have a PS+ subscription, now is the time to get one. For real. Just get 3 months if you aren’t sure. Trust me,” he said.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard of a major shakeup of the service; last month possible subscription options were highlighted in a user survey, which suggested that Sony is considering giving new releases free of charge.
The survey even went on to suggest that they might consider giving away 61 new games a year, with one a week being a full-blown PS3 game, for around £10 a month.
We’ll have all the major announcements from E3 next week, so stay tuned to Gadget Helpline.
