(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Sony Entertainment UK boss Fergal Gara has said [You must login or register to view this content.] that charging for online multiplayer on PS4 – the first time the company has done this – helped reduce the price of the console, although it was something Sony had to “agonise over for a very long time.”


On PS4 online multiplayer is now integrated into PlayStation Plus. That means that – for most games – if you want to play against others over the internet you’ll need to be a Plus subscriber. Plus is excellent value though, and most gamers didn’t really have too much to complain about when it was revealed during last week’s pre-E3 conference.


“First of all,” says Gara, “we wanted to introduce the console at a healthy price-point compared with PS3,” and that was apparently “front and centre in our thinking and our planning for years.”


Charging for online, or at least bundling it within Plus, will mean that the service can more realistically approach the levels that Xbox Live does. Gara says that PSN will mirror “the social features you’ve seen demonstrated on more of a world-class network” and has seen Sony “investing in a higher performance network” that will offer “better performance and reliability”.


PlayStation Plus currently costs around £40 a year.


Gara also confirmed what a couple of press releases have mentioned recently: that cross game chat – the ability to talk with other players online who aren’t playing the same game as you, or are in different teams – is definitely in as part of the PS4′s network. “It’s there,” he says.

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If you can combine it with FB, wouldn't it be possible to just make a fake Facebook account just for PSN and just changing the name whenever you want with the use of dashes? Just an idea

just as long as it doesnt cost $10...

£40 a year = £3.33 a month seems perfect with all the free games/discounts/themes etc

hope that they have good servers

exactly that my friend

I'd happily pay it to change mine, lol.

People better not start crying about paying for PS+, Sony is giving us alot more for $60 A YEAR!

i hope they reduce lag

I'm reluctant to renew my Xbox LIVE Gold subscription because I seldom play online.

I'm tempted by PS+. If the price remains the same and still includes the features that are afforded to subscribers with the PS4, I would be much less reluctant to subscribe.

I hope that with the paid service the servers would be improved.