PSN Revenues Hit October High, As Sony Mulls 'Premium' Subscriptions

On the PlayStation 3's third birthday yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment America is announcing that last month saw the highest revenues on record for the PlayStation Network. PSN Store downloads were up over 60 percent year-over-year in October, announced Sony, leading to over 650 million items of content downloaded to date. PSN users worldwide have registered over 31 million accounts, the company adds. The October boom in PlayStation Network downloads owes a great deal to PS3 sales during that month; Sony says the console sales grew nearly 70 percent year over year in October, accelerating on the back of the new slim redesign and price reduction. Responding to a new investor presentation [PDF link] which referenced paid subscription possibilities for PlayStation Network, Sony executive Kaz Hirai said the company is considering a subscription plan in addition to the current free model for PSN. "SCE will further increase sales by offering users new entertainment through the combination of hardware, software, peripheral and PlayStation Network," Hirai said in a statement given to outlets including consumer weblog VG247. Hirai explained: "Especially in the online area, we are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services."