PlayStation 4 Might Require An Online Subscription

I promise, I really do, that this will be one of the last rumours you here about the PS4. Soy’s event is scheduled to go live in a few hours, in the wee hours of tomorrow morning for us locally, so hopefully most of these rumours are transformed into facts during the conference. But for now there’s one last interesting rumour flying about that is sure to raise some eyebrows.

According to a source close to Kotaku, “most” of the PS4′s online features will mandate a premium subscription. This could mean that the days of free online play on PSN are coming to a close, with Sony possibly adopting a model that is similar to Xbox LIVE. While the source does not state which features might require an active subscription, it wouldn’t be a massive stretch to assume that online play will form one of those features.

Or maybe it won’t, and the new PSN will only require a subscription if you want access to the new social media apps, online functionality such as watching your PSN friends play their games and of course PS Plus, which is apparently being rebranded as PlayStation World.

The source also predicts that the PS4 will launch this November for $400, but this isn’t the first time we’ve had a date and price thrown around so I won’t even bother wondering whether it’s true or not.

What is important is that Sony will (probably) be ushering in the next console generation very soon, and I for one cannot wait.