PlayStation Network

Registration is done through the PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation Portable , PlayStation Vita, or through a personal computer . There are two types of accounts : Basic and Advanced. Basic accounts provide full access to all types of settings, including parental control, but only a user older than 18 can create a basic account. Additional accounts are created as necessary and have a set of restrictions set by the user of the main account. ^[3]

Since Primary / Secondary Accounts are not tied to the PlayStation 3 serial number, they can be used on various game consoles as guest accounts, so a single game console can have several main accounts. Although unregistered users can access and browse the PlayStation Store, registration is required to purchase digital content. Once purchased, multimedia files can be downloaded to no more than 5 game consoles, however, if the user account is deleted from the game console, the purchased digital content will become invalid and will be blocked.

The PlayStation Network was launched in November 2006, concurrently with the launch of the PlayStation 3 game console in North America and Japan . Due to the postponement of the launch in Europe to March 2007, Sony allowed users in Europe to pre-register with the PlayStation Network through a personal computer so that they could reserve their favorite PSNs and use them on the day the service is officially launched. ^[four]

From the moment of creation and launch, network users are not allowed to change the account name, which is associated with the company's desire to correctly implement this process. In November 2014, a company representative said that the nickname change functionality is in the plans and sooner or later it will be available to all users ^[5] . On April 11, 2019, the nickname change officially started working.

On May 15, 2006, at the PlayStation Business Conference, Sony unveiled its network service for the PlayStation 3 , tentatively called the “PlayStation Network Platform” with free network games. A complete list of features available at launch was presented at their TGS 2006 press conference.

The full list of current and planned services for the PlayStation Network is as follows:

Accounts

• User Registration of Primary / Secondary Accounts
• Account ID / Username / Profiles
• Portable identifier, user profile card conceptually similar to the Xbox Player Card

Communication / Community

• Results / Ranks for user comparison
• Game trophies / rewards
• Virtual Presence / Avatars
• Friends list (up to 100 friends. With the release of PlayStation 4, the number of friends in the list has become unlimited)
• Voice / Video chat / Text game chat (Requires Bluetooth / USB headphone with microphone or PlayStation Eye , or EyeToy . Video chat only requires a webcam because the PlayStation Eye already has a built-in microphone. Text chat can be used in the game).
• Integration with Instant Messenger
• Internet Browser and Google Search Engine
• Playstation home
• Life With PlayStation
• adhoc Party for PlayStation Portable (Japan only)

Trade / Entertainment

• Playstation store
• Qore (North America only)
• OPMHD (Europe only)
• VidZone (Europe and Australia only) ^[6]

PlayStation Store is a commercial online service for the PlayStation Network. The store uses both real currency and Playstation Network Cards . The PlayStation Store is updated every Thursday (with some exceptions) with digital content such as full and demos of games, game trailers, movie announcements, XMB wallpapers, XMB themes, films and television shows.

Since May 2010, Sony has been releasing updates for the US PlayStation Store not on Thursdays , as it was before, but on Tuesdays , which is associated with the company's peculiar struggle with Microsoft ^[7] .

In April 2014, a preload function was added for PlayStation 4 owners, which allows you to download the game to the console before the release date, which allows you to not wait for the download to finish on the release day, but to start playing immediately ^[8] .

PSOne Classic

PSOne Classic , launched on May 3, 2007, is a service that allows PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable users to download PSOne games directly to their hard drives or Memory Stick for transferring to PSP .

PlayStation Plus is a paid PlayStation Network (PSN) subscription that gives users access to additional features and functions. These additional features include early access to upcoming games, beta testing, regular discounts in the store and the ability to automatically update software and patches for games on the console. As part of an active subscription, subscribers are provided with six games every month - usually two games, for each platform. An additional feature is 10 GB in the cloud, for synchronization and storage of up to 1000 saved game files. PlayStation 4 multiplayer requires a PlayStation Plus subscription ^[9] . Users can choose a monthly, three-month or annual subscription. ^[ten]

History

On June 16, 2010, Jack Tretton, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, announced the launch of a paid service called PS Plus . A free subscription will continue to exist without any changes, but for players who want to get more from the service, a paid subscription will be available, allowing you to receive ^[11] :

• access to demo versions of games earlier than other players;
• free games;
• invitations to closed beta testing of various games;
• discounts on games distributed through the PlayStation Store ;
• and much more;
• For owners of the Playstation 4 console, the presence of a PS Plus subscription is mandatory for access to a multiplayer game.

The service was launched on June 29, 2010 in the United States ( PS Plus service section on the Playstation 3 website ). The cost of an annual subscription is $ 49.99. Until the end of July 2010, a special offer was valid - when buying an annual subscription, the player received a gift for 3 additional months. Sony originally planned to update PS Plus content on a monthly basis.

At the beginning of August 2010, analyst Michael Pachter ( Michael Pachter ) said that according to his estimates, Sony needs to get 2-3 million subscribers of the new service in order to start making profit from this project ^[12] .

On August 2, 2010, information appeared on the Internet that in the near future users of PS Plus accounts will be given the opportunity to change their PSN ID , that is, their nickname. A video has also become available in which you can see the process of changing the PSN ID . Official confirmation from Sony at that time was not received ^[13] .

On August 3, 2010, the official PlayStation blog announced that content updates for PS Plus account owners will now be done twice a month ^[14] .

On April 21, 2011, the campaign was held again with a preferential subscription to PS Plus , users who bought an annual membership before May 3, 2011 received an additional three months for free. Users with unexpired subscriptions could also take advantage of the offer - for them, purchased months take effect after the expiration of the current subscription ^[15] .

After recovering from hacking the PSN for a limited time, a free PSN Plus subscription was provided to all PSN users.

Since 2014, Microsoft has moved its Xbox Live service to a similar model for users of the Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles ^[16] : paid subscription holders are given early access to demo versions, exclusive access to beta versions, free games and other features.