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Report: Sony Now Charging to Release PS3 DLC, Publishers Not Happy

by Chris Faylor, Mar 20, 2009 9:38am PDT
Related Topics – DLC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Store, Sony

Sony has instituted a "PlayStation Network Bandwidth Fee" that requires publishers to pay for each gigabyte used in downloading PlayStation 3 content from the online PlayStation Store, reports MTV Multiplayer.

Publishers were previously able to release PS3 DLC without incurring any bandwidth fees. Microsoft does not charge bandwidth fees for Xbox 360 DLC, claims the site.

The new policy went into effect on October 1, 2008, and charges publishers 16 cents for each gigabyte of bandwidth used. Bandwidth utilized by free content is only billed for the first 60 days, while premium content racks up charges until it's removed from the store.

For example, a 1GB demo downloaded one million times within its first 60 days of availability would incur an extra charge of $160,000. Between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Capcom has seen over 4 million downloads of the recent Resident Evil 5 demo.

Understandably, publishers aren't happy with the deal. "It's a new thing we have to budget," one anonymous source told the site. "It's not cool. It sucks."

While Sony refused to explain the logic behind the new policy, MTV Multiplayer suggested that it could be a result of the PlayStation Network offering free multiplayer, whereas Microsoft charges players for the privilege of playing games online.


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