In case you didn't know (and why didn't you), the PlayStation Network is free. The console may cost money, but the online service doesn't. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida explains to game site Games Industry Sony's view on free stuff:

We like to provide as many services as possible for free — we already provide our network access for gameplay for free — and the interesting thing about the network side and the Internet business is that there's a variety of revenue sources. Not necessarily getting people to pay, but with advertising and so on.

Those are things we're looking at, and learning how we can provide a service without people having to pay — but we still get our operation running with funding from somewhere so that we can maintain the level of quality we want.

While there's no such thing as the proverbial free lunch, it's nice to see Sony try.

Yoshida's Island - Part One [Games Industry]

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