Caitlin Fitzsimmons
AUGUST 30, 2002 SONY has delayed the local introduction of its online game service as it strives to find a workable business model.
The video game giant introduced its online service in North America earlier this week, but will not announce its plans for the PAL territories, including Australia, until October.
The service, which allows PlayStation 2 owners to play multi-player games over the internet, will compete with Microsoft's Xbox Live service for Xbox owners.
While Sony is offering the service for both dial-up and broadband customers in North America, it has committed to a broadband-only model in the PAL territories.
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia managing director Michael Ephraim said the introduction of the service was not delayed for technical problems, but to find a better solution for Sony, its business partners and its customers.
The PAL territories included dozens of different countries with different levels of broadband and PS2 penetration.
"Australia has a fairly high uptake of broadband," Mr Ephraim said. "It's not leading the pack, but it's not at the bottom of the pack. My opinion is that Australia will be one of the territories connected earlier in the piece."
Mr Ephraim said Australia had particular challenges with its large and sparsely populated land mass and the prevalence of volume-based pricing plans.
"The perception is that broadband costs are high and online gaming is data intensive," he said. "We're in discussions with different ISPs about a time-based charge and a different billing structure to make it more appealing to consumers."
Mr Ephraim said Sony would spurn the centralised approach taken by Microsoft with Xbox Live.
He ruled out an exclusive relationship with a single ISP or peer-to-peer gaming, but said there were many details yet to be determined.
For example, the company had not decided whether to run the infrastructure or allow ISPs to host the games on their own server farms - and whether there would be dedicated servers for Australia or not.
"We do not anticipate just one service choice for consumers under one name," Mr Ephraim said. "There will be many service choices and the business model of Sony will be very open."
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe planned to charge a "modest" subscription fee for the service, but Mr Ephraim was not certain whether that would be levied in Australia.
"Every country is looking at the cost factor based on local broadband costs and the local culture of what people are willing to pay," he said. "You have to give a service that's affordable and it's an issue we're still working through (in Australia)."
It would be "nice" to be first to market but it was important to make sure the offer "made sense" for consumers and partners.
He promised more details in October.
