AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Silicon Alley Insider

Sony (SNE) announced its first-ever original series for the PlayStation, a video series about gaming produced by Future US (publisher of PlayStation: The Official Magazine). The series is called “Qore” and will be hosted by sorta-Web-celeb Veronica Belmont. Viewers will also be able to download and play mini-games. (And as commenter Cruiz Dwyer points out, special game demos, beta invitations, game add-ons, and other content.)

It sounds like just the kind of thing that could get gamers to use their PS3 for things other than games, except for one fatal problem: Sony thinks people will pay $2.99 per episode (or $24.99 for 13 episodes) for the privilege. Not only that, Sony thinks PlayStation users will enjoy watching ads after they pay for the series — specifically “trailers, interstitials and contextual ads,” which Future US will sell.

Presumably they believe that gamers actually like ads for games and movies — and they may. But they certainly don’t like to pay for stuff when they don’t have to — especially semi-professional, talking head-style video — so we think this is a non-starter. Expect to see a free, ad-supported edition of Qore sooner than later.

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