Yesterday, we saw reports of Sony Interactive Entertainment testing a Video Pass for PS Plus Subscribers in Poland. This is now confirmed, following an interview with SIE VP of Global Services Nick Maguire by Polish website Spider’s Web.
According to the exec, SIE chose Poland because the country has a large player base who “also likes to use VoD platforms”. Maguire claims that this makes it “the perfect market, to introduce a test service as part of the PS Plus program and see what our key users think about it”. Naturally, he also says that he cannot share the exact reason the company chose Poland specifically, among plenty of other eligible countries.
What he can say though is that the PS Plus Video Pass will be tested in Poland for a year. After that, the company will review the results of the experiment, and decide if it will expand it to other markets. Maguire says that he “cannot say whether it will be created and what the test process will look like for other markets”. Which may mean that the company may begin testing elsewhere before the one in Poland concludes.
Naturally, SIE’s aim here isn’t quite to compete with established Video on Demand streaming services like Netflix. Instead, the Video Pass is simply an added bonus to PS Plus subscribers, who are already paying monthly. Assuming this doesn’t translate to a price hike, it really sounds like a good deal for subscribers. After all, the company has plenty of movies that it can offer.
(Source: Spider’s Web via VGC)
