Playing online multiplayer games on PlayStation 4 will apparently require a PlayStation Plus membership, Sony said today during its E3 liveblog. A slide shown during the presentation said "immersive multiplayer online" was a feature of PlayStation Plus. Single-player games will not require Plus, nor will accessing streaming services like Netflix, Sony said in a tweet:
"PS4 gamers who aren’t Plus members can still enjoy single-player games for free…and access to media services won’t require Plus"
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) June 11, 2013
No other details on multiplayer gameplay were immediately offered. PlayStation Plus costs $49.99 a year. Its other features include cloud saves, automatic game updates, and access to a monthly title from Sony's Instant Game Collection.
Fans of multiplayer gaming may bristle at having to pay a fee to play with their friends online. The announcement, which was buried on a slide toward the end of Sony's E3 presentation, stood in marked contrast to the gamer-friendly announcement that no restrictions would be placed on the sale of used titles.