Sony charging publishers 16 cents per Gb for PSN content

Seems that the bandwith fee Sony charges for content downloads on PSN is throwing publishers off and reconsidering options.

Started on October 1, 2008, publishers are charged 16 cents per Gb of both free and paid content to help Sony cover bandwidth costs.

To give you perspective, a 1Gb demo downloaded by one million people through PSN would cost a publisher $160,000, on top of licensing fees and developing the release in the first place.

"It definitely makes us think about how we view the distribution of content related to our games when it is free for us to do it on the web, on Xbox Live, or any other way - including broadcast - than on Sony's platform," one publishing source told MTV.

"It's a new thing we have to budget. It's not cool. It sucks."

The 16 cent fee covers 60 days of downloads for free content, and paid content keeps racking up fees until it's removed from PSN.

Sony declined comment on it's policy but spokesman Patrick Seybold said that quality and quantity will not be affected despite the fees.

"Of course we work closely with (publishers) to bring their amazing content to our growing audience, and we are focused on ensuring we, and our publishing partners, have a viable platform for digital distribution", he said.

"We foresee no change in the high quality or quantity of demos and games available on PSN."

More through the link.