PlayStation Network bandwidth fees implemented on October 1, 2008, are proving irritating to publishers who want to put content on the PlayStation Network.
According to MTV Multiplayer, several publishers informed them of a 16 cents per Gigabyte fee for all downloadable content, paid or free (though the charges on free content lift after two months). So, when a publisher puts a game, demo, or add-on on the PlayStation Store, they’re the ones paying for hosting. This is causing some companies to reconsider their support for Sony’s online network.
“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,” said one publishing source. “It’s a new thing we have to budget. It’s not cool. It sucks.”
This fee, it appears, is one of Sony’s methods of generating revenue for the PlayStation Network. The network is, after all, free for gamers, and maintaining an online network for millions of users is not.
Sony has assured gamers that there won’t be a change "in the high quality or quantity of demos and games available on PSN."
UPDATE: Just to clarify, it’s 16 cents per Gigabyte downloaded by users. If a one GB demo is downloaded 1,000,000 times, the publisher of the related game must pay $160,000 USD.