PSN Becomes SEN

9 Feb, 2012

If you have a PlayStation Network account you’ll notice today an email in your inbox informing you that PSN has been renamed Sony Entertainment Network (SEN). There’s nothing to worry about, just a name change. But why are Sony doing this? Well, Sony have lots of other services available as part of their entertainment network besides games. By merging PSN with the rest of the offerings they’re hoping to tempt those (like me) who only use their service for games to download music and films from them too.

Unfortunately if, like me, you have no intention of doing this then what Sony have succeeded in doing is changing the login system from pressing one button and having access to games to having to go through a few links to get there. No big deal I suppose, but a mild annoyance for some. But really what does this mean for Sony as a business move? Well, we all know that they have their fingers in many different pies, and we know that the PS3 (despite my preference for it) is not as popular as the 360. So, in anticipation for the next generation are Sony trying to mount an attack on everything on the market? Are they preparing to launch one black box to rule them all? Think about it, if you have movies, games, music, internet, and TV all coming out of one box then there’s not much need for anything else.

Well, let’s hope they’re not attempting that. For one the notion of downloading music to your PlayStation is not a great business model. Taking on iTunes? Come on. And it’s not like Sony are going to be taking over the portable-music-player/phone/camera market any time soon. Let’s hope for their sake that this is nothing more than a name change. For my sake, I hope they concentrate on making a games console which is a genuine competitor to the 720, rather than something which is a jack of all trades and a master of none.