quote Daweii

It can happen, just like an online service such as an MMO can start with no fee's but in the small print of the End User Licence Agreement which you acknowledge when you create your account, it does say at some point "subject to change". The second they put that and Sony will have put that in the terms and conditions of PSN, it means if they want to charge they can and they will at any point at anytime. It's like Microsoft and Xbox Live saying "they can't raise the price of Live after charging the same £50 base fee for 4 years" Microsoft can and they will if they feel it's needed, it's all in the small print that no one reads as no one reads the large print in the EULA that comes with literally everything these days. It's actually quite scary that Sony or Microsoft could technically put in the EULA a clause that by accepting they own you and your house, it is a legal contract at the end of the day and no one reads them.

quote ZL

Thing is though, they can make it optional. While signing up and using the rest of the PSN is free, they can have some sort of premium account or an upgrade from the regular account where you get a bunch of other extra stuff. They can then use that money to fund the servers. It's a win/win because people can still get on the PSN Network for free, and loyal fans, that don't mind spending a few bucks can get some extra premium stuff and other companies will get money to have their servers up to date.

quote iLLmatic

Aside from jackass users, Copy & Paste is the worst addition to the PS3.