Ben-DutkaPlayStation Now is just about here.
Today, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (SCEA) has announced that the streaming game service, PlayStation Now, will officially launch on January 13 across the U.S. and Canada.
The subscription service begins on PlayStation 4 and will head to other systems later. If you didn't already know, Now provides you with unlimited access to over 100 PS3 games and gamers have the following membership options: $19.99/month or $44.99 for a three-month plan. You can check out a 7-day free trial if you like.
Sony says one of the main requests they got was an overall subscription plan, rather than renting individual games. Said SCEA Business Development and Publisher Relations Senior Vice President Phil Rosenberg:
“ We’'re excited to formally announce it today, as the PlayStation Now subscription service will deliver a ton of value by providing instant access to a large and diverse catalogue of games for one low price. “We know there are lots of PS4 owners that never owned a PS3, and this is a great way to catch up on games they may have missed.”"
Now lets you stream PS3 games without downloads, installs, or patches, so now's the time to catch up on all the great titles you missed last generation!
The quality of games matters, too. For someone like me, I probably only have enough time to play one title per month (or less on average). If you can constantly play new releases, this is a huge bargain, if all I can ever play are games typically priced around the $20 mark, I'd save a lot of money by not doing it.
I'll be happy to learn more about this soon!
Additionally this is good for someone that travels a lot and would like to play games at a hotel/family's house.
I am in the same boat as you that I can only play every once in awhile. I've been playing a lot recently with all the holiday days off but when school starts again it becomes a challenge to get a dualshock in my hands.
I don't see a whole lot of value for myself. I'd sooner head to GameStop with $20 in hand and attack their ps3 bargain bin.
Ps now will get more interesting to me when support comes to vita and ps4 streaming rentals happen.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 1/5/2015 12:14:08 PM
They will never put ps4 games on it while the ps4 generation is current.PS4 games would be next generation.I thought everyone one wanted to play old games so much,so whyy are people still complaining?
I'm not sure but doesn't PS Now support PS1 and 2 games as well? I see a lot of people only mentioning it offering PS3 and to be honest I havnt looked into it much. But if it does support a variety of Sony systems then the attraction goes up.
However I didn't like PS Now because it was incredibly over priced I thought. I went to rent Mega Man after the retro gaming video of those kids struggling a while back and it was 3 bucks for 4 hours then it went to like $8 – $12 for a day or something. That's just ridiculous. I'm no sure I'd spend $20 for a month however if the library at the time was great then I think it's a fair price for me.
Last edited by bigrailer19 on 1/5/2015 12:18:22 PM
Yea that is ridiculous. I own Megan Man 2 – 7 on my Wii U. I paid on average $5 for each title. I paid $3 each for Mega Man 5 and 6 because they were on sale. I can play as much as I want. Paying $3 for 4 hours of retro Mega Man is a ripoff.
I can't imagine playing a massively input sensitive game like mega man over streaming.
Yea even trying Mega Man X4 (disc version) over remote play was a terrible experience.
Last edited by Jawknee on 1/5/2015 12:36:36 PM
between DDoS attacks, hacks, local network hang ups with family members using the internet while you're trying to play a game, PS Now just seems like one precariously perched platform to game on.
The subscription plan has different games than the non sub plan (games for rent). They only have about 100 ps3 games for the sub plan and that is all at the moment. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense why everything isn't in both catalogues but whatever. They have games in the sub plan not available for rent and vice versa so I guess they'll nab some people with that. To me, it seems too expensive for what it is when you look at it closer.
Yep I agree with all of you. At the price point it's just not worth it. I think $10 a month is a sweet spot but like coverton mentioned if the library is limited then it's probably not worth it anyways.
Plus Temjin you bring up a great point because my wife streams video while I am gaming and that's a hindrance even at 60mbps.
Seems a tad overpriced.
While I know this is targeted towards ps newcomers you'd think Sony would try to also appeal to their core by offering discounted rates to Plus members.
Indeed. Even for newcomers it seems the price should be lower. As a new comer i wouldn't spend $19.99 a month for game rental services when I can "rent" games from GameStop.
Last edited by Jawknee on 1/5/2015 12:31:55 PM
I also feel in a distant future something like streamed games may replace ps plus's monthly free games.
I buy games. I don't rent them.
This is going to be the future of PlayStation gaming if the gamers take to it…
We might see a PS5 but I'll be surprised to see a PS6 in a decade and a half or so…
Too pricey for me, will keep getting the great deals on the PSN flash sales.
Sounds awesome. Great price too. Sega Channel was around 15 a month and that was almost 20 years ago. Now it's a matter of keeping that network up and fast..
stop being so negative Kid.
Lol
Let's include inflation into that equation and it's pretty much the same price.
Kid's post just showed is ignorance when it comes to the majority of gamers out there.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 1/5/2015 3:56:16 PM
My thoughts exactly, MRSUCCESS. Seems really fair to me. I can see how Netflix and even PS Plus has made gamers expect more for less but it's extremely reasonable.
Are you being sarcastic Kid or are you actually serious?
I can't tell…
Seems the price could be a bit on the high side of things.
With that said, I would like to see the list of games I will have access to before I make a decision on it.
Seems more reasonable than the prices they were charging for the individual games before. However, to justify the price now they have to make all the new releases available too. PS3 games are mostly dirt cheap these days I imagine I could buy all the titles they have on offer within a year cheaper than 4x the 3 month subscription.
If I was a user of this plan in the future, my REAL concern would, and for Sony, is will the hacker groups out there attack the servers in whatever way they can to hinder operations for streaming.
I can only imagine the complaining from users when they cannot stream a game(s) for a few days or weeks. This could be a nightmare.
Its why I would rather keep my PS3 and other gens to play those games right in my own home.
Keep playing!
Price sounds average – not a good deal, but not a bad one. That said, for something as new as PS Now, they probably want to run some introductory deals (susbcribe for one month, get one free) or something to get people to check it out.
Also, it sounds a bit like they've priced it with the future in mind, so that while it looks a bit pricey now, as the catalogue expands, the value will only go up (so all the more reason for special deals early when the value of the catalogue is likely to be at it's lowest).
Not that I'm particularly worried personally – I doubt it'll come to Australia in any force for another year or two at least, and our net infrastructure could be a tad better for this kind of thing.
That's way too expensive they should have at least given a PS+ discount of like $10-15 a month.
$20/month to rent old ps3 games via streaming? You have to be a pretty high game/month player for that to even sound like a decent value. And if you're into renting something like gamefly would still be a far better value for most, and you won't be limited to streaming your games.
It's not a bad price especially when compared to gamefly where it's $15.95 to rent one game at a time or $22 to rent 2 at a time… Gamefly does have the advantage of having different consoles you can rent from but if you're a playstation player only then it's Def worth it