• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

PlayStation Now Subscription Program: All The Details

If you are someone that values ownership over a library of games this is clearly not for you and never was going to be for you, in the same way Netflix and spotify are not really for the diehard movie or music aficianodo. Judging by the success of streaming services there is a sizable chunk of the mass market that doesn't give a shit about "owning" the movies they are going to just watch once anyway. I imagine there is a chance to target this same type of consumer with games. That's what this is. If you want to be able to own a library of ps2 and 3 games you should probably hang on to your ps2s and 3s.
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
I know people don't like paying for more for things, but $10 is way too low. You are not downloading these games, you are streaming them. That alone costs money, you can't expect them to just absorb these cost because people are being cheap. What you get is convenience. You will be able to use this service on Ps3, Ps4, PsVita, some televisions, and I think some phones.
I for one will use this service, because I like to play old game that I might have missed. I'm just waiting until they get out of the beta phase, so I can start adding more games.

But it's a delicate balance. How many hours do you think makes $15 a month for a limited selection of old games that you're streaming over the internet (lol Australia is automatically out of the picture here) worth it?

Remember, this will take time away from playing actual PS4 games too and most of us don't have unlimited gaming time.
 

Chinner

Banned
i take it as a good sign that ps1/ps2 games are not there. more likely that the ycan justify it and also possibly suggests its still coming as emulation.
 

Afrikan

Member
It's $7 more a month to play games, instantly...compared to Netflix for movies/shows...no games.

I don't understand how some are over reacting to the price..

I'm just curious if there will be a bundle deal for their TV service.

So PSnow + PSvue =? a month.
 
Weird that certain games aren't eligible for subscription, weirder still that not every entry in a franchise is eligible.

Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma yes! Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge no.

Final Fantasy XIII yes. FF XIII-2 no.

It's probably licensing stuff, here's hoping they get that worked out quickly.
 

DR2K

Banned
Surely they are already patched, so it is a positive.

No it isn't. The now version of SFIV is stuck on the old patch which means it's blocked off from all the new content added in the newest patch and online base.

Are people really complaining about the price? $15 to $20 a month for access to a hundred plus games? I mean gamers just pay that to play one mmorpg a month.
 

JCX

Member
This is what Virtual Console should have been (and hopefully will be on the next Nintendo console). I could see subscribing during a summer gaming drought.
 

HORRORSHØW

Member
It's a pity they didn't go with some kind of a la carte subscription/pricing model.

a la carte subscription? what's that? there's a tiered subscription plan and there's an a la carte model where you can rent individual games.

---

prices are decent, but it's not for me. not now anyway with my current backlog and future games i have to pick up.
 

thedan001

Member
$45 for 3 months, still better than what they priced before by hours

PS+ and PSnow subs together is rather steep

I never got to play any PS3 games. Gonna enjoy this on my PS4
 
Yeah...but you need to have your disc on PS4, even if you had the code.



This would be easily solvable. Make a separate branch for PSPlus, adding a PSNow tag. If you want access your library through PSNow, pay additional 20€ each year for this service.

Why would you want to stream and waste Sony's resources if you can simply play the game lag free on your PS3 since you already own the game.
 
The idea is amazing; A streaming game service for $19 a month. The list of games available really ruins it though. However, I'm glad that Sony is trying innovative stuff like this and I'll try it for a month once the library has a few games I want to play.

With that said, I'm looking forward to the Warhawk servers filling up!
 
Too much with the limited library

I don't understand why this isn't part of it already. Would make this much more enticing for people.
Maybe because ps2 games weren't licensed originally to be sold digitally?

Only thing I can think of....
 

Leb

Member
Grimløck;146108031 said:
a la carte subscription? what's that? there's a tiered subscription plan and there's an a la carte model where you can rent individual games.

Something like what we have with cable in certain areas -- subscribe to only sports games, say, or only first party and third person cinematic action adventure games. You know, pick which genres you want for a fractional price instead of subscribing to a (presumably eventually) enormous list with a ton of crap you'll never be interested in.
 

meanspartan

Member
But it's a delicate balance. How many hours do you think makes $15 a month for a limited selection of old games that you're streaming over the internet (lol Australia is automatically out of the picture here) worth it?

Remember, this will take time away from playing actual PS4 games too and most of us don't have unlimited gaming time.

This guy gets it.

Just because $15 and $10 only have $5 difference, it can easily be enough to tip the balance against subscribing.

ALSO, psn goes down with a light drizzle. Why should we buy into another service before they make thhe first one stable?

It was less bad when playing online was free, but now they charge for it.
 

JCX

Member
Streaming a platformer sounds like a great idea

Worse of an idea than streaming an HD FPS or fighting game? As long as you have a stable internet connection, I don't see why it would be a problem.

Also, there are plenty of great Nintendo games that don't rely on such reflexes (Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Pokemon, Earthbound, etc)
 
But it's a delicate balance. How many hours do you think makes $15 a month for a limited selection of old games that you're streaming over the internet (lol Australia is automatically out of the picture here) worth it?

Remember, this will take time away from playing actual PS4 games too and most of us don't have unlimited gaming time.

Well I guess I'm looking to the future when they add more games, and the fact that they are old games shouldn't be a problem. At $15 a month, you have that whole month to pick and choose games that you may have missed, or want to play again.

I'm not saying people have to use it, but it's a pretty good deal for what you will get. Also, how is the service taking away from time playing on the Ps4? If you don't want to play them, no one is forcing you. And if time is a problem, you can always rent individual games that catch your eye. Don't forget that Ps4 is not the only system you will be able to use the service on, it's just the first.
 
Streaming a platformer sounds like a great idea

Nintendo could probably easily do a subscription service without having to do streaming. A huge part of their archives (NES, snes, n64, genesis, tg16, gameboy games) would take seconds for even the average connection to download.
 

Biker19

Banned
Don't ditch the PS3 regardless. There are games you already own that'll always be better locally, and some games will never hit PS Now due to licensing/publishers not caring/being dead. My PS3 has UMvC3, Marvel 2, Scott Pilgrim and some Midway Arcade games that'll never hit PS Now due to licensing, plus Folklore in all likelihood.

This. I'll rather keep my PS3 and use the annual subscription to buy the games I want for cheap through physical copies, especially with licensed games. And I don't have to stream jack, especially hearing from people who have this already & are experiencing a lot of flawed issues with this.

I'll wait for them to add PS1 and PS2 games. Then it might be compelling.

They should just give us the option to use our PS1/PS2 discs through software emulation.
 
For $15 month , the price I pay to barely watch Netflix & Hulu, I'll definitely take a flyer on this for three months, gauge my usage and Sony's support of the service, and go from there. As a 360 only owner last gen I already see well over a dozen games I'd want to play, plus some multiplats I missed.

I'm betting this is the ideal combination of the target demographic they are looking for.

As a PS+ subscriber, I'm surprised they didn't roll this out with a discount for current subs, even if it only ended up being tied to the 3-month tier e.g. $35 for 3 months. I had a good time with the games I played during the PS Now Beta but the quality of my internet speed is too much of a bottleneck for me to consider signing up at this time. Still, I think this is a good first step and believe that GAAS will get better and cheaper as companies like Sony and their competitors continue to make investments like this.
 

TI82

Banned
I haven't used it since the closed beta but the quality was amazingly good and I have a bad connection and on WiFi.
 

danthefan

Member
It's roughly the price of a game for unlimited three months of games so that isn't bad imo.

Thing is there's nothing there that compels me to sign up.
 
I understand there could be some slight hiccups or lag issues for some, however, I agree compared to Gamefly this is a pretty good value.
 
that's alot of money for a subscription service of strictly last generation games. I really miss the days of backwards compatibility.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Really only see this being really useful if you absolutely missed a lot of these games last gen or don't have or didn't have a PS3.

Though it is funny that buying a month will be better than just renting for a week.
 

monreader

Neo Member
When the hell is this releasing in Europe. I remember they mentioned it going into beta in the UK at Gamescom but I have heard nothing about it since!!
 

Seanze01

Member
Good not great pricing, though I wish they would add a discount for PS+ members and a yearly subscription fee. Once the PS2 games start coming I'll probably sub to it. I miss the old WWF/E games.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
I'd need to see the game library available and it would be cool to test it out on my connection before I threw down money. Game collection would have to be really good for $20 a month though
 
Well you could keep buying the 3 month, which equates to $15.

Yeah, I would just like the option to cancel at any time but that is still not a bad option.

I see it like this, I am paying $15 for two Rdio accounts so my wife and I can both listen on our smartphones. This is the same price as that, and that seems acceptable other than the fact that I would like to be able to suspend it at will if I was travelling or got a new PS4 game that I was playing. If I could buy 3 months and suspend the service for an indefinite period of time between months I would be down for it.
 
I think they're hitting pretty good spots with their initial pricing. I'd guess they want to test the waters for a few months, then add a yearly subscription option (perhaps at a slight discount, like $150/year) to the monthly and quarterly offerings. For those who plan on actively using PS Now, the subscription definitely seems like a better value then renting individually.

I haven't really heard much buzz about PS Now since it became available as a service, after the initial discussion over the game rental prices. It'd be nice to get some statistics on it - such as number of users, games played per users, etc. It'll will be interesting to see how it works out for Sony going forward, especially as more devices gain the ability to play PS Now games.
 

spwolf

Member
I never suggested free, you're not going to invalidate the point by taking it to the extreme with a strawman.

You're also exaggerating the price differential here between pricing for games and movies. Considering that first run movies are 1 sale/person whereas a first run game can be sold as 1 copy for multiple people in a household; for a household of 4 to see a first run movie vs. playing a first run game isn't really all that different in pricing at all. If we're not talking first run, then there's all kinds of deals, sales, promotions and so forth that completely muddy the waters in terms of pricing on both sides, so its hardly as cut and dry as you try to make it.

And I didn't even say that $15/mo or $20/mo were bad in the first place. I just don't think they're necessarily the sweet spot for this kind of service.

it is very simple - you can both own and stream movies at several times lower price than games... from ownership part, Movies start at $20-30 and games start at $50-60... down to still $20 for Last of Us, vs bargain bin $2-$3 for DVD. Additionally PS3 is still $200, vs Roku, Chromecast, cheap BD player, that are all at least $100 less and usually more than that (built into TV for instance).

Then from technology perspective, you need 1x PS3 to stream 1x game... while you need 1x server to stream hundreds (if not more than a thousand) of movie streams (at least).

And the price is $12 for Netflix HD vs $15 for PSNow.

There is nothing muddy there at all. Pretty clear cut - it is a lot cheaper to buy/rent/stream movies than games, it was cheaper yesterday, it is cheaper today, will be cheaper tomorrow. It is also a lot cheaper to stream movies - hundred times cheaper.

So yeah, it is a good price. Might not be for you or me (i have both ps3 and ps4), but $15 per month is a good price regardless.
 
Yeah, I would just like the option to cancel at any time but that is still not a bad option.

I see it like this, I am paying $15 for two Rdio accounts so my wife and I can both listen on our smartphones. This is the same price as that, and that seems acceptable other than the fact that I would like to be able to suspend it at will if I was travelling or got a new PS4 game that I was playing. If I could buy 3 months and suspend the service for an indefinite period of time between months I would be down for it.

Yeah that's understandable. It would be nice to be able to suspend services.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
Definitely a reasonable price. I was thinking they'd bundle now with plus or make it mandatory for ps4.
 
If you don't own a PS3 this is a decent deal. I do and have a ton of games for it so it's not for me but, if I didn't have one I'd think about the three month package.

On that note at $30 -$35 for 3 months I'd jump without hesitation probably.
I'm cheap though.
 
Top Bottom