I find PS Now a great service, why it's not talked of more?

[Addleburg]

I'd rather pay more for a better service. I've been subscribed to PS Now since June, and I just find the ratio of great to mediocre games on it to be a bit higher than I'd like. This isn't counting the ps3 offerings since streaming always runs like ass for me.

I've gotten more impressive games through ps+ than ps now I feel like.

 

[Alucrid]

i imagine most people tried it out when it was all streaming, but yeah, now that you can download ps4 games it seems like a pretty good deal. no video games on it that interest me at the moment but if they ever pop up i would consider getting it

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

If it was part of PS+ its value would be equal to Game Pass. It had some tent pole games before game pass even got it. It also has a ton of classic games that are near impossible to play now unless you have the classic hardware.

I personally like it and feel it's better implemented on the PS5.

 

[TripleBee]

PSnow is a service for older PS4 games, and streaming PS3 games.

Gamepass has a constant flow of new games launching on the service, has an entire ecosystem built around it with quests and rewards.

A brand new game just launched on game pass 20 minutes ago, for example. (Call of the Sea)

 

[Deleted member 43552]

I predict some investment in the offering over the course of the generation but for the time being it doesn't have the "essential" feel of Gamepass.

 

[ilmikhail]

because game pass is much better and It's not available in my country.

 

[DominicanGlory]

Sony's console business strategy doesn't revolve around it so the discourse is more on their 1st party games and strength of 3rd party library.

 

[HebrewHammer]

Now has consistently better monthly offerings than Plus most of the time tho

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Don't hasn't marketed it efficiently, and the value proposition isn't what it is on GamePass.

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But dated. Which GamePass and PS+ do less of, at least.

 

[SirThou]

I've been wanting to pull the trigger on the free trial on PC/Cloud for a bit. Basically, what I'm hoping to play are the PS4-era Sony games (not necessarily the newest ones) and then some older games like Dark Cloud.

I found the site really annoying to navigate wiith respect to the list of games and that games more recent Sony games going in and out of the service was no help either. Figure I'll try it out when GoT or GoW comes out on it (more permanently).

 

[Diogo Arez]

But dated. Which GamePass and PS+ do less of, at least.

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True but Control and Metro Exodus were great additions and not dated by the time they came out there, on PS+ there's a lot of older games too

 

[Cyclonesweep]

I'd prefer to be able to download more rather than having to stream it. It's a pretty decent service though.

 

[AfropunkNyc]

Streaming quality is trash and they suffer from crap latency and the games you can download that expires normally end up on ps+ a month or so later.

 

[Deluxera]

PS Now doesn't really serve a purpose in the Sony ecosystem as it is right now. Its main differenciator is the ability to stream PS3 games that aren't available elsewhere in the console, but that only serve a small niche of players.

 

[jaymzi]

Sony has done a really poor job at advertising this.

Look at what MS does with game pass. Can't have one commercial without mentioning it.

 

[acebeam]

It only cost $5/month for a 12-month subscription, which AFAIK is the cheapest gaming subscription service out there. For comparison, Amazon Luna costs $5.99 a month but it's streaming only and you only get access to ~60 games.
Of course SONY won't let you play big first party games day 1, but the line-up itself is decent enough to justify the premium you pay.
Its library doesn't overlap with Game Pass too much and sometimes it got certain games earlier (e.g. Control).

The only complaint I have with it is definitely the streaming quality of PS3 games, but I don't find myself very interested in most 7th gen games aside from Killzone 2 and Resistance 3. For all PS4 games, you can download and play locally just like your other digital games bought from PSN.

Considering the popularity of Game Pass here, I thought PS Now should also have some attention though it doesn't.

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Oh, it's great, yeah. No, PS+ needed for MP in games which are in PS Now offering. Bought few days ago 2 years of PS Now for 60$. That's awesome.

 

[nanskee]

The ps+ collection with the purchase of the PS5, kinda makes it more ehh. No use for me really. I don't think it's bad though.

It's just when I compare it to my gamepass ultimate sub for similar price, it's the games and the fact that I can play on PC, Xbox family, Smartphones that push it for me. Not interested in having two subscription services. Similarly, I don't want to have both Netflix and Disney + at the same time.

 

[Love Machine]

I really want to use it and love it, but...

a) the PC app straight up doesn't work - it creates multiple instances in the taskbar and none of them respond.
b) you can't stream footage, or even use Share button functionality.
c) it's not supported on Vita.

If even one of those things was false, I'd probably subscribe.

 

[Agent X]

It only has one drop of games per month compared to Game Pass (to use your comparison) which has drops of games throughout the month. Every Thursday is new Game Pass games day and then you get drops in between too (like tomorrow, a random Tuesday where two new games join Game Pass day one of their release). So you tend to get a bit of PS Now chatter around the beginning of the month and then there's not a great deal to talk about for the rest of the month.

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This is something that I've suggested that Sony change. They should spread out their game releases throughout the month, so that subscribers have something to look forward to on a more frequent basis. Doing this will elevate the level of excitement, and keep PS Now as a subject of constant conversation.

 

[RivalGT]

Probably needs to be relaunched at some point. Most don't know about it, and see it as a streaming only option. Better availability is also another good reason, it's not available in some countries, and it's supported in few devices.

 

[acebeam]

It's not even available everywhere, how to talk about something so great when Sony for whatever reason still doesn't support your country?

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I think lack of global (or more market) availability may play a big ass factor.

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It's not available in Brazil. A friend do a trick to use the service, but I don't think it's worth it.

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It's still only available in a pretty limited amount of countries.

Most of the game releases on it are older stuff and there's not a lot of conversation to be had about them

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Not available worldwide. For example I live in Brazil and all those streaming services like Stadia, Luna, GeForce NOW and PS Now aren't available here.

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It's not even available in my region.

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because game pass is much better and It's not available in my country.

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mostly for streaming old games, no day one stuff , not available in most regions , no random $1 deals, for some reason Sony exclusives don't even stay around forever. Doesn't offer much of a benefit if you already have a console

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That doesn't stop you to make an account for a different region where PS Now is supported. Neither is PS Now supported in my country, but that didn't stop me to make an US account ( i'm in Europe) to buy a PS Now sub. I'll bet that many of you made an GP account just to play games before it was available in your country ( maybe it's not still). GP still isn't available in mine country. That didn't stop me to make an account to try GP. Anyway, PS Now is a dirt cheap, especially a yearly sub. Often is at 30$-40$ on some online shops

 

[KORNdog]

I've bought a few years of PSnow in sales (£30 for a year) and currently playing kingdom come deliverance and wreckfest. It's a great service and the offering every month are consistently better than that of PS+, but I can't imagine spending more then 30 quid on it.

 

[TsuWave]

Because this is an enthusiast website, which means those who want to play PS3/4 games likely already have the hardware to do so.

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But people often stress the importance of BC and how excited they are to revisit games on this forum. Also, a significant amount of the games on the popular Gamepass service are relatively old games.

PSNow library is roughly around 3 times bigger that of Gamepass, and for example, I believe Gamepass is getting Control and Greedfall this month, something plenty people were excited about here Both of those games have been on PSNow months ago, yet no fanfare

This is obviously not to say Gamepass isn't great, it's just I do believe PSNow needs to start being part of the conversation. The "value" is there at $60 yearly

 

[Yung Coconut]

But people often stress the importance of BC and how excited they are to revisit games on this forum. Also, a significant amount of the games on the popular Gamepass service are relatively old games.

PSNow library is roughly around 3 times bigger that of Gamepass, and for example, I believe Gamepass is getting Control and Greedfall this month, something plenty people were excited about here Both of those games have been on PSNow months ago, yet no fanfare

This is obviously not to say Gamepass isn't great, it's just I do believe PSNow needs to start being part of the conversation. The "value" is there at $60 yearly

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Does PSNow get me access to PS5 games at all? Sony 1st Party releases on day one? And Jim Ryan hasn't exactly made it sound like they want to compete with Game Pass, so why should PSNow compete for my time and money?

Game Pass is kind of giving you everything. It'll be even more of an insane value once their studios and Bethesda starts releasing new stuff in the next couple of years.

 

[Windu]

Quantity over Quality.

 

[catpurrcat]

On PC, graphics were awful but the gameplay and responsiveness of controls was outstanding. If they can get this up to 1080p I would absolutely keep it. I'd like to see them roll this into PS plus

 

[acebeam]

Does PSNow get me access to PS5 games at all?

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Does XSX has it yet? I mean, not some "Smart Delivery" versions?

 

[Boclfon479]

I don't like the fact that there's no DLC available for the PSNOW games.

I just want to be able to play Castlevania Harmony of Despair on my PS5, but so much of the game was added as dlc and unavailable

 

[Deleted member 49319]

Jeez, some of you, hold your console war energy.

 

[cmdrshepard]

I mean the service still has yet to launch outside of a handful of countries including mine despite it launching years ahead of game pass. From friends that I have in the states, it was only recently after game pass launched that some games could be downloaded instead of streamed and the price dropped. Those two factors should help PS Now but it took years to implement downloads for the games and apparently the streaming tech is mostly hit and miss.

 

[EggmaniMN]

I just own too many PS4 games to really take advantage of that part of the service. I mostly use it for going back to PS3 titles and I wish the quality there could be better. Latency's not ideal either.

But hey, it lets me play Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, Eternal Sonata, MGS4, Heavenly Sword and lots of random PS3 games that I sometimes remember without dragging the PS3 back out.

I think the big issue in comparing is that PSNow's streaming just doesn't match up with how much better just playing a 360 or OG Xbox game is on XSX. Playing a PS3 game in 720p with poor frame rate is just...really underwhelming.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

It's amazing if you didn't own a ps3 or a ps4 for the majority of last gen. But if you did, chances are you played those games week 1 as the hardcore on a videogame forum tend to do.

Gamepass just has more interest because on top of the value of catching up on older first party stuff, you are constantly getting new games from big to small. Forums are centered around talking about new topics, new games, new news. Therefore its not hard to understand why the reception to Now is more muted which leads to your perception of its popularity here OP. People talk about new things, which Now is not catered too.

 

[Yung Coconut]

Does XSX has it yet? I mean, not some "Smart Delivery" versions?

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What exactly is wrong wrong with "Smart Delivery" versions? Why is Smart Delivery in quotes? lol

Like say, if Sony offered the PS5 version of Miles Morales on PSNow would that not count because a PS4 version exists? Almost all of MS 1st party games are going to use "Smart Delivery" going forward. Oh no, does that mean they don't count too? That 7.5b for Bethesda seems to have been a waste.

 

[xenonium]

Jeez, some of you, hold your console war energy.

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You asked for reasons and suddenly it's 'console wars' if you get legitimate answers for why PSNow isn't as popular?

 

[Deleted member 49319]

You asked for reasons and suddenly it's 'console wars' if you get legitimate answers for why PSNow isn't as popular?

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No I meant the ones in this thread attacking Game Pass and Smart Delivery that I don't even want to quote.
I do think most of the reasons people have listed make a lot of sense.

 

[badabeezy]

I would buy in since I haven't had a PlayStation since PS2 but with no PS or PC then I have no access to PS Now. I bought into the Xbox ecosystem because I was able to beta test a ton of Game Pass games via streaming earlier this year. Then bought 3 years of Gold and converted to Ultimate for $1. Made my next gen purchase of a Series X an easy decision. Give me PS Now on android and they will see some revenue from me.

 

[Creepy Woody]

Its not even available in Australia, most people here have no idea it exists. It isn't advertised on our PSN, website or anything.

That doesn't stop you to make an account for a different region where PS Now is supported. Neither is PS Now supported in my country, but that didn't stop me to make an US account ( i'm in Europe) to buy a PS Now sub. I'll bet that many of you made an GP account just to play games before it was available in your country ( maybe it's not still). GP still isn't available in mine country. That didn't stop me to make an account to try GP. Anyway, PS Now is a dirt cheap, especially a yearly sub. Often is at 30$-40$ on some online shops

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Yeah sure, for the niche gamer that looks into this stuff. It's a barrier for others to buy in, even if they do know it exists.
It's crazy Sony doesn't do this for more of it's markets when Gamepass is eating up.

 

[Rick44-4]

One word, marketing.

 

[Aiustis]

It's not a great service.
It's okay. It's best if you plan on never owning any of their games because it's a headache otherwise

 

[Kasey]

Not enough big games coming to the service.

 

[justiceiro]

Ps now came out like the only way to enjoy old games, instead of another option. Users were pissed they were not given any choice and had to go for a service that maybe doesn't work for them because of reasons they have no control over.

 

[Terraforce]

Sony hasn't marketed it efficiently, and the value proposition isn't what it is on GamePass.

Beyond that, PlayStation touts stronger PS+ free games every month. That canabalizes the value of Now a bit.

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It is though. You get like five times as many games for half the price. That really speaks for itself. Personally I use my PSNow way more than I did Game Pass when I was still subscribed.

But you're right that Sony hasn't marketed it well at all.

 

[tropicalgamer]

It is wierd I am genuinely more excited about the game announcements for PS Now then PS+. If I had to choose one I would probably go PS Now over PS+ and ditch Multiplayer alltogether. Downloading PS4 games is a godsend.

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Same here, and I subscribe to both services. The selection of games on offer for November and December have been great in terms of quality and variety. For me, the annual subscription is a no-brainer.

 

[JimD]

Keep in mind many people, especially on this forum, aren't paying full price for Game Pass yet. They got multiple free months for signing up, or did the cheap 1:1 conversion deal from Xbox Live, or got discount codes from resellers, or (like me) they're using rewards points. Until Xbox starts consistently charging everyone full price, the value proposition that PS Now offers won't be as big an advantage.

For me, PS Now doesn't need first party day 1 releases to be competitive at its price point, but it does need to improve its selection of games that are less than 12-18 months old. Like, I can still feel part of the general conversation if I'm playing a game that came out earlier this year, or even last year. But when the vast majority of the library are games 2+ years old it doesn't feel like it's replacing a big chunk of your normal gaming budget.

 

[Xeonidus]

PSNow is pretty awesome, yeah. So many games to choose from and older hits to play. That said, if you played the older games or owned them previously or don't find streaming viable, the value diminishes. I like it because most games that come to it tend to stay on the service. A few are on limited times but looks like some may eventually get added permanently if Horizon is anything to go by.

Gamepass has it beat when it comes to newer games though. Even if the games cycle out outside of Xbox Game Studios. One year is pretty generous though and you can get a 20% discount to purchase them before they leave.

PSNow needs a mobile app to stream to phones, 1080p streaming, rollout to more countries, and have more first party games on there even if they don't launch there day 1. They also need to advertise and highlight the strengths. It is cheaper when no deals are involved and provides more games. It's hard to do though because newer games tend to make a bigger splash and gamepass has a definite advantage there.

 

[DestroyerOfWorlds]

Because it lives in the shadow of game pass.

If ps now offered games regularly on day 1, then it could potentially rival game pass.

 

[Kopite]

It's available in fewer countries than Gamepass, that could explain why so few talk about it. If the service was available in my region, it could have convinced me to purchase a PS4, but I barely know what games are available since Sony don't care for this market down here.

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1 and done. I've heard of players from my region going through some hoops to get it working so there is defo some demand/excitement, hopefully both PSNow and Gamepass get expanded even further soon

 

[hydruxo]

It just doesn't have the appeal that Game Pass has. A big part of that is Game Pass has day one games, and MS also just markets it way better than Sony does with PS Now. Jim Ryan said not long ago that they have plans for it so hopefully that involves trying to be more competitive with Game Pass. I'd also like to see them just bundle it with PS Plus. I'm not interested in paying for an extra sub.

 

[gothmog]

I'd say it was a good service that has the potential to be great. I don't need day 1 access, but they should guarantee access to first party titles within a timeframe, even if it was something like 6 months.

 

[Era of not Yakuza]

not available in Brazil :\

 

[FFNB]

I think it's pretty great myself.

I remember trying it out when it first launched, but I already have enough to play that I didn't want to continue subscribing.

Then the price dropped to, what $10 a month? So I resubscribed to play some PS3 games, and have been super impressed with the service. I'm actually legit surprised at how much content is available. Sometimes I think people don't realize how many titles are actually available on it. Being able to revisit Killzone 2, or Resistance 3, or the inFAMOUS games, has been great. And then being able to download PS4 titles I may have missed or had been curious about, but didn't want to buy at the time, is a really nice bonus.

If Sony and their partners would add more PS3 titles to it, it'd be an even better service. I'd prefer PS1 and PS2 BC to be native to the PS4/PS5 itself, but I'd also be okay with them adding PS1 and PS2 titles to Now as well. I honestly still think we will. We're still very early in the PS5 gen, so I'm sure they'll try to incentivize the service in the coming months/years. It's already a pretty great value to me, personally.