PlayStation Now has been around for a solid five years now, having launched in beta form way back in 2014. The service has seen its fair share of well-deserved criticism over the years, but it has still maintained a fairly big subscriber base, allowing Sony the chance to change the service and make it better.
The company has done a number of different promotions to try and bring in more users, including offering multiple free trials, temporary discounts, and more. The latest move, however, is a big one. Sony has cut the cost of PlayStation Now in half, making the service more accessible and economical than ever before. The real question, though, is whether it is enough to entice newcomers, and if the price is finally worth the admission.
PlayStation Now originally launched with a fairly steep price tag. The game streaming service started out offering unlimited streaming for $19.99 a month, with the option to purchase three months at a time or a full year for significant savings. At the time, it seemed to be a pretty expensive option just to play some old PlayStation 3 titles over the internet, especially considering the poor streaming quality and input lag. The biggest change came when the company started offering PlayStation 4 games as downloads, allowing you to install the game directly onto your system rather than stream it online, similar to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service.
While the change was definitely appreciated, the lack of downloads for older titles due to no backwards compatibility still made PlayStation Now a hit-or-miss service depending on what you were using it for. The library grew huge, but the streaming requirements were still a bit too much for many people to handle. Considering that the biggest competitor, Xbox Game Pass, is only $9.99 and it features Xbox 360 titles for download, PlayStation Now still had a lot to live up to.
Now, however, Sony is making great strides to make PlayStation Now a must-have on their PS4 systems, as well as on PC. Sony has now cut the cost of a subscription in half, offering the service for only $9.99 per month in order to compete with both Microsoft and the soon-to-be-launched Google Stadia. The price for three months and a full year remains at $24.99 and $59.99, respectively. It’s a great deal for what you get, considering how much the library has grown just in the past year alone.
Streaming PS3 and PS2 titles can still be a bit wonky, with some odd lag and random disconnects occurring every once in a while, though it’s far less frequent than it used to be. The real draw is the library of PlayStation 4 titles for download, however, which has added a lot of blockbusters recently. DOOM, Grand Theft Auto V, God of War, and many, many more are available to download right now… though if you are playing on PC, you still only have access to these titles via stream.
While the service still isn’t quite on par with the likes of Xbox Game Pass, it’s definitely a great option for those who are looking to get the most bang for their buck on PS4. With the recent changes, it seems that Sony is finally looking toward the future and offering PlayStation gamers a real good reason to stick around.
