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Neat

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,107
New York City
The company's marketing is quick to highlight its biggest and most-loved titles, including Red Dead Redemption, Steep and Mafia III. Scroll across to the 'All Games' tab, however, and you'll find that the heavyweight pickings are slim. The bulk of the library is filled with forgettable titles such as Alien Spidy, Gem Smashers and Kung Fu Rabbit. There are four Formula 1 games -- yes, four -- ranging from F1 2014 to 2017. While a valuable form of game preservation, they feel like needless padding. How many people want to go back and play F1 2014?

The catalog does have some big hitters, however, including The Last of Us(the PS3 version, not the PS4 remaster), Fallout: New Vegas and BioShock Infinite. But as I started bookmarking titles, I quickly realized how many were already sitting in my library. Bloodborne, Until Dawn, For Honor, Mafia III, Journey, God of War III: Remastered -- I had earned all of these through PlayStation Plus, an older subscription service that costs $9.99 per month or $59.99 per year and is required to play PS4 games online.

Buoyed with confidence, I tried Sonic Generations, a blazing-fast mixture of 2D and 3D stages. I charged through the first couple of levels with a grimace, rather than a Cheshire cat grin on my face. Something about the platforming felt a tad off. A short delay, perhaps, between my thumb hitting the X button and watching the blue blur launching himself over a chasm of game-ending spikes. I was suddenly aware that my eyeballs were watching a feed, rather than a game running natively on the PS4.

The flawless performance made me think of Xbox Games Pass, a subscription service that leverages the true backward compatibility of the Xbox One. There's no way that Sony can match this, of course. But it could aim for a similar breadth and quality of current-gen titles. Xbox Games Pass offers every Microsoft exclusive on the same day that it hits store shelves. Meanwhile, I have no idea if the God of War reboot, Detroit: Become Human and Insomniac's Spider-Man will ever come to PlayStation Now.

Much more at the link:
https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/18/playstation-now-re-review/

In short, Summers argues that the selection of PS4 games on the service is noticeably thin, particularly if you already pay for PS Plus and take advantage of the monthly free games, of which there is a lot of overlap. He also draws comparisons to Xbox Game Pass, which lets you play first party Microsoft games day and date with the retail release, while there are many of Sony's own exclusives, major ones at that, that have yet to appear on PS Now months after release. The inherently imperfect nature of streaming (PS3) games with input lag is another issue, although I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done to address this. Your mileage will probably vary. Lastly the author addresses a few other more minor grievances including general UI stuff and Sony switching off streams for inactivity (a system-level autosave feature would be pretty neat tbh)
 
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Morfid_Plays

Self Requested Ban
Member
Oct 27, 2017
943
User Warned: System Warring
Good thing PlayStation isn't needing to be reliant of putting mediocre titles onto a streaming platform to try get sales
 

Memento

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
8,129
Basically another "Please put Sony FP on PS Now day 1" article

Kind of hard to justify it when Sony flagship FP games are easily selling 10+ million nowadays
 

Deleted member 249

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,828
The streaming infrastructure needs a whole lot of work for PS Now, sure.

Good thing PlayStation isn't needing to be reliant of putting mediocre titles onto a streaming platform to try get sales
Instead of knee jerk console warring, read.

Basically another "Please put Sony FP on PS Now day 1" article

Kind of hard to justify it when Sony flagship FP games are easily selling 10+ million nowadays
That's not the only thing it says.
 

The Last One

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,585
Do people really expect Sony to put their games day one on PS Now?

No way this will ever happen to God of War 2, The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Horizon 2, etc.

Edit: If the PS3 games were downloadable then the service would be much better but a lack of an emulador kills It.
 

Barsi

alt account
Banned
Jan 21, 2019
350
Basically another "Please put Sony FP on PS Now day 1" article

Kind of hard to justify it when Sony flagship FP games are easily selling 10+ million nowadays
I think we gonna see one article per month against Sony on western media until next-gen arrive. Really similar with 2012-2013
 

OG_Thrills

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,655
Good thing PlayStation isn't needing to be reliant of putting mediocre titles onto a streaming platform to try get sales

giphy.gif
 

Morfid_Plays

Self Requested Ban
Member
Oct 27, 2017
943
The streaming infrastructure needs a whole lot of work for PS Now, sure.


Instead of knee jerk console warring, read.


That's not the only thing it says.

Haven't you posted enough for today , I'm entitled to my opinion and I'm prepared to defend my stance against subsidised models and how it effects quality of title development
 

nib95

Contains No Misinformation on Philly Cheesesteaks
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
18,498
Hard to disagree, but also not surprising given the business ramifications, eg for why first party tentpole titles aren't on there the day and date of release when so many are already selling gangbusters at retail.
 

Meg Cherry

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,261
Seattle, WA
Do people really expect Sony to put their games day one on PS Now?

No way this will ever happen to God of War 2, The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Horizon 2, etc.

Edit: If the PS3 games were downloads levar the service would be much better but a lack of an emulador kills It.
Nobody expects this, nobody's asking for this, and nobody is bringing it up other than people eager to shout down valid criticism of PS Now.
 

Loudninja

Member
Oct 27, 2017
42,189
Do people really expect Sony to put their games day one on PS Now?

No way this will ever happen to God of War 2, The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Horizon 2, etc.
No one realistic expects that especially when most of their games are SP.

They just started upping the PS4 section by a much greater degree these past 3 months.
 
Aug 26, 2018
1,793
Sony's caught between a rock and a hard place. They don't want to ignore PC but at the same time hamper the juggernaut that is the PS4.

For the future, if MS, Google and Amazon start flexing their muscles in the Streaming space, they need a PS Now to compete.
 

RumbleHumble

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,128
The streaming v. direct download is a pretty significant reason why I stayed away from PSNow, but have a Gamespass subscription. I'm in the upper-midwest, and greatly prefer having to download something over dealing with potentially shoddy input lag. I can't even get streaming to my vita without significant buffering/framerate issues.
 

Deleted member 249

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,828
Hard to disagree, but also not surprising given the business ramifications, eg for why first party tentpole titles aren't on there the day and date of release when so many are already selling gangbusters at retail.
Definitely. I think the most interesting points made by the article are re: the streaming infrastructure for PS Now, which could do with some updating.
 

watdaeff4

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,451
Do people really expect Sony to put their games day one on PS Now?

No way this will ever happen to God of War 2, The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Horizon 2, etc.

Edit: If the PS3 games were downloadable then the service would be much better but a lack of an emulador kills It.
No


But they state there are true problems with the service, which for the little bit I tried-the criticisms are valid
 

Unlovedjew

Member
Oct 26, 2017
533
it doesnt need first party games day and date, but it'd be great if the selection had more than 4 notable games and at least most first party titles from years ago
 

8byte

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt-account
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
9,880
Kansas
This is a challenge for Sony because if they put too many PS4 games on PS Now, then they run the risk of devaluing PS+. Ultimately what Sony SHOULD do, is remove free games from PS+, and offer a package deal of PS+ and PS Now, with a much bigger PS4 library that more closely reflects the offerings of Microsofts Gamepass. They also need to have another value add for PS+ if they remove free games.
 

Dyashen

Member
Dec 20, 2017
5,158
Belgium
There are some cool titles in the library for sure.

But does Playstation Now have a funny twitter account posting memes?
 

jelly

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
33,841
Weren't PS3 games always a bit laggy even on the console, lag will be a bugger issue with games like that on any platform.

I'm still not sure there is any secret sauce to streaming beyond having loads of servers around the world and having speedy consistent internet. I think most them will be nigh on identical, it's the core game design and birth platform which helps dictate how close to perfection they get along with server availability. A game designed to be low latency will be the best.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,240
User Warned: Platform Warring
Sony isn't trying to make Playstation Now their main thing. Their #1 goal is selling software/hardware. And that's for the best, it encourages them to reach a certain level of quality for their games, unlike what you see from MS right now.
 

Lukas Taves

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
5,713
Brazil
Basically another "Please put Sony FP on PS Now day 1" article

Kind of hard to justify it when Sony flagship FP games are easily selling 10+ million nowadays
They are often bundling those same games with consoles and collections. I don't see why it wouldn't work out in a scenario where the user keeps giving them money even when not consuming anything.
 

Deleted member 32018

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 8, 2017
7,628
I agree with some of the article and that PSNow does need some work, especially on the streaming side of things. I disagree with the notion that Sony should offer it's new first party titles on the service however as they are mainly single player games and differ from what Microsoft offer from their titles so are not well suited to a subscription based service.
 

chris 1515

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,074
Barcelona Spain
Hard to disagree, but also not surprising given the business ramifications, eg for why first party tentpole titles aren't on there the day and date of release when so many are already selling gangbusters at retail.

It is not only a question of sales. It is a question of cost of production. Sony first party title aren't cheap to produce and are single player AAA games. This is exactly like Blockbuster movie with Netflix not on streaming services day one.

If tomorrow game subscription become the main gateway to games, it is simple single player AAA tentpole release will disseapear.

If Sony has in the future big GAAS games release, they will probably be on PS Now day one.
 

watdaeff4

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,451
Sony isn't trying to make Playstation Now their main thing. Their #1 goal is selling software/hardware. And that's for the best, it encourages them to reach a certain level of quality for their games, unlike what you see from MS right now.
That's fair it's not their main thing

But since they are charging money for it don't you think they should try to make the service as high quality as possible? The streaming needs to improve.....period

I would even argue the library on it is that bad (though I can understand why some would want "better" games for the price of the service)
 

Lant_War

Classic Anus Game
The Fallen
Jul 14, 2018
23,543
I like how everyone's talking about first party games day 1 when the article mainly talks about lag in the streaming.
 
Nov 11, 2017
2,744
Sony isn't trying to make Playstation Now their main thing. Their #1 goal is selling software/hardware. And that's for the best, it encourages them to reach a certain level of quality for their games, unlike what you see from MS right now.
This ain't it chief, quality of games have nothing to do with supporting the services you always have.

Furthermore this article is discussing how shitty the lag on psnow is
 

watdaeff4

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,451
I'm not trying to nitpick here but I wish people see that the article lists some very valid concerns and it's not just about having first party games on the service day one.

Take that off the table and there is still room for improvement with PS Now
 

Viceratops

Banned
Jun 29, 2018
2,570
They are often bundling those same games with consoles and collections. I don't see why it wouldn't work out in a scenario where the user keeps giving them money even when not consuming anything.
Bundles are not nearly as significant for sales as regular software purchases for each release. You don't want to give people too many ways to buy games without paying for them or you won't make your investment back. That's bad business.
 

Deleted member 18951

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,531
Nope, and maybe for the better.

Has anyone crunched the numbers?

Like 100million PS4's, 10% subscribe, £10 a month so using my napkin math thats £1.2billion a year. Now get that subscriber % up to 30 and you're doing £3.6billion a year and I'm sure people will continue to buy retail games as they are currently do, now get PSNow onto every device you can. I have no idea what Sony's first party software make a year?
 

Richter1887

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
39,148
Just finished reading.

I feel like PS Now is good enough, for now atleast. It works somewhat fine on my internet (my internet speed isn't that good) and the game selection on it aren't bad but they aren't good either.

For one of the first attempts it is really good and I am sure it will only get better the more streaming becomes a thing. The whole first party not being on it is understandable because the games sell tens of millions so for a company trying to make maximize profits it makes sense. If PS Now becomes something as popular as Netflix then I am very positive they will start adding them. (Maybe even earlier depending on how the competition is in a couple of years).
 

zedox

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,215
Do people really expect Sony to put their games day one on PS Now?

No way this will ever happen to God of War 2, The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Horizon 2, etc.

Edit: If the PS3 games were downloadable then the service would be much better but a lack of an emulador kills It.

I am expecting them to put their games on PSNow day 1. It will eventually happen. I want it to happen just as I wanted MS to do it. It's better for me as a consumer and long term when consoles don't matter as much (still a big part)...they will eventually do it.