While Sony’s PlayStation Now game streaming service is a good attempt at bringing PS3 games available to the PS4 and other Sony devices, the pricing model has not been the greatest, with individual games being rented at $5 for four hours of game time, or as much as $30 for a 90-day subscription to a single title.
Sony has listened well to the complaints, and starting January 13, PlayStation Now will start to offer an all-you-can-eat service, a la Netflix, for $20/month in the North American market. No details have been made for a launch in Europe or Japan as of yet. Initially, this new pricing model will be available only on the PS4, with added support for other devices such as the PS Vita, Xperia phones, PS TV, and SmartTVs.
There will be over 100 titles available on this new pricing model. In the video games such as Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Spelunky, NBA2K14, The Last of Us, and God of War Ascension were featured.
The subscription business model for AYCE gaming has come a long way. I remember back in 2005, I had subscribed to an AYCE online game service called GameTap which offered old-school games for download in a similar way. In fact, it’s UX design and several other features of the service seemed to have been borrowed by the Xbox 360, in the sense that it also offered videos of upcoming games, but also animated shorts and other original contents. While the PS Now also offers “old-school” games, it’s certainly games that are still popular and relevant, and I would be interested in seeing if Sony would start offering current games and new releases at a higher price point for its subscription service.
In the end, this is great to see, and makes me wonder what is next. Since Sony Electronics produces Bravia SmartTVs and Sony Mobile produces the Xperia line of phones, it makes me wonder if the PlayStation Now service will eventually turns these kinds of products into next-gen consoles and handhelds? Having so many set-top boxes connected to my TV is starting to feel so 1990s now…
